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Photo, Print, Drawing Anacapa Island Light Station, East Anacapa Island, Ventura, Ventura County, CA Channel Islands National Park

[ Data Pages from Survey HABS CA-2335  ]

More Resources

[ Photo Captions from Survey HABS CA-2335  ]

About this Item

Title

  • Anacapa Island Light Station, East Anacapa Island, Ventura, Ventura County, CA

Other Title

  • Channel Islands National Park

Names

  • Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
  • U.S. Bureau of Lighthouses
  • Chance Brothers and Company, Ltd.
  • Roth Construction Company
  • Roth, I. C.
  • Carpenter Brothers
  • Lippman, M. W.
  • U.S. Coast Guard
  • Cobb, Frederick
  • George Windeler Company
  • U.S. Department of the Navy
  • U.S. National Park Service (NPS), sponsor
  • ASM Affiliates, Inc., contractor
  • Davis, Shannon, historian
  • Novell, Marilyn, historian
  • Dewey, William B., photographer
  • McPartland, Mary, transmitter

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1933

Headings

  • -  maritime
  • -  navigation
  • -  light stations
  • -  lighthouses
  • -  keeper's houses
  • -  Fresnel lenses
  • -  Spanish Colonial Revival architectural elements
  • -  oil houses
  • -  water tanks
  • -  derricks
  • -  California--Ventura County--Ventura

Latitude / Longitude

  • 34.015731,-119.359567

Notes

  • -  Significance: The Anacapa Island Light Station is significant for the role it played in maritime transportation in California before 1940 and the aids that made navigation possible. It contains an intact, functioning lighthouse tower, fog signal building, and support buildings and structures, including the derrick and landings. With an increase in shipwrecks and a boom in commercial fishing and international trade in the area, a permanent light station was placed in operation in 1932 to mark the strategic east entrance of the Santa Barbara Channel. This was the last light station complex completed in California. Many of the first lighthouses in California were constructed of imported brick in the Cape Cod style typical of those constructed on the East Coast of the U.S. Over time, these designs were adapted to the unique climatic, topographical, and geographical conditions of the Pacific Coast. The "California" lighthouse towers built at higher elevations, of which the Anacapa Island lighthouse is an example, are relatively squat and have powerful lenses, so that the light can be seen for long distances under the higher West Coast fog. The light station was constructed in the regionally popular Spanish Colonial Revival style, which was especially prevalent in Southern California in the 1920s and 1930s. Most of the buildings in the light station complex, even the utilitarian buildings, were built at the same time in this same style. Only one other light station in California -the Point Vicente Light Station on the Palos Verdes Peninsula -was constructed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The Anacapa Island Light Station was listed in the National Register of Historic Places (National Register) on September 3, 1991. According to the National Register nomination, the light station meets the registration requirements for its property type as described in the Light Stations of California Multiple Property documentation form because of "the presence of a substantial light tower that was designed to hold a Fresnel lens, and one or more associated ancillary buildings." Although the Fresnel lens has been replaced, the intact light tower is substantial and has a functioning light. The original keeper's dwelling and two assistant keepers' dwellings have been demolished, but, as stated in the National Register nomination, the buildings that remain are all original and "the architectural integrity of the remaining buildings is complete (or nearly so)." At the time the National Register nomination was prepared, there were no modern non-contributing buildings on the site.3 Since 1991, a few small support buildings have been constructed within the district, specifically a restroom facility, greenhouse, dive equipment locker, and campground shelters. The 1991 nomination established the historical significance of the site under Criteria A and C. The district is linked to the protection of the historic growth of commercial shipping along the West Coast and "California's critical reliance on maritime transportation and the aids that made navigation possible," under National Register Criterion A (historic events or broad patterns of history). Under Criterion C (embodies distinctive characteristic of type, period, method of construction, or the work of a master), the district also retains the general form of a formal early twentieth century light complex composed of unaltered buildings and structures in the regionally popular architectural style of Spanish Colonial Revival. A cultural landscapes inventory of the light station in 2005 also recognized the district as a cultural landscape containing both built environment and natural elements.
  • -  Survey number: HABS CA-2335
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1929-1932 Initial Construction
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1967-1968 Subsequent Work
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1991 Subsequent Work
  • -  National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 91001101

Medium

  • Photo(s): 6
  • Data Page(s): 20
  • Photo Caption Page(s): 1

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HABS CA-2335

Source Collection

  • Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • ca4486

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Rights & Access

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For information about reproducing, publishing, and citing material from this collection, as well as access to the original items, see: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS) Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information

  • Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: HABS CA-2335
  • Access Advisory: ---

Obtaining Copies

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  • Data Pages
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  • Visit the Prints & Photographs Reading Room and request to view the group (general information about service in the reading room is available at: https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/info/001_ref.html). It is best to contact reference staff in advance (see: https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/address.html) to make sure the material is on site. OR
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      As a preservation measure, we generally do not serve an original item when a digital image is available. If you have a compelling reason to see the original, consult with a reference librarian. (Sometimes, the original is simply too fragile to serve. For example, glass and film photographic negatives are particularly subject to damage. They are also easier to see online where they are presented as positive images.)
    • No, the item is not digitized. Please go to #2.
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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, U.S. Bureau Of Lighthouses, Ltd Chance Brothers And Company, Roth Construction Company, I. C Roth, Carpenter Brothers, M. W Lippman, et al., Dewey, William B, photographer. Anacapa Island Light Station, East Anacapa Island, Ventura, Ventura County, CA. Ventura Ventura County California, 1933. translateds by Mcpartland, Marymitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/ca4486/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, C., U.S. Bureau Of Lighthouses, Chance Brothers And Company, L., Roth Construction Company, Roth, I. C., Carpenter Brothers [...] Novell, M., Dewey, W. B., photographer. (1933) Anacapa Island Light Station, East Anacapa Island, Ventura, Ventura County, CA. Ventura Ventura County California, 1933. McPartland, M., trans Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ca4486/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, et al., photographer by Dewey, William B. Anacapa Island Light Station, East Anacapa Island, Ventura, Ventura County, CA. trans by Mcpartland, Marymitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/ca4486/>.