The Taj Mahal of Piedmont and Other Architectural Wonders

Provided below is the content that Jim K provided on the walk he led on Wednesday.

There is lots of interesting information on a number of beautiful homes. Two photos are attached and I am also including house pictures that Jim provided.

Best,

Dick

Wednesday Walkers Tour

Old and New Architecture in the Piedmont City Center – Chapter 2

The Piedmont Recreation Department’s Walking on Wednesdays group had an excellent turnout of 58 walkers and 6 K-9 best friends for their October 14 walk starting at the Exedra.

Jim started by noting that this morning’s walk would be “Chapter 2” of his tour of Old and New Architecture in the Piedmont City Center, following up on a July 8^th walk that he led. This walk would include Guilford and Caperton Avenues, a brief stop at Hazel Lane then on to Wildwood Avenue and Wildwood Gardens. The group would see the advancement of the early period of development of Piedmont in 1907 then advancing to the 1930s as well as mid-century modern, each represented by masterworks by famous California architects. Jim noted that when well done, we can see the old and new styles mix together to become a seamless part of Piedmont’s beautiful visual culture.

The group started by walking up to Guilford Avenue and past the location of the Piedmont Art Gallery built in 1907. The Gallery was one of several significant additions to Piedmont led by Frank C. Havens. While he was building the Havens Mansion at Wildwood Gardens, he hired Julia Morgan to design the Gallery. The intent was to display and sell art, mostly from the Havens collection. The gallery lasted only 11 years and was closed in 1918. The building was removed and today has been replaced by the Piedmont public tennis courts.

The walk continued to Caperton Avenue starting at Sheridan and continuing down to Highland Avenue. The group seldom walks on Caperton, so Jim wanted to include this beautiful narrow scenic street on the walk to see the wide variety of design styles including Spanish Mission, Neo-tutor, Piedmont Tradition, as well as mid-century modern melded together into a lovely street in Piedmont. 

The group then turned south on Highland Avenue and stopped at 55 Hazel Lane. Jim described this house as an excellent and rather rare Piedmont example of Hollywood Regency Style. The house was built in 1937 and represented the style originated in Hollywood that includes horizontal proportions with bold sleek lines, low slope or flat roofs with no overhangs, metal decorative railings and non-classical detailing, almost like a sleek 20^th century cruise ship with additional theater and glamour. The Regency homes almost always included a dramatic formal entry and stair to the upper floor, and an extensive rear patio and luxurious pool. This is exactly what this house offers, as seen in a handout provided to the group with images of the interior and rear yard patio and pool. The Regency style was most popular from 1930 through World War II, and was supported by Hollywood stars including Gloria Swanson, Joan Crawford, Douglas Fairbanks, Jack Warner, George Cukor, and others.  

The group’s next stop was 401 Wildwood Avenue at the corner of Highland. The house was built in 1964, and is a mid-century modern masterwork by architect Joe Esherick, which is the only house in Piedmont that he designed. His career included partnering with William Wurster in the 1950s to re-form the UC Berkeley School of Architecture into the College of Environment Design. It’s interesting to note that Bernard Maybeck, whose work Jim would talk about later, began the California arts and crafts style in Berkeley at the turn of the 19^th Century. Maybeck taught Julia Morgan, John Hudson Thomas, as well as William Wurster, all of whom are now regarded as among the best California architects of the 20^th century. Some of each of their masterworks are in Piedmont for us to enjoy. Back to Joe Esherick – he is famous for master planning The Sea Ranch with Larry Halprin, Charles Moore, and William Turnbull in the early 1960s, the Cannery at Fisherman’s Wharf in 1967, and The Monterey Bay Aquarium in 1984.  Joe’s mid-century modern style carried forward many of the same ideas as William Wurster to use simple understated form, use of clean modern materials and detailing – and no Hollywood Glamour! The designs are site specific with respect for the natural environment to maximize indoor-outdoor space and light, and create a quality living environment for the occupants. The handout provided to the group included images of the exterior and interior of this house that illustrate the quality and beauty of this design.   

Next door to the house designed by Joe Esherick, at 411 Wildwood Avenue, is an excellent Monterey style house built in 1935. Jim noted that this style was created in Los Angeles at the same time as Regency Style the group saw on Hazel Lane, popular from about 1928 to 1945. The Monterey style is a 20^th Century revival of Spanish Mission with a romantic reference to the Old West and the unique beauty prevalent in California and not seen in the rest of America. The Monterey style includes predominately horizontal proportions, projecting second floor balcony over the front entry, a low slope gable tile roof, and heavy hand-hewn wood detailing. Jim also pointed out that the Monterey style expanded its popularity from support by Hollywood stars including Will Rogers, Gene Autry, Tom Mix, Clark Gable, and Walt Disney. And this house was occupied by Wendy Tokuda from 1991 to 2003, who was a TV journalist with KPIX. Mary Cater also pointed out that Wendy was the daughter-in-law of Monty Hall from The Price is Right television show fame.

Then the group stopped at 431 Wildwood Avenue, which was built in 1917 and designed by John Hudson Thomas for J.H. Crosby. This is a 6,500 square foot Piedmont mansion, in Hudson’s “gothic revival” style, and was built at the same time as Julia Morgan’s Lombard House, a neo-tutor “Harrow” mansion at 62 Farragut and Albert Farr’s arts and crafts mansion at 284 Mountain Avenue. These are representative of the incredible era of Piedmont expansion from about 1905 through 1920, when most of our city center was built and our architecture culture established. And Jim pointed out that it’s interesting that three homes next to each other on Wildwood Avenue that they had just talked about represent a period of about 50 years of architectural development that all meld together today to make our Piedmont architectural culture even richer.

Then the group continued to Wildwood Gardens, enjoying the narrow road and beautiful landscape until they stopped at 101 Wildwood Gardens, the Frank C. Havens Mansion. Jim provided a history of the evolution of the house from the original design by Bernard Maybeck in 1907 to the completion of the 11,000 square foot, three-story mansion in 1914. By the time the mansion was completed the design was known as “The Taj Mahal of Piedmont”.

Bernard Maybeck’s original design in 1907 included an elegant 2-story arts and crafts style home stepping down elegantly into the deep canyon in the large properties back yard. While under construction, Frank’s wife Lila took charge of the project. She was enthralled with Asian design, had an unlimited budget, and dramatically expanded and altered the design. Lila partnered with Louis Comfort Tiffany to design and furnish the central spaces into art nouveau style, including the Octagon Room and the Tiffany Central Art Gallery. The artwork and furnishings by Tiffany for the mansion became the largest collection of Tiffany work west of the Mississippi. She also brought in artisan experts from Japan, China, and Cambodia to hand-build many of the spaces in the project, including the Japanese Tea Room, the Chinese Temple Room, and the Cambodian Temple exterior woodwork added to the rear elevation and loggia. However, the changes made to the design were not exactly what Bernard Maybeck preferred, so he and Lila became disconnected before the work was completed. In fact, they were so disconnected that none of the Bernard Maybeck bibliographies include drawings or photos of the finished Havens Mansion.

The handouts provided to the walking group included the floor plan of the main floor of the finished mansion and photos of many of the interior spaces. Jim pointed out that the information and photos took a substantial amount of research from sources including Meghan Bennett, who manages The History of Piedmont website, the Piedmont Planning Department historic records database, and photos from journals and newspapers published at that time. Meghan had pointed out that ChatGPT provides an amazing ability to upgrade old black and white scratchy photos into clean and sharp colorized images – and she was right! The photos in the handout give a contemporary clean look at what this house looked like in 1914.

Jim then pointed out that there is a connection between The Taj Mahal of Piedmont and Hollywood!  In the 1930s a famous Movie Mogul, rumored to be Cecil B. DeMille, became enthralled with the mansion. He attempted to purchase the building and have it dismantled and reconstructed in Hollywood. This did not work, because the handwork of the Asian artisans was so complex it was not economically possible, so the offer was abandoned.

The group then turned around from the Havens Mansion and across the street at 21 Wildwood Gardens Jim Pointed out an excellent example of mid-century modern built in 1952. The style is noted for horizontal proportions, flat roofs with extended overhangs, open-pan layouts, extensive glass windows, and details using manufactured products. This style is from the era of modern California architects including Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra, which shows the dramatic changes that occurred in the 30 year period between 1914 and the early post-war era. Even though this house was built 75 years ago, it could be said it more closely resembles work of the 21^st Century than what we see from 1914.

The group continued down Wildwood Gardens to 89-95.  This is the second Bernard Maybeck project in Piedmont, designed in 1907 as Havens Mansion staff housing. There are three units which were later turned into the first apartment building in Piedmont. This was done in Maybeck Arts and Crafts style and not modified by Lila Havens! The handout provided for the group illustrated the simple elegant style of the building from the courtyard, which is not accessible from the street.

To complete the tour, the group continued to 120 Wildwood Gardens.  This is the masterpiece Storybook house, by Carr Jones for J. Houvenin, built in 1932. This is Jones’s most famous “Hansel and Gretel” design, with hand-laid brick and hand-hewn wood beams used throughout. To enhance the old look, the bricks were recovered from demolition of a St. Mary’s College building at the Oakland campus before they moved to Moraga. This is another example of a romantic style, although somewhat theatrical, originated in California in the 1930s. The handout provided for the walking group with photos illustrating the intricacy of the interior design of each room which carries to the inside what we know from the exterior.

This completed Jim’s tour. It was expansive, highly informative, and wonderful. The group expressed their appreciation to Jim for all that he had shared with them. They made their way back to the Exedra, looking forward to “Chapter 3” of Jim’s Old and New Piedmont Architecture Tour.