The Zane Grey Estate was a historic house in

Altadena, California Altadena () is an unincorporated area, and census-designated place in the San Gabriel Valley and the Verdugos regions of Los Angeles County, California. Directly north of Pasadena, California, Pasadena, it is located approximately from Downtow ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2002. The main house was built by Chicago business machine manufacturer Arthur Herbert Woodward. Designed by architects

Myron Hunt Myron Hubbard Hunt (February 27, 1868 – May 26, 1952) was an American architect whose numerous projects include many noted landmarks in Southern California and Evanston, Illinois. Hunt was elected a Fellow in the American Institute of Archi ...

and

Elmer Grey Elmer Grey, FAIA (April 29, 1872 – November 14, 1963) was an Americans, American architect and artist based in Pasadena, California. Grey designed many noted landmarks in Southern California, including the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Huntingto ...

, the 1907

Mediterranean Revival style Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references to Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonial ...

house was acclaimed as the first "fireproof" home in Altadena, built entirely of reinforced concrete as prescribed by Woodward's wife, Edith Norton Woodward. Edith Woodward was a survivor of the

Iroquois Theater Fire The Iroquois Theatre fire was a catastrophic building fire in Chicago, Illinois, that broke out on December 30, 1903, during a performance attended by 1,700 people. The fire caused 602 deaths and 250 non-fatal injuries. It ranks as the worst ...

of 1903.Robert H. Peterson, ''Altadena's Golden Years'', Alhambra, California: Sinclair Printing and Litho, Inc., 1976, pp. 43–44. In 1920, spurred by the memory of a visit to Altadena during their honeymoon, author

Zane Grey Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American frontier ...

and his wife bought the home. After the Greys bought it they built an addition on the roof for a studio and library. After the Greys' death, their sons owned the property. The grounds were divided up and neighboring houses were built on them. The house was sold by their son,

Romer Romer, Römer, Roemer, or similar may refer to: * Romer (surname), includes a list of people with the name * Romer (tool), a cartographic device also known as a reference card * Rømer scale, a disused temperature scale named after Ole Rømer * ...

, in 1970. The house went up for sale again in 2020. Zane Grey Estate after Eaton Fire 2025

In January 2025, the home was destroyed by the

Eaton Fire The Eaton Fire was a highly destructive wildfire in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, in Southern California. The fire began on the evening of January 7, 2025, in Eaton Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains, and a powerful S ...

, leaving only some concrete walls standing.

References

External links

Zane Grey Estate Historical Marker
Houses in Altadena, California

Grey Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

Elmer Grey buildings Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California Zane Grey Buildings and structures destroyed by the January 2025 Southern California wildfires 1907 establishments in California 2025 disestablishments in California {{LosAngelesCountyCA-NRHP-stub