Frederick Mitchell Mooers House

The Victorian Mansion on Bonnie Brae Street in Westlake is the Frederick Mitchell Mooers House, built in 1894. The house was purchased around 1898 by its namesake, a former drugstore clerk and newspaper reporter who discovered gold in California in 1895. Mooers lived in the house until he died in 1900; it then went to his mother and then his brothers after her death in 1902. The 2.5-story wood frame house featured a central, round-arched entrance, a 1-story wraparound porch with second and attic-story balconies, and a three-story front corner tower with an elongated domed roof. The mansion was deemed an L.A. Historic and Cultural Monument in 1967 and has been featured in books as one of the best-preserved Victorian homes in California. The Mooers House is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (1967) and a National Register of Historic Places listing (1976) for its significance in architecture.

Frederick Mitchell Mooers was born in Ithaca, New York in 1847. In 1860, he was the oldest of four Mooers children (ages one month to twelve years) in the household of his parents, Eliza and James Mooers. James was a shoe merchant and owned real estate worth $1,200; there were two servants in the home in Ithaca. In his early twenties, Mooers moved to New York City where he became a drugstore clerk. He later became a bookkeeper, and then a newspaper reporter for the Brooklyn Eagle.

Mooers later spent years prospecting for gold in Western states. Mooers and his prospecting partners C.A. Burcham and John Singleton discovered gold in California around 1895. Their Yellow Aster gold mine, near Randsburg in Kern County, made them wealthy men. Mooers purchased the house that came to bear his name in an expensive neighborhood of L.A. Mooers resided there from 1898 to his death in 1900. In 1899, a French syndicate reportedly offered $3 million to purchase the Yellow Aster Mine; John Langston was president of the Yellow Aster Company at that time. Mooers' estate was contested by his estranged wife, Frances L., who he had been in the midst of divorcing; Frances only received one-sixth of her husband's estate, per a recently drawn-up will. The remainder was to go to Mooers' mother and brothers. The matter was settled before going to trial, but the mansion went to Mooers' mother. After the mother's death in 1902, the house passed to her surviving sons.

The Mooers House is dated to 1894 and was built on high ground called Arlington Heights (now Westlake), a few blocks from a lake and park (now MacArthur Park). The Sanborn map for this area from 1894 showed the house as "Being Built." The mansion's design combines a number of Victorian styles of architecture: Queen Anne, Richardsonian Romanesque, and Moorish Revival; the architect's identity is unknown. The building contractor who first owned the house was Frank Lorin Wright. The 2.5-story wood frame house featured a central, round-arched entrance, a 1-story wraparound porch with second and attic-story balconies, and a three-story front corner tower with an elongated domed roof. The multiple gable ends are decorated with bargeboards. The mansion's interior was detailed lavishly with hand-carved woodwork, fine wallpapers, and embossed leather walls in the dining room.

The mansion was deemed an L.A. Historic and Cultural Monument in 1967 and has been featured in books as one of the best-preserved Victorian homes in California. The Frederick Mitchell Mooers House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 for its architectural significance. It was owned by the Demmler family by the mid-1970s, who planned to restore the mansion; Mr. Demmler worked as a woodworker. The house sustained minor damage in an earthquake in 1971. It continues to be a private residence.

Anonymous. "The Yellow Aster Mine." The Record-Union (Sacramento) April 26th, 1899. 6-6.

Anonymous. "Mining News of the Pacific Coast." The San Francisco Call (San Francisco) November 25th, 1900. 40-40.

Baker, Craig. Mooers House, 818 S. Bonnie Brae, Historical Marker Database. January 30th, 2023. Accessed May 19th, 2023. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=184007.

Grenier, Judson. Nunis, Doyce Blackman. Poole, Jean Bruce. A Guide to Historic Places in Los Angeles County. Dubuque, IA. Kendall/Hunt, 1978.

Naverson, Kenneth. Beautiful America's California Victorians. Woodburn, OR. Beautiful America Publishing Company, 1998.

U.S. Census Bureau. Household of James Moores, Town of Ithaca, Thompkins County, NY, p. 10, dwelling 88, family 88. Washington, DC. U.S. Government, 1860.

U.S. Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service. The National Register of Historic Places. Edition 1975-1976. Volume II. Washington, DC. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1977.

Winter, Robert W. NRHP nomination of Frederick Mitchell Mooers House, Bonnie Brae Ave., Los Angeles, California. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1975.