2024 GEM Award Finalist: 870 H Avenue
870 H Avenue
With its window grilles, courtyard design, red-tiled roof and decorative wood entry door, the house at 870 H Ave. has all the elements of a Spanish hacienda-style home designed by Cliff May. But research shows no evidence that the popular architect, who became the “father of the ranch house,” designed the house. It was built by Walter Vestal in 1939 for $6,850, and most likely Vestal, a local contractor who had worked with May, designed the house based on May’s vision of an early California house.