CITY OF SAN MATEO
HISTORIC BUILDING SURVEY
FINAL REPORT
REME
SEPTEMBER 1989
STATE OF CALIFORNIA - THE RESOURCES AGENCY GEORGE DEUKMEJIAN, Governer
OFFICE OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION
POST OFFICE BOX 942896
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 94296-0001
(916| 445.8006
January 22, 1990 DEPT. OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
PLANNING
IAN 241990
Honorable Thomas B. Mack, Mayor
City of San Mateo
330 W. 20th Avenue
San Mateo CA 94403
Dear Mayor Mack:
As you probably know, the City of San Mateo bas just completed a survey of its historic resources. One element of the project was a formal agreement between the City and our office designed to insure that the work met State standards.
I am pleased to inforn you that the survey has met those standards. The project demonstrated a successful mix of community involvement and professional expertise. The resulting inventory compiles a great deal of information in an accessible format. It should provide a firm basis for the City's ongoing preservation efforts, including the formulation of policies for the current general plan update.
We bave incorporated the results of the survey into the State Historic Resources Inventory. Entry of selected survey
information into our computerized database will occur shortly.
San Mateo is fortunate to have such a large number and great diversity of bistoric resources. Quite a few deserve national recognition, and even more sould be designated locally.
Let me call your attention especially to the bistoric commercial district that was delineated downtown. This area appears eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
Nomination to the register is a separate process, but it can move ahead quickly if the City and property owners decide to proceed.
Our guess is that only 20 or 30 hours of staff time would be needed to turn survey information into a register application.
Enclosed are two documents. One is a more detailed evaluation of the survey and the other a list of changes we've made in estimates of National Register eligibility. Please Let us know if you have questions about either.
:
2 If asked to do so under the agreement, we promised to bold a workshop on the survey and its connection to otber preservation programs. These include registration, local certification, tax incentives, and otbers. Altbough the project was completed without the workshop, we would still be glad to hold one.
Let me congratulate the City and its planning staft, the San Mateo County Historical Association and its staff, and the local volunteers for a job well done.
Sincerely,
Original Signed by
Kathryn Gualtieri
State Historic Preservation Officer
Enclosures
cc: Robert M. Brown
Kim Powleson
Mitch Postel
Linda Wickert
OFFICE OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION
STATE HISTORIC RESDURCES INVENTORY
SURVEY EVALUATION
Date: 11/3/89
Federal Fiscal Year: 1990
Name: San Mateo Survey
County: San Mateo
Place: San Mateo
Volume (5) : 1-3
Serial Numbers:
4402-5 -> 16
4402-17-1-> 2 + 9999
4402-18-1 -> 6 + 9998
4402-19-1 -> 68 + 9999
4402-20 - > 81
4402-82-1 -> 40 + 9999
4402-83 -> 93
4402-94-1 ~> 2 + 9999
4402-95 - > 102
4402-103-1 + 9998
4402-104 -> 141
4402-142-1 -> 6 + 9999
4402-143 -> 151
Count
Districts: 5
Resources in Districts: 124
Individual Entries: 148
Total: 272
Already Entered: °
Additions to State Inventory:
Submitting Agency: City of San Mateo
Contexts (none formally developed):
Settlement of San Mateo, 1797-1864
Commercial Development in San Mateo, 1864-1940
Residential Architecture in San Mateo, 1864-1940
Transportation in San Mateo, 1864-1940
Growth of a Regional Center in San Mateo, 1910-1940
Institutional Development in San Mateo, 1864-1940
Original Evaluator: Linda Wickert
Meets Professional Qualifications Standards for: Historian OHP Reviewer: Don Napoli
Meets Professional Qualifications Standards for: Historian Comments (Reviewer visited San Mateo twice during the project) Research Design: The project followed the standard
approach for communities that had not been surveyed
before, with guidance from National Register Bulletin
No. 24 and the survey workbook.
Comprehensiveness: 1) While the intent of the project was to survey the entire city, financial resources and time constraints led to a reduction of the survey area. The
northeast part of the city received an intensive survey, the other parts got a thorough drive-through and substantial research. A few properties in the latter areas were
documented- In addition, OHP and survey staff identified at least two huge (500+ resources) Register-eligible
residential districts in the areas. 2) All existant
property types were surveyed. Because of the undocumented districts, certain types were underrepresented in the
inventory, viz., large houses ca. 1910-1930 and houses ca. 1930-1940. In addition, apartment buildings may need
further attention, even though several appear in thr
inventory•
Evaluations: The project emphasized thoughtful application of the National Register criteria. In addition, survey and DHP staff had discussed evaluation issues during the
project. As a result, few evaluations were changed upon DHP review. In the case of several houses, the reason for a "4" rating was unclear--with survey staff intending the rating to mean that further research was necessary and OHP reviewer concluding that the properties belonged in the "endangered species" category.
Other: Documentation was thorough. Significance statements established the importance of the properties without adding irrelevant detail. Inventory forms, even those for
districts, were properly completed and easy to understand.
Documenting the downtown commercial district is one of the project's major successes, especially if the City goes on to nominate the district to the National Register.
issues: The project was the first completed under a memorandum of agreement between the OHP and a local government. The agreement envisioned a high degree of DHP involvement as a substitute for grant funds. Compared with a grant project, the survey needed only a little more attention, viž. two visits, one ot which focused on delineating historic districts, and a slightly larger number of phone calls. Its unclear whether this pattern will continue in different places with different local staff and financial support. Judging from this instance, however, the memorandum of agreement must be considered a success. The project was also the first of a proposed series under the auspices of the county historical society. Two more are currently underway.
SAN MATEO HISTORIC RESOURCES INVENTORY
CHANGES IN NATIONAL REGISTER ESTIMATES
11/7/89
Serial No. • Address Rating Change Conments
4402-6 709 S. B St. Important and unusual connection to building bood of the 1920s.
4402-11 415 S. Claremont Substantially unaltered reanant of the settlesent era.
4402-12 940 S. Claremont Excellent reninder of San Mateo's role as a regional center.
4402-18-9998 Bell Guideposts Link to notions of transportation in early 20th century. Research is
needed to deteraine if any of these
are original.
4402-19-58 201 2nd Ave. Upper story alterations okay if made before end of significance period.
4402-19-59 115-121 S Ellsworth 6 Included in district by soying ending date from 1939 to 1940.
4402-50 457 Highland 5 km m 4 Nice example trom the first Bay Tradition. Research needed to
determine if better exanples exist in
San Mateo Park.
4402-57 - > 60 Railroad bridges 6 4 One of the few links to early railroading in San Mateo. Research
would indicate if any of these is
more iaportant than the others.
4402-64 300 E. Santa Inez City's earliest regaining church.
Pre-1945 churches are rare
architectural exaoples in town and
ought to be considered one of the
"endangered species. "
4402-67 225 Tilton Conventional but successful example
of the Spanish Colonial Revival.
4402-94-9999 Central Park Needs research to deteroine dates of other park features.
4402-103-9998 Hayward Park Interesting remnants of early real Street Markers estate development. Need research to
see which are unaltered.
•
2 4402-104 36 N. Clarenont Severely altered; original appearance •
obscure.
4402-138 703 Ist Avenue 4 5 Ditto.
4402-141 510 S. Grant 4 Earliest aulti-faaily residence in the inventory.
4402-142-9999 510-512 S. Idaho 4 3 Unusual early atteept to coobine bungalow court with automobile.
Important under residential and
transportation theaes.
4402-145 436 N. Claremont Needs research into apartment buildings as a property type.
•
CITY OF SAN MATEO
HISTORIC BUILDING SURVEY
FINAL REPORT
September 1989
San Mateo County Historical Association
Linda Wickert, Survey coordinator
i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 1
1. The Survey Process 3
1.1 Methodology 3
1.2 Evaluation Standards 6
2. History of San Mateo 13
21 San Mateo History: An Overview 13
22 San Mateo's Planning Areas:
History and Development Patterns
23 Commercial Business District 19
24 Central Business District: 23
Buildings Outside Proposed District
25 Central 24
26 San Mateo Heights 27
2.7 Hayward Park 30
2.8 East San Mateo and North Central 33
29 West of El Camino Real 36
Architectural Styles in San Mateo 38
3.1 Architectural Style 38
3.2 Common Styles in San Mateo 39
4. Preservation Options 65
4.1 National Register of Historic Places 65
4.2 Landmarks Ordinance 66
4.3 Planning Options 67
4.4 Design Guidelines 67
4.5 Certified Local Government Program 68
4.6 Preservation in San Mateo 68
Appendix 69
List of Surveyed Properties
Mossary of Architectural Terms
Historic Resources Inventory Form (DPR 523)
INTRODUCTION
In 1987 the San Mateo County Historical Association requested funds from the Peninsula Community Foundation to establish an historic preservation program serving local governments. A grant of $4,200 was awarded to the Association. During 1988, the Association made contact with community representatives from cities that had expressed an interest in documenting and preserving their historic resources.
Among those communities was San Mateo. A catalyst for this nterest was the City's commitment to a two year project updating it 'eneral Plan. The need to study and evaluate older structures wa apparent to City Council members who voted to support the Association's proposal for a building survey.
VEy Surpey Historic Resources? Questions about buildings nd development arise every day. Ihis is particularly true in th mature communities of the San Francisco Peninsula. Before older buildings are torn down or altered, it is useful to ask it they have some significance to the community. Do the buildings relate in some important way to past events? Are they architecturally unique? Or, are they simply old buildings, with little relevance to local history? The primary function of an historic building survey is to help answer these questions. The survey process identifies, documents and evaluates man-made structures having cultural and historical signific community. It does this by considering many old buildings and structures; looking at important historical themes and events within the community; and by measuring historical and architectural worth against the evaluation standards adopted by the California State Office of Historic Preservation (OHP).
Preservation in San Mateo. In San Mateo, previous surveys onducted in the 1960s and 1970s by the Junior League and by the City dentified some structures of historical importance. This project used these surveys as a starting point. Many of the previously surveyed primarily in its emphasis on relating significant historical themes to ne structures, developing individual statements of significance fo elected structures, and applying the State's standards to evaluat selected properties.
1 A main emphasis of the survey is to provide information to San Mateo citizens and policy makers. There are a number of tools that city officials, Council members, and building owners can explore and use to preserve historic buildings. First, however, the community at large must have a clear idea of which structures are "historic" and why they deserve to be preserved. Thus, this survey project explored themes, events, and people important in local history and selected structures that best represent San Mateo's past.
Survey Documentation. Results of San Mateo's 1988-1989
Historic Building Survey are compiled in two documents. The first is a two volume notebook consisting of building survey forms. Selected buildings were researched, described, evaluated, mapped, and photographed. Information about selected structures was compiled on a form (DPR 523) provided by the State Office of Historic Preservation.
Copies of these forms are filed with the City of San Mateo, the San Mateo County Historical Association and the State Office of Historic Preservation in Sacramento.
The second document is presented here in the form of a final report. This report takes the information gathered for the individual buildings to tell a story about San Mateo, its buildings, its neighborhoods, and the forces that combined to shape the community.
The report also discusses other issues related to historic preservation.
A discussion of predominant architectural styles is included, as is a glossary of architectural terms. The report incorporates sections on survey methodology, evaluation criteria, and information on the National Register. Maps of surveyed areas locate selected structures (included in the Appendix).
Finally, the report contains a section briefly outlining some preservation options available to the City. An explanation of options is included to assist staff and other concerned citizens in their efforts to preserve san Mateo's historic resources. While the San Mateo County Historical Association applauds all efforts to preserve the community s local history, it is not in a position to make policy recommendations to the City. Rather, the Association offers the Inventory forms and this report as a body of information available to help local citizens and policy makers understand and appreciate local history and architecture. 2 SECTION 1: THE SURVEY PROCESS
1.1 Methodology
be important be in they and are, a a citectually siguidant ar only marginal historical meaning or architectural interest.
During the inventory process, buildings are located,
photographed, mapped, researched and described. After information about each structure of interest is accumulated, analyzed and recorded, the survey process moves to the final task, evaluating the structures.
Information about each structure is recorded on the Historic Resources Inventory form, provided by the State. (See appendix for sample form.) Role of Volunteers and Staff. The survey used both
professionals and volunteers to locate, research, and evaluate older structures in San Mateo. The survey staff sought volunteer support from the membership of San Mateo County Historical Association, as well as the general public. Approximately 20 community members took part in a four-part training session which emphasized local and architectural history, preservation goals, and the purpose of this particular survey.
After completing the training, volunteers assisted with on-site surveying, research, and documentation. Several volunteers with experience in construction and architecture assisted with describing structures for the final inventory forms. Long-time San Mateo residents shared their memories of the city's structures, the • that mentore neighborhoods, and growth of the community.
The role of professional staff included training volunteers, locating neighborhoods/structures of special interest, researching individual structures, and writing significance statements. An architectural historian assisted with physical descriptions of structures and wrote the style section of this final report. While staff developed 3 the evaluation system (based on the state's rating system), a panel of community members, selected for their expertise, met to review the individual ratings. Their comments were incorporated into the final ratings.
Geographical Focus of Survey. During the research and on-site survey phase, it became clear that San Mateo was a mature community.
County Assessor's records listed 4,460 addresses of residential properties built before 1940. Because of the large number of structures, the survey focused primarily on the oldest neighborhoods, most of which are located east of El Camino Real. We had two reasons for localizing our survey. One was to concentrate efforts in neighborhoods where current zoning was not conducive to the preservation of existing structures.
neighborhoods surrounding the city's traditional central core has allowed for higher densities in recent years. The result has been a dramatic change as older, single-family dwellings are torn down and replaced with larger, multi-unit structures.
Another reason to focus on the east side of El Camino was the discovery that the older neighborhoods on the west side of town had a large number of historically interesting structures. After consulting with staff members of the Office of Historic Preservation, we determined that the most sensible approach to documenting the neighborhoods in planning areas "Baywood," "Baywood Knolls," "Aragon," and "San Mateo Park" would be as potential historic districts. Since these neighborhoods contain a large number of older buildings that relate historically and have a high degree of architectural consistency, the district approach makes more sense. This is a simpler process than documenting individual properties, yet still requires much work. We took our concerns to the City's Planning staff, who agreed that future survey projects might address the issue of Matementing potential districts in the western neighborhoods of San Project research and on-site surveying concentrated on the traditional downtown of San Mateo, particularly along B Street and Third Avenue, and the neighborhoods of Central, East San Mateo, Hayward Park, San Mateo Heights, and North Central. Areas west of El Camino and south through Iwenty-fifth and the Hillsdale neignborhoods were surveyed visually. In a tew cases, specific structures in these areas west of El Camino Real stood out as unusual properties and were included in the survey for further research. 4 Resources. The survey drew from many sources. The San Mateo County Historical Association archives was a rich resource, containing local histories, photographs, newspaper clippings, monograpns, aty directories, maps, and pamphlets about San Mateo.
The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of San Mateo dating from 1888-1928 proved an essential tool in tracing the growth of neighborhoods over materials of structures. The County Assessor's office and the City of San Mateo provided invaluable computer printouts listing addresses, lates of constructon
City's Planning Department, were consulted to research specific information related to a building's history.
Among the relevant literature is Kenneth Jackson's Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. Not surprisingly, San Mateo's specific growth as a suburb follows closely national trends that emerged in the late 19th century.
Questions of architectural style are treated by several sources including the McAlesters' popular Field Guide to American Houses and Richard Longstreth's The Buildings of Main Street. Of particular interest is the City of Oakland's Rehab Right, which contains an excellent essay on styles common in Bay Area communities. A collection of essays on architectural history, Bay Area Houses, edited by Sally Woodbridge, was of immense help in providing an overview of how local architects reinterpreted design trends to create new forms suited to our local climate and tradition.
The overall design of the survey was shaped by resources and information provided by the State Office of Historic Preservation. Basic references such as the Survey Workbook and the handbook, Historic Preservation in California, provide both general information about preservation as well as specific guidance in how to fill out the State nventory forms. Office of Historic Preservation staff members, Donald Napoli and Marilyn Lortie answered specific questions.
This is a brief overview of sources consulted for the survey.
Readers interested in pursuing their own research of local history, architecture or preservation, may wish to review a more complete source list included at the end of the report.
Local Historical Themes. At all times, the survey balanced the istory of the community with remaining structures. Before on-sit survey work began, research was started on the community 5 development history. Important local themes were developed:
settlement; commercial growth; early residential growth; impact of the 1906 earthquake and fire; impact of better transportation methods; and development patterns in the 1920s and 1930s. As survey work continued, these historical themes influenced the emphasis placed on particular neighborhoods, structures, or types of buildings. For instance, it was clear from early maps and city directories, that San Mateo had a significant number of pre-1900 residential structures in the Central and San Mateo Heights neighborhoods. Early photographs also documented a fair number of substantial "Victorian" era homes.
Today, few remain in these neighborhoods. Thus, the rarity of :hese once common housing styles led to a greater emphasis in researching and documenting , Gothic Revival, Italianate, and Queen Anne structures in San Mateo.
A more contemporary example is the Spanish Colonial Revival styled service station located at 1641 Palm. Although this appears a rather mundane example, its significance increased as research led to several facts. One is the importance of the automobile in the development of San Mateo. Its proximity to San Francisco, first by rail and then by automobile has been, and continues to be, an important facet of the community's growth. Research of early service stations revealed that during the 1920s and 1930s, many were designed to mimic domestic structures. This one clearly echos a house style of great popularity in San Mateo. Finally, advertisements in local City Directories indicated the existence of other similarly styled service stations in the area during the 1920s and 1930s; yet only this one remains. Thus, despite its rather common appearance, this service station took on greater importance as a survivor of San Mateo's early years as a community dependent on the car.
In order to have a balance of resources, the survey depended on both local history sources (written records and oral reminiscences) and on the on-site survey to locate and direct project efforts. With this dual approach, the survey documents a group of historical resources that reflect the unique history and development patterns of San Mateo.
1.2 Evaluation Standards
Why Evaluate Buildings? In a survey project, it is not enough for historians, researchers and volunteers to say "this city has 200 historically and architecturally important buildings." Clearly, some buildings are landmarks; others are good examples of a particular style 6 or tell us something about the way the community developed. State and federal preservation programs and local ordinances generally recognize those resources of greatest significance. Buildings of lesser umportance may end up as part of a walking tour or included in slide presentations about the community's past. Still others are mere footnotes in local history.
In San Mateo survey staff saw a particular need to evaluate local resources. San Mateo has thousands of structures dating before 1940, but it has never had a systematic evaluation of local landmarks.
Previous surveys photographed and documented buildings, but did not indicate why they were important. Since this survey was supported as art of the General Pian update process, we felt a special responsibilit o give the City and her residents some sense of which buildings wer important and why.
Nationa! Register Criteria. The State's survey form requires basic information about a building: date of construction, architectural style, name of architect, physical description, etc. It also asks for a statement of significance. Here is where the survey staff presents the case for the building's importance. Based on information gathered on San Mateo's history, planning areas, and architectural style, we focused on certain buildings. These may have been noteworthy because they were good examples of a certain style. Research of a particular neighborhood or of the city as a whole may have pointed to specific buildings that were particularly important in demonstrating how the city developed over time. The reason for including each building is explained on the form under 19b, describing its "historical and/or architectural importance."
Using these written statements of significance, we evaluated the structures. Since one of the basic goals of the survey is to identify structures eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, we used those standards as a way to measure the importance of local properties.
The specific criteria for nomination to the National Register follows.
Properties nominated to the Register can be buildings, sites, districts, a. that are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of American history; or, b. that are associated with the life of a person significant in the past; or
7 c. that embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction, or that present the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant distinguishable entity whose components may lack !
d. that have yielded or are likely to yield information important in history or prehistory.
An explanation of the National Register as a preservation mechanism is included in Section 4.
Properties nominated for the Register also must have retained their integrity. The State Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) offers ! specific guidance in determining whether a building has retained its integrity. There are five basic issues to consider:
a. location: generally, a structure must be in its original location, unless it was moved to avoid demolition or it gained
significance after it was moved.
b. design: original design features should be intact, although reversible changes pose less of a problem than those not changed easily. Incompatible remodelings or inaccurate
restorations usually detract from a building's integrity. c. setting & environment: should be similar to its original one.
This is less of an issue in an urban setting.
d. materials & workmanship: important when evaluating
contemporary changes; replacement of original materials (wood siding, for instance) with another material (stucco or asbestos) usually changes the overall appearance and historical quality of a building.
e. feeling & association: when considering a district, the overall feeling, or coherence, of the area should reflect its historical character.
As we studied San Mateo's resources we discovered that a certain percentage did meet National Register criteria; other properties did not meet the criteria, but still remained locally important; and some had lost their integrity or simply lacked importance. 8 Survey Rating System. To summarize evaluations, the survey used the six-point numerical rating system adopted by the Office of Historic Preservation. In this system, properties can be organized into six basic categories. A summary of the system follows with a brief explanation of how it was used in San Mateo. A more complete explanation is outlined in the OHP's Survey Workbook.
1. Individually listed on the National Register.
f a buildir
ra bei datonad ed er this urvey has huen ericed previous, An example in San Mateo is the downtown Post Office. The survey did not have occasion to use this rating.
2. Determined indioidually eligible for the Register by the U.S.
Department of the Interior.
This is self-explanatory. The survey did not have occasion to use this rating.
3. Appears eligible for individual listing in the judgment of the person completing or reviewing the inventory form.
Buildings in this category meet the National Register criteria and are eligible for nomination. The survey used this rating to designate San Mateo's most historically and architecturally significant buildings.
3D. Appears eligible for listing only as a contributor to a potential National Register district that has been identified and recorded according to OHP instructions.
Sometimes buildings have increased architectural and/or historical significance as a group or district. Two districts were documented in this way. One is the commercial district centered at the intersection of Third Avenue and B Street and radiating to Baldwin and El Camino. Several buildings in this district are individually eligible for the National Register, but most are listed as "contributors." The other district is the Glazenwood leighbornood with its major streets of Laurel, Rosewood, Pain nd Hayward. Most houses were contributors; two were non contributors. None stood out as being individually eligible for the National Register.
9 4. May become eligible for individual listing on the National 1 Register when:
a) more historical or architectural research is performed; b) the property is restored to an earlier appearance;
c) more significant examples of the property's architectural style ! are demolished; or
d) the property becomes old enough to meet the Register's 50- year requirement.
This rating was used when there was some uncertainty or question about the property's significance, age, or integrity. It was used in many cases when out-of-character facade changes had compromised the integrity of the structure. In other cases, additional research will be needed to determine eligibility. ! Is individually listed or eligible for listing under a local preservation or landmark ordinance.
Even though San Mateo does not have a local ordinance, the survey used this rating to designate buildings that are not eligible for the National Register, but still have local interest. In most cases, buildings ranked "5" were good examples of
identifiable architectural styles, such as Colonial Revival, Cratsman, or basis for netial food . Then structures also presentations, or other educational programs focusing on local history.
Ineligible
During the on-site survey phase of the project, survey staff and volunteers evaluated structures visually. In some cases, structures lacking architectural integrity were rejected in the field and no further work was undertaken. This was particularly true of structures having considerable modifications, and where other, better examples of a particular style were found.
Approximately 70 buildings surveyed, researched and
photographed for the project were ranked "6," or ineligible for either National Register rating or local recognition. Most of these structures were older buildings that lacked clear historical associations and/or had little architectural interest or integrity.
Since these properties lacked distinguishing characteristics, an inventory form was not completed for the majority of them. In 10 a few cases, we included properties ranked "6" in the final survey documentation. Generally, these were structures we had photographed and researched, but found when we completed our evaluation of them, that they did not meet the standards for even a building of local importance (5). Thus, in the survey binders, readers will find several structures ranked "6." Evaluating Properties in San Mateo. After completing
locumentation on each building, the survey coordinator evaluated the structures using the six-point system. These judgments were based or surveledge of the commonic alained can coer and plansi
surveying.
goals were not considered.
Before the ratings were finalized, the survey sought feedback from community members familiar with community history, buildings and development. Our committee included six individuals drawn from different backgrounds: Sewall (Skip) Bogart, a native of San Mateo; Bob Brown, City Planning Director; Paul Gumbinger, Council member and architect; Alice Morison, former staff member for the National Trust of Historic Preservation and long-time San Mateo resident; Mark Still, U.S. history instructor at the College of San Mateo; and Keith Weber, Downtown Commission member and community preservationist. They met with the staff coordinator after evaluations were complete to review the decisions and provide feedback and comments. A consensus of opinion was reached on nearly all properties. Where there were differing thoughts on a property's significance, a compromise was reached, representing a balance of opinion.
With the survey completed on a local level, the forms (with ratings appropriately noted) will be submitted to the State Ottice of Historic Preservation. OHl staff will review the forms and re-evaluate locally given ratings. OH professionals may change the evaluations based on their knowledge of the community and experience with a wide variety of community based historic resources.
The ratings are important for a number of reasons. On a local level, the survey ratings can be used to develop preservation ordinances, to indicate historic structures or districts eligible for nomination to the National Register, or simply to recognize local resources in public information programs or literature. In terms of planning, the ratings can be used to develop planning goals and policies. State and federal agencies use the ratings when judging the impact of projects effecting older structures. If an important building 11 will be effected by a federally-funded project, the OHP may negotiate changes proposed for the building with the local agency. The ratings also are useful to people seeking tax credits for restoration projects. In summary, the evaluations provide a quick reference for anyone reviewing local cultural resources and are an important foundation for preservation activities within a community.
1 --..
12 SECTION 2: HISTORY OF SAN MATEO
2.1 San Mateo History: An Overview
Research of San Mateo revealed a community whose physical development was influenced by several dominant trends. For the purposes of this survey, the term "trend" refers to change over the course of time. To identify specific historical trends related to development we looked at population statistics, the rate of new construction over time, and the impact of significant events on development. We took note of changes in architectural styles of buildings, the influence of various ethnic and socio-economic groups, and the role of individuals (as builders, architects, owners, or residents of buildings). We also looked at the effect of industry and business or an Mateo's growth and asked how San Mateans of the past viewer their city.
The following is an overview of the community's history. It neighborhoods are smaller elements.
Early Settlement. San Mateo was established in the early 1790's as a Catholic agricultural outpost serving San Francisco's Mission Dolores. By the early 1850's San Mateo was serving the Peninsula as a stage stop. Growth was slow and based on the needs of a small village.
When the railroad replaced the stage as the main method of transport in the mid-1860s, the center of activity shifted from El Camino and 2nd to the area along B Street and 3rd.
The first wave of substantial building began in the 1860s.
Commercial structures sprang up along B Street and the cross streets of 2nd and 3rd. Main Street and Railroad Avenue paralleled the railroad tracks and formed a town square. This was the center of commercial, social era, police actre ancied by 20. any recturen from this usually of more substantial brick or concrete and plaster.
During these early decades of development, San Mateo's growth was based in large part upon the existence of nearby estates. The establishment of estates or "country homes," is a common thread in the Peninsula's development. During the 19th century the Peninsula offered large, open tracts of land. San Francisco's elite, made rich in the 13 лани
prosperous times following California's Gold Rush, soon discovered this area. Although most maintained lavish homes in the city, many established country homes down the Peninsula. Here they could escape San Francisco's chilling summer fogs and also establish themselves as part of an elite, landed gentry in the Bay Area. This spurred local growth to a certain extent in San Mateo, where a service- sector economy developed to meet the needs of the estate owners and their families.
The presence of the large estates had a tremendous impact on the rate and location of growth. A local history points out that when Charles Polhemus subdivided his land for development in the 1860s, he was surrounded on all sides by great estates: Alvinza Hayward on the east and south, John Parrott and Stephen Whipple on the west; and the Howard family on the north. Thus, for many years, the town's growth was possible only when the large landholders chose to subdivide their land.
Early subdivisions occurred in the area just east of the railroad tracks, a neighborhood today called "Central." For the most part, this neighborhood retains a strong sense of its 19th century character.
Several blocks along Claremont and Delaware have a number of significant 19th century structures, one of which has been dated to the mid-1860s.
Incorporation and Suburban Growth. The city incorporated in 1894. During this decade and those following in the early 20th century, patterns for the community's development took shape. Simply put, the community began to follow a typical pattern of suburbanization.
One can trace it first to the establishment of the large estates in an area which was highly desirable because of its weather, topography and proximity to a large and vital city. By the late 19th century, the desire to own a house outside of the city became a dream within the reach of a growing number of people. With the increased availability of land and improved and inexpensive transportation systems, the suburban dream house would become reality for upper middle class and later middle class people.
In San Mateo, this pattern is clear in tracing the development of various subdivisions and neighborhoods. Promotional literature producea tot lot auctions in several areas stressed the advantages of "country living" and access to inexpensive and convenient transportation into the city. Several neighborhoods, particularly in San Mateo Heights, San Mateo Park and Hayward Park, still contain large stylish homes whose early residents were well-established 14 merchants and executives whose business interests were based in San Francisco.
Suburban growth patterns were accentuated by the cataclysmic earthquake and fire of 1906. San Mateo's accessibility by train and streetcar made it particularly desirable. The population jumped from 1,832 in 1900 to 4,384 in 1910. The County Accessor's records also documented a tremendous increase in building in the years following the earthquake. Between 1900 and 1905, the Accessor's office recorded 128 new structures in San Mateo; between 1906 and 1910, the number of new structures increased to 333. On-site surveying indicated that much of this building produced modest homes, whose first occupants were middle class and working class families anxious to enjoy the benefits of suburban life. Sanborn Fire Insurance maps recorded new structures erected in the areas of Hayward Park, East San Mateo, and North Central during the years following the earthquake and through the 1920s.
City of Beautiful Homes. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, San Mateo continued to develop as a suburban community. To a certain extent its growth was hindered for a number of years by the large estates located to the west of the downtown area. For many years, downtown had centered on the railroad station and B Street. By the early 1920s, when automobile traffic was becoming more important to growth, the town was straining against the boundaries of the old estates, particularly those of the De Guigne and Parrott families.
Without access to the County Road (now El Camino Real), commercial growth was stymied. When these two estates were sold in the 1920s, there was much local excitement about the potential for new commercial and residential development. East Third Avenue was developed as a new commercial street, linking the traditional downtown with El Camino Real. San Francisco investors and developers built the Ben Franklin Hotel, the San Mateo Theater and other stores and offices. Third Avenue took on a distinctive to peasane as outside likes broles sister local businesses al relocated to East Third Avenue.
Across El Camino, the open lands of the Parrott Estate were eventually subdivided. During the Depression years of the 1930s, San Mateo saw the establishment of "Baywood" a neighborhood of large, period revival residences. Research indicates that the homes in this rea originally were marketed to affluent professional people, many ol vhom worked in San Francisco. Today, the neighborhood remain 15 intact. Wide curving streets are lined with well-maintained Tudor Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival homes.
Thus, the suburban patterns established in the 19th century continued into the twentieth. When a County history was published in 1928, it is not surprising that its author, Roy Cloud, would describe San Mateo as a "city of beautiful homes." It was an apt description.
Promotional literature and real estate auction notices always described the community as a lovely, suburban city. The advantages of living within a city (utilities, water, convenient transportation), and amenities of living in the country often were touted. A review of historic photographs taken of San Mateo neighborhoods confirms the promoter's claims. The city had a wide variety of homes: stately Italainate Victorians, Tudor Revivals, modest Queen Anne cottages and modest bungalows. These were the ingredients that combined to make San Mateo a city of beautiful homes.
A Regional Center. In one sense, San Mateo's character has been formed by what it did not become. San Mateo's economy was not based on local industries. For a short time, the economy was bolstered by local oyster beds and salt extraction ponds. It temporarily became a movie production center when a small operation built a studio in the mid-1920s. But neither oysters, salt, nor movie stars figure prominently in local economic development. San Mateo also did not become the County seat, although local leaders mounted
unsuccessful campaign to challenge Redwood City in the late 19th century.
While San Mateo can be described best as a suburb of San Francisco, it also filled another roll in the County. Beginning in the 1860s San Mateo began to emerge as a regional center. Early on the community supported several churches. The Masons and Oddfellows established buildings in San Mateo. For many years, San Mateo boasted the only local hospital (Mills Memorial). The downtown supported several banks, including one of A.P. Giannini's first branches. Local utilities established their offices in town, and PG and E operated a service center on South Claremont. Private schools were established in San Mateo, and later the College of San Mateo, a junior college, occupied a prime location downtown. In the 1920s the County established its hospital (Chope) in San Mateo. Regional recreational opportunities abounded in the community, with the race track, county fair, and for a brief time, the ill-fated Pacific City, an amusement park located at Coyote Point. San Mateo has attracted important institutions, businesses and recreational facilities which served people living 16 beyond the city limits. This has been an important niche for San Mateo, one that the community still occupies.
1940-1990. Preservation efforts typically focus on resources that are fifty years and older. Using this measure, the San Mateo Building Survey set 1940 as its limit for research and inventory work. But since San Mateo's history does not stop arbitrarily with the onset of World War II, it is valuable to look beyond the year 1940 to ask what happened to this suburban, regional center made up of "beautiful homes." The post-War building boom accentuated San Mateo's suburban character. The city expanded from its central core, annexing open lands which were quickly subdivided for new housing. Unlike earlier development where lots were sold for individual homes, the post-Wat boom was characterized by large tract development. Pioneer builders like David Bohannon subdivided and constructed homes on a massive scale. To keep up with the needs of new residents, the city welcomed the development of new shopping areas, such as Hillsdale Mall, which opened in the late 1950s.
San Mateo has retained its place as a regional center. Within the city's limits are a number of important financial, medical, educational, and cultural institutions serving the County and mid-Peninsula area.
Its population is approximately 80,000, making it one of the largest communities in San Mateo County.
With the tremendous growth of the post World War II era and dramatic changes i somedent aversemed Yet, San Mateo appears to be a city within a city. The "old" San Mateo, with its traditional downtown and well-defined older residential neighborhoods remains.
It is surrounded by, and sometimes lost within, a very modern, suburban city of housing tracts, freeways, shopping malls, highrise office complexes, and new business parks. Our survey looked at the old streets and buildings and found much of the community's historic character undisturbed.
22 San Mateo's Planning Areas:
History and Development Patterns
The distinctive quality of a building survey is that it focuses on a visual study of older structures to define the community's history.
Survey staff and volunteers toured all of San Mateo's older 17 neighborhoods. We walked along streets noting architectural details.
We photographed hundreds of buildings and then poured over both historic and contemporary photographs and drawings to decide which structures to include. The physical evidence of past building trends (i.e. the numbers of older buildings in a particular neighborhood, the prevalence of a certain style, placement of commercial structures) was compared to information gleaned from written and oral sources.
Research and survey work was made easier by the fact that the City's planning areas closely approximated historical boundaries for certain neighborhoods or districts. For example, the contemporary boundaries of the City's "San Mateo Heights" planning area are similar to those set in the late 19th century when lots in this subdivision were first auctioned. This consistency made the research and survey work easier, but also more precise. It also provided the project with a logical way to organize information. For the most part, survey forms are organized by planning areas: Central Business District, Central, San Mateo Heights, Hayward Park, North Central, and East San Mateo.
Since few properties west of El Camino Real were included in this survey, they are combined in one section simply called "West of El Camino Real."
The following summaries on the separate planning areas are a companion to the survey forms and to the historical overview in Section 2.1. The descriptive summaries are drawn from what we saw as we researched in the field, what we learned from historical photographs and lithographs of San Mateo, and what we discovered as we pieced together the community's history from written and verbal sources. As with the survey forms, information is presented by planning area. (East San Mateo and North Central are combined, as are surveyed sites West of El Camino.) Rather than mention each structure surveyed, the summaries highlight specific sites or groups of buildings that are key to understanding San Mateo's history and built environment. In some of the larger neighborhoods, such as Central or Hayward Park, specific historical trends (early settlement or suburbanization) are clearly evident in the building stock. These trends are amplified. In other areas like North Central, East San Mateo, and sections of the Commercial District, the buildings do not document a common theme, but rather relate to different facets of the community's past. Maps of the planning areas locating surveyed properties and a list of properties are included in the Appendix.
The following narratives emphasize why particular structures were included as historic buildings documenting San Mateo's past.
Not all structures within an area, even the oldest of neighborhoods, 18 were selected for documentation. Since San Mateo has a wealth of older structures, structures chosen for documentation were measured against high standards for integrity, architectural quality, and historical value. Readers are referred back to Section 1.2 on evaluation standards for a more complete explanation of standards and criteria.
Section 2.3 Commercial Business District
For many years, San Mateo's downtown was the heart and soul of the community. People worked downtown and conducted their They caught trains and street cars, visited their
doctors, and had their photographs taken downtown. Many people attended church downtown. Children begged their mothers for ice cream when they visited the House of Merkel and teenagers looked at magazines in the drugstores. Men played pool, bet on horses, or had a drink at one of several saloons. Local citizens discussed the issues of the day downtown, and on Main Street in City Hall, civic leaders made their decisions. In the early days, the livery stables and blacksmith shops were in downtown; later they were converted to auto garages.
Visitors stayed at the hotels downtown. Everyone enjoyed a baked ham dinner on Sunday at the popular restaurant, Noah's Cafeteria.
Grocery, hardware, dry goods, shoe and apparel stores lined the streets. apartments where people lived. Evidence for this flurry of human activity is found in the city directories, historic photographs, and newspaper clippings of San Mateo. But most of all it is found in the buildings.
Downtown as an Historic District. Within the downtown, the survey concentrated on documenting the buildings and history of a historical integrity. This area formed the basis for an historic district.
There are two components necessary to propose an historic istrict. One is the physical or architectural integrity of an area. Th ther is the historical significance. In the case of San Mateo downtown, the survey found compelling reasons on both counts to propose a district.
Some of the buildings within the district do not represent great or even good architecture. Others, of course, are outstanding local 19 examples of a particular period or style and might be judged on their own merits as qualifying for landmark status. The point of a district, in one sense, is to preserve all structures which contribute to the overall historical appearance of the area. Those that have been altered or added in more recent history are called "non-contributors" and do not receive the same status as "contributors."
The proposed district begins at Baldwin Avenue on the west side of South B Street and continues south on both sides of the street to Third Avenue. Along this section of B Street, one finds the greatest diversity in styles and age of downtown structures. All are one to two stories in height. Building materials include brick, glazed terra cotta, and reinforced concrete with plastered exteriors. Most structures date from before 1900 to the late 1930s and thus display great diversity in terms of architectural embellishment. The most visually impressive structure on South B, (and probably in all of San Mateo) is at the corner of 2nd and South B Street. The two-story Merkel Building dominates this intersection. It has richly embellished terra cotta surfaces, a graceful line of arches running across the facades and square towers anchoring two of the corners.
Most Third Avenue businesses were built in the 1920s through the late 1930s. Despite the shorter time span represented on Third Avenue, building styles and scale vary. While most are one to two stories in height, the nine and one-half story Benjamin Franklin Hotel and the five-story Medical Arts building dominate the street. Period Revival styles prevail, although more modern styles such as Art Deco make an appearance here too.
Each block of East Third Avenue maintains a distinct character.
The block between El Camino and San Mateo Drive is a mix of Spanish Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival. The overall effect is that of looking at a commercial street in an imaginary European village. The 100 block of East Third is the weakest visual link in the district. Most historic facades have been altered and the loss of the Catholic Church on the corner detracts from the overall character of the street. The 200 block contains an eclectic mix of more modern facades, including the floral patterned, Art Deco Medical Arts building.
The district also includes several structures on First and Second Avenues between South B and South Ellsworth. In terms of scale and age, the structures on these streets are most closely related to those on B Street. In fact, several are located on corner parcels, with addresses and facades on South B Street. The most distinctive structures are St. 20 Matthew's Hotel, dating from the turn-of-the century, and the Spanish Colonial Revival influenced Fire Station and Credit Union Building.
Throughout downtown, ground floor building facades show signs of alteration. Where changes seriously effected the appearance and architectural integrity of the building, the structures were listed as "non-contributors." If changes were minor or in keeping with the historical appearance of the building, the structures remained as contributors. Several structures, because of their architecture or historical importance, were singled out as being individually eligible for the National Register. Most structures, however, were deemed contributors to the proposed historic district.
Historical Importance of Downtown. Although this small area within downtown holds together visually and architecturally, its history also makes it important, particularly in understanding San Mateo's development between 1890 and 1950.
After the establishment of the Mission outpost in the 1790s, a major stage stop between San Francisco and San Jose was opened at San Mateo. A few commercial structures quickly followed. San Mateo's identity as a place was rather tenuous, however, until the opening of the railroad in 1864. Commercial development was slow in the first several decades, but by the 1880s, several brick buildings (replacing the more flammable wood frame ones) lined the square around the train station and along South B Street, one block to the west of Main and Railroad Avenue.
During the 19th century people who lived in and around San Mateo found basic goods and services on South B Street. Pharmacies, agar stores, dry goods, meat markets and groceries, restaurants, and Several bands, a livery stable, the lobe stal, City Hall the Stray, ere an apartment building. Several hotels were on B Street and one was on Second Avenue, just west of B.
Until the early 1920s, San Mateo's commercial development centered on South B, in large part because adjoining lands were held privately. To the west were the De Guigne and Taylor estates, blocking the development of Third Avenue between B Street and the County Road (now El Camino Real). With the introduction of the automobile, this important connection to other Peninsula communities became all the more critical to San Mateo's growth. Thus, when the estates came on the market in the early 1920s, local as well as San Francisco 21 developers moved quickly to expand the commercial area of San Mateo.
By the time East Third Avenue developed in the 1920s and 1930s, San Mateo was a booming suburb of San Francisco. Local newspapers claimed that some 85% of the local population commuted to San Francisco. Clearly, this fact had an impact on the architectural design of Third Avenue businesses, as well as on the services offered.
During the 1920s and 1930s, San Francisco investors and architects were responsible for many of the structures erected on Third Avenue. The San Mateo Theater, Ben Franklin Hotel, and later, the elegant Tudor Revival Levy Brothers store were designed to appeal to a sophisticated, movement to recreate California's Spanish heritage with buildings of smooth white plaster walls and red tile roofs. Other structures record the popularity of Period Revival styles and Art Deco during the 'twenties and 'thirties.
Construction on Third Avenue continued through the
Depression years. Research indicated that some stores remained empty during the 'thirties or sustained a high rate of turnover. Despite troubled times, Third • Avenue became a new focus for local commercial development. Along Third Avenue were grocery, apparel and furniture stores, as well as medical and professional offices.
Restaurants, gift stores, a photographer, soda fountains, dairies, and pharmacies also were important tenants through the 1930s.
Although now gone, an important structure at Third Avenue and South Ellsworth was St. Matthew's Catholic Church, built in the 1860s and demolished in the early 1980s. Next door was the post office (still standing and now on the National Register), and farther down the street was the grammar school, which was converted to City Hall in the late 1930s. Although City Hall moved south to 20th Avenue in the 1960s, a portion of this second civic center remains, housing the downtown Fire Station.
Although many structures remain on E. Third Avenue and
South B Street to remind us that San Mateo has a traditional downtown, many essential services have scattered or moved south along El Camino or relocated to Hillsdale Mall. The trend began in the early 1940s. First, downtown expanded to Fourth Avenue. A secondary main street on Twenty-fifth Avenue sprang up in the early 1940s to serve new neighborhoods in that area. Finally, by the late 22 1950s when San Mateo's population was close to 69,000, the exodus of many retail businesses to the new Hillsdale shopping center began.
In a sense the relocation of many essential services away from Section 2.4 Central Business District:
Buildings Located Outside the
Proposed District
San Mateo's commercial development is well-chronicled
through the structures within the proposed historic downtown district.
However, the commercial area (as defined by the City's boundaries for the Central Business District) extends beyond the proposed district. To document this area, the survey reviewed structures within the planning area boundaries and selected a number of sites for further The majority of selected sites relate to the commercial and institutional growth of the community. The old St. James Hotel on Railroad Avenue is one of the oldest commercial structures remaining in the downtown area. The plaza around the railroad was the heart of The former "Labor Temple" at 709 South B Street takes on added meaning when one considers how important construction and related building trades were in a residential community like San Mateo. For many years, the trade unions representing local plumbers, electricians, carpenters, painters and others, held weekly meetings here.
San Mateo's establishment as a regional center was evident in the history of several sites in the commercial area. Mills Hospital, 23 established in 1908, helped secure San Mateo's place as a community able to meet regional needs. Next to Mills on El Camino Real and Baldwin is St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, one of the early churches established in San Mateo. Although church leaders and members figured prominently in community affairs, it is Willis Polk's design that sets this building apart from other local ecclesiastical structures.
While the survey documented several houses in this area, their history relates to the development patterns of residential neighborhoods. Three houses on Baldwin (109, 115 and 117) and one at 29 N. San Mateo Drive border the San Mateo Heights area; the two- story house at 109 Baldwin is a particularly well-preserved example of the Stick Victorian style. The simple Gothic Revival house at 415 S.
Claremont appears to belong more rightfully with its 19th century neighbors in the Central neighborhood.
The survey also took note of the six bell guideposts located on El Camino Real. Although most of the bells are located outside the bounds of the Central Business District, it seemed most appropriate to include them here. Unfortunately, there is little documentation about the bells: the number, location and date of placement is uncertain.
General information about the bell guideposts indicates they were erected in the early 1900s as part of a statewide movement to recognize the Catholic Mission fathers role in establishing El Camino Real. In most cities, a local community group sponsored placement as a project promoting local history and civic pride. Although many communities have lost their bell guideposts to vandals, San Mateo can still claim these six placed along El Camino Real.
2.5 Central San Mateo
San Mateo's past is illuminated in the houses of Central. When C.B. Polhemus set the original boundaries of the town in 1862 it included Claremont and Delaware (then C and D Streets) in the vicinity of San Mateo Creek and then south to Third Avenue. The area expanded in 1870 when Alvinza Hayward subdivided some of his land just east of Delaware. In 1888 the Howard family subdivided land orth of the creek to Poplar and from the railroad tracks to Delaware 'hese early subdivisions comprise the older sections of the Centra neighborhood.
The area changed over time. John Tilton's land with large house, barns, and slaughter house occupied a large portion of land 24 north of the creek. William Sands owned a house on "D" Street. Early settlers James Byrnes and John Maynard built elegant Italianate houses along the creek. The early maps of the area are dotted with smaller, unidentified houses. By the 1890s, the area had grown and the Sanborn maps show an increase in residential structures, some with small barns. Mostly, however, it was becoming a residential neighborhood.
The San Mateo County Historical Association's collection of historic photographs, lithographs, and bird's eye views depict early San Mateo as a community with a fair number of wood frame, "Victorian" style houses. Given this evidence, we looked especially for structures representing common 19th century styles: Gothic Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival.
Current zoning allows increased densities, resulting in the construction of newer multi-unit apartment buildings. Facade changes and additions are common here as well, as property owners update and expand their homes. Because of this, the survey was unable to identify a contiguous district of related, unaltered structures that might qualify under the National Register requirements. Nevertheless, a number of original structures remain.
In general, the survey found several blocks with houses dating from the late 19th and early 20th century. Since many of the houses and streets had changed, the survey selected houses that had few or reversible alterations and thus remained good examples of a specific style. The only exceptions made were for those houses that had strong historical associations to individuals, specific events or particular groups of people. Some of these houses are not in good physical repair or are have major, incompatible alterations.
Historical information about the early inhabitants of Central gleaned from maps, photographs, city directories, the Great Register of Voters (an excellent source recording nationality, age and occupation of male residents) added up to a neighborhood of great diversity. As expected the larger homes belonged to San Mateo's leaders and businessmen. But their next door neighbors often were of the "working class:" carpenters, mill men, laundry workers or gardeners.
For a while San Mateo's first Japanese owned business, a laundry, operated at the corner of Tilton and South El Dorado. The structure, damaged by fire in 1989, still stands.
The existence of Gothic Revival style structures on South Delaware leads to the conclusion that this street was well-settled in the 1860s and 1870s, even though there are no early maps to verify this 25 Local histories date William Sands' cottage at 45 South Delaware to the early 1860s. Although it has been altered through the years, it retains its ornamented Gothic Revival facade. The simple Gothic Revival style houses at 8 and 19 South Delaware may place them in the same era as the better documented Sands house.
The larger homes in Central indicate it once was a fashionable neighborhood. Three large, early landholders once lived along the San Mateo Creek east of town. The homes of John Q.A. Tilton, James Byrnes and John C. Maynard, were once grand residences surrounded by open land. The Tilton (36 N. Claremont) and Byrnes (713 First) houses have been altered dramatically, but retain enough of their original form to suggest their early significance. The Maynard house on Lawrence retains its architectural integrity, but is difficult to view because of adjacent new construction.
William Brown's house at 2 South Delaware has received
attention for years as being one of the fine old homes of San Mateo's.
Built in the early 1890s, it has been singled out because of its size and Queen Anne detailing. Its first occupants also were prominent members of the community and active in County politics. William Brown, by trade a blacksmith, became a local community leader in the early 1890s as a member of the volunteer fire department. Later he was elected a local trustee (equivalent to today's council member) and then a County Supervisor. His office spanned a period when supervisors oversaw road construction, an important function in rural counties.
His was a powerful office. When Brown died in 1920, his wife Rosalie served out his term. She later was elected to this office and served an additional ten years.
Local histories claim that Robert Wisnom built William
Brown's house and that of his brother, Dennis Brown, at 5 North Delaware. Robert Wisnom is a leading character in San Mateo history and bears further discussion. Wisnom first came to San Mateo in the mid-1860s to work on a mansion for John Parrott, one of the large landholders in the area. An Irish immigrant, Wisnom rose from carpenter/builder, to business owner (lumber, hardware and appliances) to landholder (he had substantial holdings in San Mateo's downtown). Wisnom had five sons and two daughters; they too became active participants in San Mateo's civic and social affairs.
In San Mateo, the Wisnom name crops up in the history of its banks, real estate development, local businesses and politics. Local histories and more recent newspaper articles about San Mateo "Victorians" claim that Wisnom built a number of the older, large 26 1
homes in the Central neighborhood. Survey research was unable to substantiate most of these assertions. Future research on the Wisnom family and specifically on Robert Wisnom's activities may help verify the location of these homes.
Across from the Brown residence on Delaware is a house
associated with another early settler in San Mateo, Charles Robinson, who arrived here in the 1880s and worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad as an accountant and assistant paymaster. An early photograph of this house showed that it once was a heavily ornamented Queen Anne. A later remodeling, probably in the early 1900s, converted it to a more restrained Colonial Revival.
At the end of the block, at 40 North Delaware a distinctive Queen Anne cottage is the former residence of Pete Thorsen. Thorsen was the proprietor of the Bohemia Cafe, a popular saloon located next to the old city hall/fire station on Main Street. Thorsen was one of the first members of the volunteer fire department and at his death in 1930 was remembered as a successful manager of both city and county political campaigns.
As a whole, the survey found that the Central neighborhood contains an eclectic mix of homes-modest, grand, well-maintained, dilapidated. Gothic Revival and Queen Anne structures stand next to California bungalows and stucco-box apartment buildings. The Central neighborhood does not contain a district of 19th century residential structures; it does have an impressive number of "Victorian" era survivors, which provide a vital link between San Mateo's past and present.
26 San Mateo Heights
In 1895, a subdivision in San Mateo Heights was recorded. As the name implies, the ground rose slightly in this area, located just north of the town's established limits. It proved to be a desirable area for development: it was close to the San Mateo and Burlingame train stations and within walking distance of San Mateo's commercial area.
City incorporation in 1894 also brought improvements to the new neighborhood. Promotional literature dated 1904 advertised "town lots" and promised public improvements such as electric lights, a sewage system and an adequate water supply to future home owners or 27 At the time San Mateo Heights lots were being offered for sale, the town's future as a suburban community to San Francisco was becoming more clearly defined. During the first decades of Angio- American settlement, San Mateo had been a self-contained community. Except for the owners of the large estates, most people who lived in or near town also worked in the area. The idea of commuting by train was reserved for a few. By the late 1890s, improvements in rail transportation made it possible for larger numbers of people to work in the city and to live in a "country" environment. A promotional booklet published in 1895 cited the fact that San Mateo Heights would be served by a new "double track" bayshore line, with half-houriy trains. With this "cheap and rapid suburban train service" San Francisco was only twenty-five minutes away.
There are only a few examples of 19th century structures in San Mateo Heights; most are located in the neighborhoods closest to town.
One notable late 19th century structure was the summer or country home of architect Ernest Coxhead. Historic photographs show this Tudor Revival home isolated among open fields. Today it occupies a suburban lot on East Santa Inez and is nearly hidden from view by overgrown shrubbery and trees. Coxhead designed several homes in the area and it is not surprising that he was attracted to the San Mateo area, with its good weather, scenic hills and proximity to clients in the Hillsborough area.
The open fields around Coxhead's country home did not take long to fill however. Sanborn maps from 1897 and 1901 show the community spreading north along such streets as North Ellsworth, Catalpa, Tilton and Griffith (now San Mateo Drive). Several of these new neighborhoods clearly appealed to San Mateo's affluent residents.
A number of large houses on Elm, San Mateo Drive, North Ellsworth and Highland attest to this fact. Information gathered from city directories supported this as well. Many of the first residents of these large fashionable homes were attorneys, architects, local merchants, San Francisco businessmen, and local community leaders. Their Colonial Revival, Renaissance Revival and Shingle style houses still remain in some sections of San Mateo Heights. Several specific examples can be found on Elm Street where a number of active community members and business leaders lived. For a short time, A.P.
Giannini resided at 137 Elm Street (later he moved across El Camino to 20 El Cerrito, a house his daughter still owns). William Toepke and Thomas Edwards, two active Peninsula architects, both lived on Elm.
George Dickie, Jr. (son of one of the early city trustees), Charles Kirkbride (city attorney and founder of a local newspaper), and Frank 28 Simmens (a manufacturer from San Francisco) also lived on Elm.
Although zonings allowing more density have fostered change alone this street, it still boasts some of the more elegant homes in San Mateo Heights.
The survey also noted a substantial number of modest homes built in the first decades of the twentieth century. Sanborn maps of 1901, 1908 and 1920 record the dramatic increase in house constructior n San Mateo Heights following the 1906 earthquake. Streets such as Wisnom, Highland, Prospect, and Catalpa are lined with Neo-classic Rowhouses, Eastern Shingle Cottages, California bungalows and later Period Revival houses-all styles popular with middle and working Since San Mateo Heights neighborhoods enjoyed easy access to the street car and railroad stations in both Burlingame and San Mateo, it is no wonder that it was a choice location for early apartment buildings. The survey noted several examples which showed exceptional architecture. At 245 and 255 Grand Avenue are two apartment buildings, whose architecture seems closest to Mission Revival, a style not seen often in San Mateo. A well-proportioned Classic Box duplex remains in excellent condition at 222 Villa Terrace.
Although they lack visual appeal, four Southern Pacific railroad bridges were included in the survey. It is most likely that the bridges were part of a general project to upgrade the system in 1904. They also may have been built to provide better access between the more stablished neighborhoods in the Central area with the developing sections of San Mateo Heights. sortions of as Mayer Heightis innice hite ass dar Pasen probably built them originally to avoid potential accidents involving street and rail traffic.
Nearly one hundred years after the first recorded subdivision, San Mateo Heights retains a strong ; sense of its historical and architectural identity. Despite the distinctive character of most neighborhoods, the survey concluded that an historic district based on National Register standards did not exist.
changes, incompatible intrusions, or lack of a coherent streetscape detracted from the visual and architectural integrity of these There residential zonings
finds scattered apartments and condominiums alongside older Colonial Revival homes, California Bungalows, and Neo-classic Rowhouses. While a local historic district (one with standards more 29 lenient than the National Register) may be possible, this survey focused on documenting those structures that retained their architectural integrity and/or those with historical merit.
Of all areas studied, San Mateo Heights had the largest number of surveyed properties. Although not the oldest neighborhood, it is one where a great number of architectural styles occur and remain in good condition. Historically, its buildings record a critical period in the community's growth. Between 1894 and 1925 San Mateo became more clearly defined as a suburban community, but one which would welcome regional institutions and host a diverse population.
2.7 Hayward Park 1
Hayward Park takes its name from Alvinza Hayward, portrayed as one of the more "picturesque of all the wealthy neighbors in San Mateo" by historian Frank Stanger. He invested his Gold Rush fortunes heavily in San Mateo real estate and in the 1860s built a water system to supply the community. He also subdivided land just east of Delaware and offered lots there to the County if they would relocate the courthouse to San Mateo. He was less successful in this venture.
Hayward lived in an elegant mansion he built in the late 1880s near the intersection of Hayward and Laurel. Although an important figure in San Mateo's early history, local legend paints Hayward as a brooding figure, who died estranged from his family and alone in the Victorian splendor of his large mansion.
During his lifetime Hayward maintained a large estate, complete with racetrack which encircled a tence park innabited by wildlite.
Atter his death in 1904, a large section of his estate was made available for new housing. A spectacular panoramic photograph taken around 1905 documents the expansive holdings of Alvinza Hayward. In the photograph, his mansion remained, converted to the luxurious Peninsula Hotel. Directly south, between the County Road (El Camino Real) and the railroad tracks, roads had been cut and intersections had been marked with brick and concrete sphere street markers (some are still standing and are included in the survey). B Street and Palm are clearly distinguishable, as are the numbered avenues running from 10th to 16th. The empty land is marked off for lots, but there are no houses.
All histories of Bay Area communities mark 1906 as a turning point of some sort. In San Mateo, it marks an increase in growth and 30 FEET
Several years after the first lots were sold, in about 1915, the promotional literature for Hayward Park continued to claim its great virtues. In Hayward Park, they claimed, had "grown a refined, intellectual community of home loving people, contented, happy, enthusiastic over the surrounding which aid to make life worth living." This time, however, they were able to include photographs of homes constructed in this new subdivision of happy folk. These early images of Hayward Park suggest a pleasant environment.
bungalow, as a style, had just become popular in California, and it was among the favored house styles built in this neighborhood. Although today Hayward Park has no large district of bungalows, the style was depicted almost exclusively in these early brochures. The survey identified several bungalows, retaining classic features of this style; many of these are on Palm and the numbered avenues between 10th and 16th. One in particular, at 1312 Palm, is especially striking. Not surprisingly, this same house was shown in a promotional brochure of the early 1900s.
This early push for development after the earthquake was followed by steady growth through the 1920s and 1930s. Luring these decades, the more popular housing styles were period revival. Tudor Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival homes of modest proportions replaced the bungalow as the popular house style in Hayward Park.
Since these are fairly common styles in San Mateo, the survey made note of only a few examples.
Most of Hayward Park has a low residential zoning of R-1 or R-2.
In these areas, the greatest change to neighborhood character occurs during remodelings where original detail or scale are altered. In the neighborhoods bordering El Camino, Central Park and the downtown, 31 character as a neighborhood of modest homes mostly dating between 1906-1935.
Glazenwood. One neighborhood within Hayward Park appears eligible for nomination as a National Register district. This is the Glazenwood area, which now occupies the land where Hayward's ill- fated mansion stood. After Hayward's death, the house was expanded and converted into a luxury hotel. By 1920, the less than successful hotel burned and eventually the land was subdivided as a restricted residential park. Several features made Glazenwood unique. While the original subdivision of Hayward land conformed to a rigid grid system, Glazenwood boasted a u-shaped design with the two curved streets of Laurel and Rosewood. This was a popular plan, said to derive from the country lanes of England. (Land developers in Hillsborough, San Mateo Park, and parts of Burlingame also planned curved streets, in part as a way of distinguishing these areas from the more "urban" neighborhoods.) Glazenwood lots are somewhat larger than those in Hayward Park. But, perhaps most striking is the uniformity of house design: Spanish Colonial Revival predominates. Since the survey is proposing this neighborhood as a National Register District it merits further attention.
The district includes a majority of houses on the west side of Rosewood Drive, Laurel Avenue, the 100 block of Hayward Avenue and the east side of Palm Avenue between 9th and Hayward. These boundaries are based primarily on the visual coherence and age of the houses, but also on the historic boundaries originally drawn for the subdivision. Entrances to Glazenwood at Rosewood, Laurel and Hayward are marked by gateposts which harmonize with the Spanish Colonial Revival style architecture of the homes.
Development of Glazenwood took place largely between 1922 and 1925. Building permit records on file at the City indicated that the S.A. Born Building company was the primary owner and builder. The average construction costs were between $5,000 to $7,000; several were as high as $10,000 to $13,000. By 1928 the city directories listed the first residents; their occupations included manager, architect, broker, manufacturer, accountant, attorney and store president.
One of the striking visual features of this neighborhood is the uses are itchisa historals vae styat for st me, aid of muses.
Mediterranean influenced variations, became a favored style for coastal Since San Mates priation jumped om are to an excepton
32 1920s it is not surprising that many of San Mateo's older buildings were constructed in a style that was fashionable during that decade. The survey noted a predominance of this style in neighborhoods throughout San Mateo, particularly those established in the 1920s.
Other large groups can be found on North Idaho and the numbered avenues farther south near 25th Avenue. Both Baywood Knolls and San Mateo Park include larger and more elaborate examples of this period revival style as well. In fact, if one architectural style were selected to characterize San Mateo's historic building stock, the most likely choice would be the Spanish Colonial Revival.
In Glazenwood, there is a sense that the neighborhood stands for much that San Mateo wished to become in the 1920s. The move to suburbanize the Peninsula was well-established and local promoters saw only positive results coming from the development of the San Mateo-Burlingame-Hillsborough areas as part of a great urban complex whose center was San Francisco. Here in Glazenwood, home owners had distinctive and fashionable homes; the lots were a little larger than the average; it was a "restricted" residential park. Its residents were sophisticated, professional people. The disadvantages of living in the suburbs-urban sprawl, congested highways and gridlock, spiraling land and home costs-must have been totally unimaginable to the new residents of Glazenwood. Theirs was a time of prosperity, a time when all things seemed possible. Better forms of transportation were turning rural communities like San Mateo into bustling suburbs, which offered the best of both worlds: jobs in San Francisco and their own piece of the country, down the Peninsula.
Although more affordable housing opportunities were available in San Mateo through the 1920s, it seems that it was on the "Glazenwoods" that local boosters pinned their hopes and dreams. San Mateo was not an industrial center, nor truly an agricultural town.
Rather, it had become a residential community whose economy and self-image were based on its relationship to San Francisco.
Glazenwood epitomizes the San Mateo's hopes during the 1920s, as it formed itself into a community of "beautiful homes."
2.8 East San Mateo & North Central
Since East San Mateo and North Central share certain
imilarities in terms of historical development and remaining building tock, survey findings about these two areas are presented together Maps of San Mateo indicate that for many years these areas were on the 3 3
edge of more extensive development, located to the west of the railroad tracks. San Mateo Heights, was subdivided first and more heavily promoted than North Central. Hayward Park and East San Mateo appear to have similar subdivision dates, but Hayward Park also received greater publicity than East San Mateo. Building stock in both areas consisted of modest residential structures with some light industrial and commercial bordering the Bayshore Highway (101).
Both areas had a fair number of older structures (dating from the 1900s through the 1930s), but also a significant number of post-1940 buildings.
As with all areas, survey staff and volunteers walked and drove the neighborhoods to identify buildings of potential interest. The building patterns show typical styles of the early 20th century.
Bungalows of wood or stucco and Spanish Colonial Revival homes were well-represented. As compared with other areas, we found fewer examples of outstanding examples of particular styles and a limited number of sites related to local historical trends. Those found were selected for further research.
East San Mateo. Structures targeted for research and
documentation in East San Mateo were all residential buildings, most constructed before 1910. The one exception is a 1929 Spanish Colonial Revival apartment unit, designed around a central drive. Although San Mateo contains a number of examples of small apartment complexes and duplexes built during the first decades of this century, 510-512 South Idaho was chosen for its exceptional design. The designer of this small complex incorporated the garages into the main structures and showed a particular concern for individualizing each unit. The survey also took note of a duplex at 510 South Grant, showing the design influence of the Craftsman movement.
Two other structures on South El Dorado, which were
particularly good examples of building styles were included. An elegantly proportioned 1908 house at 924 S. El Dorado demonstrates how Classical Revival was interpreted for a modest residential building. Several houses away, at 938 S. El Dorado, is a well-preserved and well-proportioned 1902 Craftsman bungalow.
North Central. North Central and East San Mateo do not
contain many examples of 19th century structures. One exception is a house on East Bellevue in North Central. Local sources suggested that this simple cross-gabled cottage at 519 E. Poplar is one of the oldest houses remaining in San Mateo. An early map of the San Mateo Kancho shows a cluster of buildings, labelled "Belle Vue" in this general vicinity. It is possible this house was one of the buildings 34 noted on this 1866 map. In any case, the style of this house suggests it was built between 1860 and 1870.
A particularly interesting house is at the corner of East Bellevue and North Delaware, across from San Mateo High School. The house stands out architecturally because of its Mission Revival detail and proportions. Further research linked it to Frank Guido, an Italian mmigrant, who farmed the adjacent fields and operated a grocery oi outh B Street for many years. The home is still occupied by Fran Guido's daughter in-law. She recalled the family story that the home's design was inspired by a house her father-in-law had seen in Italy.
Since the house is so strongly reminiscent of the Mission Revival style (popular in California in the early 1900s), it may be possible that the local builder or architect was using a current house style to please his client's desire for a particular design.
Included among the survey's North Central selections is an Art Deco apartment building at 436 N. Claremont. This structure is noteworthy primarily because of its style. As noted in the style section of this report, Art Deco differed from other architectural designs popular in the 1920s and 1930s with its orientation towards the future rather than the past. Although San Mateans tended to ride the waves of architectural fashion, Art Deco was somewhat less popular here than the more conservative period revival styles-Spanish Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival. San Mateo has a few good examples of the more moder styles and this apartment is one of them.
Another North Central landmark is San Mateo High School, a Tudor Revival complex, constructed in 1926-27. For many years, the high school had been in downtown San Mateo, but with the steady growth in population (it more than doubled between 1920 and 1930) the need for a new facility became clear. Local bond measures were passed, resulting in the construction of both San Mateo and Burlingame High Schools.
The other documented buildings in North Central relate closely Hollywood. Apparently the promise of inexpensive utilities and goo veather in San Mateo brought the studios' founders. While the studic was unsuccessful, its location here briefly enhanced San Mateo's image 35 1
2.9 West of El Camino Real 1
The area west of El Camino Real presented a challenge to the survey team. Many neighborhoods were well-established and exhibited a fine range of historically important architectural styles. San Mateo Park, Baywood Knolls, and parts of Aragon in particular have a rich assortment of architectural styles dating from 1900 to 1939.
Early in the survey process, it became apparent that the most sensible approach to surveying these areas was to document various neighborhoods as historic districts (using the same methods applied in Hayward Park's Glazenwood). While this process is simpler thar locumenting single properties, the task of surveying over 2,000 buildings (the combined number in these areas, proved beyond the scope of this one year project. Although zoning remains primarily R-1 west of El Camino Real, dramatic changes to historically intact neighborhoods can occur with subdivisions of larger existing lots, remodelings, and expansions. Thus, long-range preservation goals in San Mateo might include future study of these neighborhoods as either local or National Register Historic Districts.
While it must remain for future surveys to document
development patterns west of El Camino Real, this project selected a number of unique resources located in these areas. Research of these neighborhoods and on-site surveying pointed to these structures as the important reminders of certain time periods and themes in San Mateo's history. Several are highlighted here.
The oldest structure on the west side of El Camino Real appears to be located at 87 Crystal Springs. Local histories document this Greek Revival cottage as the Parrott Estate Gatekeeper's cottage. The house has been moved from its original location (El Camino Real and Fifth Avenue) and altered. Nevertheless, this charming Greek Revival cottage is one of the few reminders San Mateo has of its past when great estates dominated the landscape.
Another notable residential structure selected for the survey is A.P. Giannini's home, Seven Oaks, at 20 El Cerrito. Although now obscured from view by trees and shrubbery, historic photographs record a stately Tudor Revival home. Giannini made his home here from 1905 until 1949.
36 In contrast to these two unique residential structures, other properties singled out for documentation represent specific property types, styles or historic patterns in San Mateo. The use of dramatic styling to catch the attention of the passing motorist is evident in the Streamline Moderne building at 106 S. El Camino Real and in the Art Deco commercial block at 2454 S. El Camino Real. At 212 S. El Camino Real (Baywood Apartments), the design, Spanish Colonial Revival, seems to allude to the good life possible in San Mateo; the name "Baywood Apartments" has historical associations as well, since it is a direct reference to John Parrott's estate, Baywood. The development of this multi-story apartment building on El Camino Real underscores an historical pattern set in the 'twenties, as San Mateo matured into a diverse, regional center.
In our evaluation of the Aragon Planning Area and the other neighborhoods to the south, towards Twenty-fifth Avenue, we found pockets of older buildings among more contemporary subdivisions.
Two structures proved particularly unique and are included in this survey. One is the Bungalow Grocery at 230 Barneson. Although a rather plain Spanish Colonial Revival style building, we selected this building since it appeared to be one of the last of the "mom and pop" neighborhood markets operating in San Mateo. Although not properly a bungalow, we found that the store, built in 1928, was listed as the "Bungalow Market" in the 1932 city directory. Our other selection is the former "Sunshine Court" apartment located at 16 Hobart. This is a narrow, ten-unit apartment building which alternates living space with garage space.
San Mateo's growth and diversification was evident as the survey considered the commercial buildings on 25th Avenue where two 1941 structures (a market and movie theater now converted to office) remain. As the community annexed land to the south along El Camino Real, it became clear that these new residential sections needed a second "Main Street" to meet their needs. Although the buildings on 25th Avenue were constructed after 1940, their existence marks a transition for San Mateo as it grew beyond its traditional core. 37 SECTION 3: ARCHITECTURAL STYLES IN SAN MATEO 1
Throughout our survey of San Mateo's historic buildings, we have identified each building's style and indicated some specific 1 stylistic features in the description of the building. To clarify our descriptions, we include here a few brief words about style and why stylistic identification can be revealing. Following this is a discussion of the eleven styles most prevalent in San Mateo before 1940.
3.1 Architectural Style
What is style? Style is more than the presence of a red tile roof or a row of classical columns. It includes the building's proportions, how its volumes are put together, the treatment of its wall surfaces-- the totality of how the building is assembled-plus the details of its structure and ornamentation. Underlying this is a consistent system of proportions. An Italianate house, for example, tends to be a composition of vertical rectangular units, from the overall shape of the house itself to the proportions of the windows. Even the ornamental details bear this out. A bungalow, on the other hand, is made up of broad horizontal elements. These proportions are likely to be consistent from one Italianate house to another, and from one bungalow to another. Specific ornamental details may assist in identifying a style, but the way they are used and how they are combined with other elements distinguishes one style from another.
Classical columns appear on Italianate, Colonial Revival, and Neoclassical buildings, but in each case how they are used and the context in which they appear is completely different.
What Style Reveals about Buildings. Style relates a building to others like it and to a larger tradition. An analysis of a building's style may suggest when it was built and the degree of its stylistic integrity- that is, how consistent it is with the characteristics of its style and how good an example it is of its type. This can show whether the building is a particularly notable or unusual example, whether it has any particular exaggerations, or whether any of its elements are odd or unusual. It may happen that the building has a number of stylistic inconsistencies. These may suggest that the building represents a transition from one style to another; that the builder assembled elements from more than one stylistic tradition; or that the building has some later additions or alterations.
38 Some of the houses in San Mateo were constructed from pattern books. These were popular throughout the United States, circulating the latest styles in domestic design complete with floor plans and etails. This meant that people trom coast to coast were otten looking t the pages of the same books and adapting the designs to their ow:
needs. California architects and builders sometimes developed their own regional versions of styles common across the country.
Sometimes the houses constructed from pattern books are stylistically consistent and remarkably similar to the drawings on which they were based. In other cases, however, stylistic features are mixed in unorthodox ways, as if the builder looked at the page showing a Gothic Revival cottage when planning the main structure, but took inspiration from the Italianate page when it came to the ornamentation. Similar details may appear on both the largest and the most modest houses. Or on one block there may be a number of houses with nearly identical plans but with variations in the details.
Problems with stylistic terminology. If you flip through the many good stylistic guides to American architecture available today, you will find that the styles are not always consistently named. One book may identify a house with a red tile roof, stucco walls, and wrought iron ornamentation as Mediterranean, while others may call it Spanish Eclectic or Spanish Colonial Revival. For the sake of clarity, we have selected one name for each style.
The terminology used today does not always correspond to how people identified a building in the past. The "Stick Style" is an excellent example of this. Architectural historian Vincent Scully noticed that strips of wood were applied to the surfaces of many houses between about 1860 and 1890. These not only ornament the houses but refer to the wooden frames which support them structurally. As good an observation as this is, the term "Stick Style" did not exist in the minds of the people who built these houses. Many of these could more accurately be described as Italianate, Eastlake, or Queen Anne. For this reason, although "Stick Style" appears in many stylistic guides to American architecture, we rarely use it in the survey of San Mateo's buildings.
There are times when we might identify a building s style in one vay while in the past it was looked at in a different way entirely.
Today, San Diego's Hotel del Coronado (1886-88) could be identified as ueen Anne, but in the late nineteenth century it was considered fission or Spanish style structure because of its inner court. In Sa Mateo, there is a house which has the features that we define as 39 Mission Revival, but the house's builder thought of it as Italian.
Written and oral sources, when available, provide invaluable insight into how a building's style was defined at the time in which it was built, but unfortunately such sources often are not readily available. So our task, then, is to look carefully at a building's features so that we can come as close as possible to an accurate identification of its style. "Victorian" architecture. People often describe mid to late nineteenth-century buildings with vertical proportions and lavish wooden ornamentation as "Victorians." The term, which comes from the period of England's Queen Victoria's reign (1837 to 1901), is actually a convenient catch-all for a number of more specific styles. These include the Gothic Revival, the Italianate, and the Queen Anne styles, which we will discuss individually rather than under the general heading of "Victorian." While these styles have some elements in common, they were regarded in their own time not as examples of the Victorian style, but as individual styles in their own right, with a certain amount of overlapping.
Commercial architecture. Commercial structures present their own problems with definitions. Sometimes they are simple boxes with ornamentation that defies any imaginable categorization. Recently the Preservation Press has published The Buildings of Main Street by Richard Longstreth. In this excellent guide to American commercial architecture, Longstreth classifies buildings according to the composition of their facades. In our descriptions of San Mateo's commercial architecture, we have adopted Longstreth's method and combined it with stylistic identification wherever possible. For this reason, such descriptions as "two-part commercial block with classical (or Colonial, or Spanish) ornamentation" frequently appear in our write-ups on commercial buildings.
Style as a window into the past. Architectural styles reveal antich aed this paritary w19h8, Chicago architect Louis Sullivan If, for the word, 'style' we substitute the word, civilization, are make geno ce derstanding of she vites of historical -Kindergarten Chats
A building's style may provide a window into the lives and values of the people who built and used the buildings we are surveying today: how they related to the community or to nature, how they 40 looked at the world, and even their fantasies and aspirations. Style conveys meaning. A careful look at a building's style helps to place a building in its stylistic context, and it also brings us into closer contact with the lives of the people who built and used the building in the past.
3.2 Common Styles in San Mateo
In our descriptions of the various styles prevalent in San Mateo until about 1940, we first list the styles' characteristics. This is a sort of shopping list of features commonly found in buildings of a given style.
A specific building need not have all of the features listed to be identified with that style. Following the list of characteristics we talk more generally about the style, how it got to California, how it was interpreted here, and what it meant to those who chose it for their buildings.
Gothic Revival (1840-1880 8 until 1940)
*vertical proportions in overall massing and in details *steeply pitched roofs--usually gabled, with cross gables *bargeboards, sometimes ornamented
*windows with pointed arches
*jigsaw-cut ornament
*verandas and porches
*bay windows
*foliated ornament
about Medieval life. Scott presented a world of pageantry and heroism against the backdrop of caretully described Gothic settings, stirring the imagination of readers on both sides of the Atlantic. Davis gave tangible form to the world Scott conjured in words. His Gothic villas are great stone heaps with irregular massing, sprouting turrets, battlements, and pinnacles, lit with pointed windows.
While Davis' villas were within the reach of only the wealthy dient, Andrew Jackson Downing popularized a form of the Gothic Revival style which was more easily accessible to the general public.
Through vigorous public speaking and a series of pattern books, Downing promoted a smaller, more informal Gothic Revival home 41 that included some of the decorative elements of Davis' estate houses, but were adapted to the needs of everyday American families. His books (Cottage Residences, 1842, and The Architecture of Country Houses, 1850) included three-dimensional views, floor plans, and details. Although Downing's houses lack the turrets, battlements, and heavy masonry of Davis's massive villas, they maintain the picturesque irregularity of silhouette, the Gothic foliated ornament, and the pointed arches used in the larger villas. In their greatly simplified form they are only distant relatives of their European ancestors.
To Downing, who was a landscape architect, the harmonization of the house with the natural landscape was particularly important. He believed that the Gothic Revival cottage's irregular contours blended well with the irregular topography of the countryside. Houses were to be painted in soft, natural colors rather than the stark white used in Greek Revival architecture, and building materials were to be used in an honest and undisguised way. The winding paths leading to the doors of the houses shown in Downing's books echoed the contours of the land, and wide porches provided a welcoming transition from outdoors to indoors. Downing believed that his approach to planning suited the pure, simple life of the countryside and the values of the family living in harmony with nature.
Gothic Revival houses were built with a new type of structure, the balloon frame. Rather than employing a few heavy beams with carefully made pegged joinery, the balloon frame uses a great many light wooden members connected with mass-produced nails. The result was a frame that was easier and faster to build, and more flexible in the way it could be arranged. The balloon frame lent itself well to the irregularity of the Gothic Revival cottage with its jutting gables and bays, as well as to succeeding styles on into the present day.
Downing's picturesque cottages were built by the thousand across the United States. San Mateo has several homes clearly inspired by Downing's ideas. An excellent example of the "center-gabled" Gothic Revival cottage is at 45 South Delaware. The house has a steeply pitched gabled roof, with a cross gable projecting from the center of the roof on the street side, in line with the door. The central gable's bargeboard is embellished with a type of lacy ornamentation which became increasingly popular. following the invention of the jigsaw.
This new device allowed carpenters to pursue their individual fancies in the execution of ornamentation, giving rise to the version of the Gothic Revival known as "Carpenter Gothic."
42 The center-gabled cottage, which appeared in Downing's books, was a fairly common type that was reinterpreted with variations. At 415 South Claremont there is a house which follows the same overall pattern as the Delaware house, but where the Delaware house is vertical in its proportions, in line with Downing's prototypes, this one is more horizontal. The house is wider, the porch longer, the central gable more drawn out and without lacy bargeboards or any other Gothic ornamentation.. At 512 East Bellevue, there is another center- gabled cottage with a row of dentils running across the top of the porch- -a classical detail in a house type which originated with the Gothic Revival. These three houses are a good illustration of how a basic type, seen in a pattern book, was adapted according to changing fashions and The Gothic Revival house, as Downing interpreted it, persisted until about 1880. For public buildings and institutions, however, the Gothic Revival had a longer life, lasting until about 1940. From the 1820s on, the Gothic style was used extensively for churches because of the style's connection with the great European cathedrals. It was also regarded as an appropriate style for colleges, universities, and schools, harking back to the Medieval European colleges. There also are numerous public buildings with Gothic details. Twentieth-century public buildings tend to be more massive than the mid nineteenth century Gothic revival houses, and they usually are constructed in terra cotta, stone, or brick rather than wood. They have simple, smooth surfaces with Gothic details in terra cotta ог carved stone clustered at specific points. Chope Hospital, for example, is largely unadorned except for its central entrance which is embellished with Gothic ornamentation. While the picturesque cottages Downing advocated bore little resemblance to medieval European architecture except in a few details, some features of the larger public buildings were In recent years, the
contemporary architects.
Italianate (1840s-1880s)
*vertical proportions
*often asymmetrical in plan
*hipped or flat roof
*overhanging eaves
*decorative brackets, especially at the cornice
*square tower
*round-headed windows
*tall, narrow rectangular windows
43 1
*bay windows
"corner quoins imitating stone corner reinforcements
*classical ornamentation, such as columns, dentils, pediments *balustraded balconies and verandas
Along with the Gothic style, Andrew Jackson Downing also ! promoted the Italianate as a style appropriate to country houses. This picturesque style was thought to allude to a romantic pastoral past.
American Italianate houses were inspired by Northern Italian farmhouses as they were represented in late eighteenth-century paintings. In the nineteenth century, English architects adapted them to the English countryside, and they became known in the United States through English pattern books. In the United States, the Italianate style was reinterpreted to such a great extent that it usually 1 only vaguely resembles its Italian forebears.
Like the Gothic Revival cottage, the Italianate villa was considered appropriate to a rural setting because of its asymmetry and picturesque qualities. The soft colors Downing recommended for the exterior harmonized with nature, and the wide verandas on many Italianate houses provided a shady spot outdoors during the hot summers. By the 1860s the Italianate style had overtaken the Gothic Revival in popularity and was widely used for buildings of all types.
Although the Italianate style was initially recommended for houses in rural areas, its vertical proportions suited narrow urban lots, as the rows of Italianate town houses in San Francisco attest. It also was used commonly for commercial buildings, many of which have long rows of round-headed windows and classical detailing. Some say that the Italianate became almost a national style, so thoroughly was it reinterpreted according to American needs and tastes.
The Italianate villa may first have been introduced to the San Francisco Bay area in the 1850s by Downing's friend, architect Henry Cleaveland. At that time, the peninsula was becoming a fashionable area for country villas. On August 29, 1852, Alta California reported, with some degree of overstatement, that most San Franciscans of substance had country estates on which they had, or planned to build, a country house. The earliest Italianate design in the area may have been Cleaveland's original design for William C. Ralston's country house in Belmont.
Only a few examples of Italianate architecture survive in San Mateo. At 61 North Claremont, there is a highly simplified Italianate house. Although it does not have classical details or round-headed windows, it has the shallow hipped roof and vertical proportions 44 common to the Italianate style. The windows are tall rectangles and the entire house is nearly as tall as it is wide. It is arranged asymmetrically, with the left bay projecting forward, and a porch, under its own hipped roof, running across the right side of the house.
Delicate turned columns support the porch roof and add a graceful element to an otherwise simple house.
Queen Anne (1880-1910)
*irregular and asymmetrical massing, a convergence of varied shapes and volumes achieved through the use of a variety of towers, turrets, gables, and dormers
*towers topped with pointed witch's caps or bulbous roofs *recessed upstairs balconies
"Large front porches sometimes curoing around the corner *bay windows
"varied textures and materials activating wall surfaces *small-scale details; fish-scale shingles
*classical ornamentation
*spindlework, lattice work, or garlands
*ornamented bargeboards
*stained glass
45 The Queen Anne style enjoyed widespread popularity
across the United States in the late nineteenth century. It originated in England in the late 1860s when architects such as Richard Norman Shaw turned to late medieval prototypes for inspiration. The name, "Queen Anne," is something of a misnomer, however, because the style bears little resemblance to the architecture that was actually constructed during the reign of England's Queen Anne (1702-14).
Rather, it is a combination of various late Medieval elements reinterpreted in late nineteenth century terms. American arci. ects were aware of the Queen Anne style by the late 1870s, but the w. they defined it was not very specific. In the architectural journal American Architect (April, 1877), it was defined as "any eccentricity in general design that one can suppose would have occurred to designers one hundred and fifty or two hundred years ago." Through architectural journals, popular magazines, and pattern books, the style gained widespread attention. American architects and builders interpreted the style in their own way so that the American version of the style is even further removed than the English version from anything Queen Anne herself would recognize.
The Queen Anne style was introduced into California in the early 1880s. Californians responded to the style's ornamental possibilities with even greater enthusiasm than in other parts of the country. Although Californians did not generally use the slate roofs, Flemish chimneys, patterned masonry, tile, and brick popular further east, they more than made up for the lack of variety in materials through the variety of effects they achieved with wood. By lavishing ornament on their Queen Anne buildings, Californians tried to show that they had gone beyond the rudimentary architecture of their pioneer past and were capable of constructing houses beautiful enough to rival those in more established cultural centers. Not everyone liked this exuberant interpretation of the style. Some complained that the tendency to treat wood as if it were masonry was comparable to the (frowned-upon) use of makeup. Art critic Ernest Peixotto was particularly critical of California's Queen Anne houses, calling then absurdities...piled up without rhyme or reason--restless, turreted, gabled, loaded with meaningless detail, defaced with fantastic windows and hideous chimneys."
The Queen Anne style was adapted to houses large and small.
San Mateo has a number of Queen Anne cottages showing the influence of pattern books. For example, on North Claremont Avenue there are two houses both of which have one story, a hipped roof, a projecting bay window on the right side, and a front porch on the left. 46 But the two builders interpreted this basic plan very differently. One house, at 353 North Claremont, shows all of the exuberance associated with California's version of the Queen Anne. From the front, no surface is left untouched. The cross gable at the right projects beyond the porch, accentuating the house's asymmetry and creating a three- dimensional silhouette. The gable itself is ornamented in as many different ways as could possibly be fit into a small space. The bargeboard is embellished with lines and circles and it has a cross brace with a sunburst at its apex. Fish-scale shingles fill the gable. The bay window below is surrounded with ornamental panels. The builder of this cottage lavished upon this small area ornamentation akin to the most elaborate large-scale dwelling.
The house down the street, at 222 North Claremont, is far more its neighbor's, that has all the simplicity of a triangular classical ediment. The bay window below is completely unembellished. By influence.
Colonial Revival (1880-1955)
*simple rectangular volumes with few dramatic projecting elements
*roofs gabled, hipped, or gambrel
*symmetry, or balanced asymmetry
*surfaces clapboard, brick, shingled, or a combination
*windows rectangular, circular, oval, Palladian
*doors often elaborated with sidelights, pilasters, pediment, or fanlight
*porch may be supported by columns and may run across width of facade; or it may be only a small entry porch, or in cottages, it *classical ornament and details derived from eighteenth-century American prototypes (columns, dentils, pediments, cornices, entablatures, shutters, engaged piers)
By the turn of the century, the Colonial Revival began to 47 the 1890s the Queen Anne entered a transitional phase, incorporating classical features as were used in Colonial architecture. While late Medieval English architecture inspired the Queen Anne style, the architecture of America's own past provided the basis for the Colonial Revival. The New England exhibit at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition stimulated a renewed interest in the styles prevalent in the colonies during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as well as the early nineteenth century. Although much of the architecture built during this period was actually based upon European prototypes, the Colonial Revival asserted an American identity by looking at how these prototypes were reinterpreted on this continent.
The Colonial Revival style tends to be far more restrained than the Queen Anne. The Queen Anne style activates every surface with ornament and contrasting textures, and, with its numerous projecting elements, it is assertively asymmetrical. In contrast, Colonial Revival buildings restrict ornamentation to selected areas and are usually symmetrical in design. They tend to be made up of simple rectangular volumes, with few elements jutting out from their boxy silhouettes.
The Colonial Revival attracted attention throughout the United States, including California. Architectural journals published illustrations of colonial architecture as models for the architect, and popular magazines showed examples of Colonial Revival houses to the general public. Because the style was associated specifically with the colonial architecture of the Eastern Seaboard, some Californians did not think that it was particularly suitable to California's conditions. In his book, The Simple Home (1904), Charles Keeler asserted that "the meaningless white-painted fluted columns of hollow wood" were "wholly incongruous in the glare, newness and rush of western life." Nevertheless, the popularity of the Colonial Revival coincided with a period in which there was a great demand for housing. As a result, many Colonial Revival houses were constructed in California.
In California the Colonial Revival was used primarily for domestic architecture, but San Mateo also has a number of commercial structures using Colonial Revival elements. The store at 28 East Third is a loose adaptation of a Georgian townhouse. Triangular pediments surmounts the right bay and the entrance, and shuttered casement windows light the second story. Rustication emphasizes the building's corners and the main portal. Its asymmetry, which is a departure from colonial precedents, became more common in the later phase of the Colonial Revival. Most other commercial buildings borrow Colonial Revival features and apply them to standard blocks rather than using such frankly domestic imagery.
48 Colonial Revival houses in San Mateo range from the grandest to the most modest. Some of the larger homes closely follow Georgian, Federal, and Adam models. These have hipped roofs, central entrances embellished with columns, fanlights, pedimented porticoes, and multi- pane windows arranged symmetrically. Many of the smaller houses use only a selection of these elements. Two types are particularly common in California, the "Classic Box" and the "Neoclassical Rowhouse."
The Classic Box. The Classic Box, a termed coined by
architectural historian Sally Woodbridge, is a simple boxy structure designed for narrow lots. While the Queen Anne cottage is expansive in every way, the Classic Box draws in all projecting elements so that they are nearly flush to its surface. Generally speaking, the Classic Box is a two-storied house, rectangular in shape. The short end of the rectangle is the front, and it extends back from the street. It is topped with a hipped roof, sometimes with a dormer window projecting out to light the attic level. The windows are rectangular and occasionally a 49 bay window will protrude, but not too much. The door is usually off to one side and is flanked by classical columns. When other classical details appear, they tend to be used with great restraint.
There are a number of Classic Boxes in San Mateo. At 222 Villa Terrace there is a duplex showing how far the form can be simplified.
Nothing projects from this building's blocky form, not even the portico that is so common to the classic box. Instead, the entry porch has been cut into the left corner of the house. The classical columns of the porch provide the only embellishment along with a band of dentils separating the first and second stories.
Neoclassic Rowhouse. The term "Neoclassic Rowhouse," is used by the City of Oakland Planning Department in their publication, Rehab Right, to denote a type of cottage commonly built in rows along the street. (This departs from the more common use of the word rowhouse to designate one of a series of attached dwellings forming an unbroken line.) The Neoclassic Rowhouse is smaller than the classic box. Some of its features are very similar to the Queen Anne cottage.
Instead of a projecting portico, it usually has a recessed porch on one side and a bay window on the other. The main roof of the house extends over the porch and is supported by Doric, Ionic, or Tuscan columns. The bay window, slanted or square, increased the flow of 50 light into the house, which usually was built on a narrow lot. A broad hipped roof covers the house, which is constructed on a raised foundation. Although the foundation boosts it off the ground, the Neoclassic Rowhouse is primarily horizontal in its proportions, while the Queen Anne cottage tends to be more vertical. Although these louses have been painted a variety of colors over the years, siding painted white was most common. In San Mateo, the house at 2065 Isabella, with its cutaway porch and Tuscan columns, is an excellent example of a Neoclassic Rowhouse.
il
Eastern Shingle Cottage. Because the architecture of the colonial era was quite diverse, what we now call the Colonial Revival style is actually a cluster of styles based on a variety of prototypes. We have 51 been discussing buildings that draw elements primarily from the Georgian, Federal, and Adam styles, all of which use classical forms.
Another branch of the Colonial Revival refers back to a different set of prototypes-simple wooden houses of early New England, and Dutch colonial houses with gambrel roofs. One of the most common derivations from these sources was the Shingle Style, also known as the "Eastern Shingle Cottage."
Builders of shingle-style houses based their designs on the earliest colonial buildings of the seventeenth century. These tend to have simple boxy shapes, pronounced gables, and shingled or natural wood siding. The first story of the Eastern Shingle Cottage has elements that are similar to the Neoclassic Rowhouse--a recessed porch, a bay window, and classical details. The second story, with an enormous gable that turns the house into an oversized A, is a dramatic departure from the low-lying Neoclassic Rowhouse. Rather than clapboard siding, the house is covered with natural wood shingles.
Architectural historian Vincent Scully describes such houses as "Shingle Style." Shingled cottages also may have hipped roofs, or gambrel roofs derived from Dutch colonial architecture. In 1886 Willis Polk brought the Shingle Style to the San Francisco Bay Area, where it took root and grew into a regional variation influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement. We will discuss this further under the "Craftsman" neading.
Although we have talked about the Eastern Shingle Cottage in a section separate from the more classical branch of the Colonial Revival, the two branches were intertwined. Both tend to have restrained ornamentation, boxy silhouettes, and few dramatic projecting elements. And there was also a considerable amount of exchange back and forth between the branches. As a result, it is not surprising to find a hybrid such as a Classic Box covered with shingles. 52 Classical Revival (1895-1950)
• yes on tie ate yumar aymatied placement
*porch running across the entire facade or just at the central entrance
*classical columns supporting porch roof, sometimes rising the full height of the building and sometimes running across its entire width •
*rectangular windows, often with many panes
*paneled doors
*boxed eares
"classical details such as dentils and columns
The World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893, was a gleaming vision of classical grandeur in plaster and lathe. The main buildings, nearly all of them classical in style, had stately columns and dignified proportions so impressive that the fair contributed significantly to the growing taste for classicism among the general public. Following the World's Columbian Exposition, the Classical Revival became the prevalent style for museums, libraries, state capitols, and city halis. Cities and towns across the country soon boasted public buildings with rows of huge columns, projecting porticoes, and wide flights of steps.
The World's Columbian Exposition also provided models for domestic architecture. In addition to the grandiose buildings surrounding its central court, the exposition had smaller state pavilions more readily adaptable to the design of houses. A number of these had entry porches as tall as the building with classical columns and triangular pediments. The Virginia pavilion, which was a copy of por. Nes became d popora stitch to auses threnid small. Because these houses blended classical and colonial elements, they overlap 53 Although the Classical Revival style is most imposing in larger public buildings and houses, it also was adapted to smaller homes.
These, too, have columned porches, often running the full width of the facade. Because the smaller houses tend to be only one to one and a half stories, the columns are shorter and less dramatic. A house at 924 South El Dorado is an excellent example of how the Classical style was interpreted for a fairly modest house.
Mission Revival (1890-1915)
*plain, smooth stucco walls
"arched openings; the arches are usually semicircular and without moldings so that the pier, arch and building surface are a single plane
*tile roof with low pitch
*scalloped (curvilinear) parapeted gable ends
*bell towers, often paired and with tile roofs
*quatrefoil windows with surrounding cartouches, found
especially in gable ends
*occasional domes
*terra cotta ornament
Beginning in the 1880s, a number of Californians grew
dissatisfied with the importation of architectural styles associated with the Eastern Seaboard. In 1882, Theodore Eisen, a prominent San Jose architect, pronounced to the members of the San Francisco Chapter of the American Institute of Architects that the "models of classic architecture, with Frisco-American variations" were inappropriate to California. By the late 1880s, a movement was underway toward the development of an architecture appropriate to California's own colonial heritage and its regional conditions. The answer, according to some, lay in the Franciscan missions. Willis Polk, who also promoted classicism, began to publish articles on the missions. The beginnings of a Mission Revival style gained national exposure when Polk's colleague, A. Page Brown designed the California Building for the World's Columbian Exposition using a pastiche of mission elements, including a red tile roof and long arcades.
To some, the California mission, so different from Eastern Colonial architecture, elicited visions of a romantic and exotic past.
Among these was Longfellow, who said, "A strange feeling of Romance hovers about those old Spanish missions...They add much to the Pacific Coast." Charles Fletcher Lummis, on the other hand, recognized that they also were good for business. The missions, 54 Lummis wrote, "are worth more money, are a greater asset to Southern California, than our oil, our oranges, or even our climate," and "a man is a poor fool who thinks he can do business without sentiment." Sentiment, combined with business sense, stimulated the movement toward the restoration of the crumbling missions and the adaptation of mission design elements to warehouses, homes, office buildings, public buildings, and railroad stations. The Mission keviva. style may be found throughout the United States, but it became most common in states with a Spanish colonial heritage. The style draws a variety of elements from the Franciscan missions. Its most distinctive feature is a curvilinear gable, combined with quatrefoil windows, tile roofs, terra colta ornamentation, bell towers, and arched openings. In its simplest form, a Mission Revival building may be no more than a stucco box with a curvilinear gable. Because the style was originally intended tor ecclesiastical structures, some found it awkward and inappropriate for other building types.
Although the Mission style was promoted as California's alternative to the Colonial Revival and classicism, San Mateo has far more Colonial Revival and Classical Revival buildings than Mission.
A particularly good example of the Mission Revival survives at 501 North Delaware. This is a two-story stucco house that has the curvilinear parapeted gable characteristic of the style. The house also • a restory, has smooth stucco walls and flat planes, and the porch looks as if it has been cut cleanly out of the building as there is no break between the substantial piers supporting the porch roof and the wall.
Craftsman (1895-1920)
*simple boxy shapes
*low pitched roofs, sometimes hipped sometimes gabled
*often asymmetrical in design
*constructed in a variety of materials: stucco, clapboara, shingled, board and batten, clinker brick, river boulder, or *exposed rafters, projecting beams, brackets
horizontal proportions, harmony with site
*wide horizontal windows, or windows in groups
*elaborate joinery
*open porches
55 The Arts and Crafts movement, which began in England in the early 1860s, became popular in the United States in the late 1890s.
Gustave Stickley became the best-known American proponent of the movement. Beginning in 1901, he published an illustrated monthly called The Craftsman, which popularized Arts and Crafts ideals. Its goal was the simplification of life and the improvement of design standards.
"My ideal of architecture," said Stickley, "is beauty through elimination." Ornament was not applied gratuitously, but was only used to enhance a building's essential structure. The natural qualities of building materials were respected and they were not disguised as something other than what they were. This contrasts sharply with the Queen Anne style's decorative surfaces, spindles, turned columns, and sunbursts. It also contrasts with the common nineteenth century practice of disguising one material as another: staining pine to look like mahogany, painting wood to look like marble, or treating wood and iron to look like stone.
The Craftsman philosophy did not give birth to a specific style, but there are a number of characteristics linking houses built in the Craftsman tradition. They tend to be constructed in local materials, structural members such as rafters and beam ends are exposed, and they have little nonstructural ornamentation. The Craftsman building has horizontal proportions, and it attempts to harmonize with nature.
A number of Bay Area architects, including Bernard Maybeck, Julia Morgan, and Willis Polk, developed a regional form of architecture that drew heavily upon the Craftsman philosophy. These architects were concerned especially with the relationship between architecture and nature. At the time there was a growing interest in the California landscape. In the 1890s a number of novels were wuld and ablamed california nacalame on nd pas. the Stra the was founded in 1892. Because of the number of people immigrating to the Bay Area, local residents grew increasingly concerned about the destruction of the natural environment.
The Bay Area Regionalists shared a set of ideas and ideals rather than a uniform expression or style. Maybeck and his colleagues designed rustic houses that harmonize with nature. These combine Craftsman elements with features from Medieval, Swiss, and Japanese architecture. Because of their distance from the architectural mainstream, Bay Area architects had greater freedom to experiment.
The result was a synthesis of eclectic forms into rustic homes often 56 covered with natural wooden shingles or boards-often of redwood- blending beautifully with their natural sites.
with elements derived from the Swiss chalet.
The Bungalow (1895-1935). The Craftsman tradition reached the largest number of Californians in the form of the bungalow. Rarely were these houses expensive except in the hands of architects like the rothers Greene, whose bungalows, with their tinely-made joinery an tained glass, are far more elaborate than the run-of-the mill bungalov popular across the country. Bungalows were a form of low-cost housing designed to fit the needs and the budget of the general public.
Books and magazines published bungalow plans, and it was even 57 sibe to order bund aloe kits of pree lumby, california setail from Sears.
population boom. As the population quickly increased, the bungalow met the increased housing needs admirably.
The bungalow originated in India and its name is derived from "banglas" which is Hindustani for "belonging to Bengal." In Bengal, the British combined a local housing type-a low structure with a veranda- with the English cottage to create the bungalow. Stickley described the bungalow as "a house reduced to its simplest forr" that "never fails to harmonize with its surroundings, because its low broad proportions and absolute lack of ornamentation give it a character so natural and unaffected that it seems to sink into and blend with any landscape." The bungalow is usually one and one half stories high with an off-center front porch. Everything about the bungalow is horizontal and earth-hugging. The roof is long and wide with a shallow slope and overhanging eaves, the foundation is low, the front porch is wide, and the front window is horizontally proportioned. The porch supports are usually sturdy and stout, and rafters and beams are exposed. The bungalow often is constructed in building materials prevalent in the region. Its wide windows allow a clear view outside, and the porch provides an outdoor living space especially useful in a climate like California's.
A popular subtype, known as the California Bungalow, was constructed between 1910 and 1925. The California Bungalow tends to have the familiar low horizontal proportions, front porch, and exposed structural elements, but it is usually faced with stucco, and the porch roof is supported by massive "elephantine" columns (also known as battered columns) which have four faces sloping inward as they rise.
In the 1920s, the bungalow's popularity gave way to houses built in a variety of revival styles.
EASY MAIN PASS PRET
0D 0DT
Spanish Colonial Revival (1915-1945)
"loro pitched or flat roofs without much ease overhang
*red tile roofs and tiled parapets
*multi-level roofs
"usually faced with stucco, occasionally brick
*asymmetrical massing
*arches, pointed, round, or with a slight peak (cf. Islamic arches),triple arched, or parabolic
*ornamental details derived from Spanish, Byzantine, Gothic, Italian, and Spanish sources
*spiral columns
*multi-pane windows
"window grilles in iron or wood
*elaborate chimney tops
*round or square towers
"decorative tiles
*decorative iron work
*ornamentation around doorways
The Spanish Colonial Revival style represents another chapter ı California's search for a regional architecture appropriate to it imate, topography, and traditions. Many believed that the Missio Revival style, derived as it was from ecclesiastical architecture, was 59 inappropriate to secular buildings. Yet Spanish sources still seemed better than the architecture of the American East Coast. In 1906 Herbert Croly suggested that California architects look directly at Mediterranean houses, which he characterized as the most "valuable and imitable local domestic style." He believed that Mediterranean houses represented California's true heritage because the Franciscan friars would have built such houses if they had had the knowledge, skills, tools, and materials. Since no such houses were ever constructed in California, Croly actually proposed a form of architectural mythmaking-the recreation of a California past that never really was.
The Spanish Colonial Revival, also known as the
Mediterranean or Spanish Eclectic, was popularized by the Panama- California Exposition (which celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal) held in San Diego in 1915. Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, who designed the exposition buildings, drew inspiration from the Spanish Colonial architecture found throughout Latin America. More and more architects began to look directly at Spanish architecture as well as the architecture of the entire Mediterranean area. The result was a style that is an eclectic mix of Spanish, Spanish Colonial, Northern Italian, and North African Islamic elements.
The style was popular mainly in states with a Spanish heritage, but there are examples sprinkled throughout the United States. By the 1920s, according to art historians Gebhard, Winter, and Sandweiss, it was the style in coastal California. It not only was a link with California's Spanish past, but it also may have seemed suitable to a climate and landscape similar to that of the Mediterranean. Hollywood stars constructed Spanish Colonial mansions, and the style appeared in movie sets. It was used for a considerable range of building types, from railroad stations, public buildings, and theaters, to mansions and cottages.
Grand houses combined plain stucco walls with convoluted Churrigueresque ornamentation around doorways, wrought-iron details, decorative tiles, spiral columns, and arches. But developers also used the style extensively for smaller houses. At 510-512 South Idaho there is a cluster of six small Spanish Colonial houses, three on each side of a private drive. All six are boxy stuccoed structures with tile roofs. The builder has used the same plan for all of them but has given them some individuality by varying the roofs, windows, and chimneys. Spanish Colonial Revival buildings tend to be irregular in their massing, often consisting of a cluster of blocks that look almost as if they had been constructed over a long period of time against a Mediterranean hillside overlooking the sea. A house at 934 Rosewood 6 0
good example of this. is composed of three separate blocks each of a different height, and is a particularly popular for buildings of all types in San Mateo during its The Spanish Colonial Revival style was boom years of the 'twenties and 'thirties.
Tudor Revival (1900-present)
*irregular and asymmetrical in massing
*stec or tone bed eite no gables, also hipped
*tall chimneys
*towers
"ornamental half-timbering
*tall narrow rectangular windows dioided into many panes style represented their heritage, but they also were open to a variety of Californians may have felt that the Spanish Colonial Revival other styles popular at the same time. Among these was the Tudor 61 Buil Thovchally infuene teng under chitch ure from the rome of Shakespeare and of French architecture from Normandy and Brittany. It also is sometimes called the Provincial Style, since the architectural sources are generally from the provincial countryside rather than the city. During the 'teens and 'twenties in particular, many books and articles appeared showing drawings and photographs of rural English and French houses. These houses are pic-uresque, informal, and rustic, with steep gables and irregular silhouettes.
The Tudor style was used primarily for homes in the suburbs, which were perceived romantically as pastoral enclaves safely isolated from the bustle of the city. Because the Tudor Revival style was based on rural architecture, it helped to enhance the image of the suburban home as a country retreat. The Tudor style also created a sense of instant heritage. Tudor houses were designed to look as if they had always been there rather than having been recently planted. Attempts were made to make Tudor houses look as if they had weathered the ravages of time. Occasionally a section of stucco will be peeled away to reveal bricks beneath, as if the building had aged over the centuries.
An architectural style that recalled the European agrarian past may have provided a sense of comfort and continuity during a period when there were so many technological and social changes.
The Tudor Revival style was especially popular in San Mateo during the 'twenties and 'thirties. In Baywood and San Mateo Park, areas we did not survey, there are a number of large Tudor homes, and there are more modest examples in Hayward Park and San Mateo Heights. At 900 Laurel there is a particularly good example of a Tudor house. It has a steeply pitched roof, a tall shaped chimney, and a flattened Tudor arch, with a slight point, over the doorway. Beneath the gable is decorative half-timbering. If this house had been Structed i members and the sage be, veeriner sal be riled with plaster or brick. In most American Tudor Revival buildings, however, the timbers actually are slats applied to the surface of the structure for ornamental purposes.
Although the Tudor Revival style was used primarily for houses, it was also adapted to commercial buildings to recall structures on Medieval market squares. The Tudor commercial building at 51 East Third is somewhat domestic in character. While most commercial buildings in San Mateo have side gables or flat roofs with parapets, this one has a steeply pitched roof and cross gables, plus ornamental half-timbering, a chimney with multiple shafts, and 62 diamond-paned windows. Commercial buildings like this became popular beginning in the 1920s and were referred to as "artistic designs."
Art Deco and Streamline Moderne (c. 1920-1940)
variety of names, ranging from Deco, Modernistic, and Art Moderne, to Streamiine, Zigzag Modern, Jazz Modern, and Thirties Style. While most of the styles discussed here take numerous elements from earlier forms for the present and the future. Although the two styles share enough common features to be treated under the same heading, each is distinct enough to be discussed in its own section.
Art Deco (1920s-early 1930s)
*smoothly surfaced volumes
"vertical panels and piers
"symmetrical and balanced design
"stepped back tower
"ornamented parapet, often with vertical projections
"stylized floral and geometric Deco ornamentation
63 The Art Deco style broke with the revivals that had
predominated during most of the nation's history. Instead of incorporating elements of older styles into new buildings, designers aimed for a sense of modernity appropriate to a new machine age.
They created visions of the future rather than the past. The style's name comes from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs and Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925. Promotional materials warned that "reproductions, imitations and counterfeits of ancient styles will be strictly prohibited," for the purpose of the exposition was to show work displaying "new inspiration and real originality." Art Deco is fundamentally a style of decoration, and it was used for jewelry, clothing, furniture, and industrial design as well as architecture. It is characterized by stylized floral and geometric forms in low relief. Although there are a few curves, much of the ornament is rectilinear; parallel lines, chevrons, zigzags, fluting, and reeding occur in endless variations. Traditional ornament, when used at all, tends to be simplified, and the dominance of European sources is challenged by motifs derived from American Indian and Pre- Columbian art.
Buildings with Art Deco ornamentation often are vertically proportioned. Shallow vertical panels emphasize the building's height, and vertical elements project at the top. Towers are stepped back, surfaces are smooth, and compositions tend to be symmetrical and balanced. Ornamentation is clustered at key points, especially at the base and around the entrance, and at the top of the building. In particularly lavish Deco buildings, architects, sculptors, and designers have collaborated to decorate the building's interior with ornamented elevator doors, light fixtures, panels, ceilings, and floors.
The style was used primarily for commercial and apartment buildings, and Deco houses are rare. Most of San Mateo's Art Deco buildings are commercial. At 2454 El Camino, for example, a broad commercial block is embellished with pentoid shapes which create a zig-zag rhythm across the building's mid-zone and top-an effective design for attracting the attention of passing motorists. The Medical Arts Building on East Third is another good example of a commercial block with Art Deco ornamentation. Piers passing between the windows and projecting slightly above the cornice line emphasize the building's verticality. At the top, chevrons ornament the spandrels between the piers. The main portal is decorated with reeding and ornamental tile in a stylized floral and geometric pattern, and the lobby has ornamental tile work and fixtures.
64 1)
Streamline Moderne (1930-40)
*simple box-like shapes, often with rounded corners
*smooth surfaces, often stucco
*horizontal proportions, emphasized with bands of horizontal bands and ribbon windows
*steel railings
*horizontal balustrades
*glass bricks
After 1930, the Streamline Moderne style became a predominant modernistic form in the United States. Many streamlined buildings have Art Deco ornamentation, but the architecture of the 1930s, an era of austerity, tends to have a pared-down aesthetic compared with the architecture of the 1920s. Architectural design was influenced by streamlining in industrial design. Ships, airplanes, and automobiles were given smooth, rounded shapes on the theory that streams of air ould flow over them without interference as they traveled at nig peed. Streamlining was also adopted for household appliances fron irons to pencil sharpeners, even though aerodynamics were not an important factor in the function of these objects. Functionally motivated or not, people responded to this machine aesthetic with its connotations of speed and modernity.
Streamline Moderne architecture tends to derive a number of its elements from industrial design. Surfaces are flat and smooth, and corners are often rounded. The horizontal grooves and lines banding the tops of buildings suggest speed, and ribbons of windows emphasize the horizontal proportions. Round windows and steel railings, borrowed from ships, are common.
The Streamline Moderne style was used both for houses and for 401061 i ain real is does i a seal consent nei dine
with its horizontal proportions, curved corner, and horizontal banding.
65 gathered for the building survey can help identify sites of potential National Register status. However, the Register application requires specific information and exacting research about the site. Most applications are prepared by experienced historians, architectural historians or anthropologists. Application is made to the State, where it is reviewed by Office of Historic Preservation staff. A positive staff review of an application sends it to the State Historical Resources Commission, which acts on the nomination. A favorable response results in a recommendation for approval to the State Historic Preservation Officer. He/she forwards the nomination to the Keeper of the Register in Washington D.C. for final review.
....
Protection of National Register Properties. Listing on the Register as an individual property or as a contributor to a district offers some protection and advantage for government-owned or commercial structures. Register status also affects buildings eligible to receive federal monies for rehabilitation. Private, residential properties are attorded little protection other than offering a measure of prestige.
Alteration or demolition of a privately-owned Register property can proceed without a review process. In some cases, the recognition afforded by Register status can help protect a privately-owned property by arousing public interest or attracting prospective buyers interested in its historical value.
Historic Districts. Groups of historically significant buildings that have retained their architectural integrity can be nominated to the National Register as districts. "Contributors" to the districts are afforded the same status as individually nominated properties. A district is nominated as a whole and differs somewhat from individual applications. Details for nomination are available from the State Office of Historic Preservation.
4.2 Landmarks Ordinance
A city Landmarks Ordinance gives the community an essential ool to recognize and protect its resources. An ordinance generally reates a landmarks commission empowered to designate structures of historical importance. The ordinance also may provide for protection of designated resources against demolition or alteration. Both the State Office of Historic Preservation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation have model landmark ordinances.
66 4.3 Planning Options
Based on historic resources within a community, a city can provide protection by implementing various planning strategies.
Historic Overlay Zones. An overlay zone recognizes specific 2233E
Down-zoning. This is a process of re-evaluating zoning
designations that allow for higher densities than existing uses.
Historically, this process bucks the trend to increase densities in core neighborhoods of older communities. However, down-zoning can be an effective method of protecting the integrity of historic neighborhoods and encouraging investment in historic properties.
Specific Plans. A Specific Plan outlines planning goals tailored especially to a particular historic neighborhood. It covers a full-range of issues and augments a city's General Plan.
Historic Building Code. The Historic Building Code is a performance code, allowing a local building official to determine that a building's internal system is reasonably safe without applying the standards of the Uniform Building Code. The application of the State Historic Building Code is mandatory (since 1984) when reviewing all historic structures listed on the National Register, a state register, a locally adopted landmarks list or historic property inventory. The code does not allow standards to be waived; rather it provides for alternative methods to achieve a reasonable level of safety.
44 Design Guidelines
character and quality of a neighborhood or district. Guidelines may address such issues as allowable heights, lot coverage and setbacks, as well as design issues related to proportion, dimension, scale, materials, and ornament. The goal of design guidelines is to ensure that new construction and design is compatible with the historic character of a 67 4.5 Certified Local Government Program
Local governments supporting preservation programs and
activities may apply to the State for certification. To be eligible a community must have a qualified historic preservation review commission and have completed a comprehensive historic inventory.
The advantage to certification is the ability to compete for special preservation funds available through the Office of Historic Preservation. Preservation activities eligible for funding include expansion of historic survey work, administrative review of National Register nominations, development of public education programs, staff support for historic preservation commissions, writing or amending ordinances, developing design guidelines, and preparing preservation plans for protection of local historic resources. In the Bay Area, Oakland, Santa Clara, Alameda, Napa, and the County of Santa Cruz are Certified Local Governments.
4.6 Preservation in San Mateo
The options listed above suggest some of the opportunities available for preservation. Policy makers, leaders and residents will need to continue to explore these issues with representatives of the State Office of Historic Preservation, planners knowledgeable about preservation, and other professionals sensitive to preserving the past.
Throughout this project, the San Mateo County Historical Association and its survey staff have focused on historical facts, leaving the formation of preservation opinion to local citizens and leaders.
However, we do look forward to supporting the City's continued interest in its history and hope the community finds a successful balance between the desire to meet changing needs and the desire to preserve San Mateo's historic identity, as the "City of Beautiful Homes."
68 APPENDIX
69 CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT
Proposed Historic District
CONTRIBUTORS TO DISTRICT (3D)
South B Street
22 36
116
129
130-144
139
147
200
240
250
251
270
301
316
East Third Avenue
10 28
32...
33 41
71 72
77 82
120
208
220
South Ellsworth
101
120
INDIVIDUALLY ELIGIBLE (3/3D)
100 S. B Street
113 S. B Street
164S. B Street
201 S. B Street
215-229 Second
36 E. Third
51 E. Third
205-221 E. Third
70 CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT
Outside of District _ _ = =
3 - ELIGIBLE
16 Baldwin
273 Railroad
4 - POTENTLALLY ELIGIBLE
109 Baldwin
100 San Mateo Drive
15 2nd Avenue
5 - LOCAL SIGNIFICANCE
505 S. B Street
709 S. B Street
115 Baldwin
415 S. Claremont
Bell Guideposts on El Camino Real (6 bells)
6 - INELIGIBLE
940 S. Claremont
117 Baldwin
421 E. 5th Ave.
71 CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT
FOURT
3 Eligible
3/3D Individually Eligible
and/or Eligible Contributor 1o Distri
Potentially Eligible
Locally Significant
6 Ineligible
ElI Boundary
72 ... -
CENTRAL
3 - INDIVIDUALLY ELIGIBLE
353 N. Claremont
5 N. Delaware
12 N. Delaware
40 N. Delaware
2 S. Delaware
45 S. Delaware
809 Lawrence
4 - POTENTIALLY ELIGIBLE
36 N. Claremont
47 N. Claremont
51 N. Claremont
61 N. Claremont
144 N. Claremont
222 N. Claremont
227 N. Claremont
228 N. Claremont
49 S. Claremont
104 N. Delaware
8 S. Delaware
19 S. Delaware
229 S. El Dorado
704 Tilton
713 Ist Avenue
5 - LOCAL SIGNIFICANCE
55 N. Claremont
56 N. Claremont
221 N. Claremont
349 N. Claremont
502 E. Santa Inez
508 E. Santa Inez
529 E. Santa Inez
611 1st Ave.
615 1st Ave.
619 Ist Ave.
6 - INELIGIBLE
11 N. Delaware
23 N. Delaware
33 N. Delaware
73 ...
CENTRAL
SCHOOL TURNBULL
ORT
KING PARK HUMBOLE
-BAYSHORE FREEWAY :
HUMBOLDT
AVE
• 3 Eligibic
3/3D Individually Eligible
andior Eligible Contributor 10 Disurict
Potentially Eligible
Locally Significant
Ineligible
Boundary
74 N 6
SAN MATEO HEIGHTS
3 - INDIVIDUALLY ELIGIBLE
150 N. El Camino Real 107 E. Santa Inez
137 Elm Street 111 E. Santa Inez
100 N. Ellsworth 312 E. Santa Inez
117 N. Ellsworth 315 E. Santa Inez
202 N. Ellsworth 319 E. Santa Inez
245 Grand 225 Tilton
37 E. Santa Inez 458 Turner Terrace
4 - POTENTIALLY ELIGIBLE 6 - INELIGIBLE
157 N. Ellsworth Railroad Ave./Mt. Diablo, E. Poplar,
205 Elm Street E. Santa Inez, & Tilton
255 Grand
222 Villa Terrace
5 - LOCAL SIGNIFICANCE
311 Catalpa
114 N. Ellsworth
123 N. Ellsworth
127 N. Ellsworth
235 N. Ellsworth
310 N. Ellsworth
819 Prospect
825 Prospect
827 Prospect
831 Prospect
75 SAN MATEO HEIGHTS
ZAD individually Eligitie Eligible
and/or Eligible Contriburor to District
Porentially Eligible
CAMINO • Locally Significant
Ineligible
Boundary
RAMONA
AVE
76 HAYWARD PARK
- - =
3 - INDIVIDUALLY ELIGIBLE
1312 Palm
1641 Palm
4- POTENTIALLY ELIGIBLE
1712 Ivy
18 11th Ave.
5 - LOCAL SIGNIFICANCE
818 S. B Street
709 Laurel
811 Laurel
1001 Palm
1216 Palm
1310 Palm
1322 Palm
1410 Palm
214 7th Ave.
118 10th Ave.
30 11th Ave.
150 11th Ave.
21 12th Ave.
31 14th Ave.
Central Park Fence and Dog
6 - INELIGIBLE
234 7th Avenue
Hayward Park Street Markers
77 FIFTH
CENTRAL PARK
HAYWARD PARK
CAMINO
3 Eligible
3/3D Individually Eligible
REAL and/or Eligible Contributor to District
MAYHARD
4 Porentially Eligible
Locally Signifacant
6 Ineligible
AVE. Boundary
SOUTH LYD
78 EAST SAN MATEO
4 - POTENTIALLY ELIGIBLE # 2 3
510 S. Grant Street
510-512 S. Idaho
5 - LOCAL SIGNIFICANCE
924 S. El Dorado
938S. El Dorado
6 - NELIGIBLE
1010 E. Fifth
79 EAST SAN MATEO
Eligible
33D Individually Eligible
and/or Eligible Contributor 1o District
Porentially Eligible
Locally Significant
••01 Ineligible
Boundary
FOURTH
HUMBOLDI
- BAYSHORE FREEWAY=
--.
80 NORTH CENTRAL
3 - INDIVIDUALLY ELIGIBLE
501 N. Delaware
506 N. Delaware
4 - POTENTIALLY ELIGIBLE
512 E. Bellevue
5 - LOCAL SIGNIFICANCE
436 N. Claremont
430 Peninsula
444 Peninsula
6 - INELIGIBLE
507-509 N. Delaware
•
81 NORTH CENTRAL
• 3
Eligible
Individually Eligible
andior Eligible Contributor to District
Porentially Eligible
Locally Significant
ineligible BAYSWATER
Boundary
N 8
NORTH NORTH BAYSHORE
STATE HUMBOLOT IDAHO
COURT COUNTY SAN MATEO STA FREEWAY:
CLAREMON AWARE
SAN ST.
MATEO HIGH SCHOOL SAN MATEO HIGH SCHOOL
82 WEST OF EL CAMINO REAL
ncludes Baywood, Aragon, Twenty
ifth Avenue and Hillsdale
3 - INDIVIDUALLY ELIGIBLE
212 S. El Camirio Real
2454 S. El Camino Real
20 El Cerrito
4 - POTENTIALLY ELIGIBLE
230 Barneson
87 Crystal Springs
106 S. El Camino Real
16 Hobart
5 - LOCAL SIGNIFICANCE
2065 Isabelle
28 25th Avenue
222 W. 39th
6 - INELIGIBLE
346 23rd Ave.
32 25th Avenue
i
i
83 ARAGON
TE BOVET
ARAGON HOSARY
19TX
INCH
OREL SCHOOL
BONEL
BLVD. CHASTER
ALAMEDA PULGAS
3 Eligible
3/3D Individually Eligible
and/or Eligible Contribulor to District
4 Porentially Eligible
Locally Significant
ineligible
Boundary
N 6
84 .-..-
BAYWOOD
3 Eligible
3/3D Individually Eligible
and/or Eligible Contriburor 10 District
Porentially Eligible
7 10.5 Locally Significant
Ineligible
Boundary
N &
CAMINO
85 SOUTH EAST HILLSDALE
LAS PILGA
424€
ALAMEDA DE LAS PILGAI
-mILE
• 3AD Eligible
Individually Eligible
and/or Eligible Contributor to District
Porentially Eligible
Locally Significant
ineligible
- Boundary
86 TWENTY-FIFTH
'so entirely Eligible. Eligible
sador Eligible Conuributor so District
Posentially Eligible Locally Significant
aura Ineligible
Boundary
N+
GLOSSARY OF ARCHITECTURAL TERMS
arcade: A series of arches, supported by columns or piers. architrave: The lower part of a classical entablature, resting directly on the capital of a column. Also the molding around a window or door. balustrade: A series of upright posts or pillars supporting a rail. sle boy, so ere rejecting board attached to the edge of a bay: A vertical division of a building, usually marked by such elements as fenestration, buttresses, or roof sections.
bay window: An angular or curved projection of a building filled with. window(s). If the bay has three sides and the two side walls are slanted, it is called a canted bay. If the projection is curved, it is may be called a bow window. When projecting from an upper floor only, it is called an oriel, or oriel window.
belt course: A continuous band which projects slightly from an exterior wall, dividing it horizontally and continuing around the entire building like a belt. It is often molded and it may mark the division between stories. A string course is similar, but may appear on only one side and project further than a belt course.
brace: A diagonal member of a building's frame which lends support; may be either curved or straight.
bracket: A projecting element beneath cornices, eaves, balconies, or windows which gives structural support. May also serve purely decorative purposes. Frequently appears in the Italianate style. capital: The top of a column or pilaster, above the shaft, supporting the entablature. May be plain or decorated.
casement window: A window hinged at the side, opening like the page of a book. May open either outward or inward.
chapher at on forge and padia consistily, of thin eradis which. column: A vertical member meant to support a load. In classical architecture it consists of a base, shaft, and capital. 88 !
corbel: A block projecting from the wall plane to support an upper element such as a beam or cornice.
cornice: The projecting molding or combination of brackets and moldings running across the top of a building to crown it. crenellations: A parapet with regular sections (usually rectangular) removed to form alternating projections and indentations. (Also known as castellations and battlements.) Associated with the Gothic Revival and the Tudor styles, and used to recall European castles. crest, cresting: An ornamental ridge topping a wall or roof, often decorated.
dentil: (from Latin, dens, "tooth") A small rectangular block used in a series beneath a cornice or to form a decorative molding. dormer: A vertical window and its housing, covered by its own roof, projecting from a sloping roof.
double-hung window: A window with two or more sash (glazed frames), arranged vertically, which can be raised and lowered independently.
e88 and dart (or egg and tongue) molding: a molding consisting of egg shapes alternating with dart or arrow-head shapes.
eyebrow dormer: A low dormer formed by curving up a section of the roof and inserting a narrow window.
ntablature: The horizontal portion of a building, usually supported by 1 column. In classical architecture it consists of the architrave, frieze and cornice.
fascia: A plain horizontal band often separated by moldings and found in an architrave.
festoon: A garland of fruit, flowers, leaves, or ribbons suspended in a curve between two points.
finial: An ornament, usually foliate, at the top of a gable, pinnacle, spire, or tower.
89 fish-scale shingle: A shingle with one curved end, often found in overlapping rows as a decorative cladding on Queen Anne structures. fluting: Shallow, regularly spaced concave grooves which run vertically on a column, pilaster, or other surface.
frieze: The flat horizontal part of an entablature between the architrave and cornice. It may be plain or decorated. Also denotes any horizontal decorative bana.
gable: The triangular portion of a wall at the end of a gable roof and defined by its slopes. It usually has straight sides, but it may also be stepped or curved (as in Mission Revival architecture). gable roof: A roof in which two flat planes meet at a straight ridge. gambrel roof: Similar to a gable roof, but it has two slopes on each side, the upper slope being shallower in pitch, the lower slope steeper. Used in Dutch, English, and Swedish colonial architecture, and in Colonial Revival designs.
hipped roof: A roof with four uniformly pitched slopes which meet in a point or a sharp ridge.
hood molding: A large projecting molding placed over an arch, doorway, or window, originally designed to deflect water from the opening.
modillion: A curved and ornamented bracket arranged in a series to support the upper part of a cornice, especially in the Corinthian order, though also used in other contexts.
Palladian window: A tripartite window with a large arched central opening flanked by lower rectangular side openings.
parapet: A low protective wall placed at the edge of a bridge or balcony, or at the top of a building. May be also be placed along a gable end. pediment: Originated as the triangular gable above the entablature of classical temples, enframed by cornices. Went on to refer to any cornice-framed element crowning a door or window. May be triangular, curved, or broken.
pendant: A sculptural element suspended from a vault or ceiling. 90 pilaster: A shallow pier or rectangular column attached to a wall, often with a base, shaft, and capital.
portico: A porch, usually with a roof supported by columns, projecting from a building's main entrance. May also recede into the building. quatrefoil: An ornament with four circular or pointed lobes. quoins: Blocks of stone used to reinforce the corners of brick or stone walls. May also be made of non-load-bearing materials (including wood) and applied for decorative rather than structural purposes.
Appears especially in Colonial, Italiate and Colonial Revival rustication: Massive blocks of masonry separated by deeply-cut joints. sash: A frame in which the panes of a window are set.
spindle: A turned wooden element often used in screens, stair railings, and porch trim.
stickwork: Ornamental slats of wood applied to the exterior of a building, found in Queen Anne and Italianate architecture. 1 transom: A small hinged window above a door or another window.
Also a horizontal bar of stone or wood placed across the opening of a window.
turret: A small, slender tower, often at the corner of a building. witch's cap: A conical roof, often topping towers in Queen Anne buildings.
State of California - The Resources Agency Ser. No.
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HABS,
_HAER_ - Loc. _SHL No.... NR Status.
UTM: A C
HISTORIC RESOURCES INVENTORY D
IDENTIFICATION
1. Common name:
2. Historic name: -
3. Street or rural address: _
Citk _ Zip. -County.
4. Parcel number:
5. Present Owner: _ Address:
City_ _ Zip — _ Ownership is: Public Private
6. Present Use: _Original use:
DESCRIPTION
Architectural style:
7b. Briefly describe the present physical appearance of the site or structure and describe any major alterations from its original condition:
Attach Photo Envelope Here 8. Construction date:
Estimated .. _ Factual.
9. Architect _
10. Builder_
11. Approx. property size (in feet)
Frontage _ _ Depth—
or approx. acreage,
12. Date(s) of enclosed photograph (s)
DPR 523 (Rev. 11/85)
13. Condition: Excelient — Good _ Fair. - Deteriorated . No longer in existence
14. Alterations:
_Scattered buildings _ _ Densely built-up —
15. Seiderings: (Chendure than one it mercia Open la - Other:
Residential _ Industrial - !
Zoning - . Vandalism
18. Public terks projecome known her: vate development.
Public Works project _
17. Is the structure: On its original site? _ Moved?. Unknown? 18 Related features: -
SIGNIFICANCE
19. Briefly state historical and/or architectural importance (include dates, events, and persons associated with the site.) Locational sketch map (draw and label site and
surrounding streets, roads, and prominent landmarks):
20. Main theme of the historic resource: (If more than one is NORTH checked, number in order of importance.)
Architecture . Arts & Leisure
Economic/Industrial *pioration/Settlement
Government _ Military —
Religion. Social/Education
21. Sources (List books, documents, surveys, personal interviews and their dates).
22 Date form prepared
By (name)
Organization -
Address:_
City - _ Zip
Phone:.
93 SOURCES
Blumenson, John J.- G. Identifying American Architecture: A Pictorial Guide to Styles and Terms, 1600-1945. Nashville: American Association for State and Local California Office of Historic Preservation. Historic Preseroation in California: A Handbook for Local Communities. Prepared by Les-Thomas Associates.
Sacramento: Office of Historic Preservation, 1986.
California Office of Historic Preservation. Surdey Workbook. Third Revision.
Sacramento: Office of Historic Preservation, 1986.
Clark, London: University North carolina mies, om. 1800-160, Chapel Hil and Cloud, Roy W. History of San Mateo County. Vol. 1 & 2. Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1928.
Gebhard, David, Roger Montgomery, Robert Winter, John Woodbridge, Sally Woodbridge. A Guide to Architecture in San Francisco and Northern California. Santa Barbara and Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith, Inc. 1973.
Golfried, state Cossary, New York Van Nos randalen Des Son, 1870-1940; An Hynding, Alan.
Selmont, Catformia: Star PuShing Ompany, 19g/ the San Mateo Peninsula.
Jackson, Kenneth. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Japanese American Citizens League. 1872-1942: A Community History. San Mateo, California: Japanese American Citizens League, 1981.
Kidney, Walter C. The Architecture of Choice: Eclecticism in America, 1880-1930.
New York: George Braziller, 1974.
Kirker, Harold. California's Architectural Frontier: Style and Tradition in the Nineteenth Century. Salt Lake City: Gibbs M. Smith. Inc., 1986.
Liebs, Chester. Main Street to Miracle Mile: American Roadside Architecture. Boston:
Little, Brown and Company, 1985.
Lonstreth, Richard. The Buildings of Main Street: A Guide to American Commercial Architecture. Washington D.C.: Preservation Press, 1987.
Longstreth, Richard. On the Edge of the World: Four Architects at the Turn of the Century. New York: Architectural History Foundation and Cambridge: MIT Press, 1983.
Maddex, Diane, ed. All About Old Buildings: The Whole Preservation Catalog.
Washington D.C.: Preservation Press, 1985.
94 MAlester, 19ia and Lee. A Field Guide to American Hous. New York Alfred A.
Moore & Denia: Thier strard Fibric afons, ateo County, 1878. Woodside, Morrison, M. The Hospital That Elisabeth Built. San Mateo, California: Mill Memorial Hospital, no date
Dakland, City of. Rehab Right: Horo to Rehabilitate Your Oakland House Withou acrificing Architectural Assets. Oakland, California: Author, 1978 Popolen, de on coin en cate Is Nator, Do Chester aton res, 1. 17. A Postel, Mitchell P. Peninsula Portrait: A Pictorial History of San Mateo County. San Mateo, Califomia: San Mateo County Historical Association and Northridge, California: Windsor Publications, Іnc., 1988.
Raybould, D.A. "My Thirty Years as a Real Estate Broker, Subdivider, and Developer." Unpublished document. Undated. San Mateo County Historical Association Archives.
Regnery, Dorothy. An Enduring Heritage. Historic Buildings of the Peninsula.
Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1976.
Ringler, Donald. San Mateo, U.S.A. San Mateo, California, 1975. ji
Ringler, Donald and Mark Still. "The City of San Mateo, A Walking Tour," La Peninsula, Vol. 23. No. 2, June 1986).
Roth, Low, 197 A Concise History of American Architecture. New York: Harper and Stanger, Frank M. History of San Mateo County. San Mateo California: San Mateo Times, 1938.
Stanger, Frank M. Peninsula Community Book. San Mateo, California: A.H. Cawston, 1946.
Stevenson, aerine Cut and Company. ahinto b.C. reservation ire House Whiten Mares, Arican Architecture Since 1780: 4 Guide to the Styles. Cambridge:
Woodbridge, Sally B., ed. Bay Area Houses. Salt Lake City: Pergrine Smith Books, 1988.
Voodbridge, Sally B. California Architecture. Historic American Building Suroey an Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1988
95 SURVEY STAFF AND SUPPORT
Suroey Staff San Mateo County Historical
Association Board
Linda Wickert, Survey Coordinator
Katherine Solomonson, Architectural F.J. deLarios, President Historian Janet Boyer, Vice President
Kathleen Sanderson, Illustrator Anne H. LeClair, Secretary Jamie Campanale, Survey Assistant Lee S. Baly, Treasurer Al Acena
Betsy Bogel
San Mateo County Historical Thomas F. Casey
Association Staff John Clinton
Frank Coitart
Mitchell P. Postel, Executive Director Harold A. Fick
Marion Holmes, Archivist Carole Groom
Cheri Daubert, Office Manager Ray Harman
Wally Jansen
Frances Liston
Desktop Publishing Grace McCarthy
Hallie Murray
Copymat, Menlo Park John J. Murray, Jr.
Spencer Hinsdale
Gus Nicolopulos
Jack O'Connell
Volunteers Roger Seccombe
Mark Still
Monty Anderson Gloria Sweatt
Robert Elving
Norah Hocherman
Jean Kidera
Patrick Lenihan
Christine Lutke
Audrey Oling
Marsi O'Malley-Riley
Anne Peter
Jeff Riley
Marianne Stritenberger
Keith Weber
San Mateo County Historic Resources
Adoisory Board
Betsy Bogel, Chairperson
Darold Fredericks
Catherine Hatcher
Gay Komich
Peter Kostrikin
Lanty Molloy
Irene Neasham
Donald Newmark
Eldon D. Earnhard, Board Advisor
George Miller, Board Advisor
96 IT COO