It was another great mid-winter weather day last Wednesday for our Piedmont Recreation Department’s Walking on Wednesdays group when we met at the Exedra. Forty-four walkers and three K-9 best friends were on hand.
It had been a while since we had gone to the “Five Way Stop” that brings Wildwood, Windsor, Warfield Avenues, and Wallace Road together, and to the streets below Wildwood School in the southwest part of Piedmont. When Meghan Bennett heard about the walk, she shared some historical information.
Our current Wildwood Avenue was called Highland Avenue in a 1903 map that Meghan had. Highland ran to about where the Wildwood Triangle/Dearing Park is today. The road ended at what was then called “Piedmont Avenue,” and it ended at “Pleasant Valley Road,” which is now Grand Avenue. Today’s Windsor Avenue was named “Buttercup Avenue.” Meghan’s History of Piedmont website (https://www.historyofpiedmont.com/) had more relevant information.
Isaac Lawrence Requa was born in 1828 in Westchester County, New York. In 1850, after hearing of the discovery of gold in California, he sailed to San Francisco around Cape Horn by clipper ship to try his hand at mining. He went immediately to the gold country and was successful. In 1861 he traveled to Virginia City, Nevada to work on the silver Comstock Lode, and became superintendent of a mining company and a director in other big mining concerns. He returned to California and became a prominent West Coast financier in railroad building with the Huntington, Stanford, Crocker, and Hopkins combine. He was also president of the Central Pacific Railroad Company and a director in other Huntington lines.
For many years Requa was active in California politics, first as a "Whig” and later as a Republican. He was a long-time chairman of the Republican State Central Committee and was once offered its nomination for Governor, but he declined. In his later life Requa was devoted mainly to banking and the Oakland Bank of Savings, of which he was president.
In 1877 Requa acquired about 80 rolling, unimproved acres in what became Piedmont. In the 1880s there were only seven houses where the City of Piedmont is today. Requa and his wife Sarah developed "The Highlands," an estate built around a great fame house that overlooked Lake Merritt, the Bay, and the San Francisco Peninsula. "The Highlands" was among the first impressive houses to be built in Piedmont.
The Highlands was on a knoll where the present Hazel Lane and Requa Road meet. The house had 22 bedrooms, an adjoining wing for domestic help, and 11 hired hands had other quarters on the estate. Since it was a long trip in horse-drawn vehicles to Oakland via Vernal Avenue (now Highland Avenue), Moraga Road, and Piedmont Avenue, The Highlands was all but self-sufficient. It had its own vegetable gardens, orchard, berry patches, dairy herd of 11 cows, stable with seven stalls, and an independent water supply from the wells on the property. The house was painted a yellow that was called "buttercup yellow." Its beacon-like quality with no trees on the hills around it made the mansion a prominent landmark, easily visible from San Francisco and ferryboats.
Requa died in 1908 at the age of eighty years at The Highlands, and in 1923 the mansion was demolished. Today’s Highland Avenue is named after Requa’s estate. It is interesting to note that Piedmont High School’s mascot is the “Highlander,” and the school colors, purple and white, were purported to have been Sarah Requa’s favorite colors.
We headed off going through Piedmont Park to Guilford Road and a path to Hazel Lane and up to the Requa Place cul-de-sac. This was the site of The Highlands. Chuck Oraftik recognized two pillars that marked the entrance to the estate. They are all that remains of it.
We retraced our steps and went down Requa Road to Wildwood Avenue past Wildwood School. Busy students on the playground paid no attention to the passing parade. We came to the “Five Way Stop” and took the attached group photo. We then walked up Warfield, turned right onto Boulevard Way, crossed the Piedmont/Oakland city line noting a license plate reader, and climbed up Boulevard. Time was getting short so Sherry Jacobs pointed out a hidden path up to the end of Sylvan Way. However, there was a challenge. Sylvan has a very steep hill that goes down to Wildwood Avenue. We were up to the challenge. We made it safely down the hill and went up Wildwood to Windsor, Park View, and Magnolia Avenues for an on-time noon return to the Exedra.
P.S. For our coming walks on 1/22, 1/29, and 2/5 we are going to recognize the Piedmont Beautification Foundation’s 60th anniversary and celebrate its contributions to Piedmont. PBF President Patty D and our fellow walker Matt G will take us on tours to sets of PBF projects.
The City of Piedmont has an interest in taping portions of the walks. We are not anticipating there will be much exposure to walkers, but anyone who wants to make sure they aren’t inadvertently captured on camera can let the videographer know and they will be keep out of the shots. If any walkers would like to be featured in the video (e.g., speaking on camera about their appreciation of the projects) that’s possible too.
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