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1901 Central Avenue
Alameda, California

Julia Morgan -- Project No. 304

The blueprints are titled "House for Fred Staude" and dated April 21, 1910. That was shortly after architect Julia Morgan went completely on her own. The contractor chosen was Joseph Neil -- a building permit was issued on May 26, 1910. Nearly a 100 years later, the original Ruud 'on demand' water heater and giant-sized gravity furnace were still in use. The furnace evolved from coal to oil to gas over its long working life. The attic and basement have eight foot ceilings making about 5,000 square feet of usable space.

Independence Day Special 2010 -- To celebrate the 4th of July, we've hung a 44-star flag outside. It is 7 feet by 15 feet. Wyoming became the 44th state in 1891 so the flag is 15 to 19 years older than the house. There were about 25 flags left behind in the attic; this is the oldest. The previous owner collected architectural antiques. This large flag pole was originally on the 1920's office building of E. F. Hutton in San Francisco's financial district -- it was demolished 40 years ago.

Here's what the house usually looks like. This 50-star flag flew over the U.S. Capitol building. They change four flags every 15 minutes so congressmen can give them to constitutes.

Over the last 100 years, the trees have grown quite a bit. The house is on the corner of Lafayette and Central -- about right in the middle of Alameda Island. In the old days, across Lafayette, was a large mansion (left below). It was replaced with a Mediterranean style house in the 1940's (right below). The spindly tree in the center of the first photo is now the massive one in the second photo.

Here's the main staircase looking down from the second floor hallway. For weather protection, a large plate glass window is behind the stained glass windows.

The house was designed about the time that double parlors were going out of vogue. As a reminder, the 14.5 x 30 foot living room has a dividing arch in its middle. In the 1980's, the house got the full Bradbury & Bradbury wallpaper treatment.

On the second floor there are three large bedrooms and what the blueprints call a 'sewing room', but a dresser and small bed fit fine. All rooms were built with coved ceilings and picture rails. Curving the wallpaper through the cove makes the rooms look taller. When asked people say the living room is 12 foot. Actually the first floor is 10 foot, the second floor is 9 foot 6 inches and the basement and attic are 8 foot.

I collect old toy trains, see StandardGauge.com When I saw this attic, I knew I had to buy the home -- eight feet of clear headroom with a hardwood floor. Imagine a 1,000 square foot toy train layout!

The previous owners were collectors and left a lot of stuff behind including this large tapestry that originally hung in the Fox Oakland Theater that opened in October 1928. Also left behind on the basement floor are two columns and a large cartouche from the America's finest movie palace -- the Fox Theater in San Francisco that was torn down in 1963. These will be cut up and mounted on various basement walls.

Main stairs looking up from the foyer.

The second floor juts out 20 inches in front of the first floor. Then the attic juts out another foot.

Paint samples. The kitchen is about to get its sixth paint job -- I've preserved chips of the first five. The lower left sample, 'Yellow Oxide', is the original 1910 kitchen color. The room to the left is the dining room. To the right is the maid's room which was opened up in the mid 1990's.

The annunciator works as follows: 1 = front door, 2 = back door, 3 = dining room (the head of the table steps on a floor button), and 4 = master bedroom. This is just like shown on Julia Morgan's blue prints. After it rings and the location is noted, the maid resets the device by pushing up the plunger on its bottom.

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