Palo Alto Stanford Heritage |
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| Inventory photo | Photo taken July 31, 2010 |
The following is from the Historic Buildings Inventory as revised in 1985 with minor corrections made in 2018:
This two-story well-proportioned house is austerely vernacular except for the unexpected half-timber pattern in the gable of the street façade.
This house was built for Professor Albert W. Smith and his wife, Professor Mary Roberts Smith, both of Stanford. He was Chairman of the Mechanical Engineering Department and she was Associate Professor of Social Sciences and Sociology. The Stanford hymn, "Hail, Stanford, Hail", was written by the Smiths; she wrote the lyrics and he wrote the music. Mary also wrote a book concerned with the question now known as women's lib, and her courses in social science centered on running a household efficiently.
In 1901, when their 433 Kingsley house was finished, they sold 1146 Waverley to Dr. C.H. Rieber. He, in turn, sold it in 1903 to Professor Charles D. Marx, who rented to, among others, G. Alexander Wright, a S.F. architect, and Stanford faculty members.
From 1915-1920, it was occupied by Parker S. and Edith Maddux. Mrs. Maddux was prominent in local affairs, a member of the elementary school board, and a leader in the plan to move the Camp Fremont Hostess House (World War I Hostess House) from Menlo Park to Palo Alto to become the Community Center as "an experiment in democracy." The Madduxes left the city for San Francisco in 1920.
In 1926, Edward and Dorothy Marx Sherwood rented the house and it has been the Sherwood house since then. (Edward Sherwood purchased the house sometime in the 1930s and is listed as the ower in the 1940 census.) They developed the adjacent "Sherwood (or commonly Kingsley) Court" (ten Birge Clark designed bungalows) in 1940.
Note: Dorothy Marx Sherwood was the daughter of Charles David Marx and Harriet Marx.
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The following is from the Centennial Buildings Tour, prepared by The City of Palo Alto Historic Resources Board for the Centennial Building Celebration, April 16, 1994. The houses included on the tour were all identified as at least 100 years old:
This house is austerely vernacular except for the unexpected half-timber pattern in the gable of the street facade. It was designed by Charles Hodges, Stanford resident architect, and built by Field and Ledyard for Stanford professors Albert W. Smith and his wife, Mary Roberts Smith. He was chairman of the mechanical engineering department; she was associate professor of social science and sociology. Together they wrote the Stanford hymn, "Hail, Stanford, Hail."
This house was built in 1893 and is a Category 4 on the Historic Buildings Inventory. The architect was Charles Hodges and the builder was Field and Ledyard. The property measures 109 by 100 feet.
Sources: Palo Alto City Directories; AAUW, ... Gone Tomorrow?, Palo Alto Times 1/5/1894, 8/9/1901, 9/27/1906, 1/23/32, 7/26/50, 6/21/54; interview 1985, Patricia Sherwood; Book 266 (Deeds), p. 392, 8/15/1903 (Santa Clara Co. Recorder); Palo Alto Live Oak 2/16/1898, 6/1/1898, 1/1/1900 (early photo).
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