The Upton Sinclair House, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Feb 26th 2011 at 1:01PM

Today's home is a piece of literary history in Southern California. The Upton Sinclair House is located in the inland community of Monrovia. This home was built in 1923 and is on the National Register of Historic Places and is eligible for Mills Act property tax benefits. Sinclair is one of America's most famous novelists focusing on social criticism. His book "The Jungle" published in the early 1900s revealed the underside of the Chicago meatpacking industry and turned the stomach of a nation. He later wrote a series of 11 novels featuring a central character named Lanny Budd and won a Pulitzer Prize for one in the series, "Dragon's Teeth," in 1942.

His four-bedroom home is an example of the Spanish Colonial Revival style and has a facade of high arched windows. Other original features include Mission Revival parapet tops and an ornate arched and bracketed doorway. There is a living room with a fireplace and a formal dining room with French doors opening to a covered side patio. The kitchen has been remodeled but the fixtures throughout the home are original and both bathrooms are overlaid with highly prized Batchelder Tile. A grand staircase leads to a wide hallway and three bedrooms which all overlook the California -style landscaped yards below. There is also a small guest house in the backyard as well as a patio and fountain. This home is listed at $1.5 million.

[via the LA Times]

Gallery: The Upton Sinclair House