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Redlands
A treasure trove of Southern California's architectural heritage, this
orange-growing town remains one of the best stops in California for anyone
with an interest in EARLY 1900S BUILDINGS, especially Mission Revival
style. From the moment you enter town on Orange Street heading south from
Interstate 10, you sense the city's grandeur. An open loggia train station
on Orange just south of Pearl is a pillared temple to rail travel. Downtown
Redlands has been tastefully redone (read "mailed") with brick-pattern
streets and circular intersections, and has enjoyed a mild renaissance.
In the residential neighborhoods, don't miss HOLT HOUSE (405 W Olive Avenue),
BURRAGE HOUSE (1205 Crescent Avenue), and MOREY HOUSE (140 Terracina Boulevard),
the last of which is perhaps the most photographed Victorian in Southern
California. This is also the location of the SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MUSEUM
(2024 Orange Tree Lane; 888/BIRDEGG), which depicts the region's heritage
and natural history with three floors of exhibits on anthropology, archaeology,
history, birds, mammals, reptiles, fossils, and fine arts.
ON THE TRAIL OF GRAND PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE
Railroad barons of the late 1800s and early 1900s
saw themselves as modern-day Greeks of a new Golden Age. Fittingly,
they built a legacy of temple-like buildings across the Inland
Empire. Venture into most towns built along a rail line in San
Bemardino and Riverside Counties, and chances are good that you'd
find a spectacular bit of train station architecture. Styles range
from brick Queen Anne (in Perns, south of Riverside),
tothe classical Greektempie ofRedlands, to Riverside's "Hopi"
Southwest style, to San Bernar-dino's huge Mission Revival pile.
Some have fallen into disuse. Others have been adapted as restaurants.
And a few still function as—surprise—railroad stations!
Other chunks of grand architectural stylingto lookforin ever/town
include the public libraries. Redlands has a spectacular example,
certainly one of the finest in the state. Keep an eye out, also,
for civic buildings and churches. (Best church examples include
: the red Arizona sandstone First Unrtarian in Riverside (at the
corner of Seventh and lemon) and Trinily Episcopal Church in Redlands
(at 419 South Fourth Street). Where did all the money to build,
build, build come from? Agriculture, especially
citrus, was the lifeblood of this temperate area. The rich reaped
enormous profits from winter crops as the rest of the country
waited for spring. In its southern realm at least, California's
state moniker—"The Golden State"—came to
signify oranges as much as it did the nuggets once found in a
miner's pan.
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