Sutro Tower to Replace Historic Mountain Villa
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Sutro Tower to Replace Historic Mountain Villa ByELJWRHAYE* eerie background for thrills of the voyage of his Glouces- and excitement — especially ter schooner Spray in the on a dark night with the wind lt»'s from the Bay Area whipping the tall eucalyptus north when Sutro and crew OB Its hill and took* owr Sao trees and fog curling up the were mistaken for "reven- Fnadsco rooftop* to Mount hill to blot out the lights be- oors", and other strange Diablo. low. things happfitfd. It is a surpriw. It is sinister? Or is K only a Additionally an article on strange lonely house on a Sutro's flying experiences has The bidden entrance is up a mountain top? Who was its been purchased by a national narrow, one-car wide road fascinating builder? Why did magazine. bordered by dense trees and he leave it? Why is it to be He built La Avenzada for a blackberry vines, in a clear- torn down? Why is it filled reputed $250,000 in the early with unusual equipment? 1930's so it isn't even an old ing on the southern crest of house as San Francisco hous- 903-foot Mount Sutro. The mystery win unravel. es go. Here be lived with his Suddenly... there it is.. a Adolph Gilbert Sutro, build- mother fe- about 18 years. massive and mysterious man- er of La Aventada, is the Visiting them must have sion .. brooding and baffling. bachelor seta of one of the been a rewarding experience. The three story villa, La Av- most illustrious names in San The great front door is set of f enzada, of dun colored stucco, Francisco history, to which he by stained glass panels. Inside has turrets and bays and its has added his own luster. there is a waist high corner iron-banded, double front door He built his house on land fireplace in the hall. A door is is recessed and reached by a granted to Jose de Jesus Noe covered in dark leather. Light flight of stone steps across a as Rancho San Miguel in 1854. fixtures and chandeliers are flagstone terrace. Great boul- When the first Adolph Sutro — iron and leather. There are ders enhance the look of grandfather of the home carved, indented, round heavy permanence. builder — bought it in the nooks. It has the look of a setting 1870's it was a barren hillsdie. In the library there is a for a Helen Maclnnes or Mary This first Adolph Sutro, born round stained glass window Stewart suspense story ("little in Prussia, came to San Fran- showing a spider spinning a did I know when the big door cisco in 1850 and was a mer- web alongside a book and can- THE WHOLE PUCE (S A PERIOD PIECE swung open...") chant when news came of the dle. For more decoration the Decor in the mansion is 40 years old Indeed when the door does fabulous mining strike at the roof is brought inside the li- swing open it is literally an- Comstock Lode at Virginia brary as an overhang, similar City, Nev. to stove hoods. other story. The facts surrounding the The big, unusual rooms, Sutro was off to Nevada, departure of Sutro and his wood beamed, tile and stained where — as "Crazy" Sutro — mother from their mountain- glass-ornamented, where fire- through rock, obstacle and top home are prosaic. They place flames should warm determination he worked decided to move to property walls of books and men and crews for 10 years to build the at San Luis Key, near San women deep in conversation, four-mile Sutro Tunnel, aimed Diego, and in 1948 sold the are bare of conventional furni- at removing heat and water house and five acres for ture. that was stalling mining in the shafts below Mount Davidson, $125,000 to the American Instead, the house is loaded Broadcasting Co. for use by with highly technical electron- more KGO-TV. ic equipment. He came back to San Fran- (Sutro moved to Madeira cisco to practically claim the about eight years ago after In the basement men work city as his own. He rebuilt ttie the death of his mother.) at panels in a room filled with Cliff House, built the magnifi- The mystery equipment in THE SUTRO MANSION STANDS ON THE MOUNTAIN OF THE SAME NAME cabinets. A huge fireplace in- cent Sutro Baths, brought the the Sutro house is transmit- It housed broadcasters and crews for the steel TV tower corporating fossil specimens seals and Seal Rocks under ting equipment for the nearby is hidden by a tool panel. Half the protection of the city and tower. of the big living room is divid- county and was mayor of San About two years later Sta- KRON applied for a San Bru- to be completed in January, Sutro and his mother moved ed by aural and visual ampli- Francisco from 1895-97. tion KPIX moved up and took no mountain tower location. 1971. to property at San Luis Rev, fiers. Acoustical tile blocks Everything this first Sutro space on the 580 foot tower Years of litigation, argu- Neill Smith and Associates near San Diego. After her out the orange and blue pan- and FM Stations joined. ment, delays and hearings fol- have designed a 35,000 square els that ornament the ceiling. did was on a lavish scale: he death about eight years ago, left a library of 100,000 vol- At first KGO-TV had its stu- lowed before the FCC, Feder- foot building. he moved to Madeira. But the library is empty, umes (now the state's Sutro dios in the house but in 1953 al Aviation Agency and otner Part of the agreement with the kitchen bare, the bed- Library at the University of they moved to 277 Golden regulatory bodies agreed on the city is that the house will Jacobs guided us out into rooms locked. San Francisco); bought a Gate Ave. Only personnel the Mount Sutro site. be removed .since it is consi- the sunlight with a final look THE SPIDER LOOKS REAL BUT IT'S NOT needed to keep the all but Then the various broadcast- dered a fire trap and mocca at the unique house. Imagination could have a twelfth of San Francisco land "There were big stone lions Stained glass window in Sutro mansion splendid time making this an (he gave the site for the U.C. automatic equipment working Ing companies got together as for vandals, according to Har- remain. Sutro Tower Inc. Included are ry Jacobs, project supervisor guarding the front hut they Medical School); imported eu- \\ere removed to a school calyptus trees and planted In 1956 Bay Area TV sta- the American Broadcasting for Sutro Tower Inc. tions decided they needed Co., The San Francisco Chron- Already rocks have been yard," he said. trees by the thousands and en- higher tower facilities to cov- i c 1 e, Westinghou.se, Cox tossed through the big front We drove down the little Major Drug couraged school children to do er the hilly terrain that makes Broadcast and Metromedia windows. They now are board- road, turned into a city street Pentagon Plans the same to make Sutro For- the Bay Area so difficult for for Channels KGO-TV, KRON, ed up. and in moments were back on est. TV reception. KPIX, KTVU and KNEW-TV. "We take it for granted but San F r a n c i s c o 's Market Firms Linked Adolph Sutro, the younger, They applied to the Federal Ground-breaking is to start it really is a sensational Street. is the child of his son, Edgar. Communications Commission shortly for the M million place," said Jacobs. "There is The only my.stery left was Still living, now in his late for a 980-foot tower permit. transmitter complex expected nothing like it." how to get through the traffic. Manpower Cut 70's, Adolph has a villa on an- To Pushers other hillside, this one on the By DARRELL GARWOOD WASHINGTON (A P) - Portuguese island of Madeira. WASHINGTON (UPI) - A of 280.000 men in the size of He is apparently wary of Chairman Claude Pepper of the spotlight, but what few cutback of nearly a million the armed forces during the the House C o m m i 11 e e on men in the size of the U.S. second complete fiscal year of facts are public about him give armed forces apparently will the Nixon administration. Crime said Saturday that ma- the impression of a man as . be staged over the next three Pentagon experts estimate jor drug and chemical compa- fascinating as the house he or four years if progress to- that for every soldier returned nies as well as fly-by-nighters, built. ward ending the Vietnam war to civilian life the ogvern- are supply sources for drug As a youth he attended San- continues. ment can chalk up a saving of pushers. ta Clara College (now univer- $10,000 a year if he was sta- The Florida Democrat, pre- sity) and, nays he was a me- The military services, it paring for a hearing in San chanic for the Wright broth- fas learned Saturday, have tioned in a peaceful area, or ers. been told to budget for a total $25.000 a vear if the reduction Francisco, said "the dirty is in Vietnam. trail of drugs from legitimate He joined those early day reduction of 500,000 by June daredevils who ftew the spit 30, 1971. This would bring On this basis, the anticipat- manufacturers to black mar- ed 500.000-man cutback, in- ket operators and to sick kids and baling wire planes that, strength down to 2.9 million is all too clear." made modern aviation possi- men, with a further slash to cluding a reduction to a small ble.