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It's time to work off those extra holiday pounds, but the thought of strenuous gym exercises can cause some people to put off their New Year's weight loss resolutions indefinitely. One non-torturous exercise option is to put on comfortable shoes and take walking tours past more than 100 architecturally distinctive historical homes in Willow Glen.
These self-guided tours are detailed in the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association's updated edition of the Historical Guide to the Homes of Willow Glen. They follow four separate routes, or loops, which are shown on the guide's street maps along with addresses and descriptions of outstanding Victorians, colonials, adobes and bungalows. The guide also gives a recap of Willow Glen's history dating back to the mid-1800s, when it was an orchard town called "The Willows."
In 1992, neighborhood association board members and numerous volunteers conducted the research for the first edition of the guide after the association agreed to help promote Founders' Day.
"It seemed that developing a historical guide—so people could learn about the neighborhood and we could have walks around it—would be the best way we could participate," says former association president Tiralisa Kaplow.
Beginning in 1992, docent-led walking tours based on the guide became a part of the Founders' Day events.
Willow Glen resident and guide editor Larry Ames thinks it is important for people to appreciate historical homes.
"If nobody cares about the houses, then you can just come in, bulldoze them down, build whatever you want, and nobody notices that the other home was lost," he says.
Although certain historical homes are in plain sight along Willow Glen's main streets, side streets contain others that are known to relatively few residents.
"I normally never drove any of those back streets," says Nell Aiello, one of the neighborhood association board members who was instrumental in creating the guide and tours. "We'd come down here to shop, go to the library and go back home."
Aiello recommends first exploring Loop 1 to get a real feel for the old Willow Glen and Willows eras. Loop 1 includes Minnesota Avenue between Lincoln and Cherry avenues and extends to Nevada Avenue to the south and Willow Street to the north.
Highlights of the loop include the yellow Century House, 1118 Nevada Ave., built around 1871, which the guide says "combines Queen Anne, Italianate and Eastlake architectures."
On nearby Newport Avenue, original Willows-era homes include 1574 Newport Ave., an Italianate Victorian built around 1880, and 1516 Newport Ave., originally a Victorian farmhouse, built in 1871.
On Minnesota Avenue, the loop includes 10 historical homes, including a 19th-century Victorian at 1115 Minnesota Ave., home to The Daisy Patch; a Frank Lloyd Wrightstyle 1920s bungalow at 1147 Minnesota Ave., which now houses Live Oak Adult Day Services; and the Maynard House, an elegant three-story Victorian mansion built in 1898 at 1151 Minnesota Ave.
A few doors away is 1195 Minnesota Ave., Paulette and Tony Ornellas' Italianate Victorian home and one of the original Willows homes. It was built on 14 acres around 1874 for W.W. Cozzens, one of the founders of the dried fruit industry in Santa Clara Valley. After the Ornellas bought the home in 1976, they spent about 20 years restoring its interior. It now closely resembles a 1870s Victorian home, down to its wallpaper, ceiling stencils, floral rugs, woodwork and period furniture.
"We love every nail, nook and cranny," Paulette says.
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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Viewpoint: The home at 1195 Minnesota Ave., part of the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association's historical homes walking tour, was built in 1874. During the holiday season, the home is decorated with 50,000 Christmas lights.
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When there was a fire in the home during the mid-1980s, the couple did much of the restoration work all over again.
Around the corner at 1352 Newport Ave. is a 100-year-old Eastlake Victorian with a Queen Anne porch that used to stand in what is now the Willow Glen United Methodist Church's parking lot. In 1978 Lorraine and Bill Glick purchased the home for $500 and moved it to Newport Avenue through what used to be empty neighboring lots.
They hired a contractor to totally rebuild the interior walls and to replace the electrical and plumbing systems.
"We moved the house in July 1978. The contractor worked with us through September, and that's when we let him go and we took over the project," Lorraine says.
Today the home's Victorian-era details include wallpaper designs by the noted 19th-century artist Christopher Dresser.
A few minutes away, near a 1870s Italianate Victorian at 1301 Cherry Ave., the empty Treasure Chest building sits by the sidewalk. It was moved there about 100 years ago and looks lost in time with its "false-front cowboy" architecture.
Numerous other homes along Cherry and Glenn avenues and Willow Street are also part of Loop 1 on its way to history-filled Lincoln Avenue, which has its own section in the guide. Walkers at this point will have gained insight and exercise, but there are also three other loops to remember.
Loop 2 covers an area of smaller homes, primarily east of Lincoln Avenue. Along Juanita and Pine avenues there is a treasure trove of architectural styles, many from the 1920s and 1930s. Eye-catching exteriors include Hansel and Gretel homes—also called storybook homes—such as 1624 Juanita Ave. and 925 Pine Ave. The Wells House, 1185 Pine Ave., is a former farmhouse built between the 1860s and 1880s, and 1153 Pine Ave. is a Craftsman home built in 1910.
Loop 3 goes into the Palm Haven area along Coe and Palm Haven avenues and Riverside Drive. The Spanish haciendastyle home at 666 Palm Haven Ave. is an example of the large custom homes in the palm treefilled community. This loop is the favorite of Evelyn Ucovich, a longtime Willow Glen resident who has led many Founders' Day walking tours since 1992.
"The homes in Palm Haven are mostly two-story and were built from about 1916 on," Ucovich says. "It was a long way out from downtown San Jose then, but the streetcar did run. They were occupied by professionals and business owners."
Loop 4 goes south along Hicks Avenue and includes the white 1906 Tara-style mansion at 1550 Hicks Ave. At 1615 Dry Creek Road is the Kirk-Farrington house, an ornate 1878 Italianate Victorian on grounds that were once part of a 1,000-acre farm. Another Kirk home, a two-story from 1905 at 1725 Dry Creek Road, is half hidden to drivers concentrating on the nearby curve in the road.
Ames asks that residents contact him with historical data for updates to the guide.
To purchase WGNA's 'Historical Guide to the Homes of Willow Glen,' send a check for $7 to WGNA, P.O. Box 7706, San Jose, 95150 or contact Larry Ames at admin@wgna.net.
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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer