This Classical Revival estate was originally designed for Mrs. Jeanette Donovan by architect Parker O. Wright  in 1913. According to Windsor Square Blogspot, the house at 419 Lorraine Boulevard was one of the first houses of any kind to be built in the Windsor Square subdivision. The Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society lists Theodore Eisen as the architect. Images of the earliest building permits are not available on the city’s website so it unclear why Eisen is cited. Other information found online seems to give credit to Wright including the image below and the story we found from the Los Angeles Times historical archive.
Thanks to the historic newspaper archive online at our amazing Los Angeles Public Library, we found this article about the home published in the Los Angeles Times on January 14, 1912.
PLANS COLONIAL MANSION.: Designs Out for Stately Home in Fashionable Windsor Square. House to Occupy Sightly Lot. Beautiful Colonial Mansion for New Windsor Square.
Los Angeles Times (1886-1922); Los Angeles, Calif. [Los Angeles, Calif]. 14 Jan 1912: VI11.Complete plans for the large colonial residence to be built for Mrs. Jeanette G. Donovan in Windsor Square have just been finished by Parker O. Wright, Jr., and the work of constructing the home will be started as quickly as possible. It is probable that this will be the first of the fine mansions that will soon adorn the exclusive residence park out Wilshire Way.
Mrs. Donovan has a site near the four acres purchased some time ago by Dr. Peter Janss and the members of his family, and where they are to build four handsome homes in a “park within a park.” She paid $10,500 for her lot and her home is to cost over $80, 000.
The residence is distinctly colonial in every phase from the pillars to the interior arrangement of the various chambers. It will be approached on one side by a walk and on the other by a driveway, both shaded by rows of Italian cypresses. Rose arbors will extend that either side of the portals.
Running through the center of the house is a hall 18 feet wide, the stairs rising from this to the upper floor and turning both ways from the landing. On one side of the lower floor is the drawing-room, extending from the front to the rear open on three sides to the sun and air with a screened loggia at the rear. On the other side of the hall are the library and dining room. On the upper floor are three large bed chambers, each with a private bath and dressing room. There are three screened sleeping porches, each large enough for three beds.
At the rear of the house there is planned a marble swimming pool and near it an immense aviary. There will also be a lath house and a garage.
While the correct name of the first architect who designed this home is a bit of mystery, there’s no doubt this is an important home in Windsor Square. In 1973, it was designated a Historic Cultural Monument Number 115, known as the Evans Residence.
