AgdaPkt 2014-12-08 Closed and Joint SA

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8.B. - Page 17 WELLESLEY PARK HALS NO. CA-44 PAGE 2 connections have been made to the exterior street grid over the years. Wellesley Crescent Park remains the centerpiece of the subdivision. It is three-quarters of an acre in size and oval in shape. The entrance to the park is much diminished from its earlier days, although it still conveys a formal character and the lions to each side of the gateway are still extant. The setting of the park has been altered by the construction of apartment buildings on the north and east sides. The presence of mature landscaping, however, ensures that the park remains an oasis in the midst of this development. A few properties in Wellesley Park that were early estate homes predate the platting of the area, including the oldest building in Redwood City,the Finger Farm House. This entire side of Wellesley Park in fact includes several atypical properties with unusually large lots that border Cordilleras Creek. Today the homes along this stretch represent a variety of architectural styles. Their siting is nonetheless representative of the earlier platting pattern and the styles fall within the Period of Significance for the subdivision. The most significant period of development for the subdivision occurred in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Accordingly, the homes from this era represent a mix of 1920s Period Revival homes and Craftsman and Spanish Colonial-style bungalows. The last wave of development in Wellesley Park occurred in the mid-twentieth century. This era is represented by 1940s Minimal Traditional and 1950s Ranch-style homes. The later apartment buildings, seen along the north and east end of the subdivision, were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. There are a few contemporary homes in the subdivision. The houses within Wellesley Park are set at a slight angle to the street in the areas with curvilinear streets and with more rectilinear setbacks in the areas with straight streets. This, along with the curvilinear street patterns, lends variety the streetscapes. The landscaping is mature, including substantial evergreens scattered throughout the subdivision. Some lots are fenced and some are not, but consistency is maintained by the fact that lot frontages tend to be marked with landscaping or other features, if not with fences. There are sidewalks on both sides of the streets, which are separated from the street with a planting strip. Although there is a mix of architectural styles within the subdivision, the houses tend to maintain the overall scale of the neighborhood. Most of the homes are small in comparison with today's standards, in keeping with the historic period. Even the Ranch-style homes tend to respect the scale of the neighborhood, due primarily to their low profiles. An exception to the overall scale is the larger estates on the northern portion, some of which predate the subdivision (the Finger House on Finger Avenue on the north side of the subdivision is considered the oldest home in Redwood City(Goodman, 1964:10).