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The construction of the homes on Wilton Street during the summer and fall of 1924 is evidence of the rapid development boom in Long Beach during he Twenties. In 1923 the area was outside City limits and only a few scattered homes existed nearby. In August 1924, the Hauser Real Estate and Building Company in association with F.E. Teeple as a contractor, subdivided the lots and began constructing homes. Houses were constructed in multiples in the following months, and were quickly purchased and occupied. The first residents represented a broad spectrum of working class people, with a variety of occupations; only a few were oil workers linked to nearby Signal Hill. Thus, the development of Wilton Street between Grand and Termino Avenues is linked to the economic boom of the Twenties and to the growing demand for housing in the burgeoning working class population.
All of the houses in the district except for one, represent one unified architectural style: Spanish Colonial Revival, with Mission Revival overtones. The houses are extremely consistent in design and materials, all belonging to the same architectural "family". All are basically one-story cubes, with flat roofs, stucco walls, and projecting front porches, often linked to exterior patios. Roof materials, where visible, consist of red terracotta tiles. The roof parapet is usually stepped, with small corner ‘towers’ on the house and sometimes on the porch. Often a gabled parapet appears. Arches are used, semicircular or flattened. Despite this consistent architectural vocabulary, each house is different from the others and each one is individualized. |
