Charles Forman, known as the
founder of Toluca Lake, moved from Virginia City, Nevada, to Los Angeles in 1882.
He brought his Virginia City home, built in 1875, with him:
July 25, 1882,
Los Angeles Times @ ProQuest via LAPL
Here it is on the 1894 Sanborn Map on the north side of Pico, between Sentous and Georgia Streets (a site now
under the LA Convention Center). There's a square water tower behind the house, with a windmill on top, and a
large barn farther back:
ProQuest via LAPL
I made a screen shot of this page at the Islandora/UCLA site (it's often not available):
UCLA
Here is a closer view of that photo from the Huntington Digital Library (where it's currently unidentified;
it's undated other than c. 1890-1908, but it has to be a lot closer to 1908 than 1890):
489245 @ HDL
This is also unidentified, but it must be the west side of the house, with the water tower in back:
489246 @ HDL
And this should be the east side of the house, with the barn in back:
489247 @ HDL
This
biography of Forman says that the house "stood in the midst of an orange grove, and was the scene of many
pleasant social gatherings." The bio also discusses moving the house.
Here is another currently unidentified photo of the Forman house, in the midst of that orange grove, c. 1890 (or
perhaps a bit earlier; the photographer moved to LA in
1885):
CA State Library (William Henry Fletcher Collection,
"House, View 24 of 39")
The Formans moved to 1719 S. Flower Street in 1901. Their old home on Pico, alone on its block on the 1894 Sanborn
except for a single house on Sentous Street, had neighbors by 1906:
1906 Sanborn Map @ ProQuest via LAPL
1910 Baist Map; those streetcar tracks are pretty close to the house:
Historic Mapworks
Forman's
biography mentions that the home was torn down in early 1913 for additional streetcar tracks. There's a
demo permit dated February 19, 1913, for a two-story frame house at 1035 W. Pico, which has to be the same house.
Streetcar tracks cover the site of the house on the
1914 Baist Map.
The June 16, 1889,
Los Angeles Times mentioned one of the "many pleasant social gatherings" at the Forman
home on Pico. It seems like a lot of the big names in town were in attendance:
ProQuest via LAPL