Crank House

Built in 1882 (Victorian architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. 16 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1894.

From the record

“Crank House, also known as Fair Oaks Ranch, is an 1883 Victorian style residence in Pasadena, Los Angeles County, California. The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997 for its association with the early settlement of Pasadena.”
Wikipedia article Crank House, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 616 National Register listings published here for Los Angeles County · listed in 1997 · category: Building · built in 1882, Victorian architecture.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 2 buildingss as contributing to the listing.
Address. 2186 Crary St., Altadena, 91104
When was it listed? July 1997
Category. building
Census division. Pasadena
When was it built? 1882
Architectural style. Victorian architecture
National Register reference number. 97000751 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1894 to 1995

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 101 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Crank House, surveyed 1995

Topographic sheet covering Crank House, surveyed 1894

Fires near this property

235 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 235 fires within 5 miles of Crank House between 1992 and 2020, burning about 6,541 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 33 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	92
Equipment and vehicle use	38
Arson/incendiarism	33
Smoking	19
Recreation and ceremony	16
Misuse of fire by a minor	10
Power generation/transmission/distribution	9
Fireworks	7
Natural	6
Debris and open burning	5

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
7 September 2008	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Angeles National Forest	CHANEY
5 September 2004	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Angeles National Forest	SUNSHINE
4 September 2002	Power generation/transmission/distribution	under an acre	Angeles National Forest	ELLIOT
30 September 1995	Arson/incendiarism	7.0 acres	Angeles National Forest	CHANEY
30 September 1992	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Angeles National Forest	WILDERNESS
3 September 2001	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Angeles National Forest	TWIN
3 September 1996	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Angeles National Forest	LUCKY
22 September 2019	Arson/incendiarism	10 acres	Angeles National Forest	LOWE

Every fire recorded in Los Angeles County

Mines and quarries near this property

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Crank House: 4 past producers, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Dawn	Gold	Past Producer
Devil S Gate	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Devils Canyon Dam	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
La Canada Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Osborn Co	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Osborn Co.	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Pasadena Aggregates Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Los Angeles County

Storms near this property

3 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Altadena, the town this property stands in, in 3 storm reports between 2000 and 2025: 2 flash flood, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
February 2025	Flash Flood	Altadena	-	Heavy rain produced significant flash flooding and debris flows at the intersection of Lake Avenue and East Altadena Drive. Mud and debris flows resulted in the closure of all three northbound lanes.
October 2004	Flash Flood	Altadena	-	no account filed
March 2000	Flood	Altadena	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Los Angeles County

Maps showing this location

16 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1894 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:62500
1896 USGS Pasadena quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
1900 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:62500 - 4 printings
1900 USGS Pasadena quadrangle1:62500 - 10 printings
1901 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000 - 6 printings
1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1928 USGS Altadena quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
1949 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1953 USGS Mt. Wilson quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings
1955 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000
1959 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000 - 3 printings
1966 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000
1966 USGS Mt. Wilson quadrangle1:24000 - 4 printings
1975 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1979 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:100000
1995 USGS Mount Wilson quadrangle1:24000

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
House at 1487 Loma Vista Street	1.1 miles	2004
Hermitage	1.2 miles	2001
Keyes Bungalow	1.2 miles	1978
Hillmont	1.2 miles	2011
House at 1141 North Chester Avenue	1.3 miles	2004
Bungalow Heaven Historic District	1.4 miles	2008

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 97000751 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Los Angeles County	All 616 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.