Friday, January 25, 2013

Alexander Stewart House - Escondido, CA, USA

This Eastlake Victorian style home was built in 1890 by Alexander Stewart, an Escondido blacksmith who went on to become the director of the Escondido National Savings Bank and later the chairman of the City Board.  The building materials were shipped in pieces from New England and around Cape Horn.  Mr. Stewart lived in the house until his death there in 1940.

The photo below shows the home as it appeared in July 2012.


The house was reported to still be in near perfect and unaltered condition in 1992 when it was recommended it be listed on the National Register of Historic Places (the owner declined), but in April 2007 a court-ordered inspection found 24 code violations, both inside and out.  A large open hole had been cut in the attic facade for "ventilation," neighbors reported pieces falling from the house and it was in danger of being demolished.  Considerable improvements appear to have been made since that time.  This is the only home of this style in Escondido.

The photos below were taken in October 2007.




Located at 439 East 5th Avenue in the Old Escondido Historic District.
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6 comments:

  1. SandyJanuary 27, 2013 at 11:59 AM

    What a shame to see a neat old house not be kept up. That a lot of violations. We're heading back to CA late next month, I need to see where we are in relation to Escondido. Would love to see some of the places you posted about.

    Been awhile since I've rounded from Traveling Suitcase, but trying visit today.

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  2. NapoolsApril 22, 2015 at 12:18 AM

    Alexander Stewart was my Great Grand Fathers brother. They grew up in this house when it was in Argyle Nova Scotia, 1860 to 1879, then the boys migrated to United States to seek their fortunes. Alex went to Colorado to mine for gold in Leadville, sold his gold mine stake and moved to Escondido in mid 1880's. Alexander had the house in Nova Scotia dismantled after his parents died and had it shipped to California and reconstructed in 1890.

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  3. brad1973October 30, 2015 at 11:02 AM

    Napools, we live there now and are doing our best to restore the house. That is very interesting how the home used to be in Canada. Was it built in 1860 there or earlier do you know? Thanks for any information.

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  4. brad1973October 30, 2015 at 11:03 AM

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  5. UnknownNovember 3, 2015 at 4:28 PM

    My grandfather, Porter S Hamrick, built the house on the next block over 439 E 6th Ave in 1912.

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  6. NapoolsFebruary 14, 2016 at 5:27 PM

    As far as our family verbal history goes. the house was described by both Alex and Duncan's as the home in which they spent their entire child hood in Nova Scotia. The two (Alex was older by two years) immigrated to the US in 1872 when Duncan was 17 years old. Based on their account, the house was built at least as early as 1853, possibly before that time frame. Hope this helps

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