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Old homes to get a second story and a new locale
Planning commission approves the permits for historical homes
By Michelle C. Crowe
Two historical Campbell homes received official approval from the planning commission on June 12 to be relocated and renovated.
The first home, the Whitney House at 175 E. Campbell Ave., will be moved a couple of blocks away to a new plot on N. Fourth Street.
Campbell resident and engineering consultant John Peters obtained the Whitney House free from the Redevelopment Agency in exchange for transporting the house at his own cost, which he estimated will be about $20,000. The agency acquired the house in November 2000, to make way for the Master Development, a mixed-use two-story project that will have retail on the bottom floor and apartments on the top. A 300-plus space parking garage is also planned for the site.
As of press time, demolition of some of the neighboring buildings on the same lot was slated for Monday, June 25.
The Whitney House was built and lived in by well-known Campbell architect George Whitney, who died in 1934. The house was used eight months ago as office space for SMP Technologies. It now stands empty, with chunks of ceiling, wall and floor torn up, exposing the original woodwork that is estimated to have been constructed a little before 1930.
"It served as a real estate office, then a bridge and backgammon club, and finally, an engineering office," Peters said.
Peters, his wife and three children plan to use the house as living space once they get it fixed up.
A Campbell resident since 1977, Peters bought the lot across the street from his existing home on N. Fourth Street during the real estate buying frenzy of 1989. The approximately 800-square-foot existing structure on that lot will be torn down, a full 1472-square-foot basement will be built and the 1472-square-foot Whitney House transported and placed onto it before restoration begins.
"The home is in really good shape, and still has some of the key interior details intact, such as the glass pocket doors between the living room and dining room and a built-in dresser in the back bedroom," Peters said. "We'd like to fully restore those front two rooms and put some of the original walls back up inside that were taken out over the years as the use of the house changed."
Although some adjustments will be made to accommodate the new staircase joining the two levels, Peters said that observers from the street won't be able to discern that the home has a basement.
"In most Craftsman houses, there were built-in cabinets and often a pass-through system, using pulleys between the kitchen and dining room. There's a pulley system in the attic and we'll probably try to restore that feature. Unfortunately, nearly all of the other original interior fixtures are gone," Peters said. "Our original plan was to fix up the house on the lot across the street and add onto it, but then this opportunity came up with the Whitney House. I think the resulting 2,944 square feet will definitely work well for our family of five."
Assuming all goes as planned, the Whitney House move and restoration will be completed by summer 2002.
The second home presented to the planning commission is called the Eddleman House at 46 N. Second St. It was approved for a site and architectural permit that will allow the four owner-partners to add a second story to the building and convert it from residential to commercial use.
Built in 1930, the Eddleman house will increase from its current 1,800 square feet to about 3,825 square feet. Owned by 46 N. Second Street Partners, the one-story structure will become a two-story building of six offices. In addition, there will be a reception area and storage rooms, while the original dining room will soon serve as a combination conference room and law library.
According to Bob Pedretti, museum director for the Ainsley House and Campbell Museum, the residence was built for Earl and Ette Eddleman. Ette was the stepdaughter of Henry Campbell of the city's founding family.
A California Spanish Mission-style home, the Eddleman House has a red tile roof, double-hung wood frame windows and a unique medallion centered in the front of the home near the roof line.
The 1930 home was a residence until damaged in a 2000 fire, after which it remained unoccupied. The partnership closed escrow on the property in May, and now that the changes have been approved, will begin seeking construction bids for the actual work.
"The first floor will look pretty much the same from the outside, and once the second story and changes are completed, it'll be hard to tell that the entire structure wasn't constructed in 1930--we'll even be replicating the original medallion so it appears in two places on the home," said Liz Knight, president of PLM Lender Services at 577 Salmar in Campbell and one of the four owner-partners.
"Unfortunately, it's been burglarized three different times. They took the crystal doorknobs, all the light fixtures, even some of the doors, so we'll have to replace all of those antiques with originals or replicas."
Three of the partnership's members are attorneys with the firm of Adelson, Hess & Kelly, also located at the 577 Salmar building. The firm will lease the Eddleman House property from the partnership once construction is completed. The project goes before the city again in July for final approval, and completion is expected in summer 2002.
Erin Mayes contributed to this article.
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Campbell, California
