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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-01-2016 ARC Correspondence - Public Comment (cooper)�'�,r✓ t�- A R_ C, To: Cultural Heritage Committee J From: Allan Cooper, San Luis Obispo f Re: June 27, 2016 - 71 Palomar Honorable Chair and Committee Members pLDn I am urging you to reconsider relocating the historic ��ed t�fl' Palo r. "Relocation has the potential to adversely affect the significance of a historic resource..." per "Relocation of Historic Resources" (14.01.110) The Sandford residence at 71 Palomar should not be relocated for the very reason that its historic importance is greater than originally thought. Permit me to explain. Property Owners of 71 Palomar Avenue, San Luis Obispo Staff states: "The subject property does not appear significant for any association with the lives of persons important to local, California, or national history... properties eligible under this criteria are generally associated with the productive life of the significant individual ... (Christina) Jacobson did not acquire the subject property until 14 years after founding KVEC-AM in 1937. While Jacobson began the KVEC television station in 1953, during her era of residence at the Sanford House, she also divested her interest in all local media holdings just 3 years later." However, contrary to the staff report, this property is, indeed, "associated with the lives of persons important to local, California, and national history...". First, it is associated with Chauncy H. Phillips, prominent banker and land developer who very likely built this house for his daughter (her husband neither had the financial means nor the architectural wherewithal to undertake this project) and who likely retained the same prominent Bay Area architect who had designed his Ramona Hotel in 1888. Secondly, it is associated with the prominent Bay Area architectural firm of Julius C. Mathews & Sons, the firm that Chauncy Phillips had retained in 1888 to design his Ramona Hotel. Julius Mathews had two talented architects, his sons, working for him. His eldest son, Walter J. Mathews designed the Ramona Hotel. He worked for his father between 1877 and 1886. His youngest son, Edgar A. Matthews worked for his father between 1888 and 1895. This house was most likely designed by Edgar as he was an important designer of Bay Area residences and a proponent of the Italian Renaissance style (see an illustration of the Italian Renaissance style below). Thirdly, it is associated with Christina M. Jacobson. Christina Jacobson was the 5th female to own a radio station in America and this is the only radio station, among the first four owned and operated by women, that is still in operation today (see below). In the 1950's there were only 25 women who ran their own radio stations. Even today, women own just 6 percent of all full -power commercial broadcast radio stations, even though women comprise 51 percent of the U.S. population. More importantly, Christina was the first female proprietor of a TV station in America (followed by Lucille Ball who became in 1960 the first woman to run a TV studio). She founded KVEC-TV while residing in 71 Palomar. Chronology of Property Owners Dates Owners 1870 Encarnacion Bareras, born in Mexico in 1811, acquired the 80 acre Ranchero July 1887 William M. Hersman, minister September 1892 Reginald Wills -Sandford (1862-1944), Reginald emigrated from England in 1883, later became an orchardist in Santa Clara, CA. He married Mary Woods Sperry. Reginald and Mary moved to Oakland, CA (2802 Garber St.) in 1898 (presumably to be near her father who died three years later). Mary Woods Sperry was the daughter of Chauncy H. Phillipsl (1837-1902), leading banker in San Luis Obispo in partnership with H.M. Warden, SLO. He served on the SLO Board of Trustees 1873, He was part owner of the Coast Land Company, a company formed by Charles Crocker and Chauncey H. Phillips in March 1884. Crocker was involved in the operation of the Southern Pacific Railroad and Phillips had been a businessman in the area for many years. Phillips started the Bank of San Luis Obispo in 1871, which was the only bank to survive the economic crash of 1875. March 1899 Lottie J. Stewart September 1900 Ellen L. Spangenberg, married to Ernest A. Spangenberg, SLO Court Auditor 1903 William H. Schultze, clothing merchant March 1909 Henry Baehr, bank bookkeeper December 1919 Edward L. Elberg, hardware store proprietor March 1928 Alexander and Agnes Taylor, dairy ranchers & son and daughter of Peter Taylor, prominent dairy rancher June 1951 Christina M. Jacobson2 (1904-1965?) bookkeeper w/ Valley Electric Company, proprietor of a local radio/TV station and appliance dealer. In 1937 she started KVEC- AM. In 1953 she founded KVEC-TV (SLO's first TV station)3 1 "Founder Of Many Towns Sinks Into Last Sleep" - San Francisco Call: March 4, 1902 "Stroke of Paralysis Suddenly Ends the Life of C H. Phillips, One of the Best Known Land Promoters in California" SAN JOSE, March 3. C. H. Phillip, one of the most prominent land promoters in the State, was stricken by paralysis at his home on the Alameda this morning and died a few hours later. He had Just partaken of a hearty breakfast, when at 7.W o'clock he was attacked by paralysis. His entire right side was affected. Physicians were summoned, but he was so far gone that death ensued at 10:30 o'clock without the patient having regained conscious. Mr. Phillips was a native of Medina N County, Ohio, and 66 years of age. In tho early sixties he came to California. After a short residence In Napa Valley he removed to San Francisco, where for a number of years he was a deputy collector In the customs office. In 1871 the West Coast Land Company, which acquired a large tract of land In San Luis Obispo County, was organized and Mr. Phillips was made its secretary. The town of Templeton was laid out under Mr. Phillips' direction. He moved to that place, and, after Templeton had been established, he was interested In many other large real estate deals. Mr. Phillips built the Hotel Ramona in 1888 in San Luis Obispo, About ten years ago Mr. Phillips came to Santa Clara County and opened headquarters in San Jose. He bonded the Morgan Hill and San Martin ranches, between this city and Gllroy, comprising many thousands of acres, and sold the property in small tracts. The towns of Morgan Hill, San Martin and several other smaller places were laid out by him. When the "hard times" of a few years ago came Mr. Phillips was caught with an immense amount of bonded real estate on his hands and was nearly wrecked financially. For the past few years he has done but little business. Few men in Santa Clara County were better known than Mr. Phillips. Besides his widow, six children survive him— Mrs. R. W. Sanford of Santa Clara, -Mrs. Josephine Vanchell, I Chauncey H., Chester D. and Nelson B. Phillips and Mrs. Jane Winningstad of San Francisco. Noted Land Promoter And Founder Of Several California Towns, Whose Sudden Death From An Attack Of Paralysis Has Just Occurred In The Garden City. 2 "He told me he worked for Christina M. Jacobson, the woman who put the station on the air in 1937. Ms. Jacobson was the long-time owner of an appliance business in San Luis Obispo, Valley Electric Company, hence the call letters, K Valley Electric Company. In May, 1953, she put on the air SLO's first tv station, KVEC/TV (now KSBY), Channel 6....Ms. Jacobson, and later Ms. Jacobson and Les Hacker, owned KVEC and KVEC-TV (they also owned KVEC-FM, which I believe they put on the air in about 1948, and mailed the license back to the FCC prior to May, 1953, when they put KVEC-TV on the air)." For more, read: http://www.laradio.com/emailswatn.htm December 1965 Leslie H. Hacker, KVEC station manager and executor of the Jacobson Estate February 1966 Alexander P. and Carolyn J. Quaglino April 1969 Delta Chi (Tau) House Corp. Chronology of Radio Stations Owned By Women Robert & Marie Zimmerman (station owners of Vinton, Ohio WIAE in 1922 - lasted one year) Aimee Semple McPherson (Los Angeles KFSG in 1924) Mary Costigan (Flagstaff, AZ KFXY in 1925) Earl and Gertrude May (owners of KMA in Shenandoah, Iowa in 1925) Christina M. Jacobson (owner of KVEC in SLO, CA in 1937) Imogene Burke Brophy (station owner in Phoenix, AZ KRUX in 1947) Dorothy Stimson Bullitt (station owner in Seattle, WA KING in 1947) Source: Donna Halper, radio historian: "Invisible Stars - A Social History of Women In American Broadcasting": Ms. Halper also mentions the following women prominent in radio broadcasting: Eunice Randall (announcer), Emilie Sturtevant (program director for WBZ), Eleanor Poehler (program director) and Halloween Martin. Julius C. Mathews & Sons "The architect for the Ramona Hotel was Walter J. Mathews. Junior member of Julius C. Mathews & Sons, 1877-83. In private practice since 1886. Oakland City Architect and architect of Union Savings Bank, National Central, Bacon Block (Oakland), St. John's Episcopal, Unitarian of Oakland, Hall of Records (Colusa, CA), Ramona Hotel, Redondo Beach Hotel. Walter's brother, Edgar Aschael Mathews (1866-1946), specialized in homes concentrated in the S.F. Pacific Heights neighborhood and started his own practice in 1895. Edgar worked for his father between 1888 (after graduating from the Van Der Naillen School of Engineering) to 1895." Edgar A. Mathews Architect (1866-1946) "Edgar Aschael Mathews was a Bay Area native, born into an artistic family. His father Julius Case Mathews, originally from New York, was living in Wisconsin with his wife Pauline McCracken and their two children, Walter and Caroline, when he decided to try to make his fortune out west. He arrived in Oakland in 1852, with his younger brother Benjamin, and they tried their luck in the gold and silver mines, supporting themselves as carpenters. Julius returned to Wisconsin towards the end of that decade and a second son, Arthur, was born in 1860. In May 1866 Julius returned to Oakland with his family. Pauline was pregnant with their third son at the time and Edgar was born on September 8th of that year. Julius turned his construction experience into an architectural practice, opening his own office in 1875 in Oakland. His eldest son, Walter, after training as a carpenter and draftsman, joined him 3 "The station call letters KVEC came from Valley Electric Company, the downtown appliance store run by Christine Jacobson, the first owner of the fledging radio station. That's right—a woman was responsible for bringing broadcasting to the Central Coast. Jacobson and Les Hacker launched KVEC, and I'm sure Valley Electric saw a boost in radio sales. Also, credit Jacobson with eventually establishing KVEC-TV (now KSBY)." For more, read: http:// www.newtimessio.com/commentary/7794/still-alive/ in 1879 and J. C. Mathews & Son was established. Walter later became a very prominent architect in his own right and was Oakland City architect for many years. The second son, Arthur, also trained as a draftsman with his father, but quickly developed his own artistic talents. He studied and exhibited in Paris, and ultimately achieved international prominence as a muralist, furniture maker, interior designer and teacher. Arthur's work embellished the 1915 Panama -Pacific International Exposition and can be seen today in the Oakland Museum and the Mechanics Institute lobby at 57 Post Street in San Francisco. Edgar also started in his father's office, then attended the Van Der Naillen School of Engineering, graduating in 1888. He continued to work for his father, and other architects, before opening his own office in 1895. Soon afterwards, he and his wife Katherine Dart moved into San Francisco and by the early 1900's he was well established as an important designer of town residences. His earliest influences were the rustic houses of Ernest Coxhead and Willis Polk, but he quickly developed his own styles. Two of his early favorites were a half-timbered, half - stucco look (termed "Elizabethan" by an architectural reviewer at the time) and a more steeply -roofed brown -shingle covered "box" (a less descriptive term used by the same reviewer). He would define his building sites with low brick walls and create inviting clinker -brick entry porches. Characteristic Edgar Mathews' homes in Pacific Heights include the adjacent houses at 2508 and 2510 Green (1895) and the matching pair at 2415 and 2421 Pierce (1897). When the situation demanded it though, he was not afraid to design in more formal styles, as seen by the house at 2590 Green (1899). For 2505 Divisadero, also commissioned in 1899, he knew he was designing a house to sit adjacent to the Georgian -style Spooner residence at 2800 Pacific, designed by Coxhead & Coxhead, and completed in the spring of that year; the first house to be built on this prominent Pacific Heights block and the only house shown on the 1899 Sanborn map of the block. Mathews' client for 2505 Divisadero was Clinton Jones, General Agent for the Rock Island Railway, which operated Pullman sleeping car trains from the West Coast to Chicago and Boston. Jones, a 51 year old native of Maine, and his wife Sarah, had seven children by 1899. The 1900 census shows that their household at 2505 Divisadero included, along with their five sons and two daughters, two servants - Belinda Murphy, from Ireland, and An Sing, from China. The water connection date of Sept. 26th, 1899 indicates that this house on its 9,000+ sq.ft. lot was completed before the end of that year. Buster Keaton on the steps of 2505 Divisadero his chauffeur, saying "I think a long walk would do me good" and goes back across the street on foot! In 1924, 2505 Divisadero was filmed for a characteristic visual gag in the silent movie The Navigator. Buster Keaton, as playboy Rollo Treadway, is wooing shipping heiress Betsy O'Brien, played by Kathryn Maguire. Intending to propose to her, he leaves the house on the north-east corner of Divisadero and Pacific, gets into his limousine and has his chauffeur take him to Betsy's house, which means simply making a U-turn on the block and dropping him off across the street outside 2505 Divisadero! Inside the house, Keaton's proposal is summarily rejected with "Certainly not!" He leaves, shrugging off Mathews also designed many pairs of flats and small apartment buildings, usually in the shingled style with entry porches and multi -gabled roofs, including these corner buildings in Pacific Heights - 2249-53 Broderick / 2907-11 Jackson / 2915-19 Jackson (1904) three connected 3 -unit buildings (he lived in 2919 Jackson after it was completed, until he finished his own house at 2980 Vallejo in 1908) and 3196 Washington / 2100 Lyon (the latter building completed in 1905, with 8 apartments), and many other buildings in Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights and Cow Hollow. The next owner of 2980 Vallejo, Martin Stelling, immediately commissioned architect Earle Bertz, known for the many houses he designed in Sea Cliff, to enlarge the home significantly with a rear addition and a side garage. This expansion was tastefully done, retaining the original charm of the home. The lot has a challenging downslope towards Green Street, and the house now is five stories tall at the rear with each level having views of the Bay. 3742 Washington His own home at 2980 Vallejo has the appearance from the street of a small English cottage with all of the Mathews' characteristics - the steep roof line, overhanging entry porch, curved window sashes, low brick wall defining the site - all enhanced by a landscaped front garden which is beautifully maintained by the present owners. Completed in early 1908, it was the first home on the block, and the only one for five years. When built it had a shingled roof, which has since been replaced with tile. Edgar and Katherine lived in the house until August 1935 when they sold it and moved to a new house Mathews had designed at 1956 Great Highway. During his career, Mathews was involved in two well-publicized disputes. The first, in 1908, was an attempt by an attorney client for whom Mathews had designed a house in San Rafael ("a plastered cottage of an unusual English design") to stop him designing a similar house for someone close by. The plaintiff submitted an affidavit signed by four respected San Francisco architects stating that Mathews was guilty of a breach of professional ethics by supplying the same plans to two residents of the same city! The judge ruled otherwise, "If this injunction were granted it would have the practical effect of putting architect Mathews out of business, because his personality expresses itself in a certain type of house, and this injunction seeks to restrain him from constructing that type. The application for a restraining order is therefore denied." The second issue, in 1916, found Mathews as the plaintiff seeking to recover $11,900 for his time and expenses from the Board of Library Trustees after they had awarded the competition for the San Francisco Public Library (now converted into the Asian Arts Museum) to George Kelham, for a plan which Mathews thought was suspiciously similar to the Detroit Public Library design which had been won by New York architect Cass Gilbert. Gilbert was one of the judges for the San Francisco Library competition, as was Paul Cret, Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, who had also been a judge in the Detroit competition and had voted for Gilbert's design. Furthermore, Kelham had employed a draftsman who had assisted Gilbert in evolving the Detroit Public Library plans! Despite the evidence, Mathews did not find much legal or architectural community support for his position in that dispute, but his point had been made. Mathews served as Vice -President of the San Francisco Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for four years from 1913 to 1916, and as its President in 1917. At the State level, he was President of the Board of Architectural Examiners (the licensing agency) for four years from 1915 through 1918. He also designed several churches, of which a fine example in Pacific Heights is the First Church of Christ Scientist, 1710 Franklin at California (1912), and many commercial buildings, including one for P. G. & E. at 447 Sutter (1916) in the Italian Italian Renaissance Mate 1 BOU's to e;.afly 1900 s love p4chedl - 1u ed tool with day tiles 1 1 % • .P'*'�second story wlnOLY,�' ate smaller then first story windows Zama hen —jk*19 "q�i i11 with columns horst lacade is typically Syrnmotrical wide rail o,r,ur,,ang with supponMg t�r8�keiS s � 1 M 1 � 1 � f y � r arches common above first 51oryr >mndovM, doors and por-chef; Renaissance style of which he was a noted proponent later in his career. He became well- known state-wide, designing several public buildings in Sacramento and he won a prize for his group of buildings for the Santa Barbara Civic Center. Edgar Mathews died at the age of 80 on December 31, 1946, a year after his six -year - older artist brother Arthur, but a year before his 16 -year -older architect brother Walter, who died November 20, 1947 at the age of 97. Walter and Edgar were guests of honor at an AIA chapter meeting in September 1945 at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, with Walter, then 95, celebrated as the oldest living architect in the U.S. Both reportedly gave interesting accounts of the development of the practice of architecture in the Bay Area and it was noted that at times the older men were more progressive in their ideas than were the newer practitioners!" Read more at: http://www.2505divisadero.com/ Brochure.pdf Hah .14r aI the pwt.a ts1J txh ..rvw.ed w Oft a Aatf nwnd rtw.41"t IN MN,. l t1..=4 fe"r. rw •. k k !€ 1 A.atrk htrar w.wwl-ruL ast d<.w. The .Haat a.nArr n a fisaJ t4r.x b>d"n "Ibm"vol of dt alkaem rr gww w skit". I WW. as far NrMnol @We- rr"adta& M taaad. 11►t .wle fa/A, J" wk." "we. a NA* -d —iarwa a.181wm and a, A. 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