Crystal Cove State Park
Crystal Cove State Park is one of Orange County’s largest remaining examples of open space and natural seashore. Previously owned by the Irvine Company, James Irvine II allowed his friends and family as well as employees to build cottages on the area that is now referred to as Crystal Cove. As cottages began to undergo renovations and become more permanent residences, the owners were offered a choice by the Irvine Company to either move the cottages elsewhere or to hand over ownership and allow them to be leased by the company. The Crystal Cove Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places site, inside the park contains 46 beach cottages from the 1920s and 1930s, of which 29 have been restored and 21 are available for rent.
Laguna Beach, Orange County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt
Restoration of the 46 buildings in the Crystal Cove Historic District, built in the 1920s-30s, began in the mid-2000s. The last phase of restoration is now fully funded and some of the cottages are already being rented. The National Register description of the buildings in the Crystal Cove Historic District is still apt even with a restoration “facelift”: ‘Each cottage is a unique design statement and constitutes “architecture without architects.” Each builder constructed to suit his own needs and imagination… In its character, in its structures and areas of access, the district remains much the same as it was when the last cottage was erected…’
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt