Thursday, July 14, 2016

New Historic District: Niodrara Drive

This spring, Glendale City Council voted unanimously to approve designation for the Niodrara Drive Historic District. It joins six existing historic districts throughout the city, each of which tells a unique tale of Glendale’s history and development. 

In addition to containing a high concentration of intact and varied historic architecture, this Verdugo Woodlands neighborhood is notable for the beautiful landscape and hardscape features that contribute strongly to its visual character. These include an exceptionally lush array of native coast live oak and California sycamore trees, as well as a rusticated stone creek bed, foot bridges, retaining walls, and other planned features dating to the 1920s.

The district’s thirty-two homes are located on or adjacent to Niodrara Drive, bounded roughly by Wabasso Way and Colina Drive. One of these is the Rodriguez House (Glendale Register No. 24), designed in 1942 by famed Modernist architect R.M. Schindler. The other homes in the district are designed in a range of architectural styles, including Foursquare, Spanish Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, and Ranch.

The land was first subdivided in 1909 by the Verdugo Canyon Land Company, before being developed by the F.P. Newport Company from 1917 into the 1920s. The latter was responsible for building Niodrara Drive’s characteristic stone features, hoping to entice potential homebuyers with picturesque interpretations of an idyllic European countryside filled with “chattering brooks of sparkling mountain water…clear vistas of rugged mountains…great gnarled sycamores…evergreen live-oaks”–right here in Glendale!

Some of the larger lots were further subdivided in the post-World War II era. The houses thus represent fifty years of development activity (1912-1962), a broader range than Glendale’s other historic districts. The district displays a range of architectural styles popular during each of those decades, making Niodrara Drive a fascinating cross-section of Glendale’s evolving tastes and trends in residential architecture.

Niodrara Drive joins Royal Boulevard, Ard Eevin Highlands, Cottage Grove, Rossmoyne, North Cumberland Heights, and Brockmont Park Historic Districts in the city’s effort to retain the historic character and distinctive fabric of its older neighborhoods. It will do so by ensuring that proposed alterations and additions visible from the street in designated districts are in keeping with these design and conservation goals.

For more information about historic preservation in Glendale please visit the Community Development Department's website.