Exterior view of Dr. Benjamin B. Briggs' House on Crescenta Terrace, ca.1885

Photograph of an exterior view of the home of Dr. Benjamin Bennet Briggs on Crescenta Terrace, ca.1885. The house is at center and is a long, single-story building with a wrap-around porch. There are two chimneys protruding from the dark roof and several doorways are visible around the perimeter of the house. Six people are standing in front of the house and all appear to be looking to the left. There are several large bushes in the foreground, and a tall mountain is visible in the background at right.; Dr. Benjamin Briggs built a long, low, one-story residence about 1882 in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains overlooking the La Crescenta valley. On a clear day one could see Catalina Island. For building material he used cement that was shipped around the Horn from Germany. Several members of the Briggs family are taking their ease on the porch supported by ten slender columns that stretches along the length of the house. The people, from left to right, are Carolyn C. Briggs, S. Paul Ward, Benjamin Briggs Ward, Irene Briggs Ward, Asel Briggs, and Dr. Benjamin Bennet Briggs. A garden of pampas grass and flowering shrubs borders the porch. Grape vines on the patio were brought from Persia by Dr. S. Lawrence Ward, Dr. Briggs' son-in-law, in 1885. At the time Mrs. Dirks donated this photograph the house was still standing, at the top of Briggs Avenue, which leads from Foothill Boulevard up hill to the area known first as Crescenta Terrace, later as Briggs Terrace.