Heritage House (Riverside, California) | historic landmark

 house, historic landmark

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8193 Magnolia Avenue
Riverside, CA 92503
(951) 689-1333
www.riversideca.gov/museum/heritage.asp

A historic house museum celebrating Riverside's Heritage. Admission is free; however, donations are welcome with proceeds supporting the ongoing maintenance and development of Heritage House.

~Regular Tour Hours~
Closed July and August
Friday 12:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday 12:00 - 3:30 p.m.

Mr. and Mrs. James Bettner settled in Riverside in the late 1870s, within a decade of the young town's founding. Mr. Bettner, a lawyer and civil engineer in Yonkers, New York, had been diagnosed with Bright's Disease, a kidney ailment, and came to southern California hoping that its healthful climate might prolong his life.

The Bettner's purchased thirty-eight acres of land at the southwest corner of Indiana Avenue and Jefferson Street and planted it in citrus. There, in 1880, they built their home.

The Bettner family quickly became prominent in their new community. In 1882, James Bettner served as president of the Riverside Fruit Company, which built the city's first packing house. In 1883, he was one of the organizers of the Casa Blanca Tennis Club, the city's first private recreational facility. In the mid-eighties, Bettner oranges were among those which won awards at an exposition in New Orleans.

James Bettner died in 1888, aged 45, survived by his 45-year old widow, Catherine, and two sons. In early 1891, younger son Louis died of tuberculosis at age 22. Then alone, Catherine deeded the family home to her married son, Robert, and set upon the construction of a new house.

Her motivations in building a new home were perhaps twofold. First, the old house bore the sadness of a lost husband and son. Second, she was determined to have a showplace.

Her new house, built in 1891, was designed in the Queen Anne Victorian style by architect John A. Walls, of the prestigious Los Angeles firm of Morgan and Walls, and is located on Magnolia Avenue, then Riverside's most scenic thoroughfare. While still under construction, the Riverside Daily Press predicted that it would be one of the city's most elegant houses. The construction cost was $10,755.