12 - Sturdevant Bungalow   721 Amoroso Place

12 - Sturdevant Bungalow

721 Amoroso Place

The Sturdevant Bungalow is one of a grouping of homes that were built on spec by William G. Laueson in the Venice Annex Tract. Laueson had been building homes in Venice, Ocean Park and Santa Monica and was one of the early developers of the San Fernando Valley. The house is essentially unaltered since its construction and serves as a near-pristine example of the simple Craftsman Bungalow. While it appears to be a stock set of plans that Laueson used, the quality of design and workmanship is high and the house displays a high degree of integrity making it an excellent example for the study of the Craftsman style and the methods of construction that were used at the time it was built.

The Sturdevant Bungalow is the most intact of the five in Venice Annex and it is a prime example of the design of the single-story front-gabled Craftsman Bungalow. The builder is important because of his early work in the Venice area and his later impact in the development of the San Fernando Valley. It appears that Mrs. Sturdevant, a Christian Science Practitioner, used this house as a weekend retreat, while living in Hollywood. By 1920, it was owned and occupied by the Whyler family as the demographics of Venice began to change from a vacation community to a suburb of Los Angeles.

The Sturdevant Bungalow at became Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #927 on 7/9/2008. Researched and written by historian Charles J. Fisher.