The La Cañada Flintridge Historical Buildings Collection illustrates how La Cañada Flintridge, California has developed and changed from the time it was made up of two unincorporated communities, La Cañada and Flintridge, to its current state as a prosperous city. The collection consists of photographs, stereograph cards, and postcards of homes, businesses, and other buildings in La Cañada Flintridge. Materials date from 1910 to 2017, with images of historically significant buildings, including homes belonging to the founding Lanterman family and the first church in the Crescenta-Cañada Valley. Also of note are the numerous press photographs of homes in the Flintridge Development, many of which were designed by important California architects, including Myron Hunt, Paul R. Williams, Wallace Neff, Ray Jay Kieffer, and the firm of Marston, Van Pelt, and Maybury. Images that are a result of a 1990s photographic survey of historic homes in the city by the Lanterman House are also included.

Prior to its incorporation in 1976, the city of La Cañada Flintridge was made up of two separate communities, La Cañada and Flintridge. La Cañada was founded in the early 1870s by homesteaders and health-seekers eager for land and a healthy climate. One of the founding families of La Cañada was the Lanterman family, who arrived in the Crescenta-Cañada Valley in 1875. They were the owners of the home now known as the Lanterman House Museum. The Flintridge Development was the brainchild of former United States Senator, Frank Putnam Flint, between the 1920s and early 1930s. Both the Lantermans and Flint owned large amounts of land that was subdivided and developed into what is now La Cañada Flintridge. The exclusive homes in Flintridge attracted the rich and famous, and with them, the most talented architects in California to build their homes. The La Cañada Flintridge Historical Buildings Collection is made up of several sources, including some Lanterman family papers. On April 21, 1987, the City of La Cañada Flintridge purchased the family papers and the furnishings of the Lanterman House from the Church of the Lighted Window, which had inherited them from the last surviving member of the Lanterman family. In addition, materials come from the La Cañada Historical Society, which later became the Lanterman Historical Museum Foundation, which currently runs the Lanterman House. In the 1990s, the Lanterman House did a photographic survey of historic homes in La Cañada Flintridge, and these images are also in this collection. There are also images that have been individually contributed by the community.

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Use of the materials is governed by applicable copyright law. The Lanterman House and Lanterman House Archives reserve the right to restrict any materials from reproduction at any time. Property rights reside with the Lanterman House. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. The Lanterman House’s physical ownership of the materials in its collection does not imply ownership of copyright. It is the user’s responsibility to resolve any copyright issues related to the use and distribution of reproduced materials. For permission to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Lanterman House Archives.

Collection is open to the public for research. Use is restricted by rules intended to protect and preserve the materials in good condition for the future. Contact the Lanterman House Archives at least one week in advance to ensure access to the materials. For additional information, please contact the Lanterman House Archives.