Heritage Trees, Historic Homes, and a Preview of the New Community Pool

Dick was traveling and Jim Kellogg led Wednesday’s walk and provided the summary below with the attached group photo.

Our Piedmont Recreation Department’s Walking on Wednesdays group had a special walk last week that was led by Jim Kellogg. It was a tour of "Piedmont Heritage Trees" and a brief tour of the "Piedmont Architectural Heritage" that set the foundation for Piedmont’s architectural style that began in 1890.

A great turnout of 40 walkers and three K-9 best friends were on hand at the Exedra for this walk and tour with Jim.

Jim took the group from the Exedra, past City Hall, down Bonita Avenue and Park Way to Dracena Park, and then back to the Piedmont Recreation Department Building via Jerome and Magnolia Avenues. There was also the added bonus of an introduction to the new Piedmont Community Pool by Hadley Clegg, the Piedmont Recreation Department Aquatic Coordinator.

The tour began with a description of the Piedmont Heritage Tree program, which was initiated by the City of Piedmont in 2018, and is coordinated by Nancy Kent, the City’s Parks & Project Manager. The program’s goal is to recognize distinctive trees that are noteworthy by their size, unique species, prominent location or historical context in our parks or open spaces.  The Park Commission has designated 28 Heritage Trees since the program’s inception.  A full list of trees including an interactive map of their locations, images, and description of their heritage is available at https://piedmont.ca.gov/services___departments/public_works/trees/heritage_tree_program. Directly adjacent to the Exedra are six examples of these trees, including the “Highland Poplar” grove that surrounds the Exedra, two excellent examples of mature Coast Live Oaks, the large Coastal Redwood that has been used for many years as our “Holiday Season tree lighting,” the beautiful Yulan Magnolia in front of the Community Hall, and the Akebono Cherry grove surrounding the Japanese Tea House in Piedmont Park. After the introduction to the Heritage Tree program, we proceeded to Vista Avenue to see a pair of beautiful “Mountain Moon” Evergreen Magnolias in front of the City Hall.

We also had a brief discussion about the Wetmore House at the corner of Vista and Bonita, which was built in 1878, and is the best example of French Colonial – Plantation style design and is the oldest example of architectural heritage in the city. This home is in contrast to the City Hall, designed by Albert Farr in 1910, which set the stage for another era of architectural design, Spanish Mission revival, which continues on in today’s newest buildings, such as the Frank C. Havens Elementary School across the street from City Hall.

Then we continued down Bonita Avenue, passing several interesting homes including the Bekenfeld House at 227 Bonita, and the Esty House next door at 231 Bonita.  The Bekenfeld House was built in 1895, and many regard it as our best example of Queen Anne Victorian architecture, which is noted for its spindle-framed detailing, and a whimsical carved gargoyle in the front gable. This home is in total contrast to the Esty House next door, which was built in 1896, and is an excellent early example of the Berkeley Craftsman style, with cedar shingle exterior, multiple gables and dormers, and beautiful hand-crafted redwood interior detailing. Our city’s architectural heritage changed from the Victorian style that was not built after 1900 to the Craftsman style which is still utilized today.

We continued to the Harold Farr house at 127 Bonita, which was built in 1907. It was designed by Albert Farr for his brother and was Albert’s first Piedmont project. This is another example of early craftsman design with multiple gable roof and cedar shingle exterior. This home illustrates how talented Albert Farr was and that he changed his styles with the times as his signature style in future years was Spanish Mission Revival.

We continued down Park Way to Dracena Park and enjoyed four more examples of Heritage Trees. They included an excellent example of mature Coastal Live Oak, the only known example of California Buckeye, which was nominated for Heritage Tree designation by Jack and Sharona Fischrup this year, the best example in Piedmont of a native Bigleaf Maple, and a grove of six dawn redwoods (Metasequoia Glyptostroboides) located in the old quarry section of Dracena Park. It was pointed out that the dawn redwoods were present in California about one million years ago, and were thought to be extinct, but were rediscovered in central China in 1948. Today, they are making a come-back and are one of only three existing redwood species – the Coastal Redwood, Giant Sequoia, and Dawn Redwood.

Then we continued down Latham Street to Jerome and Fairview Avenues.  Here we walked among the Coastal Redwood Heritage Tree grove at Jerome and stopped by a recently completed remodeled house on Fairview. This house is an example of contemporary “modernist” sustainable design with horizontal redwood siding, and brightly colored stucco accent walls.  It was imagined that this design is homage to Luis Barragan modernist design of Mexico City fame and also noted that other examples of modernist design have been built in Piedmont recently. They represent a much broader view of today’s  Piedmont architectural heritage style than that of 100 years ago.

The group then proceeded up Jerome and Magnolia Avenue to the Piedmont Recreation Building on Hillside Avenue. We enjoyed an excellent view of the new Piedmont Community Pool and Hadley Clegg from the Recreation Department provided a very informative introduction to what Piedmont will be able enjoy at the complex in the near future. Construction is now essentially complete, and the systems are in commissioning phase which will be completed soon. The complex includes a 27 meter 12 lap lane competition pool, a large multi-depth family pool, each with year-round heated water, large locker-toilet room facilities, a multipurpose community room for group events of about 25 people, and an outdoor rooftop pavilion with panoramic view of the entire facility. Access to the complex will be available for use by Piedmont families, individuals, and day-only users, as well as Piedmont swim teams. The Recreation Department will offer swim training programs, organized activities including polo and lap swimming, and multi-purpose room rentals for group activities. The Recreation Department is currently receiving and evaluating applications for lifeguards, swim instructors, and pool operations technicians. Hadley is available for more detailed information and to answer to questions including the anticipated costs for each user group.