Claremont Pines
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VOL. 33, NO. 1 SPRING 2013 Great Estates in April house tour will feature Claremont Pines By Dennis Evanosky OHA’s “Great Estates in April” tour takes PECK place Saturday, April 20, in Claremont Pines THA and Upper Rockridge, and features a neigh- MAR borhood that emerged in 1927 from the Philip E. Bowles estate as suburban garden development. Part of the neighborhood underwent a second renaissance 64 years later after the 1991 Oakland hills fire. The tour offers a rare opportunity to view impressive examples of Tudor and Mediter- ranean revival style homes designed by two of Oakland’s most distinguished architects, William Schirmer and E. Geoffrey Bangs. Schirmer and his partner Arthur Bugbee designed Sweet’s Ballroom in downtown Oakland. Schirmer also had a hand in the design of the Alameda County Courthouse VISIT OUR NEWEST LANDMARK: the Morse house is expected to be Oakland's latest on Lake Merritt. Things would have gone landmark by the day of the tour differently if Schirmer’s father, a former sea Bangs was a Cal graduate, who earned his the interiors of four great homes and a beau- captain, had had his way. bachelor’s degree in 1914. One year later he tiful garden, use the self-guided walking map Dad owned Schirmer Stevedoring and Bal- held a master’s degree. His spent his early in the descriptive booklet, which points out last. “He wanted his oldest son to enter the career working in the office of John Galen views of additional homes, vistas and local firm. But unlike his brothers, Bill refused,” Howard. Bangs designed many public build- landscaping. “Vintage Vistas” offers the Dave Weinstein writes. ings and large-scale public housing projects opportunity to study the neighborhood’s Instead, “Bill” studied architecture at the in Northern California, including Lewis Hall eclectic architecture. Tickets purchased Mark Hopkins Institute, then studied or at his alma mater, the Contra Costa Hall of before the day of the tour cost $30 for OHA worked with Willis Polk. By 1916, Schirmer Records in Martinez and the courthouses for members; general admission tickets are $35. was designing homes in Oakland in partner- Shasta and Butte counties They will cost $5 extra on the day of the tour. ship with Bugbee. “By 1921, the firm was This year, OHA is offering two types of “Sunset over the City” runs from 5 to 8 earning praise as pioneering designers of fine tours, both on April 20. “Vintage Vistas” will p.m. and offers the opportunity to meet and apartment houses,” Weinstein writes. run from 1 to 4 p.m. In addition to visiting See TOUR on page 8 Berkeley in 1882, purchased 58 acres and Claremont Pines: an estate transformed built his family home. He had successful By Dennis Evanosky became Margarido Drive in 1928 as a careers in the shipping and banking business- Claremont Pines borrowed its name from memorial to Tony Margarido who died in es. He served his alma mater as a regent from nearby Claremont, a neighborhood that World War I.) 1913 to 1920. became part of Oakland in 1908, and from Claremont Pines has its roots in land that He died on Jan. 20, 1926, at the age of 67. Philip E. Bowles’ spacious home “The John Coffee “Jack” Hayes and Charles and His obituary called him a “fancier of fine Pines.” Horatio Livermore purchased from Vicente horses” and said that “his stable of animals Bowles, a Humboldt County native, lived Peralta in 1850. Twenty-nine years later, the on his beautiful Oakland estate was reputed in the mansion on a sprawling estate with his trio recorded a deed for the portion of the to be one of the finest in the country.” A wife, Mary, and the couple’s daughter and land bounded by today’s Romany Road, biography in Joseph Eugene Baker’s Past two sons. The San Francisco Blue Book list- Golden Gate Avenue and Broadway. The and Present of Alameda County, written ed Philip and Mary’s address “at Broadway deed bears the title “Rockridge Township.” Terrace and Prospect Drive.” (Prospect Drive In 1904, Bowles, who graduated from UC See PINES on page 2 Page 2 Pines “This will be the finest residential property PECK in the country,” the Oakland Paving Compa- Continued from page 1 THA ny chimed in on an advertisement on the while Bowles was still alive, said,“Mr. same page. “Our men will be on the job Bowles is a man of strong physique, particu- tomorrow.” larly fond of outdoor sports of all kinds, ALL: MAR “Improvements at Claremont Pines are being especially interested in the manly being rapidly installed,” York Company’s sports of the Claremont Club, to which he vice-president H.G. Schwartz told the Tri- belongs.” Bowles did not have to go far to bune on Oct. 30, 1927. “Prospect Drive over- visit the club. Its members set up shop just looks the beautiful links of the Claremont across Prospect Drive in 1904, the same year Golf and Country Club, fashionable property, he purchased his property. and our earliest building development will be After his death, Mary sold the estate to four along this street,” said Schwarz. Southern California developers: Charles B. He also told the Tribune that Country Club Hopper, J.R. Pinkham, and Arthur and Drive had been “hewn through and was Harold Braly. The four men set up the Clare- ready for stumping.” Grading would then fol- mont Pines Corporation. low the stumping, Schwartz explained, “We “The corporation chose the York Company, are also opening Lincolnshire. Glenbrook, Inc. of Oakland to handle the development Beechwood and Yorkshire drives.” and exclusive sales of Claremont Pines,” “The recent rains freshened the woods and writes The Grubb. Co.’s Jeffrey Smith. York added to the charm of Claremont Pines, went to work subdividing the property. Susan bringing even more visitors than at the for- Dinkelspiel Cerney writes that the new mal opening to the tract,” the Tribune neighborhood boasted “large lots, under- enthused. The newspaper assured future visi- ground utilities and decorative streetlights. tors to the site that the York Company had a She says that the neighborhood used “British tract office on Broadway Terrace in the street names to attract showplace Period works “to provide their guests with rooms to Revival homes”—all this in harmony with study plats and examine plans.” the then-popular Garden City Movement. The Tribune promised that the new office Mary shared part of her husband’s estate— PORTICO of the Walter A. Genesy “would have a picturesque tile roof and other $350,000 of it—with UC Berkeley. The House, top. At bottom, a rosette detail improvements. The aromatic scent of wood school built the imposing “Bowles Hall” on a from the DeFremery House, and a lantern burning in open hearths would add an appeal hill overlooking the campus with the wind- detail from the Morse House. at the tract office, just as it did at its head- fall. The Berkeley Daily Planet called Mary moved out of the family home on quarters in the Bowles mansion in the center Bowles Hall “the first state-owned college or Oct. 7, 1927, and the York Company wasted of the woods.” university residential hall in California.” The little time transforming property into Oak- An application to honor the Morse house men who live in the hall call themselves land’s newest neighborhood. Two days later, on Margarido Drive as a city landmark says “Bowlesmen,” a moniker they proudly carry on Oct. 9, 1927, an Oakland Tribune article that the developers built the concept of with them the rest of their lives. They even announced that buyers were welcome. Clyde design review into the tract restrictions: the have their own drinking song. O. Sweet, president of the York Company, Claremont Pines Art Jury, comprised of told the Tribune that “competent develop- prominent local architects, made certain that ment experts” declared Claremont Pines a all the homes were attractive and in harmony “masterpiece.” He assured Tribune readers with the image the Claremont Pines Corpora- In this issue that the new neighborhood would become tion envisioned. New members 3 “the finest home area in the bay district.” In 1930, some three years after develop- Berkeley Daily Gazette Memorial to key members 3 The company hired A.V. Cole as sales ment began, the called Claremont Pines “one of the hand- Historic preservation in China 4 manager., who came all the way from Holly- somest residential parks in the entire state.” Donors 4 wood. “He has been identified with some of the most noted developers,” the Tribune Clyde Sweet’s prediction three years earlier Upcoming events 8 had come true, at least according to the reported. n Preservation action news 9 “Men and machinery are working every Gazette. Redwoods history 10 day,” an Oct. 16, 1926 Tribune advertise- Buy tour tickets at www.oha-greatestates. The Livermore family 12 ment boasted, this just one week after Mary moved out. eventbrite.com or call 763-9218 for info. www.oaklandheritage.org l OAKLAND HERITAGE ALLIANCE l Telephone (510) 763-9218 Spring 2013 Page 3 OHA benefited from their wit, integrity, and vast knowledge By Naomi Schiff Fall and winter have brought the losses of four key people in OHA’s founding, develop- ment, and current activities: Michael Crowe, Carolyn Douthat, Jane Powell, and Cynthia Shartzer, each an irreplaceable member of JANEPOWELL.ORG the preservation community. If you needed a careful reading of the legal underpinnings, a creative approach to approach historic preservation, and a concise explanation of how it could work in the rules and regulations, you called Carolyn Douthat, an attorney who gave enormous hunks of time to the preservation community—an OHA board member, CPF board member and president, and highly regarded author of studies on economic incentives and on mitigation measures for historic preservation.