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Overview

Just before the onset of the Depression, Pasadena architect Reginald Johnson (1882-1952) designed this house for residence for the oil company executive, William C. McDuffie (1886-1963). McDuffie had worked as the Chief Production Officer for the Royal Dutch Shell Group and, later, President of the Pacific Western Oil Company. Cash-poor Richfield owed Pacific Western oil contracts at the time, and McDuffie was seen as the right person to steer the former company back to prosperity.

Building History

William C. McDuffie, an IA-born businessman, served as the court-appointed President of the financially troubled Richfield Oil Company of California beginning in 12/1930. A Santa Cruz newspaper stated at this time: "The company is one of the major producing and distributing oil corporations on the Pacific coast. McDuffie recently took over direction of Richfield at the request of the bankers affiliated in financing of the company. The petition for a receivership was preceded by heavy trading In Richfield common stock on the Los Angeles and San Francisco exchanges yesterday and at the opening of the market today. The price slumped to 2. Several months ago the stock was selling around 14. At the time McDuffie became president financial agents reported Richfield owed about $20,000,000 to banks. In filing the petition the Supply company listed claims of $275,000, which it alleged were long overdue. By the action Richfield may continue as a going concern instead of being forced into liquidation, which would have been necessary If a receivership In bankruptcy had been sought and granted. (See Santa Cruz Evening News, vol. 47, no. 63, 01/15/1931, p. 1.)

By 1937 or 1938, McDuffie and his wife, Mary S., had moved to 1120 Old Mill Road in San Marino (See Pasadena City Directory, 1939, p. 158), where they remained until the late 1940s. In the late 1950s, McDuffie had moved to Santa Barbara, but was listed as working as a Vice-President at the California Institute of Technology. (See Santa Barbara City Directory, 1957, p. 466.)

Building Notes

According to the US Census of 1930, the house had an approximate value of $100,000. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: San Marino, Los Angeles, California; Roll: 173; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 1434; Image: 966.0; FHL microfilm: 2339908, accessed 04/26/2016.)

In 2016, the Los Angeles County Assessor indicated that the house had 8 bedrooms and 10 baths in 11,356 square feet. It appears that the original McDuffie property was sub-divided twice, once in 1964 to make way for the 3,968-square-foot dwelling at 990 Orlando Road and once in 1981 to produce space for the larger 5,420-square-foot house at 1010 Rosalind Road.

Alteration

Significant alterations occurred to the McDuffie Housei n 1945.