Palo Alto Stanford Heritage |
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| Photo taken in 1978. | Robert Brandeis photo |
The following is from the Historic Buildings Inventory as revised in 1985:
This two–story house with two–story rounded bay and corner veranda fuses late Queen Anne forms and the more simplified imagery of the Shingle Style.
Christopher Ducker, a native of Prussia, first settled in Mayfield in 1864. He operated a store with his brother Henry, and later purchased the Mayfield Railroad Brewery (which formerly stood on California Avenue near the depot) from M. Kleinclaus. He operated it until 1906. He took a partner, Leonard Distel, native of Alsace, in the late 1860s. Leonard Distel and his brother Bernard had been trained in viticulture.
When Mayfield was incorporated in 1903, Ducker was elected its first trustee. The house, a well–proportioned example of its residential type, was built on lots which Ducker purchased from Alexander Gordon in 1888. Members of the Ducker family occupied it until after World War I, although in the last few years using part of it for rental to others.
In the 1920s, it was occupied by Richard Driscoll. C. E. Knight, H. G. Perry, and Marcel Jewell occupied it for brief periods in the 1930s and early 1940s, after which it was divided into apartments. The owner at the time of the Inventory was Barbara Findleisen.
Replacement home photo taken June 29, 2011:
This house was built in 1899 and was a Category 4 on the Historic Buildings Inventory. The builder was E. A. Hettinger. The property measures 100 by 115 feet.
Sources: Palo Alto City Directories; Palo Alto Times 1/3/52, 11/17/52, Palo Alto Live Oak, 10/20/1899; Palo Alto Historical Association, Tall Tree, IV, May 1976; AAUW, . . . Gone Tomrrow?; Book 109, pp. 252–253 (Official Records, Santa Clara County Recorder)
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