Palo Alto Stanford Heritage |
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| Inventory photo | Photo taken January 13, 2014 |
The following is from the Historic Buildings Inventory as revised in 1986:
This restrained one-story Queen Anne cottage with its porch, bay window, and bands of patterned shingles exhibits the vernacular interpretation of a standard nineteenth century form. Before the installation of a larger window in the gable, this house was a twin of 1215 Stanford Avenue.
A good example of a standard type. From 1889 to 1920 the property belonged to Peter and Mary Grimley, and the house probably was built by their son, John (see 1215 Stanford Avenue for further particulars.)
Members of the Daniel Harrington family, among others, were among tenants during the decade from 1910–1920. It then was sold through the Realtor Charles Ellet and others to William McCullough (1924) and from the McCullough estate to Vincent and Rosa Steck (1939).
Tenants during these years included George M. and Lillian Mead (Mead owned a Mayfield sheet-metal firm), (1928–31); J. E. Capovilla (1933–1937); Patrick W. and Bernita Neely (1939–53) (Neely was a field engineer for the Durant Pipe Co.).
The house has continued to be owned by the Steck family [1979], occupied after the mid-fifties for a time by Vincent (Jr.) and Patricia Steck, and since then by Joseph E. and Jeanette J. Steck. The late Vincent Steck, Jr. was an engineer with Varian Associates.
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| Location map |
This house was built circa 1905 and is a Category 2 on the Historic Buildings Inventory. The builder was probably John Grimley. The property measures 45 by 125 feet.
Sources: Palo Alto City Directories; Palo Alto Times 7/9/51, 1/10/55, 11/7/68, 1/18/69, 4/14/82; notes for AAUW ...Gone Tomorrow?; deeds cited in sources for 1215 Stanford 1889–1920 and, for 1229 Stanford Ave., Book 500 (Deeds), p. 361, 3/8/21. Book 88 (Off. Rec.), p. 307–9. 5/31/24; Book 67 (Off. Rec.), p. 53, 1/5/24; Books 948, p. 56; 950, p. 92, 951, p. 210–11; 1007, p. 26 (Off. Rec.) pertaining to McCullough estate), 8/9/39–9/13/40 (Santa Clara Co. Recorder); interview 1986, Patricia Steck, Joseph Steck (the latter reports the Harrington name scratched on brick in the basement, although Harringtons only rented; and that he had heard the house was built by a sheep rancher—John Grimley was a rancher in his later years.)
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