Added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 6, 1978

Today N. Primrose Avenue in Monrovia is a perfectly lovely suburban street, lined with dozens of single-family homes on small lots with grassy lawns. Back in 1885, there was just one house on the future Primrose Avenue: the William N. Monroe House, aka “The Oaks,” surrounded by citrus orchards and a park.

Monroe was a Civil War veteran and successful railroad builder who counted both the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific as clients at a time when rail was rapidly expanding across the country. He came to Los Angeles in 1875 with his family after completing the construction of the Southern Pacific line from Omaha to LA, and a decade later added “developer” to his resume by purchasing 240 acres of Elias “Lucky” Baldwin’s sprawling land at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. Monroe would later co-found Monrovia, give the town its name, become the director of one of a local bank and become its first mayor. 

But first Monroe, his wife Mary Jane and their kids needed a home base. In 1884 they were living in a tent on their new land. They built a small Victorian cottage to occupy temporarily, then commissioned Solomon Haas – an architect perhaps best known for the former Los Angeles City Hall that stood on Broadway from 1889 to 1928 – to design them a two-story mansion just down the street. After Monroe and his family moved into The Oaks, his brother Campbell Monroe took over the temporary cottage with his family, and added a second story. You can still visit that older Victorian, regarded as Monrovia’s first house, at 225 Monroe Place just around the corner. 

The Oaks is a quintessential Queen Anne Victorian, with its asymmetrical shape and elaborate roofline punctuated by porches, dormers, a chimney and a tall, rectangular corner turret. There’s also a whole ‘nother layer of fancypants on this one: roof brackets, fishscale shingles, decorative gables and carved wood panels beneath the roofline, all typical of the ornate Eastlake sub-style that was all the rage for the well-to-do at the time. Depending on the source, the house has anywhere from 13-16 rooms on the inside (the exact quantity changed over time), many with 12-foot ceilings; five bedrooms, multiple parlours, three bathrooms, a formal dining room, a butler’s pantry…and the interiors retain the original old-growth redwood. As late as the 2000s, there was even a Ben Franklin Stove wood-burning stove in the kitchen – might still be there!

A short four years after moving in, Monroe got a commission to build a railroad for the Chilean government, and the entire family uprooted and moved overseas (bad timing, there was a political revolution underway at the time and the railroad ended up confiscated by the new government). The Oaks was sold to Monroe’s fellow Monrovia co-founders E.F. Spence and J.D. Bicknell, who partnered with USC to open a Young Ladies College at their old pal’s former home. Just 18 months after it opened, the school closed and The Oaks was on the market again. 

It spent the early decades of the 20th century as a private residence, and was divvied up and leased to boarders during WWII. George & Sheila Dragan bought the place in the 1970s, and began to restore it to its near-original condition. At the bottom of this detailed history by the Monrovia Historical Society, there’s a very pro-looking brochure prepared by the Dragans to attract film productions to their home. From reports I’ve read, subsequent owners have continued to keep it in tip-top shape. 

Sources & Recommended Reading

+The Oaks’ NRHP nomination form

+Baker, Steve & Sylvia Dohnal: “Detailed history and brochure on the ‘William Newton Monroe House’ or ‘The Oaks’ (Monrovia Historical Society)

+Hathaway, Edithe Harbison: “William Newton Monroe” (Monrovia Historical Society) – PDF download

+“Early Monrovia History” (Monrovia Historic Preservation Group)

+“Monroe Addition to Monrovia Tract” (Early Monrovia Structures)

+The Oaks @ LocationsHub

+William H. Monroe House (Michael Locke, 2011)