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HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution No. 5377RESOLUTION 130. 5377 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL DESIGNATING 14 SENTINEL COURT SITE AS AN HISTORICAL LANDMARK WHEREAS, the Cultural Affairs Commission and the City Council have found, after conducting public hearings, that the 14 Sentinel Court site has significant value as part of the cultural characteristics of the City, exemplifies the cultural, social, and historic heritage of the community, portrays the environment in the era of history characterized by a distinctive architectural style, and embodies those distinguishing characteristics of an architec- tural type; and WHEREAS, a description of the characteristics of the 14 Sentinel Court site which justifies this designation and a description of those particular features that should be preserved are attached hereto as Exhibit A and are incorporated herein by reference; and WHEREAS, the location and boundaries of the 14 Sentinel Court site are those contained in Exhibit B attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Cod-ncil_of the City of San Rafael, California, that the 14 Sentinel Court site hereinabove mentioned and described be and the same- hereby is designated as an historical landmark, and shall be preserved and maintained pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 2.18 of the San Rafael Municipal Code; BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Clerk of the City of San Rafael is hereby directed to cause a copy of this Resolution, or notice thereof, to be recorded in the Office of the County Recorder. I, JEANNE M. LEONCINI, City Clerk of the City of San Rafael, hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was duly and regularly introduced and adopted at a regular meeting of the Council of the City of San Rafael held on Monday the seventh day of November , 1977 by the following vote, to wit: AYES: COUNCILMEN: Jensen, Mi ski men, Mul ryan , Nixon and Mayor Betti ni NOES: COUNCILMEN: None ABSENT: COUNCILMEN: None R"' " G1 I N A L 'JEWITE M. LEONCIPII, City Clerk 140A/26-7 14 SENTINEL COURT EXHIBIT A Description The house at 14 Sentinel Court owes its present appearance to a series of additions and remodelings over the entire span of its existence. The original building, dating from the 1870's, was in the Italianate Style. Although there are no plans or drawings of the original structure, because the style took very predictable forms, it is possible to imagine what the original house was like. It is still visible today in the northeastern corner of the enlarged structure, with its bracketed -flat front and angled bays on front and sides. In plan, the original house consists of what is now the central hallway and the two rooms with bay windows which open off the hall to the east. In the original house the corner room was a formal parlor and the room behind it was probably the dining room. The same stair- way led to bedrooms upstairs. The original kitchen, which was at the end of the hall on the first floor, was replaced by a new structure.- This ori- ginal house could either have been built on the site or moved here. At some point several years after construction of the original house, probably in the late 1880's or 1890's, a major addition to the house was apparently built to the west of the hallway. This addition consisted of two large rooms on each floor. These rooms may have been built behind a porch at the front of the house, but, in any case, they were not built as far north as the original front wall. At the same time a third floor was added under a mansard roof which was across the axis and at the rear of -the original house. Wooden siding, the bracketed cornice, and decorative window frames were designed to match the original house. The style of this addition with its mansard roof is nominally Second Empire, although it would not be correct to say that the house was remodeled in the Second Empire Style as its appearance was that of an Italianate and a Second Empire house joined together. A final major stylistic addition occurred probably around 1910 -'1920 when the two-story front porch assumed its present form, and the original main doorway was remodeled to match the porch. The paired posts and exposed rafter -ends of the porch are typical of the Craftsman style of the period. The side stairway and rear additions appear to be the most recent changes. Analysis This is a very unusual house whose distinctive form appears to be the result of a series of major alterations and additions. Despite these several changes, however, the building is of architectural interest. First of all, it forms a fittingly imposing pair with the Issaac Jessup house next door. The two houses are still highly visible from the road to San Anselmo. Although it is not truly in the Second Empire Style, its mansard roof with all of its associations of wealth and elegance, is its most prominent public feature. The Second Empire Style and the mansard roof are unusual in San Rafael, and a pair of such houses is especially prominent for that reason. Secondly, O though the stylistic changes are not always perfectly integrated, they do represent the actual historic development of the house and the changing tastes of its inhabitants in a graphic way. The Italianate and second Empire Styles of the first two phases of construction were both the height of fashion in their day. Both represented an American tendency to look back to Europe for ideas of taste and quality. The. Italianate was one of the most common styles in America in the 1860's and 1870's for both the middle and upper classes. It was a style that was at once simple and elegant, easily applicable'to the standard house forms of the day, yet susceptible to sensitive manipulations of detail and proportion. The understatement of the Italianate gave way to the frequently ostentatious.forms of the Second Empire Style. This was a style which belonged almost exclusively to the rich and was consequently built in much fewer numbers than the Italianate. The final stylistic addition to -the house, the Craftsman, represented -a major turn -around in American tastes. The model was no longer the elegant'styles of Europe, but became a consciously rustic cottage of unspecific antecedents which might have been built'by a carpenter and which seemed to many to be far more "American" than previous architectural styles. For all of these changes to have resulted in a satisfying composition, the designers at each stage had to be conscious of the whole. This is a distinc- tive house,with an interesting design history which forms part of a highly visible and impressive pair of houses with mansard roofs. EXHIBIT B 14 Sentinel Court PARCEL ONE: BEGINNING at a point on the Easterly line of Lot 4, as shown upon that certain map entitled, "Bay View Tract, Subdivision No. 2, San Rafael, Marin Co.", filed for record August 25, 1905 in Volume 2 of Maps, at page 32, Marin County Records, distant thereon•South 80 30" West 71.56 feet fron. the Southeasterly corner of Lot 1, as shown on said man; thence South 690 52' East 48.14 feet, North 830 35' East 14.90 feet, North 200 10' 20" East 13.88 feet, North 660 36' 20" East 10.75 feet, South 690 59' 10" East 51.46 feet, North 600 45, 20" East 28.39 feet, and North 810 28' 40" East 15.07 feet to a point on the Easterly line of the parcel of land described in the Decree of Distribution in the Estate of Harry F. Meilink, deceased, recorded April 6, 1951 in Book 684 of Official Records, at page 327; thence along said Easterly line South 210 00' West 182 feet, more or less, to the Northerly line of Lot 6, as shown on said map; thence along said last mentioned line 14orth 560 50' West 133 feet, more or less, to the Easterly line of said Lot 4, first above referred to; thence along said Easterly line North 80 30' East 96.53 feet to the point of beginning. PARCEL TWO: BEGINNING at the most Northerlv corner of the parcel of land described in the Deed from Roy E. Steinhoff, et ux, to Albert George Buck, recorded June 6, 1951 in Book 681 of Official Records. at nage 301 -;-Marin County Records,._ and running thence South 79" 31' West 30 feet to the Northwesterly corner th'dreof; thence along the Northwesterly line of said Parcel South 220 16' West 21.402 feet,- thence leaving, said line and -running Northeasterly in a direct line 30 feet, more or less, to a point on the Northeasterly line of said parcel, distant thereon 16.0 feet, measured perpendicularly from the Northwesterly line of the parcel of land above referred to, thence Northerly along said Northeasterly line 16 feet, more or less, to the Point of Beginning.