Woodbury Story House 1882

Frederick Woodbury, a retired military officer, built his home on the Ranch in 1882.
It still stands at the top of Madison Avenue in Altadena
behind the Sheriff's Department on El Molino.

WOODBURY HOUSE
The Woodbury Ranch Home built in 1882 by Capt. Frederick Woodbury.
Note the white fencing at the left rear of the house.
This would be the nursery in which the young deodars of Christmas Tree Lane are being grown.

1882 - THE CELEBRATED WOODBURY HOUSE

In 1882 Frederick Woodbury builds his ranch home which will become the celebrated Woodbury House of Altadena. It holds the distinction of being the oldest building standing today on the original ranch site. Though it is preceded by the Old Fair Oaks House as the oldest standing home in Altadena, the Woodbury Home's legendary history makes it the most celebrated. Here following is a timeline of its own.

1883 - John Woodbury returns from Italy with a handful of deodar cedar (cedrus deodara) seeds which are planted and nursed in wood frames behind the Woodbury House. Deodars are indigenous to the Himalayas and their name means Tree of God. (Note: Woodbury contacted a friend with the Department of Agriculture to ask if the trees might survive in the West Coast environment. Obviously the answer was yes.)

1892 - Fred Woodbury sells the house to a Mr. Walker.

1894 - Walker sells the house to a Mr. Hampton L. Story, a Chicago agent for the Estey Organ Company who moved to San Diego in 1883 and became one of the group who built the Hotel del Coronado. His earlier interest in music had him build the addition referred to as the "music room" in which he installed a large pipe organ and at which he was well adept.

1924 - The Stories move to Los Angeles where Hampton passes away in 1925

1925 - The house is left to Mrs. Story after Hampton's death, and she passes in 1926

1926 - 1927 The house is left to the Story's son, James, who in turn sells it to Mr. Ralph Goddard.

1933 - The house is leased by Goddard to a Miss Leta Nelson who run it as the Royal Trees Tavern, an upscale coffee house.

1940 - The house comes under use by the County of Los Angeles. It even serves as a courthouse. This is part of the County designation of Altadena's "center of town."

ca. 1957 - The house is returned to private property and purchased by a Mrs. Rietzke. (Note: Mrs. Rietzke after having painted the house reported that it took a whopping 167 gallons of paint.)

ca. 1968 - House is sold to a Mr. and Mrs. Stevens. It is soon reclaimed by Mrs. Rietzke.

1990 - Dr. Bill Schleider and Mr. James Sallenbach purchase the house. They took several steps to restore the house to its original Victorian glory.

2001 - House is purchased by Ms. Caroline Styles.

2005 - House sold to be renovated for Television and Film production.

<!--StartFragment --> Woodbury--Story House
(added 12/30/1993 - Building - #93001463)
Also known as Woodbury, Frederick J. House
http://www.historicdistricts.com/ca/Los+Angeles/state9.html 
2606 N. Madison Ave., Altedena

The Woodbury--Story House was listed on 1993-12-30 and is located in Los Angeles county. One of the many sites and buildings eligible for the National Register of Historic Places

The National Register has identified more than 72,000 districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture. Over 1 million contributing resources are included in the listings.