Address: 128 Hollister Avenue
Known As: American Foursquare Beach House
Architect: Unknown
Built: c. 1905
Designated: August 26, 2003

The property at 128 Hollister is located on the south side of the street between Neilsen Way and Ocean Avenue. The wood framed house was constructed in 1905 in a rectangular shape, capped by a hipped roof with an offset gable. A bargeboard accents the small gable and exposed rafters appear in the open eaves. It has overlap wood siding and is punctuated by a variety of window types. A band of multi-framed casements, an alteration from 1918, wrap the second story, north (front) façade. These enclose what was originally a porch. The first floor porch was also enclosed at this time. Other windows are double hung sash. All the windows are framed with thin, plain, wood surrounds.

Thomas Wadsworth and C.W. Hollister purchased the north half of the Central Beach tract sometime around 1902 and developed it for residential use. They announced that “after the expiration of leases of the parties now occupying the cottages along the front of their tract, the cottages would be torn down and sightly buildings erected in their place.” By 1909, two story cottages flanked both sides of Hollister and Wadsworth Avenues.

This house is an example of the American Foursquare style. The typical American Foursquare has two to two and a half stories, a nearly square floor plan, and a blocky shape topped by a low pyramidal or hipped roof. Usually a central dormer is in front and a three or four post front porch extends the full width of the house. The dormer and porch roof usually echo the hip form of the main roof. They were popular in Southern California from the late 1890s through 1910. American Foursquare dwellings, as well as smaller beach cottages and craftsman cottages were once the prevalent form of housing in Ocean Park but are becoming increasingly rare.

Although the porches at 128 Hollister have been enclosed, it was done long ago and the changes have become significant in their own right. Originally built to be leased cottages in what was a transient, vacation area, when the houses became year-round residences, many changes were made to make them more spacious and comfortable. The layers of change on the beach cottages of the Central Beach tract that appeared in the first decades of the 20th century tell the story of the development of the area.

The 100 block of Hollister Avenue and the three blocks to the south (Wadsworth, Hart and Fraser) compose a potential historic district where dwellings of this type can be appreciated in context.

(Adapted from the Evaluation report prepared prior to designation by PCR Services Corporation, Santa Monica)