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Palo Alto Historic Buildings Inventory

536 Lincoln Avenue

inventory photo 536
Inventory photo Photo taken May 16, 2015

 

The following is from the Historic Buildings Inventory as revised in 1985:

Physical appearance:  This house displays a vernacular design which suggests Tudor Revival origins. The unusual façade is emphasized by the mannerist perspective distortion of the second story paneling. Its original orientation to the street (it was first located on the corner at 1101 Cowper Street and was cut in half and reassembled when moved) entries exist on both the east and west sides. 

Significance:  A powerful and highly sophisticated design by the early Stanford architect, Charles e. Hodges. It was moved it its present location by Mrs. Adelaide (John F.) Newsom who wished for the space on which to build a new house smaller than those at 1101 and 1129 Cowper, where she lived.

The first occupant was Rev. George L. Parker, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Palo Alto. After his first wife died in 1903, he married Helen McGillivray, a nurse who was then conducting a nursing home called "The Cabin" at 465 Melville Avenue. Soon after their marriage in 1905, the Parkers spent three years with the British Legation in Russia and then settled permanently in Boston. There he had a prominent ministerial career, and she became a social leader, minor author, and lecturer.

Miss Alice W. Kimball was the occupant from 1918 to 1926. A graduate of Stanford (1904), where she edited the Quad (yearbook), Miss Kimball was a much-respected figure in local literary and musical affairs. She was a pianist and co-founder of the Peninsula Musical Association, taught at Castilleja School, and reviewed books for the San Francisco Chronicle.

The house was owned from 1929 to 1933 by George C. Chadwick, an engineer, and then, 1934 to 1939 by Paul and Georgiana Edwards. Edwards was the associate editor of the San Francisco News from 1933 to 1956, and was on the Stanford board of Trustees from 1943 to 1953.

Claude L. DeLong and his mother, Mrs. Al-Freddie DeLong (widow of Charles H. DeLong) owned the house from 1941 to 1955 followed by William and Elizabeth Frye. It was sold and restored after Bill Frye's death in 2015.

 

front post
living room shelf
gable detail plaque
entry map
Plaque and a peek into the foyer Location map

This house was built in 1897 and is a Category 4 on the Historic Buildings Inventory. The architect was Charles Hodges and the builder was James W. Wells. The property measures 30 by 105.5 feet.

Sources: Palo Alto City Directories; Palo Alto Times 5/19/97, 6/18/97, 12/31/86, 7/24/03, 8/2/12, 4/10/28, 12/5/42, 2,12,48, 3/14/74; Palo Alto Historical Association, Tall Tree, vol. 7, no. 5, March 1983; interview 1985, Elizabeth Frye

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