Over the course of this series on our Alameda architectural treasures, we’ve looked at many fine homes that have noteworthy design elements and historical significance. And yet, even among the “embarrassment of riches” that make up Alameda’s architectural heritage, 1031 San Antonio Avenue stands out.
The Wedding Cake House
It would be difficult to walk by the home known as the Tilden Mansion without being stunned by its sheer size, grace, and beauty. Sometimes also called the Wedding Cake House, its style is described by the late Alameda Museum curator and historian George Gunn as a two-story Italian Renaissance Villa. Historian Dennis Evanosky has described its style as eclectic. Some have called it Colonial Revival. Regardless of how you describe it, there’s no doubt that this grand home stands out as one of our foremost Alameda Treasures, and one that’s worth a closer look.
Origins of the Tilden Mansion
Prior to 1892, the section of today’s San Antonio Avenue west of St. Charles Street was known as Kings Avenue, and was cut off from the eastern section of San Antonio by a couple of open blocks between St. Charles and Weber Streets.
In a recent article in the Alameda Post, Dennis Evanosky wrote, “After his stepfather’s death, William F. Chipman began to learn the real estate trade. He had a hand in building homes on the family’s property just west of the Teutonia Homestead in a tract called ‘Kings Avenue Opening.’ Kings Avenue became a part of San Antonio Avenue in 1892 when the Alameda, Oakland, and Piedmont Railway Company opened the street for its new electric streetcars.”
The opening of San Antonio Avenue all the way to McPherson Street (today’s Ninth Street) set the stage for the Tilden Mansion, which was built on the newly opened street in 1896 for Howard Havens, manager of the Donahue Kelly Banking Company in San Francisco. The grand home was built by August Reinhold Denke (1844-1905) and designed by his son Edward Herman Denke (1872-1944). The Havens lived in the home for just six years before selling it to Major Charles L. Tilden in 1902.
The Tilden years
Charles Lee Tilden was born in the Sierra foothills town of Chile Gulch in 1857. His father was a judge, and the family moved to San Francisco in 1865. Tilden graduated from Lowell High School in 1874, completed undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley in 1878, and then received a law degree from Hastings College of the Law (now known as UC College of the Law) in 1881. While attending UC, he joined a campus military unit that was later incorporated with the California National Guard. His membership in the National Guard continued through the Spanish-American war of 1898, in which he served, and he left the guard with the rank of major. Tilden was then addressed as “Major Tilden” for the rest of his life.
Charles Tilden married Lily Mitchell (nee von Schmidt) in 1892, and incorporated her two children from a previous marriage into their new family. They had a child together in 1894, Charles Lee Tilden Jr., and in 1896 the family of five moved from San Francisco to their large new home at 1031 San Antonio Avenue in Alameda. The six-bedroom, 4,400-square-foot house would have been the perfect home for the growing Tilden family, and the island city of Alameda, with a population of only about 16,000 at the time, would have been a welcome retreat from the big, bustling city across the bay.
Seismic shift
The San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 set Charles Tilden off in some different directions, as the disaster destroyed all of his law books and records, causing him to withdraw from his law practice that he had run with his father, Harmon John Tilden. After that, he got involved in numerous businesses, including real estate, cable car building, mining operations, lumber, canning companies, and ship building. At one time his real estate holdings were so great that he was said to be the largest single taxpayer in San Francisco.
Tilden’s legacy
The years went by, the children grew up, and in the 1930s Tilden led efforts to create a system of parks in the East Bay. He served as the first president of the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD), and also was a Mills College Trustee. The website of the EBRPD describes the valuable resource that Charles L. Tilden helped create almost 90 years ago:
“The East Bay Regional Park District is a system of beautiful parklands in Alameda and Contra Costa counties to the east of San Francisco. The system comprises 73 parks spanning across 126,809 acres; 1,330 miles of trails; 55 miles of shoreline. We manage and preserve natural and cultural resources for all to enjoy and protect.”
In his memory, Charles Lee Tilden Regional Park was named after him, and remains one of the most popular and accessible parks in the system. And Tilden Way in Alameda, a former railroad right of way, carries drivers to and from the Fruitvale bridge.
End of an era
Charles’ wife Lily passed away in 1946, and Charles joined her in 1950. By this time, the children were grown (ages 56, 62 and 64) and were living in Alameda, Berkeley and Oakland. The Tilden Mansion was left to his step-daughter Marion Mitchell, who lived in it until her death in 1966. The last Tilden child, Charles L. Tilden Jr. passed away in 1968, and at that time the house was sold to Preston and Joan Short, who began a process of restoring it. The home was 72 years old at that point, and was well lived-in. The Shorts thankfully kept it architecturally intact, so that the next owners, Sam and Ray Lee Thompson, who have lovingly tended the property since 1978, were able to purchase this Alameda Treasure and bring it up to the splendid condition it’s in today.
Charles Tilden last left this house over 74 years ago, but the grand residence on San Antonio Ave. keeps his name alive, and is known for all time as the Tilden Mansion.
Up next
Now that we’ve learned a bit about the early history of this home, in our next installment we’ll look into its unique architectural style and details, its inspiration from a villa on the Italian Riviera, get a glimpse of the interior, and learn how much larger the property once was for much of its life. In the ensuing years, other homes would fill in around it, but in the early decades, the property was much larger and even included a large carriage house/barn. We’ll get to see a rare vintage photo of that long-gone carriage house, and much more, when our story continues.
Special thanks to Alameda research librarian Beth Sibley with help with historical materials for this article.
Contributing writer Steve Gorman has been a resident of Alameda since 2000, when he fell in love with the history and architecture of this unique town. Contact him via [email protected]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Steve-Gorman.
