Photograph by Chatham Forbes Sr.

The Folk Victorian at 72 Broadway is one of six stops on this year's Historic Homes Tour, a fundraiser for the Los Gatos Museum Association.




Tour highlights history, architecture

By Shari Kaplan

One of the many annual events that commences with autumn is the Historic Homes Tour, a fundraiser for the nonprofit Los Gatos Museum Association. This year, the event takes place Nov. 3 and 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day and showcases six local homes and a converted carriage house. For the ease of those who choose to walk, some of the homes are in clusters: three on Alpine Avenue, two on Broadway, one on Ellenwood and one on Los Gatos-Saratoga Road.

Docents from the association provide tour-goers a variety of facts and figures pertaining to each home, as researched by local historian and archaeologist Pat Dunning. The tour also includes refreshments at the Los Gatos Museum of Art and Natural History at 4 Tait Ave.

The Bertha Powell House

A Craftsman-style house on Alpine Avenue with typical traits like a low-pitched, side-gabled roof; wide roof overhangs; exposed rafters and a full-width front porch, this was originally the summer home of Roy and Bertha Powell, who bought the land in 1912 from their neighbor Esther Moser. The Powells sold the house in 1930 to Florence Elmgren, who lived there for a few years and then rented it out.

The Red Barn

This was once the barn and carriage house on the property of its Alpine Avenue neighbor, the Moser House, described below. In 1958, it was separated by Sara Powell Millar, daughter of Heritage Sarah Powell, a former Moser House owner. More than half a dozen different owners followed, each leaving their marks on the property with various changes or improvements.

The Moser House

This two-story Victorian on Alpine Avenue possesses many traits of the Italianate style, including a low-pitched roof with widely overhanging eaves, decorative eave brackets and tall, narrow windows. It is named for Thomas Moser, who purchased it in 1890 a few years after it was built by Levi and Grace Kimball--Levi being a contractor and builder. Various Moser relatives lived in the home until 1920, when Hugh and Dorothy Drury of England bought the property.

Several families owned the home in the years that followed, including Heritage Sarah Powell, a widow with young children, who in 1930 converted the home into a boarding house called Alpine Lodge.

Les Moineaux

Los Gatos native Henry C. Crall built this one-and-a-half-story Normandy-style home on Broadway after returning home from overseas service in World War I. Using memories of homes he saw in Normandy, France, Crall drew his own architectural plans. Although he married native Italian Josephine Tavani, he used French phrases on inlaid signs within the home, including Soyez le Bien Venue (welcome) in the former front door and Bon Repose (sleep well) in a bedroom. Les Moineaux means "The Sparrows," which apparently were abundant at the construction site.

For a few decades, Crall oversaw several phases of construction on the home while also serving on the Los Gatos Planning Commission and town council and running a shop that sold candy, toys, stationery, books and gifts.

The Moore/Crall House

Also owned by the Wassermans and a neighbor to Les Moineaux on Broadway, this one-story Folk Victorian with decorative shingles on its gables was built in the late 1880s for local doctor and surgeon S. Grant Moore and his family.

Moore sold his property in 1906 to Henry J. Crall, a Civil War veteran from Ohio and the father of Henry C. Crall. Descendants of the Cralls lived in the house until 1984, when they sold it to the Wassermans, who currently have renters living there.

The Anna and Charles Small House

A one-and-a-half-story home on Ellenwood Avenue, the Anna and Charles Small House has many typical Craftsman attributes, including a low-pitched, side-gabled roof; a wide, unenclosed overhang; exposed roof braces; and a shed dormer window. A handful of couples, families and individuals owned the home over the years, including Tom Masters, who between 1987 and 1988 remodeled and expanded the home to include a master suite, family room, expanded kitchen, laundry room and office.

The current owners are Helen Hodack and Phil Huelson. Hodack's collectibles can be seen throughout the house and include samplers, Mennonite quilts and folk art. She also runs an Internet antique store called La Belle Collectibles.

The James Deily House

Built by James B. Deily before 1895, this one-and-a-half-story Victorian possesses a full facade front porch, spindle porch supports, a frieze under the shed roof and a main roof cross-gabled with boxed eaves. Deily lived there with his wife and daughters. Three years after he died, his wife sold the home to the Bonde family, whose ownership was followed over the years by many other couples and individuals. When David and Marvel Howarth bought the house in 1982, following a period of vacancy, it was home to bats, a barn owl and a hive of bees. The current owners are Dennis and Lana Malloy.

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Historic Homes tour tickets are $22 in advance or $25 on the tour days. Cost for senior citizens or LGMA members is $19. For more information, call 408.395.7375 or 408.354.2646.

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