Los Gatos Historic Homes Tour

Well, I missed it this year – the tour was two weeks ago – but Los Gatos’ annual Historic Homes Tour was a big success, raising money for both the Los Gatos Art and History museums.

The $30 tour visited six homes in Los Gatos’ historic Glen Ridge neighborhood, which is jam-packed with pretty bungalows and cottages, most of them with interesting Craftsman details. Alastair Dallas of the Los Gatos Observer has a good article and several photographs of the tour; homes from the 2001 tour can be visited, online, through Shari Kaplan’s October 2001 article in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times.

• 22 Glen Ridge Ave.: A two-story cottage-style house, built in 1904 for lawyer William F.
  Pierce and his family, will have the original architect’s drawings
  displayed in the library. It has two cutaway bay windows, a hipped roof
  with widow’s walk and a front-facing gable over its front porch. Used
  for years as a rental, the home has been returned to its original
  single-family status by its current owner, who tore down a 1908
  addition to build a new kitchen and bath in that space.
• 133 Glen Ridge Ave.: Look carefully for the subtle decorative elements on the house built
  in 1909 by David Crummey, who started the Bean Spray Pump Co., maker of
  the first high-pressure pump for insecticides. (The company later
  evolved into San Jose’s Food Machinery Corp., a maker of farming
  equipment and, later, huge military vehicles.) Corner towers have
  hipped roofs, cantilevered on the front and sides with decorated braces
  below. A hipped center dormer has exposed rafters under the eaves.
  Stained glass can be seen in the top panes of the tower windows. And
  here’s where you can see the aforementioned quatrefoil windows. The
  house retains its original footprint, front facade and entry porch, but
  the insides have been updated – keeping to the period – by the
  current owners.
• 219 Glen Ridge Ave.: More fun architectural details are on the cedar-shingled
  Craftsman-style house with its recessed porch and side-gable roof,
  built in 1907 for Frank A. Dixon, superintendent of the San Jose Fruit
  Packaging Co. Carved rafter "tails" show off the skills of a fine
  woodworker, and the stonework at the sidewalk is original. Inside, many
  period features remain, including built-in bookcases and dining room
  buffet, paneling in the dining room and coved ceilings. The current
  owners extended the rear of the house to remodel the kitchen and add a
  family room in the 1990s.
• 19 Hernandez:The oldest house on the tour was built before 1891 and is known as
  the family home of "Judge" Fowler, although Thomas Fowler actually
  was a senator and may have even died before the family moved into the
  house. The Victorian Queen Anne-style house has cantilevered bay
  windows on the right front and side, a porch with turned columns and a
  central, front-facing gable. The current owner has remodeled in period
  style and added a second story for a master bedroom and bath in the
  early 2000s.
• 119 Tait Ave.: The newest house on the tour was built in 1993 to replace a
  circa-1890 Victorian that was red-tagged and razed after it was knocked
  off its foundation during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. It has
  typical Queen Anne-style features such as a bay window, wraparound
  porch with turned columns and hipped roof – all designed to allow the
  new construction to fit seamlessly into its neighborhood. The current
  owner purchased it in 1994.
• 142 Tait Ave.: What’s called the "Rene Doolittle House" was built in 1923, likely
  by Doolittle himself. About 12 years ago, the second story was added,
  but the first story retains its original Craftsman features such as the
  stucco under the gables and braces and the exposed rafter tails.