Palo Alto Stanford Heritage

Home	Architects & Builders	Holiday House Tour	Newsletters	Walking Tours
About PAST	Centennial Houses	INVENTORY	Preservation Awards	Contact PAST
Advocacy	History and Architecture Articles	Master Index to Houses	Resources	Join / Donate

Palo Alto Historic Buildings Inventory

1125 Byron Street

Photo taken in 1978.

The following is from the Historic Buildings Inventory as revised in 1983:

Physical appearance: A geometrically patterned balustrade, considered to be a Chinese motif at the time of construction, provides the principal decorative element of this small one–story vernacular house. An open balustraded porch extends across the front and side and appears to be a later addition.

Significance: K.U. Misner was listed as the first of many occupants engaged in various crafts and trades: gas fitter (Frank Morey, 1907), stone cutter (Donald Maclver, 1910), gardener (J. Sharkey, 1925–1945). Arnold, the son of John and Annie Sharkey, became one of the town's most colorful "characters." "Parkey" Sharkey, as he called himself, was a newspaper reporter's meal–ticket during the 1940s and 1950s—eccentric taxi driver, radio and TV clown for spot appearances, boxer and wrestler, writer, bon vivant, and scofflaw.

This house was built in 1901 and is a Category 4 on the Historic Buildings Inventory.

Sources: Palo Alto City Directories; Palo Alto Times 1/17/02, 3/16/51, 12/24/51, 9/23/69, 9/8/71.

Top

E-mail us at either webmaster@pastheritage.org or president@pastheritage.org.

Palo Alto Stanford Heritage—Dedicated to the preservation of Palo Alto's historic buildings.