In Part 1 of this series on the Tilden Mansion, we learned that it was built by renowned local builder A. R. Denke in 1896 for Howard Havens, and then purchased just six years later by Major Charles L. Tilden, an attorney, businessman, park founder, and officer in the California National Guard. Such was Tilden’s standing in the community that a popular East Bay Regional Park still bears his name, along with a street in Alameda, and this grand home on San Antonio Avenue.
New information emerges
In the first part of this story it was reported that Tilden and his family moved to Alameda from San Francisco in 1902 to take up residence at their grand new home on San Antonio Avenue. Since then, additional census data has come to light showing that, in fact, the Tildens first moved to a house on Chestnut Street before purchasing the mansion on San Antonio Avenue.
After searching through a long list of census reports and finding Charles Tilden in San Francisco in 1870, 1880, 1882, 1886, 1890, and 1892, a voter registration form dated July 16, 1896, shows Tilden at 1525 Chestnut Street in Alameda. It appears, then, that the Tildens moved their family of five to Alameda in 1896—the same year that 1031 San Antonio Avenue was built—but they lived on Chestnut Street until 1902. It was only then that the Havens Mansion at 1031 San Antonio Avenue would come up for sale, setting the stage for it to become the Tilden Mansion. Records show that the apartment building at 1525 Chestnut Street was constructed in 1939, so the home at that location, where the Tildens lived from 1896 to 1902, is long gone.
A big upgrade
We don’t know how large Tilden’s home at 1525 Chestnut Street was, but it is highly likely that moving into the grand, 4,400-square foot, six-bedroom home on San Antonio Avenue was a big upgrade. The original cost of this home in 1896 was $8,180—not including land—which put it in the upper echelon of homes of that period. When the Tildens moved into their new home in 1902, their daughter Alexine was 16 years old, Marion was 14, and son Charles Jr. was 8. Each child would have been able to have their own bedroom, with a bedroom to spare as a guest room, and one that Tilden turned into a modern bathroom with a shower, something uncommon in that era.
Defying description
George Gunn’s book, Documentation of Victorian and Post Victorian Residential and Commercial Buildings, City of Alameda, 1854 to 1904, describes this home as a two story Italian Renaissance Villa. Historian Dennis Evanosky has described it as eclectic, and others have pointed to its overall Neo-Classical styling. As Dennis says, though, “there are no rules,” and architects can mix and match architectural influences and styles as they see fit—and as their clients demand. What we end up with are homes that don’t always hew to exact style constraints, but instead exhibit a tasteful (or not) blend of styles.
It has been said that 1031 San Antonio Avenue was modeled after a palazzo on the Italian Riviera. Further research suggests that it is actually a smaller version of a house in San Francisco, long since destroyed by fire, which itself had been copied from that villa in Italy. And yet, when searching Google for “Italian Renaissance villa,” nothing that looks quite like the Tilden Mansion comes up. The closest might be the Villa Giulia in Rome, built in 1553 at the request of Pope Julius III. All of this is to say that this home is unique and difficult to describe. It is also true that American interpretations of European styles often add their own influences to the mix.
A Renaissance classic
Virginia McAlester’s essential book, A Field Guide to American Houses, sheds some light on this style: “Each country developed somewhat different interpretations of Renaissance Classical ideals and each of these has inspired several later American styles. All, however, share certain features: they usually have balanced, symmetrical facades, and typically have such decorative details as pedimented (crowned) doors and windows, dentils, quoins, and pilasters. Two-story columns are rare in American interpretations, although colonnaded, one-story entrance porches are frequent.”
Observing the façade of the Tilden Mansion, one can see all of the elements in McAlester’s description, and then some. The first thing one notices is the overall symmetry of the building. The only non-symmetrical aspect is the sunroom extending from the east side, but that was added later, thus altering the original design. That addition was so beautifully done, however, and so expertly matched to the rest of the house that it does not detract from the overall impression.
Quoins grace the corners at the first floor, and pilasters on the second floor corners continue to direct the eye upwards, where a row of dentils sit below a generous row of cornice brackets, leading to a spectacular rooftop balustrade that features decorative urns, all carved from wood. As if all that wasn’t enough, the richly decorated roofline is also festooned with a row of swag (garland) stretching across, almost like icing on a wedding cake. Swag is a common feature of Colonial Revival homes, another style inspired by Renaissance Classical.
Andrea Palladio’s window
A modified Palladian window appears on the second floor above the portico, with a stained glass panel in its center window. A window like this is often associated with the Colonial Revival style. According to Brittanica online, “A Palladian window, in architecture, is a three-part window composed of a large, arched central section flanked by two narrower, shorter sections having square tops. This type of window, popular in 17th- and 18th-century English versions of Italian designs, was inspired by the so-called Palladian motif, similar three-part openings having been featured in the work of the 16th-century Italian architect Andrea Palladio; his basilica at Vicenza, designed in 1546, was especially rich in these.”
What makes the window on the Tilden Mansion a modified Palladian window is the fact that, although it is a three-part window composed of a large central section flanked by two narrower sections, the central section is not taller or arched. Instead, the arch is created in the richly decorated rounded pediment above. Overall, this central window section creates a strong and graceful focal point for the second floor of the house above the portico. All told, the upper story also features no fewer than 14 pilasters, those embedded fluted columns that add much detail and interest.
A once larger estate
When Major and Mrs. Tilden bought this house in 1902, the property was much larger than it is today, and included a tennis court, croquet court, stable, horse paddock, cutting garden, arbor, dahlia beds, and a greenhouse. The 1897 Sanborn Fire Map shows a deep lot that extended much further back than it does today, and also extended to the east creating an L-shaped lot. It did have a Victorian-era neighbor at 1043 San Antonio Avenue at that time, but by the time the 1948 Sanborn Map was made, that house was gone, to eventually be replaced with more modern structures.
Of interest though, is that the Tilden property still had its full dimensions in 1948, and had not yet been sold off and subdivided. This suggests that the property likely maintained its full integrity for all of Major Tilden’s life, and was only subdivided after his death in 1950. This was because while his stepdaughter Marion Mitchell did inherit the mansion, the bulk of Major Tilden’s estate went to his son, Charles Jr. Selling off parts of the property may have been the only way for Marion to obtain the capital needed to maintain the large home and her lifestyle, which included a full-time housekeeper. It is reported that Marion never worked per se, and instead took exotic trips around the world, including a three-year sojourn in North Africa in the 1920s. She did volunteer work, and during World War I drove an ambulance for the French Army behind the lines.
Today, land that was once part of the Tilden property now has at least three additional homes on it. Local real estate sites report the current remaining lot size of the Tilden Mansion is about a third of an acre.
Keepers of the flame
The home at 1031 San Antonio Avenue has been lovingly and meticulously maintained and decorated by Sam and Ray Lee Thompson since 1978. In that year, Sam purchased the Tilden Mansion for under $300,000, and he and Ray moved from San Francisco to their new home in the island city of Alameda. Keeping a house like this in pristine condition is a full-time job, and recently a full exterior paint job was completed, making the house sparkle as if it were brand new. Stop by this peaceful and quiet block of San Antonio Ave. sometime and take a look at the Tilden Mansion. You’ll be glad you did.
Up next
While doing research for a story, it’s not uncommon for unexpected and surprising information to be uncovered. In this case, information related to the family of Major Tilden’s wife Lily Frances von Schmidt has come to light, involving her brother abandoning his children and heading off to Tahiti in 1906, where he was eventually expelled for “causing trouble among the natives,” then sending threatening letters to Major Tilden accusing him of kidnapping his daughter and challenging him to a duel. Newspapers in 1898 also reported on a divorce proceeding involving another brother of Lily von Schmidt, this one leading to public recriminations in the local papers and tragically, a murder-suicide. (Note: This violence did not take place at the Tilden Mansion, though it did occur in Alameda.) All of this and much more will be revealed, with sensitivity and tact, when our story continues.
Source materials for this series include Sallie Jean Fisher’s 1970 report for Art 188B, UC Davis, and the Benefit Guild’s 1978 Decorators’ Showcase booklet on the Tilden Mansion.
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.
