Six historic houses open for homes tour
By Shari Kaplan
The century is a new one and the future is now the present, but that hasn't affected this year's Historic Homes Tour, a popular annual Los Gatos tradition that celebrates things from the past.
A fundraiser for the nonprofit Los Gatos Museum Association, the tour features docent-guided tours of six historic local homes on Nov. 4 and 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The docents provide interesting information on the histories and stories of each home, as researched by Los Gatos Museum Association member Pat Dunning, who also happens to be an archaeologist.
The Historic Homes Tour includes tea and refreshments served throughout the day on both days at the Los Gatos Museum of Art and Natural History, at 4 Tait Ave. near the corner of W. Main Street.
The Magneson House
The most distinctive home is the Magneson House. A 1 1/2-story Hansel and Gretel-style home, it is the only example of this whimsical architecture in Los Gatos. In 1928, one Joseph H. Costa bought the property from Walter C. and Hazel Magneson, the subdividers of the Magneson Loop area, and had this home built. A Minnesota native and Saratoga resident, Walter Magneson worked in the Santa Clara Valley, first as an orchardist and, later, as a real estate agent.
After only one year of living in the cottage, Costa realized he could not repay his mortgages, and the Magnesons foreclosed the property. They owned the home until 1936, when they sold it to Roland and Dora Baumgardner, both native Californians. They in turn sold the home to current owners Bob and Audrey Christianson in 1977--a couple from Britain who bought it because it was the most English-looking house they could find.
The Charles Beckwith House
This two-story Queen Anne Victorian on Palm Avenue was build around 1894 for Charles and Catherine Beckwith. Although not all of its features are typically Victorian, it does possess the traditional "witch's hat" roof, a hipped front dormer roof and patterned shingles.
Local records show its next owner, Mavis K. Allen, sold it to Charles and Flora Allen in 1914. Edwin and Bertha Seely took over in 1924; the couple lived there through 1930, after which time Bertha appears on the records without Edwin, but is not listed as a widow. A longtime principal of the Saratoga Grammar School, Bertha lived there until 1939, joined by daughter Virginia. After giving shelter to a handful of other couples and families, including Bert and Trisha Sporleder, the home met its current owners, Paul and Lee Quintana, in 1976, who have been working on its historically accurate restoration ever since.
The Horace Jones House
The grand, feathery queen palms lining the front of the property and the crisp, clean Spanish Eclectic-style belie the fact that the Horace Jones House sits on Eucalyptus Drive in a quiet, rural area of Los Gatos. It was built in 1928 for Dr. Horace G. Jones and his wife Beatrice with typical low-pitched, cross-gabled roof; red Spanish roof tiles, arched windows and an asymmetric, stucco façade.
Dr. Jones maintained a medical practice at 3 1/2 N. Santa Cruz Ave. until his 1984 death. Many years earlier, in 1942, Jones and his wife sold their home to Richard and Jeannette Jorgensen. Three other couples called the house home before Dan and Corky Griffith, its current owners. The Griffiths and the other owners made many changes and renovations to the house over the years, but the exterior still pays tribute to its heritage.
The Rhinelander House
This one-story, white-trimmed house on Pennsylvania Avenue is typically Craftsman in many ways, including a low-pitched, front-gabled roof with a wide, unenclosed eave and decorative brackets under the gables. Built between 1909 and 1913, it went through several owners and property splits until its namesake owners, Andrew and Thelma Rhinelander, moved in as renters--in 1924--and became its owners in 1938. Andrew worked as a pharmacist for Comper & Burtner Pharmacy and Duncan's Pharmacy, both on N. Santa Cruz Avenue.
Current owners Alan and Marci Risoen have made some modifications to the home in keeping with its style, such as period light fixtures and switches, stained glass in the front door, furniture from an arts and crafts-style furniture maker and framed crate labels from old Santa Clara Valley produce companies.
The Mary Kimball House
The tour's second Craftsman, also a one-story and with similar attributes, is on Los Gatos Boulevard. What makes this home particularly special is that it remains almost exactly the same as when Mary Kimball purchased the land in 1911 and had this home built. She was 84 at the time. Two years after Kimball's 1925 death, Ernest and Neola Colvin bought the home.
After various owners and boarders, the home became the property of Doug and King Wah Moberg in the late 1970s. Doug is a former Central Fire District firefighter who worked at the University Avenue station. The Mobergs sold the home last year to Gary and Toby Gibson, who are restoring it with meticulous care to details.
The Backus L. Bartlett House
Flanked by giant magnolia, cedar and oak trees, the large, two-story Queen Anne Victorian on Bella Vista looks as though Southern gentlefolks should be sipping mint juleps on the porch, while listening to crickets chirp in the bayou. It was in fact built for a New York native, Backus Bartlett, in 1885. According to the 1900 census, Bartlett lived here with his widowed sister Laura Lee, two of her children and two of her grandchildren. Although his mortgage holder foreclosed in 1902, his nephew Willard Lee saved the family by repurchasing the property. Lee later married Frances Ray Lyndon, a daughter of the former Sheriff James Lyndon.
Legend has it the house was "turned around" some time after Bella Vista was established, as the house originally faced San Jose Road, now called Los Gatos Boulevard. However, it is more likely that major post-1907 modifications reoriented the house, as its back looks more Victorian than its front.
Every successive owner left his or her mark in some manner, but current owner Teri Hope--who also owns the Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company--did a great deal. She purchased the home in 1988 and, following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, had the fireplaces rebuilt with authentic mantles and reinforced the porch posts. After a 1998 fire, Hope and husband Jan Hutchins, a TV producer and recent Los Gatos mayor, did even more. They replaced all the wiring and plumbing, redid the kitchen and bathrooms, reconfigured the upstairs and added Palladian windows on two sides--all in keeping with the house's style.
Historic Homes Tour tickets are $17.50 in advance or $20 on the tour day. Cost for senior citizens or LGMA members is $15. For more information, call 408.354.2646.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
