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

369 Churchill Avenue


Photo taken in 1978.	Photo taken in 2014.

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

Physical appearance: The formal residence is a large, handsomely–proportioned Tudor Revival structure with half–timbering and carefully–crafted detailing. A gable supported by square bracketed columns forms a dramatic entry in the particularly well–composed southwest elevation. the grounds at the front and sides were enclosed with brick and iron fencing and re–landscaped in 1983; at the same time, the space to the west was split away for new construction.

Significance: A finely executed example of Tudor Revival design built for William E. and Adelaide Dingley Palmer. Palmer was a San Francisco industrialist, whose father's and grandfather's connections with California manufacturing stretch back to the Golden State Iron Works of the 1850s.

The Palmers occupied the residence until 1943, succeeded (1944–1952) by C. E. Gray, School of Business Professor Frank K. Shallenberger (1953–1958), Stewart M. and Elizabeth Jones (1959–1966) and Robert and Harriet Pappas (1968–1979). The next owners were A. S. and Naheed Quereshi.

Note: Renovation of the house began in 2015 and has changed the appearance. (Photos below were taken March 5, 2017.) The architect was John W. Powers of San Rafael and the builder, NorthWall Builders of Palo Alto.

This house was built in 1917 and is a Category 4 on the Historic Buildings Inventory. Charles Hodges was the architect for the main structure and Charles K. Sumner for the music room. Val Franz of San Francisco was the builder for the main structure. The property measures 150 by 150 feet.

Sources: Palo Alto City Directories; Palo Alto Times 6/5/23, 5/20/29, 8/23/50; interview 1983, Harriet Pappas; interview 1984, Adelaide Dingley Palmer and W. Lewis Palmer.

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.