From the late 1970s to the late 2010s, San Juan Capistrano resident Ilse Byrnes nominated sixteen buildings and cultural landscapes to the National Register of Historic Places and the California Register of Historical Resources. The nominations represented the breadth of California architecture and cultural history: adobes from the Spanish and Mexican periods, a farmhouse from the early American period, early twentieth century high style private homes, rustic cabins, a medical building and a utility building; and an ancient California street by the railway tracks. Sometimes Ilse was asked to prepare the nomination as in the case of Crystal Cove State Park when two women who spent youthful summers at the cove recruited her. But Ilse usually took the initiative herself to nominate a site she believed needed recognition or was vulnerable to “Mr. Developer,” as she put it. And, she always volunteered her skills of researching and then writing what are essentially technical documents, requiring close attention, and time focussed on managing the nomination through its various stages with the State Office of Historic Preservation.

Ilse Byrnes (1928-2022), community activist and public historian, in front of the Montanez Adobe in the Los Rios Historic District, San Juan Capistrano. Photograph courtesy of *Los Angeles Times*, 2013.

Listing on the National Register is largely an honorific. Though in California listing can trigger a public review process if a site is going to be impacted by a significant project, listing doesn’t automatically bestow specific protections or guide future treatment. However, it does elevate a site’s importance in the public imagination, suddenly inviting attention, and thus can and does make a positive difference to the life of a resource. Ilse told me once that in the 1980s, many people thought the Esslinger building located in downtown San Juan Capistrano was ugly and said she was crazy to nominate it. But in doing so, Ilse helped to advance understanding of the Streamline Moderne style and post-Depression era architecture, and while it is no longer a medical clinic, today it has a useful life as an office building and adds interest and depth to the streetscape.

The Esslinger Building (1938), 31866 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano, CA

Ilse represented the fifth district as a member of the Orange County Historical Commission for many years and was a member of the task force that led to the creation of Preserve Orange County. She was a volunteer educator at the Montanez Adobe, once the home of midwife Polonia Montanez in the Los Rios district. Ilse was not only concerned about preservation of the built environment but also of the open space and equestrian trails of San Juan Capistrano, also of historic importance to the town. Ilse was a member of the City’s trails commission.

Ilse died recently at age 94 so we wanted to recognize her contribution to public history and preservation in Orange County by sharing the index of nominations she authored herself and thus publishing a record of her remarkable accomplishments.*

By Krista Nicholds

* Upon my request, Ilse mailed me the list of her nominations in 2017. The handwritten notation at the bottom is mine.

The Sixteen Sites that Ilse Byrnes Saved