Charles T. McGrew was born in Indiana to a father who operated a lumber mill. Followed in his father’s footsteps, Charles became a millwright. He moved to Long Beach in 1901 and formed a building company called C. T. McGrew and Sons. Two of his four children Wallace Milton (“W. Milton”) and Horace H. ((“Hal”) followed him into the business, with W. Milton acting as superintendent of construction and Hal worked in design. The company would grow to become one of Long Beach’s most prominent general contracting firms in the early part of the 20th century and would become known for the Pacific Coast Club, a fourteen- story high Normandy style building that once graced Long Beach’s Ocean Boulevard. The McGrew Company was called the “firm that built the city’s sky-line.” But in addition to impacting the city’s skyline, the company also built many homes in the Los Cerritos area, including the home at 165 E. Roosevelt Street. This beautiful two story revival brick and stucco house, built in 1929, became the home of W. Milton McGrew. Other occupants of the home included S. C. Wallace and later Edward Vivian Kuster. Kuster had patented an invention for turning film in a photographic apparatus along with his business partner John C. Hewitt.
The Independent Press Telegram’s Sunday edition in 1969 included an extensive article about the remodel undertaken by a new family moving into the home, the Hal Steuben family from Redlands, Ca., where Mr. Steuben was General Manager of Servamation. Servamation operated cafeterias for college campuses and businesses. Mr. and Mrs Steuben, both graduates of Long Beach high schools were happy to move back to Long Beach where they took on the challenge of lovingly restoring a home which to Most of the Stueben’s remodel was confined to updating the interiors and restoring the mahogany paneling in the dining room to its mellow natural state. The Pacific Coast Club is gone but homes like this one preserve the legacy of the McGrew Company. The home is currently owned by the James Baker family.
Hal Steuben and children relax in family room, 1969.
