CONTENTS:
Heritage Square
Museum
3800 Homer Street
Los Angeles, California 90031
Tel.
323-225-2700
Where History Comes Alive!
(Richard Shaw House)
Architecturally,
the Valley Knudsen Garden Residence is a very interesting building. Most middle class homes of the
Victorian period were done in varying combinations of the Eastlake or
Queen Anne styles. The choice of this Second Empire with a French
Mansard styled roof for this working-middle class home was rather unusual for the West coast.
This roof style was used mostly in France during the city-wide redevelopment of Paris in the early nineteenth century. Napoleon II had mandated broad, tree-lined boulevards in the new city plan. He wanted level, uninterrupted uniform rooflines bordering the wide boulevards. Napoleon's city planner, Baron Haussman opted for consistent use of the Mansard roof with standard cornice levels, thus providing the grand vistas Napoleon II wanted. Americans adopted the style during the mid to late 19th century because of its majestic appearance.
The home originally stood on Mozart Street in the neighborhood of Lincoln Heights, one of the first suburbs of the City of Los Angeles. Originally a Southern Pacific railroad town, Lincoln Heights is know for having one of the city's largest parks, Lincoln (Eastlake) Park. At the turn of the century, Lincoln Heights was a destination for families to visit, having both an ostrich and an alligator farm, the Selig Film Studios and later on, the Selig Zoo. The Selig Film Studios was one of the first motion picture studios to be established in Los Angeles, and was originally located just north of Lincoln Park on Mission Avenue.