Maybecks for Sale in Montclair! Tracing Ownership Pt. 2

In the last post I wrote about how I traced all the owners of the house - here’s that list again

1927-1940: Mrs. Mary B Kingsley

1941-44: Dr. Woodburn K. Lamb and family

1945: [Unknown]

1946-51: Fred and Ada Hacking

1951-53: Dr. Anton Zikmund and Family

1954-59: Sanford and Ruth Oppenheimer Plainfield

1960-2015: Teddy V Hughes, Hughes Trust

2015: Me

What I also found around the same time of tracing the ownership was some VERY interesting for sale ads for Maybeck houses in Montclair. Wait a second - what Maybecks in Montclair? There are no officially recognized Maybeck houses in Montclair. So how is this possible?

Sale Records

Mrs. Kingsley had the house built in 1927-28 and lived here until she was 70 and then moved out. I did not find a sale record but I did find this 1940 furniture sale. The 1940 Census also lists her celebrity astrologer daughter Myra living there - I think that Myra was helping her move out (especially since she died in 1943 I suspect her health was going downhill). The house has a lot of stairs and is not easy to live in if you have trouble walking. I’m guessing she sold the house with the ol’ sign in the yard because there are no sale records that I can find. KINGSLEY 1927-40

The first year of actual for-sale ads for our house, 1944, which would be Dr. Lamb selling the house. I have a gap between the phonebook listings of Lamb ‘44 and Hacking ‘46. I don’t know if the house sat for a year empty in 1945 or if someone I haven’t yet found lived here for one year. LAMB 1941-44

Dr. Lamb trying to sell the house July 30th, 1944

It’s possible Dr. Lamb listed the house for sale in ‘44 and moved away and it sat empty or he rented it until it sold somewhere in ‘45 or 46 when it was purchased by the Hackings. Fred and Ada Hacking lived here until 1951. Hacking to Zikmund is where we get the “proof letter” below. HACKING 1946-51

Here you can see Maybeck mentioned in the first paragraph of page 2.

The proof letter, which I believe tells the true story of the construction of our house - describes a visit to the house by the builder Volney Rowland in 1951. Rowland and Maybeck were both getting up there in years and they both died in the mid ‘50s so it seems like Rowland wanted to see his “favorite house” one more time.

I don’t have for sale ads from 1951 but you can tell the house is being sold from Hacking to Zikmund by the information in the proof letter.

Zikmund selling the house in 1953.

In 1953 I found an ad for a Maybeck for sale in Montclair. This is interesting because there are no officially recognized Maybeck designs in Montclair. Here’s what I think happened - Zikmund decided that the visit from Rowland to the Hackings was enough proof to sell the house as a Maybeck design, using the Hacking letter. In fact, Hacking, Rowland and Maybeck were still around so someone buying the house could track them down if they wanted more information. I believe the reason that I have the Hacking-Zikmund letter is because it was passed down the string of buyers and used as evidence that it was a Maybeck. The above ad doesn’t mention our address but there are no other wannabe Maybecks around here and the date lines up with the change of ownership of the house via the phonebook. ZIKMUND 1951-53

Zikmund sold the house to Sanford and Ruth Oppenheimer Plainfield. PLAINFIELD 1954-59. Here’s what I believe is one of their for sale ads:

Again the listing doesn’t have the address but the timing matches up. The Plainfields were selling the house in 1959, ultimately to Hughes who is listed at our house in the phonebook in 1960. Once again the Hacking-Zikmund “proof letter” is being used to sell the house. At this point, Rowland and Maybeck are dead, but Hacking is still alive, living in Carmel. Hacking, Zikmund, and Plainfield all believe that the house was designed by Maybeck - and the proof letter is still the only piece of paper connecting Maybeck to the house. Furthermore, the Hughes family seemed to earnestly believe the house is designed by Maybeck, and they passed the letter on to me. And now, following in their footsteps, I earnestly believe that the house is designed by Maybeck - but the standards for claiming such things have changed. Following a high profile lawsuit where a house was wrongly sold as a Maybeck and the sellers were sued for substantial damages, the standards have increased. Before selling a house as a Maybeck design, you better have ironclad proof. Unfortunately, Hacking, Zikmund, Plainfield, Hughes, Rowland and Maybeck are all dead. All that remains is the letter - but what’s missing are the people who gave it weight. Hacking died in ‘69, well into the Hughes ownership. That makes me the only owner so far who couldn’t do something to verify the letter.

I looked through a lot of Oakland Tribune classified through Newspapers.com searching for Maybeck. I am reasonably sure that all of these ads selling a Maybeck in Montclair are talking about our house because they line up with our house’s features and the correct timeframe in the change of ownership. Like I said, Montclair is small and there aren’t a lot of Maybeck lookalikes - not the way there are in Berkeley. The next step of this investigation is to look in the Mason-McDuffie archives at the Bancroft library and see if I can find some of our listing documents from 1959 relating to the last ad shown above.

Tracing Ownership of the House with the Maybeck "Proof Letter"

I decided to revisit the “proof letter” because after 8 years in this house, it’s the only piece of paper that actually has Maybeck’s name on it and seems to be the closest thing we will ever have to the true story of the house.

The basics of the letter are that Fred and Ada Hacking are writing a letter to Anton Zikmund and his wife about the house. It seems like the Hackings are in the process of moving out and the Zikmunds are moving in. The date is 1/2/1951. The part that is crossed out seems to be about payment for the house but the majority of the letter is about a visit by the builder Volney Rowland where he tells about the construction of the house and mentions it was designed by Maybeck on page 2.

As I matched up the unusual stylistic details of the house with pictures in the books about Maybeck I have, I became convinced that stylistic details, the Rowland-Maybeck connection, and this letter were enough to prove that our house was designed by Maybeck. Unfortunately some local architecture people are not fully convinced it’s a Maybeck so I decided to take another route: I traced the Hackings, the Zikmunds, and all the other owners of the house.

https://oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft4q2nb3rt/?brand=oac4

Fred Hacking was a photographer who worked at Eastman Kodak in San Francisco. Using the old phonebooks at the Oakland Library, I was able to trace Fred and Ada’s time in our house from 1946-1951. I know that Dr. Woodburn K Lamb owned the house after Mrs. Kingsley who moved out at the end of 1940. I also checked Zikmund while I was in the phonebooks. Here’s a brief outline

1927-1940: Mrs. Mary B Kingsley

1941-44: Dr. Woodburn K. Lamb and family

1945: [Unknown]

1946-51: Fred and Ada Hacking

1951-53: Dr. Anton Zikmund and Family

But of course I couldn’t stop there. I found a listing in Google books for Plainfield at our address in the ‘50s. I also looked up the family that sold me the house, the Hughes.

1954-59: Sanford and Ruth Oppenheimer Plainfield

1960-2015: Teddy V Hughes, Hughes Trust

2015: Me

I enjoyed finding little things about the people who lived here. Here are a couple below:

Ruth O. Plainfield was an interesting person. Her family fled Nazi Germany and you can see her recollection of that here:

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn507711

Another little tidbit I found was Mimi Zikmund participated in a fashion show at her middle school and it ended up in the paper:

Stay tuned for part two where I trace the for sale listings of the house.

Stafford L. Jory architectural drawings for Mary and Mabon Kingsley

I found some pretty interesting architectural drawings that Stafford L. Jory made for the Kingsleys.

Mrs. Kingsley seems to have been rich enough to build a house everywhere she went - New York City, Elizabethtown, Los Angeles - and Berkeley was no exception, though her house ultimately ended up in Oakland. Mrs. Kingsley moved to Berkeley around 1923 to be near her son who was attending UC Berkeley. She lived on 135 Tunnel Rd. which was walking distance to campus. I believe her son lived with her there as a freshman in ‘23 but in 1924 he joined the frat Alpha Delta Phi just north of campus, recently built in 1923 by UC professor Stafford L. Jory.

http://berkeleyheritage.com/eastbay_then-now/greeks.html

The new building must have caught Mabon’s fancy because in 1927 Mary and Mabon began commissioning a series of drawings from Stafford L. Jory

Jory made drawings from January to October 1927 for 3 locations:

-135 Tunnel Rd: remodel?

-Fernwood, Montclair, Oakland

-corner of Le Conte and La Loma in Berkeley

The main focus of the drawings seems to be building two houses on one lot. Mabon got married in 1928 so I think the plan was for him to start a family and have grandma living in a sort of in-law situation on the same lot whether two distinct houses or a family house and granny cottage.

I believe that Le Conte Avenue is crossing the foreground and Mary’s cottage is to the left and the Mabon family house is to the right.

It is very interesting that they had Jory make many drawings over the course of 10 months and nothing was ever built. How they pivoted to Rowland and Maybeck is a mystery but I have a theory. I think it’s possible that during a site visit to the Berkeley plot, they realized they would need a contractor soon and Rowland was working VERY nearby - within earshot. Less than 300’ away

Rowland was working on the former Keeler house, bottom, in 1927, while Mrs. Kingsley and Jory were designing a home for a nearby plot, top. This is my best guess as to how Mrs. Kingsley found Rowland for her house.

Former Keeler house remodeled in 1926-27 by Rowland & Rowland. The stucco and Venturi chimneys were added at this time.

What’s even more interesting is the Keeler remodel, late ‘26 to early ‘27, seems to be an unofficial Maybeck design like our house. Then owned by Dorothea and Florence Hawkins - the house was divided into two units and stuccoed and the Venturi chimney was added. It seems Maybeck was updating one of his earliest designs for his stylistic preferences for the ‘20s which was his fireproof suite of features, stucco exterior and Venturi chimney. I would bet that originally there was some sort of raw stucco with pigment splatter as well, like we have at our house, but it is painted red now. This project is only listed as a Maybeck in one book, the Mark Wilson book.

Bernard Maybeck: Architect of Elegance, Mark Anthony Wilson. p.40

No architect listed on the Highland Place remodel.

To speculate further, I assume once the Kingsleys got connected with Rowland, somehow Maybeck was brought in for the design. Clearly Mrs. Kingsley could afford an architect but she gave up on Jory - so it’s most likely she went to another architect though there is no official record of who that was. I would guess Maybeck charged a flat fee for building plans and was less involved because he was busy working on the Earl C. Anthony mansion in L.A. and also Principia College in Illinois. Here’s my list of what I think are the Maybeck designs, done by Rowland, that do not have Maybeck’s name on the permit:

-1925 Warren P. Staniford “One Room House” in upper Rockridge, known Maybeck design, permit says V. H. Rowland.

-1926 Reid House, 24 Northampton, Berkeley. Rowland & Rowland listed as architects this time.

-1926-27 Keeler remodel, Highland Place. Architect: None. Contractor: Rowland & Rowland. Listed as Maybeck in Mark Wilson’s book.

-1927-28 Kingsley House, Fernwood. Contractor: Rowland & Rowland. Architect: None

Known Maybeck design, 1925 “One Room House” for Warren P. Staniford. Permit lists no architect. This even had an article about it in Sunset Magazine.

This 1926 Reid House is suspected to be a Maybeck design like the others above but this time Rowland & Rowland put themselves as the architects. They were not architects.

The unanswerable question at the center of it all is if Maybeck actually designed these four projects - why didn’t he put his name on the permit? I think he might have needed to be there for inspections if his name was listed - something that would be difficult with him traveling between L.A. and Illinois. Seems like there must have been some reason as even the publicized “One Room House” doesn’t have Maybeck listed on the permit.

Wonderful letter from Mrs. Kingsley to Helen Keller about her move to California from 1923

One of the most fabulous discoveries in my research is a letter that Mrs. Kingsley (who built our house in ‘27) sent to Helen Keller in 1923. Now for some backstory to put this into context…

The Kingsley family had been close friends with Helen Keller since the 1910s or earlier. The story goes that the family was at a restaurant in New York and saw that Keller was having a hard time getting a table and so Mrs. Kingsley offered that Keller could sit with them. They became friends for many decades and there is a large amount of correspondence in the AFB.org archives (American Foundation for the Blind started by Keller and friends in 1923). The AFB archives is where I found this letter.

The Kingsleys were a wealthy and prominent New York family and like a lot of their peers, they had a summer retreat in the Adirondacks, in the form of a large home and sizeable chunk of land In Elizabethtown, NY. Keller and other prominent people visited the “cabin” from 1902 until it was sold in the early ‘20s. It seems there were many fond memories created here as it comes up in the correspondence often.

I was able to track down the person who bought the cabin and she had also become fascinated with the history of the Kingsley family and shared a lot of info including an old photo album. It seems the 4 Kingsley children had blissful childhoods here but by 1917 or so Mr. and Mrs. Kingsley had decided to split up. The cabin owner thinks it was partially due to Mrs. Kingsley’s deepening interest in spiritualism and the occult and how that might have clashed with Mr. Kingsley was a conservative Christian. She even found notes from a local historian in Elizabethtown that Mrs. Kingsley had been having seances in the cabin. Regardless the Kingsley parents must have split somewhat amicably as she believes Mr. Kingsley “sold” the cabin to Mrs. Kingsley for one dollar. The Elizabethtown home was on the market for a few years as Mrs. Kingsley seemed to be back and forth to California. In 1918 Mrs. Kingsley and 3 youngest kids are having thanksgiving dinner with Helen Keller and friends in Altadena, CA (near Pasadena). In 1919 Mrs Kingsley built a house in Hollywood where the family minus the husband is living in the 1920 census. Though Mrs. Kingsley seems to be trying to hold the family together with the L.A. Hollywood house, her youngest two children are 20 years old in 1920 and everyone seems to be headed different directions. In 1922 she is working on the Hollywood house but in 1923 she moves to Berkeley with her youngest son Mabon who is going to U.C Berkeley. I think she just wanted to be near one of her kids. Mrs. Kingsley falls in love with Berkeley and that’s where the letter picks up.

“135 The Tunnel Road, Berkeley.

My Dear Helen. Thank you for that sweet letter which allowed me to share with you in imagination the many joys of that goodly land of my so-loved summer-home. Since the great break in my life I have found it more constructive to shut the door on that part of me where hang the bright pictures of that happy past, but the re-opening with you was with a very real gladness that Elsa [Kingsley] was able in this way to return some part of your hospitality to her, and the gifts of an affectionate friendship which has carried her through some “battle-grey” moods. You and dear Teacher [Anne Sullivan] and Polly [Thompson] have been of so much help to her, how happy I am to think that an E’town foof has sheltered you all! And now I learn from my Eastern agents that the place is sold, and so am looking forward to entertaining you here, myself and Mabon [Kingsley], the next time you come West—which ought to be before so very long. I have learned to love Berkeley so much, and would love to get your impressions of my cosy little home here.

No wonder you sensed me down in the birch-grove! Almost as often as twilight fall I would wander down there and rejoice to the fullest that my sad heart could in the inimitable song of the hermit-thrush. But you would contact another woman now, one whose face is toward the rising sun,—healthier of Body and soul than the one you knew before. I know you will be quick to know it.

Mabon [Kingsley] is on the sea, returning this week to New York, and you may see him before this reaches you. I hear from Robert Coons how you indulged his "penchant" for exceeding the speed limit; I am told that you knew perfectly well what was being done the while. He certainly has a good angel perched up aloft to take care of him! I always feel safe when he drives, though I enjoy a slower pace myself. With this comes much love to you and your dearly-loved household. I am hoping to see you all this winter. Affectionately your friend,

Mary Kingsley

Monday, November 19th [1923]”

Let’s break this down… starting with the date.

I think that Mrs. Kingsley moved to 135 Tunnel Road in 1923 and lived there until 1927 - it is the address she lists on our ‘27 house permit. In 1923 I find 135 Tunnel Rd. is listed as Mabon’s address in the UC Berkeley freshmen directory - I suspect Mom was the one who rented it. Since Mrs. Kingsley was having her Hollywood house worked on in 1922 and she lived in our house in 1928 when it was complete, that means she probably lived at 135 Tunnel Road from 1923-27. In the 1920s the only year with a Monday, November 19th (at the bottom of the letter) is 1923.

The first paragraph is talking about her Elizabethtown, NY summer retreat. It’s referred to as “so-loved summer-home” and “E’town foof” and it’s also the house being sold by the “Eastern agents”. Keller stayed with the Kingsley family there. Elsa Kingsley, the youngest daughter, seemed to form an especially close bond with Keller and crew and she has the most material in the AFB.org archives - spanning many decades (from 1918 to at least the 1960s).

The “great break” in the first paragraph I believe is Mrs. Kingsley splitting with Mr. Kingsley, selling her beloved summer home, moving to California, and starting to go by the name Mary Kingsley. The first record I have of her with the new name is the 1918 Thanksgiving picture with Keller. Her birth name was Susanne and the family still thinks of her as Grandma Sue.

“But you would contact another woman now…” I suspect that Mary Kingsley was a spiritual medium for Helen Keller. Sounds crazy, but I have the notes from the Elizabethtown historian who said she had seances with Helen Keller. I know that both Mrs. Kingsley and Helen Keller were interested in Spiritualism as were a lot of people around the turn of the last century. I also can’t think of another explanation for this coded language. Unfortunately I believe the other half of this letter, which might offer explanation, is lost to time.

“Mabon is on the sea…” The Kingsley family was bicoastal. Mom and Mabon were in California. Dad was in New York City. Myra was between New York and LA for much of her astrology business from late ‘20s to approximately the ‘60s.
“Robert Coons…” I don’t know who this is but it’s a funny little anecdote.

Link to AFB letter

Finding this letter was so exciting because I have been researching Mary Kingsley for a few years now and its very hard to find out anything about her. I have found only one picture of her actually at the house - on our front porch. I have heard descriptions of her from her daughter Myra in interviews. So it’s nice to hear her voice, so to speak.