Palo Alto Stanford Heritage |
 |
| Inventory photo | Photo taken 2012 |
The following is from the Historic Buildings Inventory as revised in 1983:
This two-story house is crisply detailed and emphatically horizontal in its composition. The banding of the fenestration and the form of the building itself derives from the Prairie school of Frank Lloyd Wright and his followers. The brick at the entry is a later addition.
Jefferson Elmore, the first owner, came to California from Montana in his youth and earned the A.B. and M.A. degrees in Classics at Stanford, 1895 and Ph.D., 1901. He began teaching at Stanford in 1897 and remained until retirement in 1928.
When the Elmores moved in 1918, the house was purchased by Edward P. Sheridan, who lived in it only until 1919 but retained ownership until 1925. Sheridan, an attorney, was exceptionally devoted to children and was a major sponsor of Boy Scouts activities in the community. When the Sheridans left 1134 Emerson, they moved to 1200 Emerson; after his death in 1925, his wife, Ruth, continued to live at 1200 Emerson until her own death in 1945.
From 1930 to 1973, it was the home of Benjamin S. and Victoria F. Allen. Born in Woodland, Allen graduated from Stanford in 1907 and was a young AP reporter in England in 1914. His vivid dispatches from Belgium during the German invasion brought him world-wide attention. He and his wife, who drove the car for him, were decorated by the Belgian government. He then assisted Herbert Hoover with the Belgian Relief program; similar endeavors in Finland in 1939 led again to his decoration. He often was associated with Hoover during a long career as journalist, editor, publisher (Sacramento Union) and conservationist (California Redwoods Association). Victoria Allen graduated from Mills College in 1908. At various times she directed the Y.W.C.A. at Stanford and was dean of residences at Mills.
When the inventory was made, the owner was Kenneth Glaser, Jr.
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Photo from PAHA archive | Location map |
This house was built in 1907 and is a Category 4 on the Historic Buildings Inventory. The architect and builder are unknown. The property measures 50 by 112.5 feet.
Sources: Palo Alto City Directories; Palo Alto Times 1/7/15, 9/30/18, 5/21/19, 1/30/23, 3/31/25, 4/21/36, 11/13/41, 8/11/45, 1/15/57, 7/25/73; San Francisco Chronicle 7/27/73
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.
Copyright © 2016 Palo Alto Stanford Heritage. All rights reserved.
