Palo Alto Stanford Heritage |
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| Inventory photo | Photo taken August 25, 2013 |
The following is from the Historic Buildings Inventory as revised in 1985:
This simple shingled box is decorated by a wider band of shingles at the second floor and a Tuscan porch which originally ran the full width of the house.
The side of the house has a projecting square bay, two stories in height and a series of additive structures to the rear which inventively accommodate an ancient oak. the square bays are supported at both stories by round ended short corbels.
In 1985 it was wholly rehabilitated and re-landscaped. The rear entry was enlarged and decked, a dead oak was removed, a side entry added, and French doors or windows were substituted or introduced—all in compatible style.
First occupied (to 1908) by Professor and Mrs. H. W. Rolfe and Mrs. Anne D. Connelly, a musician, then (1908–1917) by Professor and Mrs. Edward C. Franklin. Franklin was an internationally–known expert inorganic chemistry who joined the Stanford faculty in 1898.
Elizabeth Hadden, sister of Palo Alto's first librarian Anne Hadden, lived there very briefly (1917–1918), as did an early Unitarian minister, Bradley Gilman and his wife Mary (1918–1919), and Professor and Mrs. Alfred D. Browne (a physician on the Stanford faculty, 1919–1922).
For almost fifty years, (1924–1972), it was the home of Charles and Martha Ellet (1884–1971). Ellet's father came to the City in 1908, bought the Mayfield Bank and Trust and later reorganized it as the Stanford Bank (subsequently sold to American Trust Co.). Ellet opened the Stanford Realty Co. in 1924 and thenceforth was a leading Realtor in the community.
It was Ellet house until 1974 when it was acquired by John and Johanna Dunn, followed in 1985 by Ken Alsman and Linda Scott.
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| Centennial plaque | Location map |
This house was built in 1901 and is a Category 4 on the Historic Buildings Inventory. The builder might have been Gus Laumeister. The 1985 re-hab/remodel was by Scott Design Associates. The property measures 75 by 105 feet. It was on the PAST Holiday House Tour in 1988 (first tour) and 1993.
Sources: Palo Alto City Directories; Palo Alto Times 1/3/02, 10/21/28, 2/13/37, 5/5/44, 3/6/52, 9/27/71.
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