After exhausting all of the internet searching I could do, I was planning to contact the family of the house’s architect and builder, I bought a membership to a family tree service. The contact for the surviving family ended up knowing a great deal about the builder, so I told him about the recent discrepancy I discovered in an otherwise perfect book. Guy Bliss’ masterpiece is 897 Holliston in Pasadena. The building records place it at 1908, the same year he concluded work on the Bliss Tract in Los Angeles. A house of such fully realized western bungalow style built that early would certainly make its architect builder more influential than it was thought. This house was of interest because the Bliss tract is in need of heavy restoration, and we need clues from the architect’s contemporary buildings in order to fill in any stubbornly vacant details. This book listed the construction date a full two years later (an eternity in the California bungalow evolution ).
“I wrote that book” he replied. I was speaking to Guy Bliss’ official historian. He informed me that he was unaware that Bliss was building in Los Angeles. He then explained to me that for buildings predating the recording office, the dates listed are merely guesses. A mix of excitement, embarrassment, disappointment and wonder washed over me. He sent me the full list of buildings built by Guy Stanley Bliss, over half of which were bulldozed in the 60s and 70s to build ugly apartments.
I sent the info to add to his database, and I set about visiting all of the surviving buildings on the list. I learned that his earlier work, my house included, were done by Bliss and Son, Guy and his father, Ashley, who was a Peach Farmer in the Inland Empire. The place was built with peach money as a spec house. Bliss went on to become a large contractor, building institutional buildings and schools, but he died by 1919 of TB.