Regional Oral History Office University of California
The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California
University History Series
BLAKE ESTATE ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
Interviews with:
Igor Blake
George and Helena Thacher
Elliot and Elizabeth Evans
Louis Stein
Clark and Kay Kerr
Janice Kittredge
Norma Wilier, Anthony Hail, and Ron and Myra Brocchini
Charles Hitch
Toichi Domoto
Walter Vodden
Mai Arbegast
Geraldine Knight Scott
Florence Holmes
Linda Haymaker
With an Introduction by Libby Gardner
Interviews Conducted by Suzanne B. Riess in 1986-1987
Underwritten by the President '-s Office, University of California
Copyright (7) 1988 by the Regents of the University of California
Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing
leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the
development of Northern California, the West, and the Nation. Oral
history is a modern research technique involving an interviewee and an
informed interviewer in spontaneous conversation. The taped record is
transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by
the interviewee. The resulting manuscript is typed in final form,
indexed, bound with photographs and illustrative materials, and placed
in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley and
other research collections -for scholarly use. Because it is primary
material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified,
or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by
the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective,
partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable.
**-.'.•**:•:&**************************
This manuscript is made available for research
purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript,
including the right to publish, are reserved to The
Bancroft Library of the University of California,
Berkeley. No part of the manuscript may be quoted
for publication without the written permission of
the Director of The Bancroft Library of the University
of California at Berkeley.
Requests for permission to quote for publication
should be addressed to the Regional Oral History
Office, 486 Library, and should include identification
of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use
of the passages, and identification of the user.
It is recommended that this oral history be cited
as follows:
To cite the volume: Blake Estate Oral History
Project, an oral history conducted in 1986-1987,
Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft
Library, University of California, Berkeley,
1988.
To cite an individual interview: Igor Blake,
"A Nephew's Recollections, 1945-1962," an
oral history conducted in 1986 by Suzanne
Riess, in Blake Estate Oral History Project,
Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft
Library, University of California, Berkeley,
1988.
>
Copy N'c.
ANSON S. BLAKE
1948
ANITA BLAKE
1950
Photographs by G. Paul Bishop
TABLE OF CONTENTS — Blake Estate Oral History Project
INTRODUCTION, bv Libbv Gardner
INTERVIEW HISTORY, by Suzanne Riess
ILLUSTRATIONS
IGOR BLAKE
GEORGE AND HELENA THACHER
ELLIOT AND ELIZABETH EVANS
LOUIS STEIN
CLARK AND KAY KERR
JANICE KITTREDGE
NORMA WILLER, ANTHONY HAIL,
and RON AND MYRA BROCCHINI
CHARLES HITCH
TO I CHI DOMOTO
WALTER VODDEN
MAI ARBEGAST
GERALDINE KNIGHT SCOTT
FLORENCE HOLMES
LINDA HAYMAKER
APPENDICES
INDEX
A Nephew's Recollections, 1945-1962
The Blake and Thacher Families and History
Friends of the Blakes
The Blakes and the Kensington Community
The Blakes' s Gift to the University,
1957-1963
Making Blake House into a Graduate
Women's Residence, 1963-1965
Remodelling and Decorating Blake House,
1967-1968
The President's Residence, 1968-1975
Mrs. Blake and Miss Symmes, Horticulturists
Blake Garden, 1957-1986
Mrs. Blake and the Garden in the 1950s
Long-Range Plans for Blake Garden,
1962-1987
The Flowers of the Garden
The Historical Vitality of Blake Garden
i
iii
ix
1
43
81
93
104
132
151
188
210
232
269
298
335
349
374
578
INTRODUCTION
The story of Blake House begins with Anson and Anita Symmes Blake, who
built a magnificent house overlooking the San Francisco Bay in 1922 and
surrounded it with ten and one-half acres of matchless gardens. For some
forty years the Blakes and Mrs. Blake's sister. Miss Mabel Symmes, lived in
Blake House and devoted careful and loving attention to both house and
garden. In 1962, the Blake Estate came to the University of California, an
extraordinary gift that reflected the Blake family's longstanding devotion
to the University.
The idea of arranging for an oral history about the Blakes occurred to
me in 1985 while I was redecorating a portion of the house. I became
interested in learning more about Anson and Anita Blake and her sister Mabel
Symmes — their personalities, lifestyles and interests — who designed and
brought the house and garden into being and stamped their indelible and
nurturing influence on this unique estate. Firsthand accounts were
essential from those people who knew the Blakes personally and who were
involved with the house and garden in significant ways. I also wanted to
include interviews with those who were a part of the process which led to
Blake House becoming the official residence of the President of the
University of California.
Thus, the voices in this oral history weave a fascinating tale of the
people who lived in Blake House, cultivated its gardens, preserved its
abundant beauty, and created its special charm. They give an equally
fascinating account of local history and a wealth of information about Blake
House — its architecture, interior design, horticulture, and many other
aspects as well — over the course of its sixty-five-year history. Above all,
the voices in this oral history tell the story of a family, a home, a
garden, and a university, and how they all came together to create a place
of rare loveliness and unusual interest.
Blake House today blends the traditional formality of the past with an
appropriate sense of the present in a unique and special way. The house is
now used by the President and me to host members of the University's
faculty, student body, staff, administration, and alumni from all nine
campuses. It serves as a gracious and elegant home for welcoming v isitors
11
from throughout the state and nation and from all over the world. Our
guests come for luncheons, dinners, receptions, and meetings, enjoying its
magnificent setting and spectacular view across the Bay to San Francisco and
the Golden Gate.
The marvelous experimental garden, cultivated by the UC Berkeley
Department of Landscape Architecture, serves as an outdoor laboratory for
landscape design classes and for plant identification. It is a unique
"working garden" with a variety of environmental conditions for landscape
architecture students.
The story of Blake House is an important chapter in and contribution to
the history of the University. You will find it presented vividly and
interestingly on these pages.
I wish to thank Willa Baum, Division Head of the Regional Oral History
Office at The Bancroft Library on the Berkeley campus, who took an initial
interest in this project. I am indebted especially to Suzanne Riess, Senior
Editor of the Regional Oral History Office, who was enthusiastic about this
undertaking, pursued many avenues of inquiry, conducted the interviews, and
carried the project to conclusion. I wish to express my gratitude to all
those who contributed their recollections to this oral history. To those
who made this account possible, my thanks and appreciation for a wonderful
story, wonderfully told.
Libby Gardner
Blake House
November 1987
iii
INTERVIEW HISTORY
Origins of the Blake Estate
The origins of the Blake Estate and the history of Anson
Stiles Blake and Anita Day Symmes Blake go back nearly one
hundred years. Anson courted Anita and asked for her hand in
marriage in 1890. Miss Symmes' father refused, saying to his
daughter's suitor in a letter, December 1, 1890, "I ask you to
trust your future to her continued interest in you and to the
hands of Father Time who if sometimes slow is always sure." In
1894 Anita Symmes graduated from the University of California,
and she and Anson Blake married. They built a house in Berkeley
where they lived until 1923. This house was on Piedmont Avenue,
next door to Anson Blake's mother, Mrs. Charles Thompson Blake.
The Piedmont Avenue property had come to Harriet Waters Stiles
Blake from her father, Anson Gale Stiles, an original trustee of
the College of California.
In 1922 the University sent a message to the Blakes, Anson
and his wife Anita, brother Edwin Tyler Blake and his wife
Harriet Whitney Carson Blake, and to the widowed Mrs. Charles
Thompson Blake informing them that the property on which their
houses stood was being condemned in order to build the California
Memorial Stadium in Strawberry Canyon. While this move on the
part of the University was met with outrage by many of the
faculty families who had built their homes in that sylvan area
east of the growing campus, the Blakes had a ready alternative.
The family owned sixty acres in Kensington, divided into four
pieces, one for each of the Charles Thompson Blake children.
Anson and Edwin and their wives chose to build on this location
four miles north of Berkeley. The other children were Robert
Pierpont Blake who lived in Massachusetts, and Eliza Seeley Blake
Thacher who lived in Ojai, California. Their lots were sold.
The senior Mrs. Blake moved into the house the Edwin Blakes
built.
"At that time the surrounding hills were covered with
grasses and chaparral. The Blake property had fine outcroppings
of Lawsonite rock, a generously rolling terrain, and a beautiful
view of the bay below. The area seemed so remote from town...
that the Blakes called their new home La Casa Adelante, Spanish
for 'over there' or 'far away.'"*
*Llnda Haymaker, "Blake House," Pacific Horticulture. Spring
1987.
iv
In December 1957, thirty-four years later, Mr. and Mrs.
Anson S. Blake conveyed their estate to the University of
California in a deed of gift that required the Regents to
endeavor to "maintain the trust property in a manner
substantially equivalent to the care and maintenance it has
received heretofore to the end that it shall be an effective part
of the instructional and research activities of the University."
As for the house, the Regents were permitted "to use the same or
any other structure which at their discretion they may erect in
its place, for or in support of other University purposes,
including but not limited to use as a residence or for
conferences . "
Now another thirty years has passed and Blake House, "a
gracious and elegant home" as the lady of the house Mrs. David
Gardner describes it, is welcoming students, faculty, staff, and
administrators from the nine campuses of the University, as well
as visitors from throughout the state, the nation, and the world.
A History Proposed
Beautifully hidden away by location and vegetation, Blake
House still seems "far away." Even -today many in the University
and Berkeley community have not heard of the Blakes or of the
house and the garden. To bring together all the information
possible about Anson and Anita Blake and to augment through
interviews the scanty knowledge of the years of change,
University of California President and Mrs. David Pierpont
Gardner in June 1986 asked the Regional Oral History Office to
develop an oral history record. Blake House, official residence
of the presidents of the University since 1968, needed more than
the brief historical summary printed on the welcoming brochure.
A history of Blake House was perfectly suited to the oral
history method. Leading actors or well-placed witnesses to the
life and times of the house and the garden could be interviewed
in a format similar to that developed for the history of the
Julia Morgan-designed vice-president's house, 2821 Claremont
Avenue in Berkeley. The Morgan House oral history had been
completed in 1976. Now both of these significant University
houses would be brought to life through oral memoirs.
In July 1986 the oral history office outlined as prospective
interview topics the Blake family, the University and the house
and its remodelling, residents of the house since the Blakes, and
the Blake Garden and its use and development by the Department of
Landscape Architecture of the Berkeley campus. Interviewing
began in the fall of 1986. The first interviews were undertaken
to discover more about the Blakes themselves.
The Anson Blakes
Anson Blake was the grandson of Eli Whitney Blake of New
Haven, Connecticut, and the son of Charles Thompson Blake and
Harriet Waters Sti les--whose mother Ann Jane Waters Stiles had
endowed Stiles Hall to house the University's YMCA. Anita Blake
was the daughter of Frank J. Symmes, banker and president of
Thomas Day & Co., a gas and electric company. These were
prominent, well-to-do California families. The genealogy of the
Blakes is appended.
Anson Blake went into banking following his graduation from
the University of California in 1891. After the San Francisco
earthquake and fire in 1906, he and his younger brother Edwin
took over the family sand and gravel business, variously named
Oakland Paving Co., Blake & Bilger, and Blake Brothers Co. The
business had been made possible two generations earlier by
inventor-grandfather Eli's rock crusher. Considerable land was
reclaimed in the Sacramento Delta by the company. This work
engrossed Anson Blake. Supervising projects in the Delta, he was
away from his wife Anita often, as we know from her letters to
him now in The Bancroft Library.
Those letters from Anita Blake were not written by a bored
wife sitting listlessly at home, however. Mrs. Blake, who had
studied Greek and Latin and the humanities in college, was
immersed in hay husbandry, land management, and getting "A"
grades in her Extension Division studies in swine husbandry and
poultry husbandry. In 1908, with his fee for service as receiver
for the construction company which completed under his
supervision the Mare Island Drydocks, Anson Blake bought and
presented to his wife their ranch property in St. Helena. There
in Napa County, on Howell Mountain, she practiced her interest in
agriculture and put her considerable managerial talents to work-
as well as concerning herself with the lives of the tenants.
Childless, she turned her time and energies to passionate and
precise care for gardens and the land. The detailed, descriptive
letters from Howell Mountain date from 1911 to 1920.
In the University of California Archives is an interview
taken for the University's Centennial History with Anson Blake in
May 1958 in which he notes that Anita Blake used to go horseback
riding with Benjamin Ide Wheeler "around the hills [after he
ceased being president] until he died." Nephew Igor Blake
describes in his oral history interview how his Aunt Anita
"commuted" to Howell Mountain, a trip involving horses and boats.
Today we look at pictures of a frail eighty-year-old woman, but
her letters from more than a half century back are vigorous
messages from a woman, if not with a hoe, most certainly with a
shovel and a rake.
The "eviction" notice of 1922 meant for Anita Blake an
opportunity to create a new and very much larger garden than the
garden on Piedmont Avenue. This was work she was ready to take
on. Her sister was ready too. Miss Mabel Symmes, an 1896
graduate of the University, had studied landscape architecture in
1914. She would live with her older sister and brother-in-law in
Kensington and the garden would be everything they wished a
garden to be. Between the sisters they had all the determination
and expertise needed to transform a remote grass and chaparral-
covered hillside into a gracious Mediterranean garden.
The Changing Blake Estate
Each of the interviews in the Blake Estate Oral History
Project has a brief introduction explaining the relationship :>£
the interview to the broad questions of the project, and
describing the setting and the participants. The order of the
sections of the interviews is: the Blakes and their house; the
University and Blake House, 1962-1975; the Blakes and their
garden, 1950s and early 1960s; and Blake Garden from 1960 to
today.
The interviews with Igor Blake, a nephew of Anson and Anita
Blake, with George and Helena Thacher, also family members, with
Mr. and Mrs. Elliot Evans, close family friends, and with Louis
Stein, all concern Anson and Anita Blake as they were remembered
at home in Kensington. In 1957 the Blakes deeded the estate to
the University with the right to remain living there until their
death. After they and Miss Mabel Symmes had passed on--Anita
Blake was the last to die, in 1962--the University considered how
it might use the house. For a period it was a dormitory for
graduate women students.
In 1967 Charles Hitch was named president of the University,
and he and his family needed a residence. The Regents designated
Blake House as the President's House which was particularly
perfect because the Kensington address distinguished it from the
University at Berkeley. A team of remodelling architects and
decorators at once took on the task of turning the house into a
suitable home for a president, making substantial changes and
dealing with a generation of deferred maintenance.
Changes were necessary in the garden as well, although
generally the plantings had been responsibly cared for. Since
1920 the Blakes had made the gardens, remarkable in their range
of plant materials, available to students in the Department of
Landscape Architecture on the Berkeley campus. In 1957 the
department established the position of garden director to keep a
watchful eye on Blake Garden. To have for study a garden now
over sixty years old was the irreplaceable gift from the Blakes.
Vll
Blake House Today
The Hitches' succesors, President and Mrs. David Saxon,
lived at Blake House from 1975 to 1983. But President and Mrs.
Gardner with their larger family and different needs chose to
make their home in Orinda and to use Blake House for receptions,
dinners, meetings, and as a presidential office off campus.
Mrs. David Gardner was our first advisor on this oral
history project. Her respect and affection for the house is
evident in her Introduction. She had in mind a number of people
important to talk with. She and President Gardner wished first
of all to have Marguerite Johnston interviewed. As chief social
advisor and administrative secretary to five University of
California presidents since 1957, Mrs. Johnston would have
provided an historically continuous view of that role. But she
died on June 29, 1986, just as the interviews were being planned.
Blake House today is a 1 2 , 4 34-square foot building with
seven bathrooms, two kitchens, and three bedrooms, "the biggest
three-bedroom house in the world" as President Charles Hitch said
to a reporter in 1968. The numerous bathrooms and extra kitchen
result from the 1967-1968 remodelling to make the house suitable
as an official residence. Yet despite its admittedly official
designation, the house is a real home with a housekeeping staff
and the warmth of people coming and going. Mrs. Pat Johnson,
administrative secretary to the president, has her office in an
upstairs room. Landscape students are visible in the gardens.
And major and minor events are arranged and staged in the house
all week long. And every time there is such an event visitors
ask, What is this place? Whose house was this? How did these
spectacular gardens grow in Kensington?
Other Historical Resouces
As I did the early research for this oral history I thought
Anita Blake herself a perfect subject for a biography. She wrote
often to her husband Anson, sometimes daily, both before and
after their marriage, and he kept those letters. I have appended
several of the letters to give a flavor of the woman that the
interviews don't give. I have also appended a few letters
written to Mrs. Blake by relocated Japanese friends, and excerpts
from her diary of December 7 to December 29, 1941, to show her
compassion for the Japanese families interned in World War II.
We are without equivalent affective material from Anson
Blake^ but his character is evident from the content of his wife
letters and from the apparent pleasure he took in business and
Vlll
his concern for history. He joined and was a director of
historical societies and wrote extensively and studiously about
early San Francisco, Berkeley, and California history, and from
1903 to 1952 was chairman of the board of Stiles Hall. As for
Miss Mabel Symmes, Walter Vodden's interview is most descriptive.
Some of Miss Symmes1 papers and correspondence are in the library
at Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, and in
the University of California Herbarium, Berkeley.
It would be interesting to know more of President Robert
Gordon Sproul's part in the gift of the Blake Estate to the
University and of his friendship with Anson and Anita Blake.
Miss Agnes Robb, secretary to the late president, wished to
record that history but ultimately was not able to. In the
Appendices are President Sproul's 1957 memos of conversations
relating to the Blake property--memos which attest to Miss Robb's
conscientious approach to presidential record-keeping. Future
researchers may be able to find in the Sproul papers more
information on the friendship between the two families. Both men
served on the board of Stiles Hall.
We were dissuaded from interviewing Ruth Kingman and Dyke
Brown by their own testimony that although they were acquainted
with Mr. Blake in the 1930s, or "had seen him at meetings [at
Stiles Hall]," they could add no more. John Landon, a Stiles
Hall board member in the 1950s and attorney in the office of the
General Counsel of the Regents at the time of the official
transfer of Blake House to the University, refers the researcher
to the Regents and the General Counsel's records on Blake House.
The Appendices to this oral history are extensive. They are
included both to serve as indicator-guides to other resources and
to enrich some of the stories related in the interview. An
important byproduct of this oral history is the creation of a
kind of bibliography of the Blakes, supplementing Igor Blake's
compilation of twenty years ago which was invaluable in writing
this Interview History. I am once again in debt to James R. K.
Kantor who took time to read the interviews and make the kind of
corrections to the text that only a very alert University
archivist and social historian can make.
This Blake Estate Oral History will be as much a beginning as
a conclusion if it puts chroniclers of architectural history,
landscape design, and local and University of California history
on the track of new resources. They will join me in thanking
President and Mrs. Gardner for initiating this work.
Berkeley Suzanne B. Riess
February 1988
ix
ILLUSTRATIONS
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Season's Greetings
Season's
Greetings , from Aunt Anita and Uncle Anson
Above left, 1938; above right, 1936; below right, 1934
Below:
"Love and Christmas Greetings to
George and Helena from Uncle
Edwin and Aunt Harriet"
s rr rtings
Anson Stiles Blake receives LL.D. from President Clark Kerr while President Emeriti
Robert Gordon Sproul adjusts the hood. (President W. E. Sterling of Stanford in
background.) September 29, 1958.
ASUC Photogrc
INTERIOR VIEWS OF BLAKE HOUSE, 1969
Italian table and chairs dated
1610 that belonged to the Blakes,
now sits in living room looking
out on reflecting pond [east]
[living room view to the west]
Mrs. Hitch shares this study with The "Taft bed," used by President
her husband; his larger desk sits Taft in the White House, was a
across from her French provincial Blake Treasure
work table
Photos and captions courtesy of Oakland Tribune, November 10, 1969
Regional Oral History Office
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California
Blake Estate Oral History Project
Igor Blake
A NEPHEW'S RECOLLECTIONS, 1945-1962
An Interview Conducted by
Suzanne B. Riess
in 1986
Copyright
1988 by The Regents of the University of California
IGOR ROBERT BLAKE
1982
TABLE OF CONTENTS — IGOR BLAKE
INTERVIEW HISTORY 3
BIOGRAPHY 4
A Visit to the Slakes in California. 1945 5
The Brothers and their Households 6
Anita Blake in Chinatown 9
Club and Social Life 10
Mabel Symmes' Position in the Household 12
, Distribution of Symmes Inheritance 13
Anita Blake 14
Anita Blake's Economies 14
Anita Blake's Attitude Toward Religion and Suffrage 15
Guiding the Family Finances 17
The Blake Estate 19
Tending the Gardens 19
Robert Pierpont Blake 21
Relations with the University of California 22
The Staff 22
The Carmelite Nuns as Neighbors 24
The Architect, and Building the House 25
Other Bay Area Gardens 26
An son Blake and the Blake Brothers Company 29
Epilogue 32
INTERVIEW HISTORY
When the Blake House Oral History Project was proposed to the Regional
Oral History Office, among the first prospective interviewees was Igor
Robert Blake, nephew of Anson and Anita Blake. Back in 1945, seventeen-
year-old Igor visited the Anson Blakes and the Edwin Blakes, coming out West
from Cambridge, Massachusetts where he was born and brought up. Igor Blake
is the son of Robert Pierpont Blake and Nadejda Nicholaevna Kryzhanovskaya
Blake. His father, Robert Pierpont Blake, was the youngest of the four
children of Charles Thompson Blake and Harriet Stiles Blake.
Igor Blake's recollections of the 1945 visit give us a glimpse at the
two Blake households in Kensington, Anson's and Edwin's, and how they
functioned to serve both the senior Mrs. Blake and — at least this was the
plan — Mrs. Symmes, Anita Blake's mother. Mrs. Blake's sister Mabel and her
mother were to be part of the Anson Blake establishment. Mabel was so, from
1923 to her death. Mrs. Symmes passed on before she would have moved in.
Mrs. Charles Thompson Blake, the mother-in-law, lived in a suite in the Edwin
Blakes' house, just northeast of the Anson Blakes, until she died in 1928.
The Blake House Oral History Project attempts to tell the most complete
possible story of a house, its concept, planning and furnishing,
antecedents, occupants, and surrounds, environmental and cultural. To this
end, Igor Blake was able to answer questions about the everyday life of his
aunt and uncle. His personal knowledge was enriched with a wealth of Blake
history which he had assembled twenty years earlier at the request of
President and Mrs. Charles Hitch, first occupants of the renovated house.
[Appended to the oral history are several sections of Igor Blake's "Notes on
the Blakes in England and America."] Like President and Mrs. David Gardner,
the Hitches admired the house which became their residence in 1968,
respected its history, and wished to know more about the original occupants.
Mr. Igor Blake is a careful historian and interviewee and provided me
an opportunity to meet a "real" Blake, which set the stage for my other
interviews about the family. We met for a first interview in the conference
room of The Bancroft Library, appropriate enough as its walls are hung with
19th century lithographs reminiscent of the Westward Ho spirit that brought
the Blakes to California. The second meeting was in the Regional Oral
History Office, an impromptu taping of the answers to some supplementary
questions.
Suzanne B. Riess
Inte rviewe r-Edit or
September 23, 1987
Regional Oral History Office
486 The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
Room 486 The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please print or write clearly)
Your full name
Date of birth
3-
J-li-
Father's full name
Birthplace
Occupation
Mother
Birthplace
Occupation
' s !Lj_L name
Where did you grow up ?
Present community
Education
Place of birth
(/l4-rp#r*/r ~~ V~> (
Occupation(s)
Special interests or activities
^^ ^
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I60R ROBERT BLAKE
University Address:
Education:
Experience:
Community
Activities:
Building 1 - £13
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
University of California
Berkeley, California 34720
(415) 466 6671
1951 8. A. BoHdoin College
1953 M.B.A. Stanford University
Graduate School of Business
August 1986-present: *Ataq Division Administrator Biology and Medicine Division.
Chair LBL Parking Committee and ••htr of the panel of Laboratory Hearing Officers.
1962-August 1986: Staff Position Plant Engineering, worked on space administration, LBL long
range facility plans, institutional plans and site development plans.
1977-1962: Department Head, Business and Auxilary Services, LBL. Responsible for Business
Services including Audit Coordination, Insurance Risk Management, Caferteria, work for
Others, and Property Management, Protective Services, and Administrative Data Procctsssing.
1963-1977:Division Administrator, Biology Medicine Division. Responsible for budget
preparation and monitoring. Introduced the use of a computer-based budget planning and monitoring
system. Responsible for safety, facilities planning and operating which included hospital
units, patient treatment facilities at the accelerators, research animal colony, and
electronic and mechanical shops. Served as Chair of the Administrative Services Salary Committee of
LBL, on the Emergency Preparedness Committee and on the Administrative Advisory Committee.
1956-1963: Officer and Director Blake Brothers Company, Richmond, California, manufacturer of
crushed rock, asphaltic concrete, and ready-mix concrete, and general contractors. Coordinated
reorganization plan under which Standard Oil Company of California acquired the assets of
Blake Brothers Company. Experience in real estate management and estate planning.
1953-1955: U.S. Army, procurement.
President and Chairman of the Board of Directors Stiles Hall, University YMCA, 1971-1974^ Trustee
and member of the Admissions and Allocation Committee, United Way of the Bay Area and Chairman
of the Membership Committee. (The Membership Committee was responsible for the selection of new
agencies. )
Member of the Executive Board, Mt. Diable Council, Boy Scouts of America, 1962-1972, and holder of
the Silver Beaver Award.
Director, Richmond Chamber of Commerce, 1962-1963; Member of the Contra Costa County Highway
Advisory Committee; Vice President for Contra Costa County, The Society of California Pioneers.
A Visit to the Slakes in California. 1945
[Date of Interview: November 19. 1986]
Riess: How is it that you decided to compile your book on the family
history?*
Blake: When President and Mrs. Hitch were planning to move into Blake
House, they expressed an interest in a Blake family history, and
wondered if I would write down what I knew of the family and its
houses.
Riess: Of course your family is historically minded, isn't it? Anson Blake
himself was —
Blake: He was very active in the California Historical Society and in the
Society of California Pioneers — serving at one time as president of
each. One of his contributions to both of them was helping each
survive during the Depression. He was on the board of both
organizations. In the thirties when they were both short of money,
he negotiated a lease so that the two organizations could share a
building and thus save money. They carefully inventoried all of
their property; they had one small joint office in the center with a
single light, and a part-time secretary. I visited it in 1945.
They led me in very carefully, saying, "Please don't bump things."
There were boxes, things tied up with tags on them, pictures wrapped
up and just stacked, books stacked — it was just storage space.
They were able to continue business by this frugality. My
uncle said that after the war he looked forward to turning over
these duties to others, but this was one of his wartime efforts to
help them out. It did work, and he lived to see them both moved
into new quarters, where they are now: one on Jackson St. and one
*"Notes on the Blakes in England and America," Igor Robert Blake,
1971. Appendix A.
Blake: on McAllister St. My wife anc I had the pleasure of taking him to
the opening reception of the California Historical Society on
Jackson St.
Riess : You said that you visited those quarters in 1945?
Blake: Yes.
Riess: So you were only seventeen?
Blake: Right.
Riess: Tell me about that visit.
Blake: My father arranged for me to come out to California in 1945. I
think the thought was stimulated by the death of his sister. Eliza
Blake Thacher, the year before, and by the concern that I had not
met my two uncles or seen any of California. That prompted a six
week's trip by myself across the country, starting in southern
California, meeting old family friends and relatives, and then up to
the Bay Area. I think there were forty letters of introduction
with which I was to dutifully trot around and call on people.
Riess: What fun — but that takes a lot of doing.
Blake: Right, it was fun as a young person to make the trip across the
country by myself and meet all the people. I stayed for the first
week with Edwin Blake, and then the second week or ten days with the
Anson Blakes.
The Brothers and Their Households
Riess: I want to hear about both. That means you stayed in what is the
presentday Carmelite monastery.
Blake: Yes. The monastery house, Edwin Blake's house, had been built at the
same era as Anson' s, circa 1922. It had a wing on it for my grand
mother, Mrs. Charles Thompson Blake. She was in her eighties at the
time the University took over the three family houses on Piedmont
Avenue, where the stadium now is, and she didn't wish to build a
house for herself. I stayed in her suite of rooms, which consisted
of a living room, a small kitchenette, bathroom, dressing room, and
an entry hall. It had a pair of double doors which opened up onto
the Edwin Blakes' hallway, so she could have free access into that
house, but if she wasn't feeling well, or if they were having a large
party in which she didn't wish to participate, she could close the
door and have her own privacy. There was a separate entrance through
that part of the garden for her. I remember enjoying that suite.
Blake: That suite basically is the outside chapel now, and the quarters for
the custodian, the lay contact who sees the outside world, does the
marketing, meets people, goes out of the monastery, etc. The
Carmelite sisters do not see people, except on very special
occasions, like accepting a new member into the organization. Their
nun contact with the custodian was called the pontis — Latin for
doorkeeper.
Riess: When you were in the house were your Uncle Edwin and his wife still
alive?
Blake: No, his wife died in 1937. There were two widowed sisters who lived
in the house and continued living in the house until his death.
Riess: Family members?
Blake: The Edwin Blakes had no children.
Riess: Who were the widowed sisters?
Blake: They were his sisters-in-law, not members of the Blake family: Mrs.
Eleanor Batt and Mrs. Derby. Mrs. Derby was away, I did not meet
her, but I did meet Eleanor Batt.
Riess: Were they friends of Anita's, then?
Blake: No, there was no contact. They never went to each other's houses.
Riess: Really?
Blake: No — they never did.
Riess: Even earlier?
Blake: I'm not sure what happened before Aunt Harriet — Harriet Whitney
Carson Blake — died. After that they never communicated.
Riess: That's too bad.
Blake: Anita never went up there.
Riess: Is that more like it? Is that the feeling that you got?
Blake: Anita had a very strict moral point of view, and she didn't consider
it appropriate for them to be living in the house even though there
were two of them.
Riess: Luckily your father thought it would be all right for you. Were you
aware at the time of the situation?
Blake: I had been briefed of where there had been problems and what one had
to watch out for, both here and in a couple of other cases, to sort
of be on my guard with X and Y.
Riess: Had any fences been erected between the properties?
Blake: No, the gardens had been planned together so that you could walk
between them. Anson Blake came up to greet me the day I arrived,
and then Mabel Symmes came up to take me down to meet Aunt Anita the
following day.
Riess: It sounds like Anita was running things. But really the relationship
was between Edwin and Anson, They were brothers.
Blake: They saw one another daily at the office they shared at Blake
Brothers Company. I think they drove separately, but they did share
an office and work together. Edwin was the engineer who laid out
the plant in Richmond in 1906 and developed the design for the
hopper barge which was self- unloading and which took the products to
San Francisco and elsewhere. That was his side of the quarry
business, the engineering side. He had worked previously in the
gold mines — I don't remember which ones. Then, when they were
starting to build the new plant in Richmond in 1906 — which they
planned before the fire, construction was underway, and it was
completed after the fire — he recruited a group of Cousin Jacks,
which were the Welsh miners from the gold rush [days].
Riess: This term I don't know — "Cousin Jacks?"
Blake: "Cousin Jacks" is the term for the Welsh miners who came over to work
in the gold mines in California. When that business was tapering
off, he recruited them to come and build and run the quarry plant.
Riess: When you were at the house, how were you entertained the first week?
Blake: I don't recall anyone being invited to dinner. I remember going to
the quarry and seeing that.
Riess: Did you have a bicycle?
Blake: No, I did not have a bicycle. I hadn't yet got a driver's license
as it was still wartime, so I had to be driven — I had my seventeenth
birthday on the way across the country. I remember some of the
activities that Anson Blake organized. There was a day of going
down to Stanford. I was told how you got the train and I went down
to Stanford and delivered one of the letters. I met a professor of
history at Stanford, Thomas Bailey, I believe it was, and saw the
university.
Riess: Was there the #7 bus down the Arlington?
Blake: Yes, there was the #7 bus, and I would take that, or they would drop
me off on the way to the quarry and I would take the bus back.
When I spent the week with Anson Blake, he sort of picked up on
what I had or had not done with the letters, and who I had seen or
not seen and got that organized. He took me to call on a group of
older Blake family friends who had known my grandmother and my
father — I honestly don't remember their names at this time. I could
look them up, because some of them would have been in the letters of
introduction, but I don't have them readily available.
Riess: Did he take you to clubs in San Francisco or that sort of thing?
Blake: I saw the Pacific Union dub, etc., through meeting some of my
father's friends when the letters of introduction were delivered. I
went on the Key Route System on two or three trips to San Francisco,
and then Mabel Symmes took me for a tour, and Uncle Anson took me to
the de Young Museum, I recall. I went to Kent Woodlands with both
Anson and Anita Blake to meet Mrs. William Sherman Kent, who was a
Thacher cousin. She was the sister, I believe, of Sherman Day
Thacher, the husband of my aunt, Eliza Seeley Blake Thacher.
Anita Blake in Chinatown
Riess: Did Mabel take you to see botanic splendors?
Blake: Yes.
Riess: Did Anita?
Blake: No, Anita took me shopping, to Chinatown, because I wanted to get my
mother a present. She was correct in recalling that my mother did
not care for lacquer, even so, I did get my mother a set of
lacquered demitasse cups, which Aunt Anita helped me find through
her contacts in Chinatown.
Riess: How was she with the Chinese merchants? Was she very familiar?
Blake: She was indeed, because she had collected extensively and they
recognized this.
Riess: Did she go to just one shop usually?
Blake: No, r think she went to a selection of shops, several different
ones.
Riess: Would she be taken into a back room and given a lot of courtesies?
10
Blake: A great deal of attention was paid. She didn't make any major
purchases at that time, but she bought a few pieces of that nature
for wedding gifts. Aunt Anita said she didn't mind having an extra
gift on hand once she'd made the effort of getting over.
Riess: I knew she gave a great collection to the University, and that she
had an interest, from early days, in oriental art. Was she quite
knowled gable? Did she know periods well?
Blake: Oh, yes, she knew her periods well. She was Phi Beta Kappa, she'd
read extensively — she was certainly very knowledgeable. History,
literature, painting — the objects themselves. I think she was
extremely well-read, she consulted a lot with the faculty in this
field and they entertained a lot of them, so I think she was well-
informed.
Club and Social Life
Riess: Did she ever tell you anything about the Fortnightly CLub?
Blake: No, she did not.
Anson Blake belonged to something, and I'll have to think if it
was like Town and Gown — I can't remember what it was called.
Professer Curt Stern, on the campus here, belonged to it. Uncle
Anson said it began to peter out, as they didn't move fast enough to
take the younger people in. They'd taken in Professor Stern, who,
when I met him. was over seventy, and then the older people got to
the point where driving in the evening was difficult. It was a half
UC group, half town group. It faded out of existence sometime
between '45 and '50.
Blake Brothers Company moved its offices from the Balboa
Building in San Francisco to the site of the quarry in Richmond in
1939-1940. Prior to 1939-1940, both Anson and Edwin commuted to the
city for their business. So it would have been logical that they
had many contacts in the city, but I don't happen to know of any.
But you asked about my stay in 1945. The Anson Blakes took me
to — I think it was that time — the CLaremont Country CLub for a
Sunday dinner.
There was a club in San Francisco that Anita belonged to — my
wife may remember it, they went to lunch there. The older people
knew her, and although she had great difficulty with her sight, once
she knew who they were, there was recognition. I remember my wife
Liz saying they went to lunch at one of those clubs. She knew the
really older members.
11
Blake: There were references, I know, to dinner parties. I think those
were in the earlier days. Later, she seldom went out. I recall
going out with Uncle Anson and Aunt Anita to old family friends in
San Francisco, Esther Landsdate (Mrs. Philip). They had grown up on
Rincon Hill together, and then moved to Broadway when that area
developed in the 1890s. They were Anson1 s contemporaries. My
cousin Romola Bigelow Wood (Mrs. Samuel A. Wood) had us on Presidio
Avenue, Uncle Anson and I. Aunt Anita didn't feel up to going and
sent her regrets.
They did come out to our house; they were interested to see the
family things, the portraits, etc., that we had installed, and they
were curious to see the garden.
Riess: That was something they regularly did?
Blake: Not regularly. They would occasionally come here from time to time.
They usually dined at home. I think if they didn't — if the maid
were off, or something like that — then maybe they would go out.
Riess: How about music in the Blake House? Did they have a piano?
Blake: They had a piano, but I don't believe anyone played it. Aunt Anita
at times referred to having a musical evening and having a string
quartet to play. They subscribed obviously to a record club in the
twenties, because there were those classical selections from the
twenties and the thirties. I don't know if it stopped during the
Depression, or if they lost interest, but it was a definite period,
and then it stopped — to judge from what was left in the house.
Riess: What happened to those records?
Blake: My wife and I took some of them, and I think they're back on the
farm in New Hampshire. I must admit we didn't play them, but we
thought we might do something with them, and we were short of space
so we sent them back to New Hampshire.
Riess: I just want to get a sense of the pulse of life in the house.
Blake: They entertained a few times when 1 was out. They had a couple of
large teas, one hundred and fifty people, and did large entertaining
and got it catered, and sort of did their thing. Occasionally an
old family friend or some cousins would come to visit. I met a
series of cousins: Naomi Howard — she was a Taft cousin; Charlie
Taf t was another; the Weersma cousins. Karel Weersma was Dutch, and
he married Adelaide Blake, Kingsley Blake's sister, who is a cousin.
12
Mabel Symmes1 Position in the Household
Riess: And then there were all those Symmeses.
Blake: Aunt Anita's maiden name was Anita Day Symmes. Mabel Symmes lived
with them. As I told you, the Edwin Blakes1 house was built with a
wing for Grandmother Blake. The Anson Blakes1 house was built with
two large rooms: one was for Mrs. Symmes, Aunt Anita's mother; and
the other was for Mabel Symmes. Mabel Symmes lived in the house and
made a monetary contribution of X dollars a month towards the
household expenses, and then gave gifts in addition to that. I
remember she gave a fence when part of the Edwin Blakes' house was
subdivided and the land sold. They were concerned that the children
who moved in were coming into the garden so they fenced the northern
line of the property, and that was a gift from Mabel Symmes.
Riess: Was her income from inheritance?
Blake: Yes. She did well in her inheritance, she invested in stocks,
something which Anita basically did not — she kept the ones she had
inherited, but did not invest further. Mabel Symmes' estate was
well over half a million dollars, and it was basically stocks. She
managed all that herself, was very efficient on those matters, and
never said anything. She did, as you're probably aware, take a
second degree or additional courses at the University of California
when the Landscape Architecture Department was established in the
twenties.
I recall once when Mabel Symmes referred to Dean Wurster as her
classmate. Liz, my wife, sort of went through mental calculations,
looking at Aunt Mabel, and having had Dean Wurster in college and
worked with him professionally as an interior designer, wondered
about this, when Aunt Anita chirped in, "Elizabeth, Mabel did not
explain that she had gone back to the University in 1922 when the
Landscape Architecture Department was established and taken courses,
and that's the time when she was associated with Dean Wurster."
Mabel had graduated in 1896 from the University and then went back
to take additional courses in landscape architecture at a much later
date. She did practice landscape architecture and did various
houses, such as the Olney's house on daremont Boulevard. She did
landscape design professionally as well as doing landscape design
for the Blake House.
13
Distribution of Symmes Inheritance
Riess: What happened at Mabel Symmes1 death? Who was in her will?
Blake: Her nieces and nephews. Whitman Symmes was one nephew, then there
was Day Symmes. known as Bud. and Carol Symmes Kuechler. They were
in her will, as well as a grandniece and grandnephew who were Carol
Kuechler's children: Larry and Anne.
Riess: I looked at the will, but I thought it was Anita's and An son's, so I
was mystified why it was all going to these people. It must have
been Mabel's that I was looking at.
Blake: There were basically the same provisions in Anita's will. I never
read Mabel's will, I've had nothing to do with it, but I read
Anita's will because I was involved in helping them to settle the
estate. Both drew up their wills at the same time and basically had
the same heirs.*
Riess: So the money didn't go in the Blake direction at all.
Blake: No. Anson Blake had made some provision for the members of the
Blake family. Anita Blake told me she was leaving her portion of
Uncle Anson's estate to her side of the family, as she had little
else to leave them. The house they had given to the University; she
had a small amount of stocks; she had ploughed some of the money in
to pay off the mortgage on the house during the Depression, and had
used other of it to buy the art objects.
I don't think Mabel bought anything. She had the contents of
her room, and she used to have a car. I think Anita contributed
half the expenses of the car. She gave up the car sometime after my
first trip here, and it did not exist when I came back in 1956. (I
did come to California in 1950 and Mabel still had the car.)
*For a further note on the will, see Appendices. Appendix W.
14
Anita Blake
Anita Blake's Economies
Riess: Were they on hard times, would you say, in genteel poverty up there?
Blake: The Depression was rough. The thirties were extremely rough. We
did pull through, and in the fifties things went extremely well.
Real estate was paying very well — my father had a third interest in
the real estate —
Riess: You mean the other acreage in Kensington?
Blake: No, other commercial real estate. My father had acreage in
Kensington, but he and Aunt ELiza sold theirs after the war for
subdivisions — they never built. Each child was given ten to fifteen
acres. (The thing was divided into four pieces, and it was something
like sixty acres.) Anson and Edwin sold a few lots off their
pieces.
Riess: But when you're referring to real estate —
Blake: I was referring to commercial real estate in Oakland and elsewhere.
The quarry, Blake Brothers Company, did not pay dividends from
the late twenties through to the fifties. I think they paid two
preferred dividends before my father died in 1950. The quarry did
very well in the fifties, so there were funds then. They had given'
the house to the University. Once when Anita bought a second-hand
washing machine and I said, "Why not a new one?" she said, "Well,
they said it would last three or four years, Igor, and I don't think
I'll be around after that."
There was a request from Anson Blake to my wife to take Anita
shopping because her clothes were getting threadbare. He specified
some money and they had a very successful trip. They ploughed
through the San Francisco stores all day long, and maybe went to
lunch, and she got herself eight or ten dresses, some of them made
to order. But she did need help, and she did need to be encouraged.
15
Riess
Blake
Riess :
Blake:
Riess
Blake:
When would this have been?
This was after we were married, "57 or "58, because I remember Uncle
Anson asked my wife if she would assist and encourage. "I'm aware
that prices have gone up." he said, "I do read the paper." (Anita
thought it was terribly expensive.) "But our income has increased,
and inflation is here, and we just have to pay these prices. Please
tell Elizabeth" — as he called her — "not to worry about the cost of
the thing, this is just something we have to do, and Anita needs a
little encouragement."
They went to San Francisco to do this?
Yes. She had a dressmaker — it may have been someone Aunt Anita
knew, or it may have been the one my wife had at that time who had
made her wedding dress and who also catered to older people and made
things in the style they liked and were comfortable with.
We were talking about social life, large tea parties and cousins,
and got derailed a bit there. Were there other family events? If
they went out at Thanksgiving, then I take it they didn't do a
gathering of people at Thanksgiving. And yet there were you and
Elizabeth.
Right. What did we do? There was certainly no large gathering at
Thanksgiving. I think the first year we were married we had
Thanksgiving, but the only other time I had Thanksgiving with them
was the two years I was at Stanford from 1952 to 1953. Aunt Anita
was very fond of the maid of honor at our wedding, Verna Hink
(now Mrs. Robert John Stewart of Atherton), also a Phi Beta Kappa,
and she entertained her together with a group of her Berkeley
literary group friends at a tea. At one of those occasions there
may have been some cousins — I can't absolutely remember if someone
else was there or not.
Anita Blake's Attitude Toward Religion and Suffrage
Riess: Then on Christmas was there a big, beautiful Christmas tree in the
house?
Blake: No, there was no Christmas tree because I never saw a Christmas
tree, and I was also curious if there were any Christmas ornaments.
We'd had some from my wife's side of the family which were fun to
have, old ornaments, but when we were given permission to rummage
through the house, there were none.
Riess: Interesting woman.
16
Blake: She was not interested in religion. When she went into the hospital
she had let her Blue Cross insurance go because she didn't like to
part with the dollars for insurance. So she had to pay for one of
the trips to the hospital herself, and I talked Blue Cross into
taking her back in at eighty- some thing. She said that when they
asked her her religion, she said she was a Buddhist. She had
actually been brought up as a Unitarian and resented the fact that
when she was at Berkeley the YWCA wouldn't let her join because she
was a Unitarian — they didn't consider that acceptable. She could
attend meetings but not join. I don't think she actually converted,
she had no religion, she had a sort of philosophy rather than a
religion, and therefore the religious holidays didn't have any
meaning for her.
Riess: Can you think of any little sayings that you associate with her?
Any attitudes about spiritual issues, about one's stay on earth,
that were part of her philosophy and were obvious and clear and
accounted for some of her other attitudes? For instance, I gathered
from something I read that she was not for women's suffrage, which
surprises me, for someone as strongminded as she was.
Blake: Yes, I knew that. Anson Blake was chairman of the local committee
in opposition to women's suffrage. I discovered that when I went
through his correspondence. He kept all of it, and I ploughed
through that. There was a whole collection of advertisements from
some committee in New York. None of the texts were there. They
talked about "our cause" — this was 1919 — and finally there was a
letter from Charles Lee Tilden, who was a classmate from the class
of 1891: "Dear Anson, I enclose a check to your order and fifty
dollars gold to support our cause in opposition to the women's
suffrage." That was all pinned together, and then he had taken this
few hundred dollars and placed ads in the Chronicle and some other
newspaper. There was a sheet of how large an ad in which papers,
the Examiner, the Chronicle, the Tribune, or whatever they were. He
divided it up and reported to New York that that, he thought, was
the best coverage for the Bay Area.
She always asked for advice on elections. It wasn't quite down
to the dogcatcher, but you had to sort of inquire, and you also had
to say whom you inquired of. So I inquired of Henry Steinbeck in
the office, and Henry Steinbeck personally did not know X, but he
inquired of Y, and we would call Aunt Anita, but Y was somebody who
knew Uncle Anson, and so we'd go through the ballot very carefully
to be sure that she was adequately informed. Very definite opinions
on, for example, no flourides in the water — great opposition to
that. She debated sending money, but I don't think the check and
pen came together.
17
Guiding the Family Finances
Blake: I used to look at the checks for the income tax purposes. There was
no balance in the checkbook and I couldn't make heads or tails out
of the checkbook stubs. I needed things for deductions, so I used
to get the checks and the statements and rifle through it to get
what I wanted for income tax purposes, and have one of the employees
at one of the banks look up all the dividends, because in that era
you had no advice of dividends. She kept no records, so I figured
out what the income was in the year before, and therefore the number
of shares. Then I gave the banker the list and said, "Please
calculate it." He'd groan and say, "This is not our service," and
I'd smile and say, "I know, but Blake Brothers Co. has a very nice
account with you, and we just would appreciate it." And he gave it
to someone and it was done.
Later I was able to verify that when she decided to give me the
key to her safe deposit box. I went down and I counted all the stuff
in there. F^erything was in its original envelope, and I got them
all together. I'm sorry I didn't save the stamps; she took the
envelopes home and I didn't wish to ask her. I got all the
certificates together so that I could get the things organized and
made a list so that I could tell if I had been accurate in the tax
calculation.
Riess: She would seem more likely to be for suffrage than to be against.
You're saying that once she decided to vote, she wanted to be a
fully participating voter.
Blake: Yes, but she wanted advice very definitely. She always got advice.
I guess Uncle Anson gave her advice on what to vote, and then she
wanted advice from me after Uncle Anson died, so it was one of my
tasks.
One of the rituals was tea every afternoon. In my quarry days
I used to stop on my way home and see her once a week or so. I
would stop in time to have tea, and then I conducted what business
there might be. Usually one topic an afternoon.
Riess: These are the years after he died?
Blake: After he died in '59, and she lived to '62. It was then that I
would stop by.
Riess: What do you mean, one topic an afternoon?
Blake: If it was a business matter you brought up something about the
estate and you went through that, and there had to be a check
written or a letter composed. Then she said, "Fine, now we'll have
tea and talk about something else." So you basically did one thing
18
Blake: at a time. If the banker who was trustee wanted something — the
letter would be sent to her, but with a copy to me with the check — I
would take the checks, she would endorse them and I would deposit
them, and we would get the answer to whatever question there was.
Riess: You were quite a young man to be doing all of this, were you not?
You were about thirty?
Blake: Yes. My father died when I was twenty-one, so I had to pick up for
my mother, our side of the estate, and that was one of the reasons
that I knew something about the real estate, because I had a share
of it as trustee, and I required all the lawyers to send me copies
of everything. I also had received my MBA from Stanford in '53. I
remember joining my uncle, slightly to his surprise, when there was
going to be a meeting on the real estate. I said I would like to
attend, I wanted to know what was going on — which was fortunate,
because the poor gentleman in the bank got himself arrested for
fraud and left. It was fortunate that I knew what the situation
was because shortly after that my uncle died. My father's estate
had about 26 percent interest in Blake Brothers Company, and I ended
up with about 33 percent of the Blake Brothers Company
Riess: You must have been someone she trusted completely.
Blake: She made a great distinction between heirs and non-heirs. She told
me I was not an heir, and therefore when she had her terminal
illness and the nurse asked her who did she look to, I was the one
to oversee her medical care. Her nephew, who was a year or two
younger than I, was an heir, and that would have been a conflict of
interest. So I oversaw the last three or four weeks of her illness,
and in those days it was daily trips in the morning on the way in,
and again usually on my way home. The quarry was on the way from
Lafayette; to go via Kensington wasn't that far out of my way.
19
The Blake Estate
Tending the Gardens
Riess: Other topics she might take up — would they be matters of the garden?
Blake: She talked a lot about the garden. I did meet Professor [Leland]
Vaughan and Mai Arbegast which was helpful. Professor Vaughan had
given me his card, and he said if there are any questions on the
house, please let him know [at the University]. He was extremely
helpful. There were some things to be repaired; plumbing, etc.,
were getting in an ill state of repair, and he said, "Just have the
work done and have the bill sent to me." I remember calling him up
and saying that it was six or seven hundred dollars. He said,
"There's nothing to do but have it done. I know it's a patch job,
but you have to have hot water." I said I was sorry, I knew they
were chronic problems.
Riess: The landscape architecture department used the gardens?
Blake: Yes, and Aunt Anita was surprised at the compartmentalization of the
University budgets, which in retrospect I understand, [laughs] They
had money for equipment but not money to hire students to water.
She was upset with Walter Vodden's idea to put in a sprinkler system
because she preferred handwatering, because with handwatering you'd
not water particular blossoms and remember that the whatchmacallits
liked a lot of water, and you didn't water those until they'd
finished blossoming, etc. The sprinkler system was more of an
institutional approach, not the hands-on technique. The Blakes used
to water themselves on the weekend — they would pull hoses and
water — that was their weekend activity.
Riess: Anson and Anita.
Blake: Yes. They both would be out in the garden, and he would help with
the watering, moving the hoses, and discussing what should be done
and how things were coming. She missed Mabel because she was the
20
Blake: person with whom she discussed the garden. I've forgotten whether
Mabel died before or after Anson — *
Riess: After.
Blake: Yes. Then it was in between, I guess. So that left her alone in
the house, and they had shared the garden and discussed it all those
years.
Riess: Was Mai Arbegast someone who was invited into the house?
Blake: I think she joined them for tea. I think Professor Vaughan was in
the house, and I think he was there for tea, yes, because I believe
I met them in the house. I sort of had in mind that I was wanting
to meet them, thinking it would be important — not quite knowing what
was coming along. I had heard from Walter about them, and I waited
for the opportunity to meet them, and it finally did come around.
Riess: How about other young people in her life over the years?
Blake: She didn't refer to any. There was some correspondence with someone
she had met. There was some reference occasionally to hearing from
X or Y, but it may have been, say, that X is now in India or
someplace, and there was something in the paper about them. It was
in some general discussion like that.
Riess: Of course she had lots of written contact with horticulturists all
around the world.
Blake: Yes. And a lot of people would come and see the garden. There were
garden club tours. When they were younger she was very proud to
have the tours. Other than a couple of garden parties my wife
attended, I don't remember participating in any of the garden club
openings, etc. I think those had been more an activity of the
twenties and thirties.
Riess: Did she have a horse up there too?
Blake: I'm not sure if she had a horse there or if the horse was on
Piedmont Avenue. She definitely had a horse on Piedmont Avenue.
I'm not sure if there was a stable up there — I never saw the
stable — whether it had been converted into a part of the garden.
There were borzoi dogs there when I arrived in 1945. In that album
of photographs there was a picture of them.
Riess: And lots of cats, apparently.
*Anita Blake d. April 25, 1962; Anson Blake d. August 17, 1959;
Mabel Symmes d. February 1, 1962.
Appendix X.
21
Blake: There were a lot of cats. My mother described the cats as being
kept in cages — Persians, etc. — but they didn't come in the house
regularly. They were occasionally brought in and then taken out.
This was my mother's description, and this goes back to the
twenties.
Robert Pierpont Blake
Riess: Did your mother and father visit out there much themselves?
Blake: They visited in the twenties, when Grandmother Blake was alive.
They came out about three times — I don't remember the exact years.
My father then came out alone in 1934 to get the LLD degree from
Berkeley, and then alone in 1948, when he came out and was drawing
up his will. He wanted to see Anson. and I guess Edwin was still
alive at the time. As well as draw up his will, he wanted to get an
idea of the financial situation. My mother did not come out in the
thirties and did not come out in 1948.
Nineteen forty-eight was a funny academic year at Harvard.
During the war he had taught in the summer school, so he had the
fall off in either '47 or '48 to make up for the time, so he decided
to do the trip. He also went down to Fresno to scrounge up some
money for Armenian studies. He taught, in part, Armenian history,
and there was a journal; they wanted to get money out of the
Armenian groups in Fresno to support Armenian history subjects, etc.
So the other part of his trip was a little fund raising activity.
Riess: Did Aunt Anita like to talk about the past? Did you encourage her
to tell stories, or was that kind of closed off?
Blake: No. she had her definite views on things and expressed them. She
talked a lot to my wife about some of her thoughts. She was a great
believer in books. She had read various children's books, and if a
friend had a child or friends had grandchildren she would give them
the appropriate book on how to raise and rear children; although I
don't believe she gave us one. it was her standard procedure.
Riess: Her views were acquired through books.
Blake: Yes.
Riess: And maybe through her Unitarianism?
Blake: I'm not sure, I don't think there was ever a reference to going to
church or anything.
22
Relations with the University of California
Riess: Do you know anything about her relations with University people? I
know she was friendly with Ida Sproul.
Blake: Yes, they had an ongoing relationship. They had met dark Kerr
just before he was president, and I remember when they had a
discussion about adding him to the famous tea list. I was present
when they did discuss that, and yes, Uncle Anson thought that would
be appropriate, he was up and coming and he was very nice, and he
got added to the tea list. He made that rung, and about six months
later he became the President of the University, [laughs] But at
that time they were still very much a part of the Berkeley scene.
The Staff
Riess: You said that there was a housekeeper. What was the staff over the
years — when you first met them, and then later?
Blake: They always had a cook, one person most of the time. I think on my
first visit, during the war, there wasn't anyone. They were
younger, although they were still old. It was either '45 or '50 — I
don't remember which — when there was no servant and had not been for
several months. They hadn't found a suitable one.
There were usually several in the garden, I believe three at
the time: Walter, Jim Anderson, and Churchill Womble.
Riess: I remember all three of those names from talking with Walter, and in
fact he said that occasionally he was invited in to do something.
Blake: Right.
For some reason the University asked my uncle to hire Walter;
they selected him. Uncle Anson hired him, and then in July of the
year my uncle died — he died in August — Walter transferred to the
University payroll. I remember because I'd straightened out the
social security report for Walter and the other gardeners. My uncle
had mentioned that he was doing that, so I'd seen that in the
hospital and sort of got my hands on the pieces of paper, and then
did the final report and gave them their W-2 statements and things
like that. It was fortunate that the University then was prepared
to take over that aspect of the thing. It had something to do with
budgeting. They chose to do it that way for some particular reason.
Riess: I know he was told about the job by Vaughan.
23
Blake: But he went to work for my uncle for six or nine months. Perhaps
they were working it into the state budget. There was some
technical reason that I wasn't aware of. He was brought around as
the person that they had selected, and I guess it was a courtesy to
have an input from my aunt and uncle. I don't think they were given
any other choice, but they were consulted.
Riess: Was there a vegetable garden? Do you remember eating anything from
the estate?
Blake: There were gooseberries — I remember those because you couldn't buy
those in the market — and there was watercress, but I don't believe
there was a full vegetable garden with peas, carrots, potatoes, etc.
There was some fruit, but again it wasn't the apples, it was the
exotic.
Riess: Persimmons and pomegranates.
Blake: Something of that nature. But you didn't go out to look at the
vegetable garden.
There was a wonderful story of the cats: There were ten or
twelve mongrel cats, and Professor Vaughan brought up the fact once
to my aunt that the University was most appreciative of the house
and the art objects and all that, but they wondered what was going
to happen to the cats. So my aunt consulted the county health
officer, and she did agree to have all the cats trapped and they
were all altered — that was awkward for her to discuss. The ones
which the county health officer said were in quite bad shape — they
certainly looked mangy — those didn't come back. So there were
something like nine after that.
Then there was the matter of who paid for their maintenance.
Aunt Anita had a trust in the bank in the city and I paid out of
that for the maid and things, nurse, food, during the last weeks.
Professor Vaughan paid for the garden staff. But I didn't want to
ask Professor Vaughan to pay for the cats. I personally paid for
the cats for a couple of weeks and Walter had also paid for them.
Then I brought up the subject with the executor of the estate and I
told Walter we'd pay to have the cats terminated out of the estate,
or the University can assume the cats, but Walter shouldn't have to
pay for them. Walter agreed to check with Professor Vaughan who
decided that the University would take over the cats.
I don't know what's happened since then. That was one of the
little bits of things we were tidying up and closing out and worked
out with Walter.
Riess: That's really nice, a very loving, sentimental gesture.
24
Blake: But there would be some advantage to having cats who kept the mice
down.
Riess: You dashed the sentiment. [laughs]
Blake: I guess Professor Vaughan wanted some rationale when he put it down,
for when University auditors come around and they wanted to know
what Professor Vaughan was doing. I presume they wanted a rationale
so that they could authorize the expenditure. I can see that. I
administer at the university.
The Carmelite Nuns as Neighbors
Riess: Did you have anything to do with the sale of the Edwin Blake house
to the monastery? Did you know Noel Sullivan?
Blake: No. My uncle handled that as executor. I remember his writing to
my father when my father was still alive — he died about the time the
place was sold — but they were needing funds and to settle the
estate. They couldn't find anyone to buy it. and it was not a gift
to someone — as sometimes people have attributed — it was for sale,
and Mr. Sullivan made the best offer and Anson worked out the
dividing up of the place. Mr. Sullivan bought the house and about
three acres, and the rest of the garden was subdivided and sold off.
I did not know Mr. Sullivan.
Riess: Was there any problem for Anita having all of that religious
activity up there?
Blake: No. They invited her up. They wanted to buy some trees, and she
didn't want to sell any, and there was something in the
correspondence in remarks to the effect that the church is eternal —
implying that she was not.* [laughs] She did convey to them later
that they were giving the place to the University. They did invite
her, and she went up to witness one of the initiations into the
monastery. She told them a lot about the garden, and they were
terribly interested because she pointed out that the climate in the
Holy Land is very similar to Berkeley, and therefore all the things
mentioned in the Bible in theory could be grown in Berkeley. You
know the Carmelites are a very sheltered group, no communication
outside, and no contact, so that gave the nuns something to do for a
project, they could get the seeds and the plants and the trees and
everything, and they set about looking up in the Bible all the plants.
She knew from something she read that there were close to two
thousand plants mentioned in the Bible. They were going to be sure
they had one of each in the garden. She gave them the list of the
plants mentioned in the Bible.
*See Appendices S, T.
25
Riess: Did they really follow through on that?
Blake: I don't know. She talked about it. I still get Christmas and
Easter cards from the Carmelites. I got invited out once to talk to
them, and I went out with Ralph Chaney because they got interested —
I guess they go through studies — in Pierre Chardin. a Catholic
theologian and paleontologist. They were reading his works. He was
a great botanist, he was a friend of Ralph Chaney, and the question
the nuns wanted to know of Dr. Chaney was if Tail hard de Chardin had
seen both Anson and Edwin Blake's gardens — because he had been in
Berkeley in the twenties. Ralph Chaney said he couldn't honestly
remember if he had or hadn't — probably had because the gardens were
in their prime.
But that was more of Ralph Chaney's visit than ours; we decided
to go together. I suggested it to Ralph Chaney and he thought that
would be a lot of fun, so he and Marguerite Chaney, and Liz and I
went out. Our discussion was with the portis. I'm not sure if
others were listening; they could have been, but they didn't speak.
Ralph Chaney did ask the portis her name, and it was, I think,
Madeleine 0' Conner, and asked something about the class of the
thirties. As it turned out she had taken one of Ralph Chaney's
co ur se s .
The Carmelites asked my uncle some advice and questions on
things, and he pointed out that when they had virtually modified the
house, they hadn't thought through the drainage system. It had
originally been very carefully laid out because Edwin Blake was an
engineer, and he had worked with an architect with the drainage
system. Anson Blake had noticed that the Carmelites' modification
of the drainage system was faulty and commented on it, but his
advice was not taken. Then later when they complained about the
drainage, he pointed out that they had not adequately provided for
it, and said, "I think you'll have to do this and this and this."
The Architect, and Building the House
Riess: Speaking of the original, Gladys Wickson makes the mistake of saying
that the Blake House was by Faville rather than Bliss, of Bliss and
Faville.*
Blake: That's right. I'm quite sure it's Walter Bliss, because I'm quite
sure Aunt Anita referred to him enough times. I guess Gladys
Wickson made the mistake of getting the two principals mixed up.
*"In Memoriam." Cal. Hist. Soc. Quarterly. Vol. 42, No. 2, p. 179.
26
Riess: Did Anita ever talk about the building of the house with you? Do
you have any lore about that, how they chose Bliss and how they
decided how to lay it out?
Blake: Something about the large living room, the books, some discussion
about that. She worked very extensively with whoever was the
plasterer or the artist who did the ceiling panels in the living
room and in the dining room. There were references to planning the
house and the rooms upstairs for her mother and Mabel Symmes. Some
reference that it had been agreed that Grandmother Blake would go to
the Edwin Slakes' because her mother was coming here. There was
some discussion about that. She described moving the gardens, the
planning, and how she had prepared and worked in getting ready to
move the gardens when they were moving out,
Riess: From Piedmont Avenue.
Blake: Yes.
Riess: What a thought, moving a garden!
Blake: The lots on Piedmont Avenue were small, so there couldn't have been
that much because they sold most of the land. I'm not sure if they
used or had an arrangement to use some land behind the house on
Piedmont Avenue. It was a point I couldn't make out. When I wrote
the article I talked my way into the land office in University Hall
in order to get the history straight. Anson Gale Stiles,
grandfather of Anson, Robert, Edwin and Elizabeth, purchased seven
acres from the Trustees of the College of California in 1868. The
University later bought back from Mrs. Stiles most of the land
except for three lots which she gave to her daughter, Mrs. Charles
T. Blake, Anson and Edwin.
Other Bay Area Gardens
Riess: Did Anita know or make reference to Filoli and the Bourne family
there, or any other great gardens?
Blake: My uncle once referred to the other major gardens in the East Bay
and said that they were both going to the McDuffies' garden party.
I wasn't invited. They were among the few people in Berkeley who
also still had a garden.
They had some students who stayed at the house in the early
days and helped in the garden, and there were some contacts with
some of those because I believe there was a trip down to San Jose
after I was out here. I came out in '56 and married in '57. They
went to see someone's garden and have lunch, and that was a major
27
Blake: motor trip for them. Anson drove. The garden was small but
absolutely meticulous and they had a good time. Aunt Anita was
curious to go see the garden and lunch there. I suspect earlier
they did more of that.
Riess: Of visiting other gardens.
Blake: That was when Mabel had the car, and she and Anita went more places
with the car. Without the car she became more isolated. And then
Mabel didn't drive, and then Anson's driving was limited to trips to
the doctor, going to the quarry, and the shopping. He did get his
license renewed until he was ninety-one. [laughs] Let's say there
were many bent fenders. He never had them repaired, he just drove
with the fenders bent.
Riess
Blake
Riess :
Blake;
Softened the edges.
Softened the edges. When they were torn he took them up to see if
they would weld them at the quarry. They said, "No, you take it
down to the body shop."
"No, youjustweld it."
"But it'll show, it'll catch on someone's clothing or
something" — it stuck out like that. [gesturing]
"No, you just take a hammer at the blacksmith's and pound it
in.
"Do we paint it?"
"No, you don't paint it, you just weld it. That's all." That
was the vehicle. [laughter]
When they had students living with them, what room would the
students have had?
There were servants' quarters at the end of the house, and a
separate stairway. They also had something, prior to that, on
Piedmont Avenue, a spot for a student. I can't be sure if the
students I recall were from Piedmont Avenue or the newer house, but
they had a student room, and that may have been their early
gardening help. You didn't need that much of a gardener on this
small plot. You had the house and a small amount of garden, and
maybe the student also did Grandmother Blake's garden — I don't know,
that could have been.
Riess: Were Anita and Mabel involved in any way with the botanical gardens
on campus, or the botanical gardens that are a part of Til den?
Blake: I never heard anything about it, so I don't know.
28
Riess: Perhaps Mai Arbegast will know.
Blake: She may know, yes, I don't.
Mrs. Hitch told me the story about her inviting a group of
people who knew the Blakes, and the price of the invitation to lunch
was a good story — written out — about Anita or Anson Blake. She
rattled off the names, and some of them rang a bell with us, but I
never heard if she got the stories, or what happened.
29
Anson Blake and the Blake Brothers Company
Riess: Do you think Anita Blake had a happy life? [pause] I don't know
why I ask that. I'm having a hard time —
Blake: I think she was content. I don't know if there was something
missing, but that was something she wouldn't have shared. I mean,
she carried on with her interests and yet I don't know if she had it
to live over again what she would have wanted changed.
Riess: You referred to their stance against women's suffrage. Then I read
that Anita did not support the openness of Stiles Hall, whereas
Anson did. Did they get into discussions of this kind of thing in
front of you? Stiles Hall was, after all, pretty much of a hot
spot.
Blake: No, she felt that was his activity. She made a few comments
afterwards, over tea, that she was sort of shocked and couldn't see
how Anson could support it, etc. But I never heard anything between
them. They seldom discussed or disagreed.
Riess: It sounds like Anson felt that he was close to those boys at Stiles
Hall. That would make a difference, wouldn't it?
Blake: Right, he was chairman of the board, he was active in it. I'm not
sure if he was the last few years — he'd served fifty years as
chairman of the board — other than taking me there to show me the
building. I got invited by Bill Davis to Anson's fiftieth year on
the board. I was in Stanford when he stepped down. Bill Davis
found out that I was here and invited me up for that occasion. I
remember Dr. Sproul was there, and to my surprise he remembered my
father, who had gotten an LL.D. degree while Sproul was president in
1934, which seemed to me to be a remarkable memory.
They [Robert Pierpont Blake and Robert Gordon Sproul] had
corresponded a few years before that; he had asked him to represent
the University of California at the founding of Brandeis University,
and something else. The University of California wanted to be
represented, but [Sproul] didn't want to fly across the country at
30
Blake: that time. He was too busy after the war when the University was
expanding. But they wanted a distinguished representative, and
asked to impose on him to do a couple of things. So there had been
a couple of letters of correspondence. But I was amazed that he
remembered.
Riess: A piece of history: At one point the name of the Blake Bros. Co.
was Blake Brothers Company, Crushed Rock and Riprap, Asphaltic
Mixes, Richmond. The first time I encountered the term "riprap" was
through an Army Corps of Engineers project. I thought it was a
corps term.
Blake: It is a corps term. It's heavy rock, as you see around that wharf
in the lithograph [on wall of The Bancroft Library conference room].
They could be pieces so big [gestures] which were placed for levee
work and around wharfs or jetties like that.
Riess: So it's not a term that was invented by a Blake?
Blake: No. Eli Whitney Blake, Anson's grandfather, invented the rock
crusher, which was one of the reasons probably that Charles Thompson
Blake, Anson's father, went into the quarry business. As well as
selling the crushers, he used them, and in the 1870's down by the
Qaremont Country CLub, now in Oakland, Charles Thompson Blake,
California Pioneer, Yale class of 1847, founded with his classmate
C.T.H. Palmer the Oakland Paving Company.
Riess: I haven't asked very many questions about Anson. I'm afraid that
it's partly because he's not emerging as a colorful character.
Maybe that's doing him a disservice.
Blake: I think it is. He was much more socially inclined than Edwin.
Edwin was a little bit quieter, did his engineering, didn't
communicate. Anson was active in Stiles Hall, the Historical
Society, and the Pioneer Society. I saw the tail end of his
activitiy in the Pioneer Society. He certainly had been involved
with activities in San Francisco, and he kept up his contacts there.
It must have been once a week or something that he went to San
Francisco rather than to the quarry.
He was chairman of that centennial commission for the
landmarks — during the centennial California had a commission to
identify important historical sites, and Anson chaired that group.
They selected the historical sites to bear bronze placques such as
Butter's Fort, and other sites. Anson knew his California history,
actively collected texts on California history, which went to the
California Historical Society. He also received an LL.D. degree
from Berkeley in 1958 in honor of his being "the grand old man of
Stiles Hall, University YMCA."
31
Blake: He was active in banking. He was chairman of the National Recovery
Act Code Committee for Rock, Sand and Gravel. He continued even
when I was here to go to the Rock, Sand and Gravel Association
annual meetings, etc. So he was the more out-going of the brothers,
and kept in contact with members of the family. He followed up on
the real estate. I had a lengthy correspondence with him on my
father's estate and he helped to get that resolved. I worked with
him and got his agreement that I should succeed my mother as co-
trustee of my father's estate. I thought it was more politic that I
got his concurrence, although it was not required. My father's will
provided that I could be trustee rather than my mother, and she had
had no interest and 1 felt that someone had to take a hand.
Riess: Did he act as a kind of older brother to your father?
Blake: Yes, he managed the family real estate. My father gave him power of
attorney; my father paid no attention to those matters at all.
Anson held all the stock certificates and managed all of it, just
sent my father checks, so he had no records. 1 remember when my
father died 1 was asked by the attorneys where all those holdings
were. I said, "They're all in California."
I think he became quieter in later years, but he still
continued going to the office up to the last three or four months,
although not on a regular basis. When I first started on the quarry
in '57, he was going daily still. It then sort of petered down that
he came to board meetings, and then the last two or three months he
didn1 1 make it.
Riess: Do you think he felt very connected with the East Coast? In the
material you gave me there's a great feeling of old family and old
family history, Eli Whitney Blake, Yale, and so forth.
Blake: He went back to New Haven in the year my father was born, in 1886,
and met his grandfather, Eli Whitney Blake, and he spent the summer
there. Eli Whitney Blake died later on that year. He saw all that
generation — Eli Whitney Blake was in his last year but I guess in
good health and alert — that summer. And then he kept up with the
dozens of cousins, etc.
Riess: Those ties were not broken, but this was definitely a California
family.
Blake: Right. He very much kept up correspondence with the older
generation of the people in the east while being a part of
California.
32
Epilogue
[Date of Interview: 1 June. 1987]
Riess: This second meeting we are having in part because I read a lot of
Anita Blake's correspondence in The Bancroft Library and it brought
up new questions.*
I was curious about her deep connections with a lot of the
Japanese and her apparent help to them in the war relocation period.
I wondered if you could fill in any kind of background about that
and in general whether you felt that she had a real affinity for
the Asian population.
Blake: She had a great respect for their art, their culture, their history.
She was very knowledgeable on these subjects. She certainly had a
respect for them as individuals. One occasion, she told me the
story of keeping a package for a Japanese gentleman — I don't recall
his name — who came to her just before the relocation effort was
undertaken and delivered a package about two feet long and several
inches thick. It was wrapped, and she kept it for him. After the
war, she handed it back to him. He thanked her very much. She
never opened it nor ever knew what the contents were.
Riess: Did they have a Chinese cook?
Blake: There was a Chinese cook on one of my earlier trips to visit them.
I don't absolutely remember which one that was. But I do remember
meeting one. There was also a nephew, a grandson, or some Chinese
boy who was going to school, and Mabel Symmes was helping him with
his reading.
*This follow-up session was conducted in the oral history office six
months after the first meeting. All the other Blake series inter
views had been taken in the months between and several questions had
arisen. The questions had been directed to Mr. Blake by mail, but a
verbal response was deemed to be preferable to a written response.
33
Riess: And how about on the gardening staff? Did they have any Japanese
gardeners?
Blake: I don't really remember meeting the gardening staff in 1945.
Riess: Well, that would have been difficult, wouldn't it. for them to have
gotten back from relocation,
Blake: They obviously had someone, but I don't remember meeting the
individual on my first trip. On my second trip in the early '50s — I
think maybe Jim Anderson was already there at that time. But I
couldn't be absolutely sure of when he arrived.
Riess: Okay. The next thing 1 had asked you in my notes was about Anita's
general health, because she does seem to have a lot of ailments. In
fact, she went East for some eye operations when she was much
younger — went to Philadelphia for some operation.
Blake: Yes, it was early, I think, a cataract removal. I remember someone
describing her as being led to a garden party because she couldn't
see, and she had to have someone take her. Her eyes did get better,
but they were always a problem. I don't remember anything else
about her health, other than that she was very sensitive about
additives, such as flourides in water. She was opposed to the
flouride initiative as she didn't feel those things should be forced
on the public.
Riess: You and other people have referred to students who lived with the
Anson Blakes. Do you remember who Charles Grant might have been?
Blake: Yes. I met Charles Grant when I was in the quarry business. At that
time he had the C.H. Grant Equipment Company, which sold concrete
mixer trucks and other types of equipment. I gathered he had been
one of the students who lived in whatever those quarters were. I
think it was where the horse was kept, and it may have been a
quarters which was shared, and he also helped in the gardens of
Edwin Blake and Mrs. Charles T. Blake.
Riess: Because Anson and Anita had no children, I was curious as to whether
you thought that the bonds that they formed with these students were
particularly deep and meaningful.
Blake: There were some certainly who kept up the correspondence and contact
with them after they had left the University. I don't know what
proportion, but there were references to the gentleman who later was
president or manager of the Yellow Cab Company in San Francisco who
had been was one of those students.
Riess: They didn't turn up in the wills?
Blake: No.
34
Riess: In the interview that I had with Mai Arbegast, she mentioned the
letters of James West, who was the really quite famous botanist who
corresponded with Anita Blake. Mai Arbegast had seen some of James
West's letters. She says that they were under Mrs. Blake's bed
along with, she thought, other letters and memorabilia that were
precious to Mrs. Blake, some oriental scrolls, some objects of
sentimental value. 1 then assumed from that that perhaps that had
also included the letters, which I can't find any place else, that
Mrs. Blake might have received from Anson Blake. I wondered if you
could tell me about the situation under the bed.
Blake: The bed was a four-poster bed, with very high legs. Dr. [Helen]
Christensen had expressed concern that Mrs. Blake had to slide off
the bed onto the floor. So a stool was made so she could get out of
the bed onto the stool and then onto the floor, rather than slipping
off the edge of the bed, hitting the floor, and then steadying
herself. I think there could have been a curtain or — it has a name,
hanging —
Riess: Dust ruffle?
Blake: Yes, a dust ruffle under the bed which shielded the boxes and
whatever these things you may be referring to. That could have
been. I looked at the height of the bed because I worked with my
wife and we had the stool made which she got out of bed onto and
then stepped down. We had a rather solid stool made at Dr.
Christen sen's request.
I did get my aunt to sit on the bed, as one of the questions
was how tall the stool had to be. I also supported Dr.
Christensen1 s request to remove the small oriental runner, because
it slipped on the hardwood floor. I think I found another place to
put it, and so she could still see it. But I did not look under the
bed as I had no occasion to.
Then later in Mrs. Blake's last illness, after she had become
unconscious, the nurses, through Dr. Christensen, requested that we
get a hospital bed, and we agreed to that, and then the gardeners
took down the four poster bed and took it upstairs and put it in the
room which had been built for Aunt Anita's mother, Mrs. Symmes.
That room was seldom used as a guest room because the bath was
shared with Mabel. So they used the other guest room, which had a
separate bath, for the guests when they had them.
Riess: Mrs. Symmes lived in the house?
Blake: The room was built for Mrs. Symmes. You may remember I mentioned to
you that a wing was built onto Edwin Blake's house for Mrs. Charles
T. Blake, Anson's mother, because it had already been the decision
35
Blake: to build rooms for Anita's mother and Mabel into the Anson Blake
house. But Mrs. Symmes either died before the house was complete,
or shortly thereafter.
Riess: But it was referred to as Mrs. Symmes1 room?
Blake: Yes. Into that room they put the bed. I don't know the rest of the
material you referred to — it might have been under the bed. if that
was put up there — or what happened to it.
Riess: You said that Mrs. Blake's bed had somehow gotten confused with the
Taft bed. The Taft bed, of course, is the great legacy.
Blake: Aunt Anita had left a list of things which were to go to various
people, which she had dictated to Dr. Christensen. In that list
there was a reference to the Taft bed, which had been Fanny Edwards
Taf t's bed, come down through the Taft family. It had come from her
estate. Charlie Taft, the brother of Robert A, Taft, the son of the
president and cousin of the Blakes — not the Symmeses, Mr. Pettitt
who wrote the history of Berkeley attributed the Tafts as cousins to
Anita, which was a mistake — he wrote to President Clark Kerr asking
for some of the rugs and the bed to go into the Taft house in
Cincinnati, which they are restoring.*
President Kerr agreed, and in preparation of that the bed got
taken down to get ready for shipment. Someone then managed to mix
up the pieces of both beds. They stacked the two together. So I
was asked to go in and sort pieces of the bed out. One of the
gardeners helped me. So we sorted literally piece by piece. I
recognized which was the Taft bed because of its posts. I had to
get the side rails and the canopy pieces, and the only way I could
be sure what all fit together was to partially assemble both beds.
They were marked, labeled, and put in two sides of the rooms, and
they went their separate ways.
Riess: Yes. Walter Vodden, in talking about the canopy bed that Mrs. Blake
slept in, said that the canopy protected the bed itself from
whatever leaks there were in the roof.
Blake: That part of the house had an opened area above it. I guess you
could have walked out from Mrs. Symmes' room and Mabel's room onto a
sort of little deck sitting area. There were leaks in that roof,
from time to time. The ceiling was in rather poor shape.
*From a May 8, 1970 letter from Charles P. Taft to Igor Blake: "I
do have the bed, and I think also a rug. I do not think there was a
Taft desk., ."
36
Riess :
Blake:
Riess:
Riess: So just to nail down, once and for all. this business about the
goodies under the bed — You were not party to doing anything with
them? They could still turn up somewhere?
Blake: The most logical thing would have been to have put them upstairs in
that room where they moved the bed. But I'm not sure —
Riess: They're not among family memorabilia that at some disposition of
family papers went one direction or another?
Blake: No, because we would have recognized Anson Blake's letters. Anson
Blake gave a couple of boxes of older family correspondence to me
about the time I was married. Aunt Anita gave me a group of my
father's letters to his mother from his era when he was traveling in
Russia from 1916 to 1920.
Robert Pierpont Blake.
Yes. I did get that group of Robert Pierpont Blake correspondence.
I was interested that in your note to me you said that the estate
had been homesteaded to Anita. I wish you'd explain that. My
question to you was why on an old map the estate was in the name of
Anita Blake, because the Edwin Blake property was in his name. Of
course, maybe this is because his wife had already died. But, in
any case, maybe you could make that clear again, why it was done
that way.
Blake: My uncle told me that he had taken steps to homestead the house in
Anita's name, which would give her protection in the event he went
bankrupt during the Depression. Then, he felt, the house would be
secure as her property. I've never looked up the legal implications
of it, but as I understood it if someone went bankrupt and the house
had been homesteaded, then it was a way of preserving it from the
bankruptcy claims; and then also if it was in his wife's name,
because she did not co-sign the notes, etc., which he had.
Riess: Sounds like a fine solution, and probably it's not allowed these
days.
Blake: I'm not sure, but it was allowed in the '30s. That's when he took
steps to do it because the Depression, as I mentioned earlier, was a
difficult time for them.
Riess: Yes. Anita's first letters to her husband were to him in Venice.
What was Venice?
Blake: Venice is an island in the Sacramento Delta, one of those islands
built by building a levee around it and pumping out the water. They
raised asparagus and other crops. We had some fraction of the
island.
37
Riess :
Blake:
Riess :
Blake:
Riess :
Blake:
Riess :
Blake:
You mean, it was owned by the Blake Company?
It was owned somehow by the Blake family. It must have been sold by
the time Grandmother Blake died in 1928 because it wasn't in her
estate, as I recall, because I don't think my father ever had a
portion. Grandmother Blake left one quarter of her estate to each
of her children, minus a few small bequests. I've read the
description of what he acquired from her, and he did not aquire a
piece of Venice Island. So it looks like maybe they sold it at an
earlier time.
Do you know when it was created?
My father referred to going up the Sacramento River as a teenager.
That would have been about the turn of the century, 1899, 1900, or
something like that. They still had it then. I'm not sure if that
was something which may have been sold when they reorganized the
quarry business. In 1914 we acquired basically the entire ownership
of the San Pablo Quarry in Richmond and changed the name of the
company to Blake Brothers Company, and split up the partnership
which Grandfather Blake, Charles Thompson Blake, had had in the
Oakland Paving Company. I'm not sure if that was one of the
tradeoffs, or how Venice Island was sold.
Well, that's interesting. I hadn't done any research in the history
of the delta, but I would like to include, right here and now,
anything of it that we can.
It was one of the things Anson Blake was involved with,
than the fact that it existed, I'm not sure.
But other
Well, do you think that he also worked on riprapping the rest of the
islands in the delta, or was this the only one?
We sold a lot of riprap because the Blake Brothers Company, the San
Pablo Quarry as it was called, was built with the idea of shipping
the product by water to San Francisco and up along the delta. So we
did an extensive amount of water delivery of rock and asphalt. The
early roads to Sacramento were paved with the products of the quarry
as they went along the river edge. They took the material by barge
and built roads on the edge of the levees all the way to Sacramento.
The riprap business was a very important part of the quarry
business, much like Basalt Rock still has such a capacity to supply
riprap along the delta area of the islands. The difference now is
that the landowner paid for the riprap in the early days, rather
than the state. When the island flooded, it was a major financial
loss to the individual. There was no federal or state help. Now
the farmers expect to be helped when there is a flood.
38
Riess: These letters were written to him when she was at Howell Mountain,
at the Hacienda de los Posadas, early in their marriage.
Blake: That would be logical. He might have stopped there coming back
down. There was an extensive ferry and bay commerce business.
There was a regular route for ships stopping at wharfs, delivering
passenger mail and freight. Early freight bills indicate the extent
of local commerce on the bay, and my father referred to going up
with Anson, and the boat would stop at the Blake Brothers Company.
They would stop at the Venice Island Wharf. They would stop at
these various places, leaving off material, and picking up freight.
On the way back they could stop in San Rafael.
Riess: San Rafael rather than Benicia, or —
Blake: I mentioned San Rafael because when the Richmond-San Rafael ferry
was put in, Anita used to take that, referred to taking it in the
very early days when she still had the horse.
Riess: That's how she got up when she would come from Berkeley?
Blake: Right. It would take, I think, two nights, if you stopped one place
and then had one second day's ride.
Riess: She was in a horse and carriage, or just on horseback?
Blake: Horseback I presume. When they went to Howell Mountain, if they
went for a longer period of time, she took the horse with her.
Riess: So when she would come back she would stable the horse somewhere in
San Rafael, come back on a ferry —
Blake: Come back on a ferry — the horse too. Or maybe she'd spend the night
in San Rafael, and then come back for the rest of the ride. It
would be a few hours ride from San Rafael to Kensington. Wasn't
that bad a ride.
Riess: But she didn't bring the horse back to Kensington?
Blake: I never knew if the horse was at Kensington. There was apparently a
stable at Piedmont Avenue, and I don't quite know when she stopped
keeping horses.
Riess: This might have been journeys from Piedmont Avenue, actually. The
time at Hacienda de las Posadas is a very early time, 1916 or so.
Blake: They also referred to riding to Sleepy Hollow, riding over the
Berkeley hills. They both rode.
39
Riess: It's really hard for me to imagine Mrs. Blake leaving Piedmont
Avenue on horseback and riding to Richmond. I mean it doesn't sound
like something that ladies do. Just off by herself for a four hour
ride, or three hours.
Blake: Or something, yes.
Riess: And what could she possibly carry by way of clothing?
Blake: A travel bag on the back saddle would be a minimal thing. That's
about all there would be. Aunt Anita never described that detail.
Riess: But there were no brigands along the road in those days.
Blake: Well. Edwin Blake used to take the payroll for the quarry out to
Richmond on payday, and he always took a revolver because the
payroll was in gold coin. It was all counted out in envelopes. He
drove out, Blake, in a buggy but he had his army service revolver on
the seat next to him, because payday was a known day, and he was a
recognized person. One of his trips to the quarry always coincided
with payday. He went there other times, but he always arrived on
payday with the revolver.
Riess: By that very token, that's why I'm really surprised at Mrs. Blake
riding off on her own. It's what's come down in the family history
to you, apparently.
Blake: Yes.
Riess: Those reports from Howell Mountain are very vivid, and she seemed to
enjoy her position as kind of the manager. I am going to include
some in the oral history.
When she was in St. Helena, I don't know whether you know that
she got a couple of degrees from University Extension, one in dairy
husbandry, and one in hay husbandry.*
Blake : No.
Riess: By correspondence. She managed to deal with the railroads and to
get a whole carload of hay, delivered from somewhere in southern
California, or some area. Anyway she was busy and very effective.
*Anita Blake's correspondence course work with Agricultural
Extension is in the University of California' Archives in The
Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley.
40
Riess : I asked you whether you had ever visited that property, or what the
ownership of the property was. I guess it was maybe out of her
hands by that time?
Blake: She gave it as a gift to the state for a conservation area and was
very unhappy because in those days the state's concept of
conservation was recreation, not the sort of wilderness, natural
state type of thing which she had envisioned it as.
Riess: Do you know the land? Have you been out there?
Blake: The area was pointed out to me when both of them went to St. Helena
to the Seventh Day Adventist place for physical therapy and rest.
Riess: This was in the fifties that they were going up to the sanitarium
there?
Blake: Right.
Riess: Had that been a regular kind of rest cure program?
Blake: They had been up once or twice before, and I guess she persuaded
Uncle Anson to join her on this occasion. So they both went up
together.
Riess: How is it that that property came into the family, the Howell
Mountain land?
Blake: My uncle bought that with the fee he received as being trustee for
Scofield Construction when it went bankrupt. Scofield
Construction had the contract to build the Mare Island drydocks. In
those days they just had begun to have a bonding company. So the
courts took over, and my uncle was appointed by the court as
receiver for Scofield Construction.
Then he ran Scofield Construction and kept the crew and the
people and equipment together in order to complete the Mare Island
contract. The bonding company had to pay for that. With that fee —
that was a two or three year job — he acquired the piece of land and
gave it to Anita.
Riess: And this was long before they moved, long before they had any reason
to think that they might move to that Kensington property. It's
evidence that Anita had an enormous need for land.
Blake: Yes. So obviously they had been thinking of the Howell Mountain
place. I don't quite have the sequence of the Sleepy Hollow property,
but they were sort of debating what they wanted, and where they
wanted to build whatever they were going to build. Then they decided
to have the garden and build the Kensington place, and they sold the
place in Sleepy Hollow. But I don't have dates for these transactions.
41
Riess: It was only the University's need for the Piedmont Avenue area,
though, that propelled them out to Kensington,
Blake: Correct. Yes.
Riess: Otherwise do you think that the scheme would have been to have the
Piedmont Aveue house, and then a second —
Blake: Maybe a second place for a ranch, or a — . I think a ranch was in
mind, maybe.
Riess: Because Anson would always have needed to have been near the
business. He couldn't have been living in St. Helena, could he?
Blake: That would have been more difficult in those days, but possible, to
get to San Franciso, and to get to Richmond, again by ferry.
Riess: Think of that passion for land.
Blake: Yes.
On the gift of the property, Anson Blake had a small piece of
Edwin Blake's garden, which he had taken in his name. So he joined
in signing the deed because he had a fraction of an acre. They took
a small fragment of Edwin Blake's estate, when Edwin Blake left his
estate to his two brothers and his sister. In the settlement, Anson
took a small piece, half an acre or three quarters, or something, to
round out their garden and protect a certain part of it.
Riess: In the gift to the University?
Blake: In the settlement of Edwin Blake's estate (1949 or 1950) before the
gift to the University in 1957. Then he had a small piece of the
garden in his name, a fraction of an acre, or whatever it was. I
have the correspondence on Edwin Blake's estate.
Riess: In fact, the gift is ten and a half acres, so maybe that explains
the half acre.
Do you know when Mabel Symmes came to live with Anson and
Anita, and where she had lived before that time?
Blake: I assume she had lived with her mother before. The Symmeses had a
house in San Francicso in 1906; in the fire they were living there
and I assume they must have rebuilt. As Mrs. Symmes was getting
older in the '20s, they decided to move into the Kensington house.
I don't believe they were living in the Piedmont Avenue house which,
I think, was rather small.
Riess: But you do think that Mabel Symmes was in the Kensington house from
the beginning?
42
Blake: dearly, but perhaps Mrs. Symmes had died by the time the Kensington
house was completed. The rooms were designed for Mabel and her
mother. So Mabel moved in in the very beginning. Anita, I think,
was the oldest, and there were at least two brothers.
The decision that Mrs. Symmes and Mabel move in together was
the plan. If Mrs. Symmes ever moved, or if she died before she got
there, that's the chapter I don't know. But I assume Mabel was then
living with her in whatever quarters she had.
Riess: Thank you. And thank you for coming by to clarify these points.
Transcribers: Johanna Wolgast and Catherine Woolf
Final Typist: Shannon Page
43
Regional Oral History Office
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California
Blake Estate Oral History Project
George and Helena Thacher
THE BLAKE AND THACHER FAMILIES AND HISTORY
An Interview Conducted by
Suzanne B. Riess
in 1986
Copyright
1988 by The Regents of the University of California
George and Helena Thacher, 1986
Photograph by Suzanne Riess
44
TABLE OF CONTENTS — GEORGE AND HELENA THACHER
INTERVIEW HISTORY 45
BIOGRAPHY 46
The Charles Thompson Blake Family 47
Thacher School 49
Dining at Grandmother Blakes's 50
Helena and George Thacher' s Marriage and Years in the Sierra 52
An son and Anita Blake 57
Family Finances in the 1930s 57
Business and Home Life. Separate 59
Mabel Synnnes1 and Anita Blake's Horticultural Interests 61
Family Photographs, Family Memories 63
Being Entertained at Blake House 69
Anson Blake's Business and California History Interests 71
The Estate 73
Looking at Photographs — Memories 77
Ties with the University 79
45
INTERVIEW HISTORY
George Thacher and his wife Helena are "family." George's mother,
Eliza Seeley Blake, the only daughter of Charles Thompson Blake and Harriet
Waters Stiles, married Sherman Day Thacher, founder of the Thacher School,
and went south to live in Oj ai, California. Every summer the Thacher
children, six including George, came north for visits. A Blake house on
Piedmont Avenue in Berkeley was where vacations and holidays were
celebrated. Grandmother Blake — Charles Thompson Blake had died in 1897 — was
a small, imperious matriarch as George Thacher describes her. She insisted
on having her family around her every summer. In a photograph from Piedmont
Avenue days they lounge in splendid individuality — children, dogs, and the
tiny matriarch.
I interviewed Mr. and Mrs. Thacher in Orinda where they live a country
life. In their small comfortable house firmly set on a hillside, surrounded
by fruit trees, they could be back in the Sierra foothills they lived in
after their marriage in 1934. That life did not permit a lot of contact
with the Anson B lakes — they didn't "come out of the woods" until 1959 — but
Helena remembers very well being "looked over" before the marriage by the
very proper Mrs. Blake and found satisfactory, particularly because of a
shared interest in wildfl overs. She also shared Anson Blake's interest in
the California Historical Society. Helena Thacher was close enough to the
Blakes that she was willed all of Aunt Anita Blake's personal possessions,
"knowing she would distribute them according to my wishes," as Helena
ruefully quotes the will. That was not an easy job.
It was a pleasure to join George and Helena Thacher in Orinda to look
at photographs of the young Anson, and to acquire for the oral history and
for the permanent collection in The Bancroft Library copies of Anson's
papers written for presentation at the California Historical Society, as
well as photographs of and from Blake House sent as greetings at Christmas.
The interview echoes the genial give and take between the Thachers, whose
beginning married life in tents and mountain cabins and years of Sierra
seasons deserve more space than they get in this record of Blake family
history.
Suzanne B. Riess
Interviewer-Editor
September 23, 1987
Regional Oral History Office
486 The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
Room 486 The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please print or write clearly)
Your full name
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Date of birth QcT. 13. IS & fa Place of birth
Father's full name
Birthplace
Occupation
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Birthplace
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Present community
Education
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Special interests or activities
Regional Oral History Office University of California
, Room 486 The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please print or write clearly)
Your full name $ gQ (I fr £ -E>M K I? THAC H £ R.
Date of birth F&h, £6 > / °l OS Place of birth _S <Z,D
Father's full name S'HER VA A/ -£>A Y" T/"/ A CH £
Birthplace A/£"K/ HAV£//, C*0A/ A'£2: 77£ /, T
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The Charles Thompson Blake Family
[Date of Interview: November 24, 1986]
Riess : Mr. Thacher, you were born in San Francisco in 1903?
G. T. : Yes.
Riess :
G. T. :
Riess :
G.T. :
Riess :
G.T. :
Riess :
G.T. :
Your mother came up to San Francisco for your birth?
Yes, and after I was born she went to her mother's in Berkeley and
stayed there for some weeks, and then she went back down to Oj ai,
where she lived.
Her mother's in Berkeley would have been on Piedmont Avenue?
Yes, 2235 Piedmont Avenue.
We can't have any memories from you about that, [laughs]
Well, about the house, yes. because we spent all our summers over
there, but not at the time. My first memory of that house was on
Christmas, when they say that I was only about three years old. I
remember the Christmas tree in the living room. I'd never seen one
before, of course, or if I had I didn't remember it.
There1 really was a Christmas tree? I asked Igor whether they ever
had Christmas trees out at Blake House, and he said no.
I don't think they did out at Blake House, but my grandma did. She
moved there around 1889; I think that's when that house was built.
I don't know when her sons built their houses up there, but it was
probably soon after.
Grandma was a very imperious person. She was about four-feet-
ten and she wore a size one shoe, Mother told me. That's a pretty
small foot. But she had a mind of iron, and she ruled her children
to the day of her death. Mother said it was fine, because she had very
good judgment until towards the end when she was slipping a little.
48
Riess : Was it that she was very virtuous, or very moral, or very New
England?
G.T. : Well, she was New England, and very intolerant of certain things —
what's called racist now, but we all were. We had Chinese help, and
Chinamen were not people, they were rather like the horses on the
place. But they did speak to us, and some of them we had great
affection for. She was also very class-conscious, according to my
mother — I wouldn't have noticed that. Mother said she'd ask if she
could bring a girl home from school and Grandma would say, "Who is
she?" Mother would say her name, and Grandma wanted to know, "Yes,
but who is she? Who are her parents?" And if Mother didn't know or
couldn't say she didn't come to Grandma's house.
I don't think Grandpa was that way at all, but I never knew
him, he died quite a while before I was born. My father said he was
a wonderful storyteller, and of course I knew he was because the
letters that he wrote back to his family in New England were
absolutely fascinating. They're all in the California Historical
Society if you want to read them.
H.T. : I have a whole lot of copies.
G. T. : Have you got copies of all of them?
H. T. : Yes.
G.T. : Bless your heart.
Riess: That's Charles Thompson Blake. When you're talking about
Grandmother, are you talking about the woman who endowed Stiles
Hall?
H.T. : I think it's the next generation back. [Mrs. Anson Gale Stiles (Ann
Waters), who was Charles Thompson Blake's mother-in-law, endowed
Stiles Hall.]
Riess: Stiles Hall has become such a liberal institution on campus that
it's interesting to think that it was endowed by a woman whose
attitudes would not be so tolerant.
G. T. : I'm sure Grandma did not endow it, no. It seems out of context, to
me.
Riess: Originally Stiles Hall was a Bible-reading group, of Presbyterian
persuasion. Were the Blakes a Bible-reading family?
G.T. : No, I don't remember Grandma Blake ever reading a Bible. She went
to church, and Mother used to go with her. My father was from a
very strict family of good old New England Congregational ists who
believed in the Bible and all sorts of things. But he backslid
49
G. T. : somewhere along the line and became an agnostic. He just didn't
believe that the word of God was in the Bible, but he thought that
church was good for you, and believe me, you went to church, whether
you liked it or not. [laughs]
Thacher School
Riess : I was reading about the Thacher School, and it didn't look like
there was a required chapel.
G.T. : No, there wasn't. He didn't believe that much in it.
H. T. : Well, all the boys went down to church.
G.T. : Yes, they had to go to church on certain days. On Sundays they'd
all arrive down at the church on horseback.
Riess: How is that, to be brought up in a boy's school?
G.T. : I don't know, that's my life. It was perfectly normal to me. It
was rather strange to be brought up in a house with no kitchen. My
mother never cooked a meal until the summer in World War I, when it
got rather expensive to keep a Chinese cook there, so she started
learning to cook. [laughs] She never learned very well.
H. T. : Once she asked me how much water to put on a roast leg of lamb.
Riess: Did you all eat at a family table in the dining room?
G.T. : No. The children, until they went to the school, ate beforehand.
We had a nursemaid, and we would eat beforehand or afterwards, but
we ate in the school dining room, after breakfast, and beforehand
at lunch and dinner.
Riess: Did your mother hold you up to the same standard that your
grandmother would have?
G.T. : No, she was a very understanding person. Sort of a buffer between
us and our father, who was pretty imperious. His word was law; you
never questioned it, you did what he said when he was there.
There were very few women at the school, other than Mother and
Grandmother Thacher — you took care of your elderly relatives in
those days, and she lived out next to us — and Mrs. Barnes, and the
school nurse. That's all, four women at the table.
Riess: During the time you were down there you came up regularly?
50
G. T. : Every long vacation we'd come up to Berkeley and stay with Grandma.
Mother said that she had no choice. She would have liked to have
gone somewhere else sometime, but Grandma said, "You will spend all
your vacations with me," so that's what they did.
Riess : But she couldn't get Robert Pierpont Blake to come, could she?
G.T. : He came along much later, and also he disappeared into the depths of
Russia and didn't show his head for years. All during World War I
he was there. He just loved languages and he loved history. He was
amazing, he spoke all sorts of languages.
Dining at Grandmother Blake's
Riess: Edwin and Anson were obedient to their mother's will.
G.T. : They lived there all the time, and they ate dinner with her every
Sunday night, and they dressed for dinner as long as they were in
the old house in Berkeley — I think they did.
H. T. : Uncle Anson and Aunt Anita did, and we had to dress in evening
clothes for Sunday supper.
G.T. : Did we?
H. T. : Heavens, yes. I remember the dresses I wore.
G. T. : I probably wore my tux then, [laughs]
H. T. : You certainly did.
Riess: Sounds as if you're one of the few people who's worn out a tuxedo
legitimately.
G.T. : Well, I grew out of it, actually. I had it for a long time.
Riess: And the wives were of the same ilk? Did Anita and Harriet rebel, or
were they chosen by their mother-in-law?
G. T. : Oh. no, certainly Aunt Harriet, Edwin's wife, wasn't. I don't think
either of them were chosen, no. Aunt Anita fitted right in with
that, she was the last of the Victorians. Oh, you can't believe
herl
Riess : Tell me.
51
G. T. : Gosh sakes! It's hard to remember the stories. I wrote some of
them down, if I can find the place I wrote them and read them when I
find them. I just wrote down that she was proper, and formal, and a
marvelous gardener.
Riess: When as a teenager you first knew Anson and Anita, they were a
couple in their late forties, probably.
G.T. : They were the same as Mother, although Anson's older than Mother —
two years. Yes, he was a genial person. The only time really I
would see him would be Sunday evening after dinner. (I didn't go to
Sunday night dinner until I was twenty-one.) After Sunday night
dinners they'd all gather in the living room and converse. Uncle
Anson was very fine, very genial. Didn't know how to say anything
to children because he never had any, but he was nice to us. Uncle
Ned, Edwin, would get off in the corner and smoke his cigar and not
say one single word the whole evening. I thought he was tongue-
tied, until much later, after I'd started to work in civil
engineering — he was a mining engineer — then you couldn't stop him
talking about his mining days, and about engineering, and so forth.
He just wasn't interested and he stayed in his corner and sulked,
[laughs]
Riess: The rest of the family would talk politics, or literature, or what?
G. T. : I don't know what they talked about. It was very dull to me as a
teenager or younger. The last summer we stayed there was 1919 or
1920. I would have been sixteen or seventeen, and I didn't pay
much attention to what they said.
Riess: You were there for the whole summer, as well as for Christmas
vacations?
G.T. : The only Christmas we went there they said I couldn't remember
because I was too young, but I do. They never believed it.
Riess: But for the summers there was enough room to keep all those
Thachers?
G.T. : We got pretty much overflowing towards the end, because there were
six of us.
Riess: In fact it was a remarkably large family.
G.T. : Six children?
Riess: Yes.
G.T. : No, not for then. We should have been nine. Mother lost three
between my older sister and me. That's the reason I was to be a
Caesarean.
52
Riess: It must have been a source of enormous satisfaction to your
grandmother that your mother was so — "prolific" is not the word —
G.T. : [laughing] "Prolific" is right! There wasn't much choice in those
days, actually. You had babies, if you got married, once a year.
Riess: Do you know why Anson and Anita didn't have children? Was there
ever any discussion?
G.T. : If there was I most assuredly would not have heard it.
H. T. : Goodness, no. Nor did Uncle Ned have children.
G.T. : You didn't talk about babies. [to Helena] How much younger is
Harriet than I? Ten years? (Harriet Thacher Herrick, my sister.)
H.T. : Something like that, yes.
G.T. : I was down in the orchard eating oranges and Father came down and
said, "You have a new sister." I had absolutely no idea that Mother
was pregnant. I mean it just wasn't mentioned, anything like that.
H.T. : And a little kid wouldn't notice.
G.T. : Mother was kind of fat anyway, you couldn't tell. With my sisters
you couldn't tell at all — that was supposed to be good. It was a
different world, oh, goodness, you don't know how different.
Riess: When you say that Anita was such a Victorian lady, maybe you should
describe her to me.
G. T. : She doesn't stand out at all in my mind when I was young. She did
later, long after we were married.
Helena and George Thacher1 s Marriage and Years in the Sierra
Riess: Where did the two of you meet?
H.T. : In Ojai. I was born in Palo Alto.
Riess: Why were you in Ojai?
H.T. : I was a guest of a college friend of mine whose grandparents had a
house down there. They came from Milwaukee and came there in the
winter, so we could go down to my hostess's mother's and stay there
in the summertime.
Riess: Where did the two of you meet?
53
H. T. : On a blind date.
G.T. : Fourth of July, 1930. I'd just come down from the job I was working
on at Salt Springs out at Jackson, for PG&E, for the weekend. (Salt
Springs is the name of a flat on the Mokelumne River where the PG&E
was building a dam.) My brother was there all alone, but he had two
guests that had shown up, a classmate, and his new wife. He wanted
to entertain them.
H.T. : So he called up my hostess and asked if she would go out and have a
picnic with him, and she said, "I can't, I have a houseguest." "Oh,
that's all right, T have a brother who arrived here at four-thirty
this morning, and he'll go." It was proper in those days for the
hostess's mother to ask people over beforehand for iced tea. Did
George arrive? I should say not. Well, he'd just gotten in.
G.T. : Tired.
H. T. : Well, yes, you were tired.
G. T. : And diffident.
H. T. : I should say you were. I didn't care if I ever saw him again.
G.T. : But somehow it worked out.
H.T. : Four years later it worked out.
Riess: How old were you?
G.T. : Twenty-seven.
H. T. : I was almost twenty-eight when we got married.
Riess: Did you have a career?
H.T. : I was a grammar school teacher in Needles, California. When I got
out of school it was hard to find a job, and also I had horrible
sinus trouble, and the doctor in Palo Alto said, "If you could find
a job in the desert it would be wonderful." I thought if I could
find a j ob anywhere it would be wonderful, so the two worked out
very well.
Riess: Then, after you got married, where did the two of you settle down?
G.T. : Let's see: we got married, went on our honeymoon, and we were going
to go up to a job in Lake Almanor — I was construction engineer for
PG&E. But they cancelled the job, didn't need me, so when I came
back from the honeymoon they didn't have a j ob there, but they did
give me a job in the office, which I didn't like much.
54
H. T. : And I had to quit a teaching job — everybody did at that time — when
I got married. Only unmarried girls and widows had jobs teaching.
G. T. : That was the Depression.
Riess: Is that because of the scarcity, or was it a policy?
H. T. : I'm not sure; I think it was the policy. I knew that I had to stop
my job if I married,
G. T. : It was the policy, yes. We lived in San Francisco for a year in an
apartment. Just barely made it financially. For five months we
were four dollars behind.
H. T. : We never sent a letter if we could send a postal, and we never took
a streetcar if we could walk. We couldn't get gasoline for the
car — he kept his car in a garage — but now and then we could splurge
and take a picnic up in Marin or something like that.
G.T. : It was pretty tough, and then PG&E did start a job.
H. T. : We went to Vacaville first.
G.T. : Oh, that's right, to work with this Soil Conservation Service in the
Three C*s Camp in Vacaville. Then at the end of the year PG&E said
they were going to drive a tunnel up on the Stanislaus River, and
would I go? I said I certainly would. It was a raise, and also it
was work I liked. They didn't start that for quite a while, but
they sent me up to another job up at Lake Pillsbury in Lake County.
You were pregnant at the time.
H. T. : Yes, I was.
G.T. : I should say you were! Helen, my sister, came up and camped with us
for some months. It was a camp job, most of the jobs were in those
days. Then the job did start up at Stanislaus and I went up there
and Helena went home to her mother, where she had our first son.
PG&E was very nice and built a little house for us up there.
Riess: Before then you were in a tent camp?
H.T. : We didn't have a tent, we just camped out.
G.T. : On the ground. I used to eat most of my meals in the cookhouse —
breakfast and lunch anyway. And the cook was very nice, he'd send
us cookies and things to eat.
H.T. : Dilly and I went up to get cookies every day until I happened to see
myself in a store window, and I was horribly fat. [laughs] I felt
fine, you know, and I didn't notice it. George had a brother that
55
H. T. : weighed 256 pounds and I wore his old jeans — and filled them.
George just brought down cookies after that.
Riess : I see. not that you gave up the cookies.
H.T. : No, I didn't give up the cookies, but I gave up being seen by
everybody.
Riess: You and — who did you say?
H.T. : Dilly. Her name is Helen, she's a sister of George's. [Helen
Thacher Griggs] She came up and camped with us, and later on she
came up to help me take care of the children.
Riess: How many children did you have in all?
H.T. : Two, boys.
G.T. : After the house was done we could drive in the summertime —
H. T. : There's no road there.
G.T. : But we had to go up on a tram, which was an open flat car that they
pulled up the mountain on a cable, and then we got on a little
construction railroad that ran on top of a flume for some miles, and
then we walked up to the house, where the tunnel was being built.
We were there for three years.
Riess: Do you remember that fondly?
H. T. : Oh, very.
G.T. : It was wonderful. Although Helena was kind of lonely, she was the
only woman at first.
Riess: By the time you emerged from that the Depression had abated
somewhat?
G.T. : Yes, we had no trouble living after that. I stayed with PG&E all
the time.
H.T. : Between jobs I went home to mother, which was very handy, because I
didn't know where to settle. He'd go work to start jobs —
Riess: And then locate someplace where you could —
H.T. : Yes, and sometimes one week he'd be told he was going to such-and-
such a place, and the next week he'd find out he wasn't going
there, we were going someplace else, so it was very handy for me to
have some —
56
G. T. : Home base.
Riess: I can imagine that those early days with PG&E were kind of an
adventure.
G.T. : It was the end of an era. There are no camp jobs now. People drive
to work whether it's a hundred miles, and seldom stay up there in
the hills. But then, when I started with PG&E in 1927 at Salt
Springs, they gave me two days off a year, Christmas and the Fourth
of July. You worked every other day, 363 days a year.
H. T. : And if you took a vacation, you quit.
G.T. : You were through.
H. T. : You didn't know when you came back if you'd have a j ob or not.
Riess: One of the things that's associated with San Francisco and the
thirties is the general strike, and a heightened awareness about
being a laboring man.
G.T. : There was a surplus of labor then, and PG&E was very anti-union at
that time. B. H. Downing, PG&E General Manager, was violently anti-
union. PG&E workers tried to start a union, but as long as he was
in they never had one.
57
Anson and Anita Blake
Family Finances in the 1930s
Riess : Did other members of the family, Edwin and Anson, have sufficient
money to get through that? Could they help you out if you had
really applied to them for some money?
G. T. : They were in pretty bad shape. Uncle Anson at that time was
director of the Bank of Oakland, which went broke, and he got hit
with a big bunch of money he had to pay up. I think he had to pay
eighty thousand dollars — which is like eight hundred thousand would
be now — although it wasn't his fault the thing went broke. He
objected to the loans they made, but didn't have enough clout to
stop them. No, they were just about on the rocks. He borrowed
money from everybody he could, and the business, the rock quarry he
ran, they had to borrow money. Borrowed about $450,000, and most of
it from his mother, who had inherited it from somebody — I guess her
husband.
Riess: She was living with them out in Kensington?
G. T. : With Edwin. She had an apartment in his house.
Riess: And she was holding that much money?
G. T. : Yes. I don't know just where they raised all that money. I know
that Mother had quite a few of the bonds, and I inherited them
eventually. They were seven percent bonds, which was usurious in
those days — that was awful for those days.
Riess: Where were you when they made the move from Piedmont Avenue to the
Kensington address?
G.T. : I was in school, at Yale. That was 1922, wasn't it?
[tape interruption]
58
Riess: Your parents sent the boys back to Yale, to get a Yale education?
G.T. : Oh, heavens, yes. I had no choice on that.
Riess: When you were back at Yale did you come home in summers?
G.T. : Yes, all except the last one. Then I went to MIT after I was
through at Yale, for two years, and I didn't come home for that
summer either, so it was quite a stretch there that I was away from
home.
Riess: When they sent you back to Yale were you sent with letters to
eastern relatives?
G. T. : Oh, heavens, they were all over, thousands of them.
Riess: How was that? Did you feel like quite a different breed?
G.T. : I never liked the East at all, or the people. They were awfully
stick-in-the-mud, they never went anywhere, whereas we did move
around a little. I would have much preferred to have gone to
Stanford or Cal. Mother went to Cal, and of course Uncle Anson and
Uncle Edwin did too. I don't know about Robert, don't know where he
went. I know he ended up at Harvard.
I don't know much about the move from Berkeley to Kensington.
I would visit them in the summers. I remember one time we went up
there and spent a night, my brother and I, on our way back to
college, and it was the year of the Berkeley fire. We got there the
day after the fire.
I don't remember whether
Riess: September, 1923.
G.T. : We did see the house at a very early time.
we stayed with Anson or Edwin.
Riess: Both of those houses imply prosperity.
G. T. : Oh, yes, they were doing pretty well then, though they never did
very well until the Second World War, and then they paved everything
in Richmond and around there. That's when the company really took
off and put the rip-rap around Treasure Island for the 1939 fair.
Riess: I've always thought of it as a wealthy family.
G.T. : Well, it was, it was a very wealthy family indeed. They had big
houses, they had help until towards the end — they always had a
couple of gardeners at the Blake House. I should think Uncle
Edwin, as long as he lived, had a cook. I can't remember. I'd
just come down there once in a while from the mountains and have a
59
Riess: Were they particularly fond of any one of the nephews or nieces?
G.T. : I don't think so.
H. T. : Elizabeth Thacher, George's older sister, lived with them for a
while. [Elizabeth Thacher. 6/13/97-8/8/84.]
G.T. : Elizabeth lived with Grandma when she went to Cal. I don't know.
There was a while there when I didn't see much of them, and then
when Uncle Edwin died Uncle Anson asked me if I'd like to be a
director, because they had a vacancy on the board. That didn't mean
anything: he'd send me the reports of how they were doing
financially. I think he wanted a director who wouldn't pay any
attention to the place. He ran it. I'd come down to the annual
meetings, annual directors meetings, where we'd re-elect ourselves.
I guess the stockholders had to sign their proxies, but they always
ended up in the same gang.
Business and Home Life, Separate
G.T. : The business and home were completely separate. Aunt Anita visited
the quarry once, I believe, and the only reason I know that is
because the old blacksmith out there said, "I saw Mrs. Blake one
time. She was out here with Mr. Blake, and he was showing her this,
and showing her that. She didn't seem to be very interested."
[laughs] And when they had their fiftieth anniversary dinner, there
was a terrible fight, according to my brother who happened to be out
there working weekends, about whether they should include the wives
in the celebration, which was to be a dinner at the Qaremont
Country CLub. They asked me, and they said that if I said to do it,
why, it would be all right. I said, well, I think it's the modern
thing to have the wives. [laughs]
I remember one of my sisters was at the meeting, and she asked
Aunt Anita who these people were. She said, "I haven't the
slightest idea." She didn't know any of the people that worked in
the quarry. Well, there weren't very many of them that were
invited, that would be acceptable even to Uncle Anson. You were
there, weren't you?
H.T. : Yes.
G.T. : I know Gus Kuppe, the secretary and accountant, and Henry Steinbeck,
the president, Ronald Nelson, the bookkeeper — he was single. But
she'd never seen them, never met their wives, didn't know whether
they were married or not, didn't know who they were. It was
different.
60
Riess: I'm trying to think when their fiftieth anniversary would have
been.
G. T. : In 1954.
Riess: I guess they were so far along they were allowed to be kind of
cranky characters.
G.T. : [laughs] Aunt Anita was a cranky character from the beginning of
her life, I think. She wasn't cranky, there was just one way to do
it that was correct, and that was her way.
Riess: And yet that way was not in conflict with your grandmother's way?
To have her up in the Edwin Blake house and Anita down in the other
house — sounds like they were the two queen bees.
G.T. : I don't think she bothered Uncle Edwin very much.
Riess: But she could not have lived in the same house with Anita, I
wouldn't think.
G. T. : Probably, that's why she was at Edwin's. I wouldn't know that.
That was intramural and I wouldn't have been in on it, certainly. I
might have heard rumors afterwards.
Riess: [to Helena] Were you very much welcomed into the family by Anita?
H.T. : Oh, yes. Uncle Anson came to call on Mother in Palo Alto while I
was there. Evidently we met with his approval.
G.T. : Oh, yes, sure.
Riess: What were your first impressions of them and of the house when you
met them?
H.T. : I was frightened. She was austere, and I was afraid I'd trip on the
rug or do something, because she was a very, very proper person.
Uncle Anson wasn't at all, he was just so pleasant. But she was not
unfriendly at all.
G.T. : No.
H.T. : And I think she began to like me because she knew I was very
interested in wildflowers and she was also. She'd take me around
the garden lots of times when we lived in San Francisco, and also
many years later, after we'd come out of the woods. About twenty-
five years, wasn't it?
G.T. : Yes.
H. T. : We'd see them now and then in between jobs or when I was in Palo Alto.
61
H. T. : I want to go back and say that I have understood that the reason
that their houses were so elegant was because the University had
given everybody that had to move from the future stadium site enough
money for land and a modest house, but they had already had this
land on a bad debt or something so that they didn't spend any of the
University money on the land, they already had it. So they spent
everything on the house.
G.T. : Well, the University took the house under eminent domain. They
gave them a good price for it.
Mabel Symmes' and Anita Blake's Horticultural Interests
Riess: You say that she had a fondness for you because you both had an
interest in wildflowers and flowers. Was that Anita's interest as
much as Mabel Symmes1? Who came first in all of that, do you think?
H.T. : I think that Aunt Anita was the botanist.
Riess: By training, or just a hobbyist?
G.T. : Just a hobbyist. She never did anything.
H. T. : I don't know what her major was in college.
G.T. : I think it was botany, but I'm not sure what it was.
H. T. : And Mabel was a landscape architect, and she did that.
G.T. : Mabel Symmes landscaped the Blake House.
Aunt Anita always impressed me with her knowledge and the way
she would go out and get things.
H.T. : Mabel never said a word when Aunt Anita was there.
G.T. : No. She lived there I don't know how many years, and they made her
pay board and lodging too.
H.T. : We just learned that a little while ago.
G.T. : She had a room, and she said. That is my room and no one else ever
goes into it," and nobody ever did during her lifetime — which was
fine, she needed it.
Riess: Why is it that Anita and Anson didn't travel?
H. T. : I don't think people traveled so much then.
62
G.T. : No, they didn't.
H. T. : Actually Miss Mabel and Aunt Anita went twice to England to furnish
that house.
G.T. : I didn't know that.
H. T. : I told you that just the other night.
G. T. : Well, maybe so. If you'd told me forty years ago I might have
remembered it. [laughs]
H.T. : I think that's what I understood from Aunt Anita.
Riess: Horticulture was an interest that could be carried on by
correspondence, with a great deal of sending of seeds back and
forth, rather than actually traveling from place to place?
H.T. : Yes, that's right. She was the only one in the United States — or at
least this is what she told me — that could grow a mate plant from
South America, and she was very, very proud of that, because no one
else had been able to.
G.T. : I know she got journals and seeds from all over the world, because
I remember one time she sent me over to the Crocker Bank to get
whatever kind of checks made out in the currency of the country
where she wanted to get the magazines. The man said, "What in the
world is she doing this for? She could send dollars over and let
them change it." But no, she wanted them in pounds or whatever they
might be. I remember South Africa was one of them.
H.T. : Yes, because she had quite a lot of South African things.
Riess: Once she discovered you had an interest in her interest was she much
friendlier to you?
H. T. : It augmented her friendliness.
G. T. : I think she got very fond of you.
Riess: It's such a wonderful passion, the passion for flowers and plants.
H. T. : I remember once when we lived in Vacaville they all three came up
and we went on a picnic up to what's now the bottom of Berryessa
Lake — it was Monticello Valley then — when the redbuds were blooming
and all that. They both of them practically rolled under the fence
to try to find some flower that was up there. I said I'd get it for
them, but no.
G.T. : Mabel Symmes spent the whole time with a magnifying glass trying to
identify what the flower was — it was completely invisible to me.
63
H. T. : It was fun.
G.T. : They were crazy about flowers, plants and things, and that was a
beautiful place to take them. Quite a shame they flooded it.
Riess: Can you think when Mabel and Anita might have gone to England to do
the shopping?
H.T. : It was before the war, probably. I know they didn't have anything
over the fireplace for a long time, because until the second time
they went, they couldn't find the right portrait to put over the
fireplace.
Riess: Yet it wouldn't have been right in the middle of the Depression, so
it must have been even before the thirties.
H.T. : Oh, I imagine so. I imagine toward the very beginning of when they
were first there.
Riess: But the two of you weren* t married until 193A.
H.T. : It was before I ever went there that they took these trips. It was
just that she told me about the portrait, and that's how I know that
there were two, because it was on the second trip that they found
it.
Family Photographs, Family Memories
Riess: Tell me more about the social life up there, when you were in
tuxedos and dinner dresses.
H.T. : That would be just us, there wouldn't be anybody else there.
Riess: Just the two of you for dinner on a Sunday night?
H. T. : Yes. But George warned me, he said, "You've got to wear an evening
dress," because he'd been there before we were married and he'd had
to wear a tux.
Riess: How often were you there for Sunday nights? Was that a regular
thing?
G.T. : Maybe three times. They did have guests in for dinner, that was a
way of entertaining, and they called on people.
H.T. : You did, you called on people instead of telephoning.
Riess: He would drive her, or did Mabel drive?
64
G.T. : I don't know how she got around. Grandma always had a chauffeur
when she lived in Berkeley. I just don't know.
[tape interruption]
H. T. : I remember a time when our little boys were about six and four,
something like that, and I was really worried about taking them
there because there were all these beautiful antiques and things
they had. Well, we saw that wolfhound [borzoi] slide on the
oriental rug and bash into that marvelous piano, and my children
mentioned that to me afterwards. [laughter]
Riess: They had a "marvelous piano?" Where is that?
H. T. : It's now at the music department at Cal.
Riess: Who played it?
H.T. : I think Aunt Anita did, but I don't know. I never heard anybody
play it. She went to the Symphony, I know.
Riess: With whom?
H. T. : I don't know.
Riess: [looking at a photograph] This is Anson and the Russian wolfhound,
a greeting card from 1934.
H.T. : And these are the only pictures I have of Aunt Anita, and these are
from much later.
Riess: This is an interesting choice of picture for the greeting card.
H.T. : They're all of the house.
Riess: Here is a very dramatic view of things, through the rock: "Best
Wishes." This is 1936. And the plantings are looking a little more
established in these.
H.T. : Bancroft Library has a picture I sent them of the Blake House when
it was first built, absolutely barren.
Riess: This one is from Edwin and Harriet Blake in 1934. Quite a charming
entrance to their house.
G.T. : That is the house that's livable.
H. T. : Yes, much more livable than the other.
G.T. : Also they weren't so formal.
65
Riess: The house was less formal and the people were less formal?
G.T. : Yes. Well. Aunt Anita was formal.
Riess: Did she and Harriet get along?
H.T. : As far as I know. After Uncle Ned's wife died her widowed sister
was living with them, and she stayed on. After that time they were
never invited down to the other house.
G. T. : Anita never spoke to her.
H.T. : And never spoke to her brother-in-law since.
Riess: That's because of the impropriety?
H.T. : You bet.
G. T. : You don't do that. You can't believe it. but it's true.
Riess: She sounds very unforgiving.
H.T. : She wasn't forgiving at all.
G. T. : Oh, heavens no, not at all.
H. T. : And she was quite critical of several people.
Riess: Where is this picture taken?
H.T. : At the Anson Blake house, and this was later made into a room,
glassed, there. The front door is over here.
Riess: This is now the solarium. Beautiful ceiling.
H.T. : It's a beautiful house, but it truly wasn't very livable.
G.T. : I didn't think it was. I never felt at home in it.
Riess: Why do you think that was?
G.T. : Oh, formality.
Riess: Lovely views — 1938 Christmas greeting — this is one of their pieces
of statuary, a Kuan Yin.
H.T. : Oh, yes, she loved those. I always forgot which one was which.
Riess: How did she acquire them, do you know?
66
H.T. : She just knew all about oriental art, and she had friends over in
San Francisco who would get things for her, or if they got things,
they'd tell her immediately because they'd think she might buy them.
She had marvelous things.
Riess: Friends who were dealers?
H.T. : Yes. Later on they and their families, some of them, were sent to
internment camps, and she kept track of them, and they wrote to her.
The letters to her I think The Bancroft Library has now. It's
funny, I just don't know whether she would have ever asked them to
dinner or not.
G.T. : No. I'm sure not.
H.T. : But she thought these people knew a lot, which they did, and
through them she knew a lot. She gave scrolls away — this may be
after Uncle Anson died — marvelous Japanese scrolls, to the
University, $2,000 worth each year.
G.T. : She didn't, she gave them all in one year. If she'd spread them out
she would have gotten more deductions, but Uncle Anson never
understood that the income tax was taking all his money away — never
understood it. For years he refused to make out a joint return
because Anita would have to sign it and then she'd see what the
finances of the family were.
Riess: So even though he had perfectly astute treasurers down at the
quarry, nobody could advise him.
G.T. : He didn't trust Anita. When he gave her money she'd spend it on
these things.
Riess : She didn't have an income of her own from her family?
G.T. : She may have had a little.
Riess: How did Mabel Symmes, for instance, get along? How was she able to
pay the rent?
G.T. : She had a little income of her own. When she died I think she had
$125,000, or something like that.
H.T. : She worked.
Riess: She was supposed to be quite astute about the stockmarket. Wasn't
that one of the things that she did up in her room, follow the
market?
67
G. T. : Oh. yes, she always followed all the stocks, and she went to all
the shareholder meetings. I guess when her father or mother died
she settled the estate without a lawyer. It was easy. She was a
businesswoman, all right.
Riess: But Anson felt that Anita would have just lavished this money on
plants and on art?
G.T. : I think so, yes.
Riess: [looking at photographs] "Aunt Nita" — who was allowed to call her
Nita?
G.T. : I called her Nita, and you did.
H. T. : I did, yes.
G.T. : I think that was a baby name.
H. T. : Didn't Uncle Anson call her Nita?
G.T. : No, he called her Anita.
H. T. : That1 s right.
G.T. : But I called her Aunt Nita always.
H. T. : And Miss Symmes called her Anita.
Riess: She looks a good deal more approachable here, as a matter of fact,
[photograph from 1954]
H. T. : She became more approachable, 1 thought, or maybe I grew older. But
I didn't truly like her.
G.T. : She was a difficult person to like.
Riess: You always felt on guard around her?
H.T. : Yes.
Riess: She didn't mellow in her old age?
H.T. : I think she mellowed, yes.
G.T. : Some, but she still —
H.T. : I walked lightly.
Riess: Do you think Anson walked lightly?
68
H. T. : Oh. no.
G.T. : With her? I don't know. He respected her views, I know that. He
said once. "You know my wife is the last Victorian." He started to
say something else, and he realized that you don't say things like
that about your wife, and he stopped. I always wondered what he was
going to tell me. [laughs]
Riess: She certainly is clear-eyed and with her head held high here.
G.T. : Though she got almost blind before she died.
Riess: It's interesting. The Edwin Blakes1 greeting card shows plants with
quite a different feeling from the Blake Garden's look.
H. T. : This willow tree was sort of between their yards. They had a rose
garden together, which was between the two houses. I've forgotten
what happened when the nuns got that place. Did they divide the rose
garden?
G.T. : The nuns stopped their wall on their side of it and started it
again on the other, and they wanted to buy that little corner of
land but Anita would not let them. The Mother Superior said,
"Well, the church will last longer than you do." I don't know
whether they have that now.
H. T. : They didn't the last time I went over there, which is probably
about five years ago.
In a very short hallway between the living room and their
bedroom was a display — I've forgotten whether in wall niches or in a
narrow glass-topped table — of tiny treasures of ancient oriental
carvings. On the wall above were small, framed ancient etchings,
paintings, etc. A new addition, since Uncle Ned Blake d;.ed and the
nuns moved in, was a blessing sent to Aunt Nita by the Pope, via the
nuns. The only time I can remember a real twinkle in her eyes was
when she told me about it. She just knew the nuns were trying to
get that extra corner of property that had been the rose garden
jointly owned by the Anson and Edwin Blakes. She had told the nuns
she would not sell it. (Besides, she was a Unitarian.) But the
Mother Superior said the church would eventually get it as it was
forever and would outlive her. We have often wondered what became
of that piece of land, University of California, Berkeley, or the
Catholic Church?
When I was clearing out the Blake House, the Mother Superior
offered me from the Edwin Blake house a one-foot high plaster statue
of a naked baby boy listening to a conch shell. I have it now. (We
saw a similar one on a fountain in Charleston, South Carolina.)
69
Riess: What did Harriet Blake do? Did she have any special interests?
G.T. : Birds, she was a bird watcher. She used to trap them and band
them. That's all I remember.
H.T. : That's all I remember too. A very pleasant person.
G.T. : Oh, yes, she was an awfully nice person. It was a shame she didn't
have children.
Riess: You wouldn't say that of Anita?
G.T. : I would certainly have pitied the child. I'd hate to be brought up
by Anita.
Being Entertained at Blake House
Riess: Tell me about the tea parties. What would you eat? Who would be
there?
H.T. : I'm just thinking about when we went there for tea. I went to a
great "do" one time, the only time I ever saw Uncle Robert [Pierpont
Blake].
Riess: Yes, when he was there she had a reception.
H.T. It was crowded with people.
G.T. : They were all over.
H. T. : And I didn't know any except your siblings.
G.T. : I remember they served drinks; wine, I think, and probably tea too.
H. T. : I don't remember anything but seeing Uncle Robert loom up above
everybody else. She served tea just to the two of us, or maybe with
our children, or somebody else, often.
G.T. : Miss Symmes.
H. T. : She sat in the window, up by where Aunt Anita always sat, lots of
greenery, indoor plants, which practically crowded out the view.
Miss Mabel would come and sit behind the greenery and doze.
Aunt Nita served tea on an East Indian, carved sandalwood table
about this big, and it sort of tipped. Sometimes, if the cook or
the maid wasn't there, later on, she'd ask me to bring in the tray
because she couldn't.
70
G. T. : And we had sandwiches or something.
H. T. : Tell about the cigarette case.
G. T. : Oh, yesl They asked me if I would like a cigarette after dinner one
time. I don't know when it was, probably fifteen years after the
Second World War. It was a Lucky Strike in a green package. 'lucky
Strike Green goes to war" — that was the slogan at least fifteen
years before. It was the stalest cigarette I ever smoked in my
life — the package had been opened during the war!
H. T. : Uncle Anson didn't smoke, did he?
G.T. : No, Uncle Ned did.
Riess: All the greenery would have been on the western side?
H.T. : It was sort a bowed place, and Anita always sat in a certain place
on the side of that.
G.T. : It was fine for her because the light bothered her eyes. She had
cataracts.
Riess: Did they have fires in the fireplace?
G. T. : Every evening.
H. T. : Let me tell you about the first dinner that I went to there. For
dessert they served persimmons with whipped cream in these very
tall, elegant Venetian glass goblets, with color that went down the
stem and all that. Well, the cook hadn't really chopped the
persimmon up enough, so that I would lift up this huge gob — I love
persimmons — and I couldn't make it into a bite size. I sort of
poked around, but I didn't want to really push down on it very much
because of that beautiful stem. I never did eat the dessert,
because of that glass stem. That was when the cook was the waitress
also, I'm sure.
Riess: Were the cooks Chinese?
H.T. : No.
G.T. : She had Chinese cooks at one time, but not then.
Riess: Did she invite other garden people to see the gardens, and did she
have garden events there?
G. T. : I don't think she had garden events.
H.T. : I don't know. You see, we were gone a long time.
71
Anson Blake's Business and California History Interests
Riess: It was twenty-five years that you were up in the mountains?
G. T. : Yes. Then we came down here in 1959. and Uncle Anson died in '59.
She died in 1962. because we sold Blake Brothers Company in 1963.
H.T. : Every now and then we'd be down here, between jobs or something like
that, and then we'd see them. It wasn't an absolute twenty-five
years without seeing them.
G. T. : You saw a lot of her when she was ill, in the last years of her
life. You were over there at least once a week.
H. T. : Oh, yes. I went over often.
Uncle Anson asked George to join the company a year before he
died, and George said that he would after he finished a certain
underground powerhouse that he was building for PG&E, and that's
what he did. He quit PG&E and —
G.T. : Started to work for Blake Bros. But Uncle Anson was never there
after I got there, he never went to the office except I think he
was out there once — he was ill at the time. He said, "Did you
settle with Henry — Henry was the president — how much your salary
would be?" and I said yes and told him what it was. He said, "I
don't believe you'll be worth it to the business."
Riess: But he was joking.
G. T. : No, he was not.
Riess: I think it's funny that he kept Anita so in the dark about the
business.
G.T. : Women had no place in the business, I can tell you that.
H. T. : Well, you had a secretary.
G.T. : Oh, yes, a typist.
Riess: But Anita let him in on the gardening part. He was keen about the
gardens, wasn't he?
H.T. : Oh, yes, bushes, that kind of plants, not necessarily flowering
things.
G.T. : California shrubs. As for California history, he knew everything,
he was marvelous. If you got him started talking about history.
72
G.T.: and about the early days, he was a marvelous storyteller.
H.T. : Yes, I suppose that's why I joined the California Historical
Society.
G.T. : That's the reason I joined the Pioneers.
Riess : Why was he so interested in California history?
G.T. : He got it from his father. He gathered all the letters together
that his father had sent back east, and edited quite a few of them
and published them in the California Historical Society Journal.
And then he had some of the diaries of the two fellows that came out
with Grandfather. He didn't send those in because they were a
little too frank.
Riess: It started out as an interest in family history? I suppose that's
why people get into historical societies and so on.
G.T. : Yes. He always was interested in it, though. It started at a very
young age — as far as I know.
H.T. : He wrote a lot of things.
G.T. : He wrote a few good books. He wrote a story about the early days
in San Francisco, when he was young.
Riess: The letters that are too frank — ?
G. T. : It was a diary that was too frank.
Riess: Too frank for what?
G.T. : Oh, they'd say they'd gotten drunk the night before and felt
terrible. He didn't want anybody to know that about his father.
There was a good story my mother told me about Grandpa: When
he came out here he wasn't going to stay, but of course he did, and
he died out here. The people back east sent a preacher out here to
look him up and report on him. This preacher never found
Grandfather, but he found these really disreputable friends who'd
say, "Oh, Charley Blake, sure, that old drunk," and this one guy
told him some terrible stories about Grandpa, and he went back and
reported what he'd learned. And Grandpa didn't know anything about
this for years, and he wondered why his family and relatives back
there were so cold toward him. Some years later he found out, but
he never disillusioned them. Mother said, "But Papa, why didn't you
tell them about this?" He said, "They wouldn't have believed me."
73
The Estate
H. T. : For a few years before, and after we moved to Orinda. Mrs. [Igor]
Blake helped Aunt Anita buy her clothes.
When her younger sister Mabel Symmes died about a year before
she did, her lawyer said that Aunt Anita had to make a will — she had
not made a will.* She asked me to mark her possessions that she
wanted to give to certain people. I went over every single day with
a whole lot of tags and what-not, and then she couldn't talk. So
except for certain things that she'd told me about before, I didn't
find out anything else. Except the last day — I don't know how she
could talk the last day — but evidently the day she died Dr.
Chris tensen was there, and Aunt Anita asked her to write down
certain things for certain members of the family.
So when the will came out I was willed all her personal
possessions "knowing she would distribute them according to my
wishes," [laughs] So that's all I had, with the doctor's list and
what she had told me before. It was awful, dreadful, you just have
no idea how hard that was. Well, her relatives were pretty feisty
about things. The Thacher and Blake families were reasonable, but
they were certainly sort of mad about some of the things that the
University took — like monogrammed silver.
Riess : It was the Symmeses that you're thinking of?
H. T. : Yes, the Symmeses were pretty hard, two nephews and a niece.
G.T. : They fought over everything.
H. T. : They fought over things among themselves.
Riess: You had to divide it between them and you?
H. T. : And Liz and Igor. Well, we got sort of mad because the rugs were
Aunt Anita's mother-in-law's, and the monogrammed silver she'd
inherited, and the University took that and the rugs. The interior
decorator, a teacher at Cal, they called him "Duke" Wellington, he
took a lot of things that really shouldn't have been taken.
Riess: How did that happen?
*For a further note on the will, see Appendices. Appendix W.
74
H.T. : Mrs. Strong and Mrs. Kerr came in and we sorted out lots of things.
I had a whole house of things to do, and I took the things to give
to the people that the doctor had written down. It was very
awkward.
G.T. : "Personal effects" was what she said — jewelry is a personal effect.
The lawyer said that in law a lot of things that I would have
thought were personal effects, like monogrammed silver, were not,
but I think the University got to the law firm that settled it.
Checkering and Gregory — I'm sure they did.
Riess: Chickering and Gregory were the Blakes' lawyers?
G.T. : Yes.
Riess: But they certainly are University-connected, you're perfectly right.
Did anyone contest that?
G. T. : No, of course not. It isn't worthwhile contesting.
Riess: There is a copy of a will in the papers, and I don't know if it was
Anita's or Mabel's, but there's a division of things among five
members of the Symmes family.
H.T. : That was all done for Miss Symmes.
Riess: That was Miss Symmes' will, not Aunt Anita's then?
G.T. : Yes.
Riess: She had a woman doctor?
H. T. : Yes. Dr. Christensen.
Riess: That's interesting.
G.T. : Good heavens yes! [laughs] I once asked her if Dr. [Wayne] Chesbro,
who was Anson's doctor, was hers too. "Certainly not!" [laughs]
Riess: Well, for someone who was active in the campaign against suffrage —
G.T. : Was she?
Riess: Apparently she was.
H. T. : I didn't know that.
Riess: Yes, and so was Anson. They gave a good deal of money to defeat
suffrage.
G. T. : I think that would make sense.
75
Riess: I'm thinking that a woman doctor is in what she may have thought to
be a man's province.
G. T. : Maybe so, but you get a little intimate, and that was it.
Riess: That's nobody's province, [laughs] This business about the Taft
bed — the family was very proud to be connected to the Taf ts?
G. T. : Oh, yes. Grandma had him to lunch one time when he was President.
H. T. : Seems to me I remember something about the Taft bed, but I don't
remember what.
G.T. : I don't remember about it either. Was that the four-poster?
H.T. : Yes, and they sent it up to Ohio.
Riess: It's interesting to hear that there was a beautiful piano. What are
some of the other objects in the house that you think of right away
when you think of the house?
G. T. : I think they're all still there.
H. T. : A lot of them are there. All the bedroom furniture went to the
greatniece, Kuechler's girl. A piece of jewelry, white sapphire
jewelry, that all the Symmeses fought about, I finally gave to Aunt
Nita's niece. Carol Symmes Kuechler. I had to do something with it,
we couldn't carve it in two like Solomon.
G.T. : She took it to a jeweler first, and he looked at it, and he said.
"It's paste."
H.T. : That wasn't first, was it? Did I take it to the jeweler first?
G.T. : Yes.
H. T. : I know I learned it was paste.
G. T. : He said, "It's very good paste, but it's paste — Spanish paste — not
sapphire." Good lord! It would have been priceless if it had been
sapphire, it had stones all over it.
H.T. : It was an enormous broach.
G. T. : It was a necklace, wasn't it?
Riess: Did Anita wear it?
H.T. : No, I never saw it before, but that was one of her personal effects.
76
H. T. : I gave to the University drama department hats, clothes, and shoes
that they wished.
Riess: Did you see Anson at Historical Society meetings? Did you go to
meetings when he was there?
H.T. : No.
G.T. : No. I never did. I didn't join the Pioneers until after he died.
I couldn't afford it.
Riess: We talked about the Piedmont Avenue house. Did they bring
furnishings from that house, do you know, in 1922?
G.T. : I was seldom in Anson Blake's house. I did stay for a while with
Uncle Ned. When this family got too big we overflowed into Uncle
Ned's, but I was in Anson's house seldom. I wouldn't have noticed
the furniture anyway.
H.T. : I can tell you about some of the furniture that was in Grandma
Blake's apartment. It had this big desk in here [referring to
furniture in Thacher living room], and this table, and — what else
came from Grandma Blake's?
G.T. : From Uncle Ned? Some of the rugs.
H.T. : When Uncle Ned died he left some money, and Uncle Anson said, how
would we like to take out our money in Uncle Ned's furniture? I
said, "Marvelous!" So these chairs, that sideboard, this —
G.T. : We got a lot of furniture. Helena picked it out. Also we got some
rugs.
H.T. : Yes, we got some rugs, that rug there.
Riess: Did you take family portraits? Are any of the portraits around
here from there?
H. T. : That's my family.
Riess: Your maiden name is Duryea.
H.T. : Yes.
Riess: From the east or from the west?
H. T. : Froc. west of the Hudson. You understand that that's not good,
that's west. From Ithaca, New York State. My father was from
Craigville, New York — I bet you don't know where that is.
Riess: No.
77
G.T. : Orange County, Goshen. New York.
Riess: You've just come up with some more pictures; I want to see what you
have there.
H.T. : Both of those are of Grandma Blake. Anson Stiles Blake's mother.
Riess: And this nice, fat baby?
H.T. : Yes, that's Aunt Harriet Carson Blake. And this is Grandpa Blake,
Charles Thompson Blake.
Riess: Well, now that looks like the sort of person who settled the west.
G.T. : He was.
Riess: Tell me more about him.
G.T. : I don't know too much about him, actually. I know he was blind as a
bat, terribly near-sighted. He wore glasses when he was five years
old. They didn't know he was near-sighted, but he put on somebody's
glasses who was also near-sighted, and he said, "I can see the
leaves on the trees!"
H.T. : Did you know anything about the Taj o Mine?
Riess: No.
G.T. : That wasn't the Blakes1, that was Grandma Stiles', I guess. That
was a mine in Mexico that they invested in that paid off. According
to Igor it was the basis of their capital. Taj o is the Spanish word
for "deep." The mine's gone now, flooded and caved-in.
Looking At Photographs — Memories
H. T. : These are all of Uncle Anson. I think. George's mother said he grew
a beard because he had a very little chin.
G.T. : That's right.
Riess: What's the key that he is wearing here in this 1954 picture?
G.T. : I don't know. I think it's just a watch fob.
Riess: In 1897 he had no beard, and whenever this was taken he'd gotten a
mustache with a little waxed curly tip on it.
78
H. T. : This is another one of Grandpa Blake when he was older. I presume
you saw that at Igor's.
Riess: I haven't been to Igor's, and he didn't bring it with him. Oh, this
is Asa Waters [grandfather of Harriet Water Stiles], And then you
have this collection of letters and articles.
H.T. : These are articles that he wrote.
Riess: "The California Centennials," "The Hudson's Bay Company in San
Francisco," "A San Francisco Boyhood," Berkeley in Retrospect."
G.T. : He would have been twelve or fourteen when he moved there.
Riess: "My San Francisco," "The Land on Which We Live."
G. T. : He wrote a lot of things, and he wrote well.
Riess: Did he do that at home or in his office?
G.T. : I don' t know.
Riess: California Historical Society luncheon program, where he is the
speaker on "California Life in the Mines, 1851-1852." That would
have been a research paper?
G.T. : No, I think that was probably mostly based on Grandpa Blake's
letters.
Riess: These are interesting little [1 3/4 inch by 2 1/2 inch] photographs;
what were these for?
H. T. : Isn't that wonderful — that top hat there — I don't know. There are
no dates on it.
G.T. : He had thousands of photographs in that house, none of which had the
names or the dates on them.
H.T. : Igor and Liz and George and myself and one of the Symmeses were over
here; there were people we'd never seen, and the photographs were
certainly not dated.
G.T. : They had no names on them, either. They said that Uncle Anson, if
you asked him who they were, would tell you not only the last name
but the first and middle and what they did. But he wasn't alive
then.
Riess: "Seventy Letters of Charles Thompson Blake, Mostly to His Parents,
from Nicaragua, California, Oregon Territory." [1849-1864]
78a
CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY LUNCHEON
Cltft Hotel, Roof Lounge
•
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 1933.
SPEAKER MR. ANSON S. BLAKE
SUBJECT: "CALIFORNIA LIFE IN THE MINES, 1851-52"
Portlier Experiences of Cnarles T. Blake and kis Associates
Lunckeon will t>e served promptly at 1 2: 1 5. Friends of members
are welcome. Price $1.00 per person, payable at tke door.
»
PLEASE REPLY BEFORE MAY 29.
79
H.T. : The handwritten originals are in the California Historical Society.
I did that because I thought that that's where Uncle Anson would
want them. As a matter of fact. I was terribly surprised that they
weren't already there. I was surprised to find a hand-written
holograph at Blake House.
Ties with the University
H. T. : I don't remember what arrangements were made about giving the house
and garden to the University.
G.T. : Oh, he gave it before he died.
Riess: In 1957 it was given over.
G.T. : They had a life tenancy. He was delighted to do that because it was
a tremendously valuable piece of property and his estate was very
short of cash — all he had was the quarry. You couldn't have sold
that for what it was worth, and you couldn't have realized what it
would have been appraised for, and the tax on it would have been
prohibitive in those days.
Riess: Did the University compensate them in some way during their life?
G. T. : Oh. no. He was delighted he gave it, and they took it without an
endowment. He wanted to keep it the way it was, too, especially
Aunt Anita did. after all the time she'd spent there.
Riess: Had they been very close to the University? Had they had a lot of
ties with it?
G.T. : He had a lot of ties with Stiles Hall, and with the University.
She was good friends with Willis Lynn Jepson, who wrote the
book about flowering plants of California. I know he used to go to
dinner because I met him there one time. Before we were married.
Riess: Did you ever meet any of the students who apparently lived with them
periodically?
G.T. : Yes, I certainly did, and I couldn't tell you their names or
anything about them, but I know there were some that I would see
once in a while.
H.T. : I remember a gardener 2y had. The University would have nothing
to do with him. He was an Indian, and he was a wonderful shot.
You could get a permit to shoot deer if they were ruining your
80
H. T. : garden and all that, which is what was happening. But the
University didn't think much of him, and they got somebody who is
still there, I guess.
Riess: Walter Vodden. He came in 1957 when the University acquired the
grounds.
G.T. : I know he didn't know anything at first.
H.T. : No, he didn't. He studied every noon, and she said, "He doesn't
know anything, but he's learning and he's trying," and she thought
that was very good. But she liked her old American Indian because
he got rid of the deer.
Riess: He didn't do it with a bow and arrow, did he?
H.T. : No, he didn't. He was a good shot.
H. T. : Aunt Anita and Miss Symmes gave me plants for this yard, mainly
the clivia, I said I would never remember that name, and Aunt Anita
said, "Just remember Lord dive." I thought, "Why should I remember
Lord Clive? " But I have never forgotten it.
G.T. : He was quite a famous man.
Riess: Did they come out to this place and help you decide what you should
have here?
H.T. : Oh, yes, and Miss Mabel said. "Just shake all of those leaves down
out of the poplars and take them and put them on your mulch and make
a mulch pile as green as possible." Oh. yes, they came out. I
wonder whether Uncle Anson ever came here.
G.T. : I don't think he did, no. He was too ill.
Riess: Did they actually dig things out to give to you?
H.T. : The gardener did, yes.
Riess : Well, thank you. Our tape is just coming to an end.
Transcriber: Johanna Wolgast
Final Typist: Shannon Page
81
Regional Oral History Office
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California
Blake Estate Oral History Project
Elliot and Elizabeth Evans
FRIENDS OF THE BLAKES
An Interview Conducted by
Suzanne B. Riess
in 1987
Copyright
1988 by The Regents of the University of California
ELLIOT A, P. EVANS
82
TABLE OF CONTENTS — Elliot and Elizabeth Evans
INTERVIEW HISTORY 83
BIOGRAPHY 84
Anson Blake and the Society of California Pioneers 85
Family Friendship with the Blakes 88
The Fortnightly Club 90
83
INTERVIEW HISTORY
I interviewed Elliot and Elizabeth Evans in order to learn more about
Anson Blake. Dark-suited, forever agelessly bearded, Anson Stiles Blake
gazes pleasantly out of yellowing photographs. He was, by all reports, a
good husband and a good businessman, and a good friend of the University of
California. The family rock-quarrying business engaged him, but he joined
in his wife's interests in gardens. He and his wife Anita loved each other
dearly, as testified to by their letters in The Bancroft Library. They
gardened together on weekends. He pursued family history and California
history. He was a lifelong supporter and member of the board of Stiles
Hall. But throughout the oral history he gets overlooked: Mrs. Blake and
the Gardens steal the show.
Fallacious as such conclusions might be, they were good reasons to seek
out as interviewees men friends or acquaintances of Anson Blake's. But that
was difficult to do for a man who died in 1959 at a fine old age. If I
could find some member of the Society of California Pioneers or the
California Historical Society who recalled earlier years of those groups and
could tell us how engaged Anson Blake was with them — he was the author of
many papers read to the latter society — it would color in the picture
somewhat. Elliot Evans, curator of the art collection at the Society of
California Pioneers, was recommended for an interview.
I met with Elliot Evans and his wif- Elizabeth at their ridgetop home
in Orinda. Both of them had memories of the Blakes. Elizabeth Evans's
mother, Mrs. Charles Janin, had been a friend of the young Anita Blake and a
member of the Fortnightly Club, of which Anita was a founding member. The
Fortnightly CLub had been mentioned by Gladys Wickson in her "In Memoriam"
piece written for the California Historical Society Quarterly and I wished
to know more about it. Thanks to leads from Mr. and Mrs. Evans, this
interview and the appendices that follow include notes on the club.
Mr. Evans's health was not good, and it took some arranging to find a
day that was just right for interviewing. But with the help of the Evans's
daughter everyone was comfortably arranged around a table and the recollec
tions flowed. As Mrs. Evans said, "The visit with you made a very pleasant
interlude in our day. . .we are happy that we could add a few 'crumbs' to
your research project."
Suzanne B. Riess
Interviewer-Editor
October 29, 1987
Regional Oral History Office
486 The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office University of California
Room 486 The Bancroft Library 84 Berkeley, California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please write clearly. Use black ink.)
Your full name £jj
Date of birth &C*V JL. \lOl Birthplace ^JAnV QL
Father's full name ^*.y>^ \A*JL V^V\rKtMr lL.Wpi.vv, S
Occupation _ fr^v* C\€/»T^> * '*f Birthplace _ £«N^\A.V\ A
Mother's full name
Occupation Va^u.c.oiA. « r>A>X\\vi\ z*> Birthplace Sa.nV"f
Your spouse _ ^; . -X-flAicrU J»vvv.w
J»
Your children CauT.»C. *E- \ va.o^ \o^H>v £.<^ i "tV ft VN w A.\\ i < arvy ^ ^
Where did you grow up?
Present community \}t\v> Q> 4
Education M K "T V T>
Occupation (s)
Areas of expertise
Other interests or activities
Organizations in which you are active_
Regional Oral History Office
Room 486 The Bancroft Library
84a
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please write clearly. Use black ink.)
Your full name
Date of birth
Father's full name
Occupation
Mother's full name
Occupation VNWXAAM**^*^
Your spouse
Birthplace
•3>. F,
Your children
Avi
IT U ^g /I Uj
Where did you grow up?
Present community vWi f\ <Aa-*
Education
Sf 5V«J
Occupation(s)
Areas of expertise
Other interests or activities
I VI
Organizations in which you are active T"t U
CJ^<Z
85
Anson Blake and the Society of California Pioneers
[Date of Interview: April 1. 1987]
Riess: I've come to talk to you about Anson Blake because I understand
you worked at the Society of California Pioneers. When was that?
Evans: There's a tiny story there, I suspect. When did I go to work for
the society, Mama?
Mrs. E. : I have a blank on that.
Riess: What were you doing before that?
Evans: I taught at Santa Barbara and at the University of Colorado, art
history and so on.
But the story I was thinking of was that Mr. Blake had a
preference in favor of two-and-a-half percent American treasury
bonds for the Society of Pioneers' income fund. Well, that
produced just half the interest they were capable of, and it
seemed very wasteful, and the board really forced the issue. He
promptly resigned and never went back. It was too bad because we
all liked him, were very fond of him.
Riess: That's a man of great principle?
Evans: In the first place, it wasn't his money, it was the society's
money. No one ever did discover, including myself, after a
diligent search of my uncle's quirks, why he too liked those two-
and-a-half percent bonds — because he had the same, and I did his
affairs when he was infirm. Why didn't Uncle [Reginald Bertram]
approve of the five percents, Mama?
Mrs. E. : Was it the length of holding?
Evans: I don't think I ever found out.
86
Riess: I've entertained and enlightened myself by spending the morning
reading some of Anson's writings. His father took him, when he
was four years old, in 1874, to a celebration of the twenty— fourth
anniversary of the admission of California to the union. It was a
Society of California Pioneers excursion on the bay. Anson said
there was, as in all subsequent events, an abundance of food, more
bottles on the table than plates, and afterwards a good deal of
oratory. I would really love your recollections of the earliest
kinds of events that the Society had, and what the quality of that
oratory was.
Evans: I don't know; I wasn't connected that early. See, I'm an honorary
member. I became one of the rare things, which is an honorary
member.
Mrs. E. : It must have been in the sixties.
Riess: That means you don't have to have been a Calif ornian by birth?
Evans: Yes, you don't have to have it because you've already got it.
They've always been pretty careful about their membership.
Mrs. E. : You did go on a lot of their excursions, didn't you?
Evans: No, because in my time there weren't so many.
Riess: You were in charge of pictures at the Society?
Evans: Oh, yes.
Riess: What does that mean?
Evans: Curator sort of thing.
Riess: People would give their collections to the Society.
Evans: Yes, and I looked after 126 collections and the exhibits and so
on. We also had the librarian, who was Mrs. Helen Giffen, such a
remarkable person. She knew them well, because she had — is Helen
a hundred?
Mrs. E. : No, not that old, but she's going along I know.
Riess: Was Anson Blake coming to meetings when you had your job as
curator?
Evans: No, I can't remember that he came to a single meeting after that
difference over the percentage point.
Riess: In what year did that difference occur?
87
Evans ;
Riess :
Ev ans ;
Riess ;
Evans :
Riess :
It was the year that Ed Keil was elected president. [Keil
president 1948-1952] His brother was also president, so it would
be the Ed Keil connection there, because I don't think Mr. Blake
really cared very much for Mr. Keil.
Had Mr. Blake been a real leader of the Society up to that point?
I'd say a sitter, rather, [laughs] and that's what blew the fuse
over the finances.
In other words, he wasn't pushing the organization forward.
He was just like my uncle, who had, for his retirement, a damn poor
portfolio. It was topping off at around fifty thousand, when with
a few gentle scratches of the pen we got a quarter of a million
out of it. He had just sat, as Mr. Blake had, on the most
comfortable things — except handling the scissors for clippings was
not convenient, his rheumatism was a little troublesome,
[laughter]. But it seems to me that Mr. Blake never came back
after they voted to loosen up on the two— and-a- half s.
Mr. Blake was very much more a solid businessman than my
uncle was, and they were well known to be leaving the University a
bite, which they did. There is a little incident there: How in
the hell I happened to get there in the garden on the morning
Anson got his honorary doctorate [September 29, 1958], I don't
know. That's cloudy. But I was there. When I got admitted — we
never went in the house, you wandered around the yard where it was
flat — Mrs. Blake said, "Dr. Evans, have you greeted Dr. Blake this
morning?" I said, "No, I haven't seen him, but I was looking for
him." She said, "Well, he is — " wherever he was. I said, "Well,
I think it's just very, very nice for him," because I had recently
gone over the things that had happened to him.
Mrs. Blake said, "Well, they didn't hurry it, Anson will be
ninety at his next birthday" — or something of that sort. She was
not bitter — but I couldn't say I blamed her much because the
Blakes had given to the museum and University, and I guess the
municipality too.
Did the Blakes give any of their pictures to the Society of
California Pioneers?
Evans: I can't remember.
Riess: These papers I have, Anson' s writings, some of them were printed
for the California Historical Society Quarterly, so clearly that's
where they appeared. But some of the other typescripts — did the
Society of California Pioneers have it's own quarterly or
publications?
88
Evans: Yes, from time to time, and I suppose he must have written for that.
Riess: Was that something that the members did, assign themselves to do
a report on some subject?
Evans: I don't think so. I can't recall anything of the sort.
Riess: The impression that I'm getting is that there was a lot of good
fellowship and food in the Society of California Pioneers, whereas
the historical society was more academic?
Evans: I think so. The Pioneers liked a good table, and a good bottle,
but so did the California Historical Society. [laughter]
Mrs. E. : They shared the same building for a while.
Evans: Oh, for years.
Riess: So what niches did they occupy that were separate? What did they
stand for, each of them?
Evans: The Society of California Pioneers was much less taken with its
historical mission, I think. You had to be born with it. The
Historical Society was always a little — I shouldn't say pushy,
that isn't the right term — concerned over it's historical
reputation. And I should say that Anita and Mabel, her sister,
were concerned for it.
Riess: Other than being a Californian, did you have to have money or a
certain social class to be a Pioneer?
Evans: No. You had to be reputable. I guess, and that was expected.
Elizabeth's rife with it, their family in all directions is
eligible, but mine's not, I'm only honorary.
Family Friendship with the Blakes
Riess: When did you meet Mr. Blake?
Evans: Along with Mama, in 1957. They were friends of her [indicates
wife] parents.
Riess: [to Mrs. Evans] Your parents?
Mrs. E. : My mother [Mrs. Charles Janin], who was brought up on Claremont
Avenue near the Blakes, lived in Berkeley. She also had known
Mrs. Blake as a young girl, I believe. Didn't you know them
beforehand, Elliot?
89
Evans: I may have met them through Aunt Mary [Mrs. George R. Greenleaf] .
When our daughter Caroline [Carol Elizabeth Ibold] gave us
our twenty-first anniversary party she asked the Slakes, and Mrs.
Blake said she'd be delighted to come. Some of Anson's relatives
were visiting at the moment, so Caroline said, "Bring them."
Turned out it was their sixty-third anniversary — and our twenty-
first. (We were then living in a hovel over on Parkside, in
Berkeley. We've had much pleasanter places since then.) So the
Blakes came.
Mrs. E. : Did Joseph Ewan know the Blakes?
Evans: Certainly, and Mrs. Blake's sister, because of their botanist
friends.
Riess : Who is this person you mentioned?
Mrs. E. : This was Joseph Ewan. He's quite a well-known botanist. I know
he must have spent quite a bit of time with them.
Riess: At what occasions would you see Anita Blake?
Evans: Oh, like at his sixty- third wedding anniversary, our own party.
Why did I meet them?
Mrs. E. : Did you meet them through Joe [Ewan] maybe?
Evans: No, I think I had met Miss Symmes through Joe, but that was later.
When Auntie Helen's granddaughter Barbara Bachman got married, "I
got stuck with Anita." We always got along nicely, if somewhat
slowly. [laughs].
Riess: Your little asides need explaining.
Evans: She was making her way rather tortuously up the stairs, the brick
steps on the front porch, and I said to her, "Can you use an arm,
Mrs. Blake?" I knew damn well what she needed was a wheelchair.
I was wondering what was going to come of that. She said, "Yes,"
wheezily, "Anson is so independent in these matters." I had
merely grabbed hold of the old lady, knowing she was ninety, and
feeling that she needed a chair for the ringside activities which
she was certainly entitled to witness.
Riess: And Anson had charged up ahead?
Evans: He had abandoned her completely. She was so cute and with such
dignity and apparently no hard feelings. "Anson is just that way
on such occasions." I think I must have witnessed a similar thing
90
Evans :
Riess:
Evans :
Riess :
Evans :
Mrs. E.
Evans :
Mrs. E.
on a different occasion, because over the years we have been
living north, as it were, his independence was always noticeable,
if not conspicuous.
Yes, what were you impressions of him?
Well, in the first place I guess I liked Anita better. I found
Mr. Anson a little stuffy, and Mabel very pleasant. But they were
really always so nice, and they were patient. Our children were
very fond of them, as little kids, and Blake was a name to be
considered favorably.
Were you ever invited to garden parties up at the house?
Yes, Edith [daughter, Edith Ann Evans] says we were, and on
occasion she recalls the sprinkler system got turned on and sent
everybody scurrying for cover. 1 don't remember that at all, do
you, Mama?
I don't. I think sometimes you might have gone when I didn't go.
We went sometimes I think with Erwina [Mrs. Charles Janin] because
she always enjoyed going — Erwina being Mama's [Elizabeth Evans]
mother, and friend of Anita's and Anson's.
Mrs. Blake was very kind and invited us up to have tea very
shortly after my mother passed away. I thought that was a very
kind thing to do because it was nothing one felt like doing in a
moment of sadness.
The Fortnightly dub*
Riess: Was Mrs. Blake connected then with the town and gown of Berkeley?
Mrs. E. : I think she was mostly, as my mother was, in a circle of old
friends.
Evans: See, their people had lived in Berkeley since the early 1850s.
Mrs. E. : Might have been in Fortnightly Club.
Riess: She was one of the founders of it. I'm so glad you brought that
up. What was that?
*Additional material on Fortnightly Club in Appendices, K, L.
91
Mrs. E. : It was a club of rather intelligent women, I believe, and they met
fortnightly. It was mostly old-time Berkeley people. They had
plays, readings, that kind of thing — it was intellectual. Didn't
you speak to them one time, Elliot?
Evans: Yes, I was just beginning to remember that I did. I don't know
what about or when, but I think we were living south then.
Riess: I thought the Fortnightly Club was a San Francisco group, but
you're saying it was Berkeley.*
Mrs. E. : Yes, it was Berkeley, definitely Berkeley.
Riess: Berkeley town?
Mrs. E. : Berkeley town, I believe. It might have had its base in Anna Head
School graduates, or some of them might have been women that
attended Cal early, too — I know my mother did early — it might have
been based on that.
Riess: Do you think they would discuss political issues? Or was it more
literary?
Mrs. E. : I have a feeling they wouldn't have discussed political issues too
much. I think in those days people didn't bring up political
feelings with friends.
Riess: I was wondering, for instance, whether these women might then have
become suffragists, eventually.
Mrs. E. : [laughs] I don't think so, they were more or less a passive type
of people. Was it Miss Locke who was a dramatic person — that
type? She often gave readings, things like that.
*"A year after her marriage, Anita was one of the seven
"organizers" of the Fortnightly Club of San Francisco. Twenty
years was the minimum age limit and the membership was limited to
sixty in addition to honorary members. The "objects" of the
Fortnightly dub were "mutual sympathy and counsel in all further
development," and were to be carried out "under the direction of
sections." Included were such studies as French, English, history
of religions, music, and art. One program, two years after the
founding of the club, was to be devoted to a debate: "Resolved
that study and society are compatible." Apparently the
afiirmative won, because the club continued its existence for some
decades, Anita and her co-organizers bearing witness to a
thoroughly flourishing "compatibility." (Gladys Wickson, in
California Historical Society Quarterly "In Memoriam, " Vol 42,
No. 2, June 1963, p. 178.)
92
Riess: Your mother and Anita — can you think of the names of any other
women who were part of that group?
Mrs. E. : There was Mrs. [George R.] Greenleaf, but she became a member
later, didn't she?
Evans: Yes, because she lived down in San Jose.
Mrs. E. : But maybe when she was first married she was in Berkeley. Her
daughter is living, and she was a member of the Fortnightly.
She's in Sacramento now, Frances Helmke. She might be able to
tell you quite a bit about all that.
Riess: I wonder if they kept minutes, and whether all of those minutes
were put anywhere.
Evans: They'd be in Bancroft, it seems to me, if anywhere.
Riess: Do you know why it ended, whether it became something else,
whether it drifted into being another group?
Mrs. E. : No, it definitely ended, and we had one of the last meetings at
our Parkside home. My aunt was a member, and by the time my
mother passed away the membership was dwindling, and the people
were elderly, and it was quite a chore to entertain. She asked me
if I would do it for her — she was in an apartment then. So we had
them over for their last meeting, and I don't think they continued.
Mrs. Elizabeth Malozemoff, I remember she was a member too. She
was taken in more recently than some of the others, and so was my
aunt. Miss Annabelle Carney. I think she hoped that maybe they'd
pick up new members and keep on going, but I think it just kind of
petered out.
Transcriber: Johanna Wolgast
Final Typist: Shannon Page
93
Regional Oral History Office
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California
Blake Estate Oral History Project
Louis Stein
THE BLAKES AND THE KENSINGTON COMMUNITY
An Interview Conducted by
Suzanne B. Riess
in 1986
Copyright
1988 by The Regents of the University of California
RKELEY
Louis Stein, hand on the Berkeley horsecar that
was in the backyard until acquisition in 1987 by
the Society of California Pioneers.
Photograph by Suzanne Riess
94
TABLE OF CONTENTS — Louis Stein
INTERVIEW HISTORY 95
BIOGRAPHY 96
Excerots from a Conversation about the Slakes in Kensington 97
95
INTERVIEW HISTORY
This short interview is quite literally excerpts transcribed from a
tape of conversation with Kensington, Berkeley, and El Cerrito's font of
local history, railroad buff, and general community resource, Louis Stein.
Mr. Stein and I met at his home where he had at hand a part of his
treasury of maps and scrapbooks dating back sixty years or more. Frustra
ting as it was for him not to have everything to turn to — he has given some of
his collection to the Contra Costa Historical Society — it was probably just as
well we didn't have more datal It was his memories I was after.
What I wanted to tape was Mr. Stein's recollections of the people who
lived at Blake House. Perhaps Mrs. Blake or her sister Mabel Symmes had
visited Louis Stein's Kensington pharmacy on Arlington Avenue, or he could
recall the conversations he had with his comrade-in-devotion-to-Calif ornia-
history, Anson Blake. My questions led off into interesting tangents, and
while there were not quite the anecdotes that Mr. Stein and I would have
wished, there is a feeling of what the small town of Kensington was like in
the early years, and the involvement of Anson Blake in the community.
Elsewhere, in the Contra Costa Historical Association and Berkeley
Historical Association archives, and in the Berkeley Architectural History
Association files, Mr. Stein has answered the Who? What? Where? How? and
Why? questions of generations of students of local history, from grade
school to graduate school. His collection of historical photographs is well
known. When he and I reviewed the transcript after his editing we were
seated in the office of the director of The Bancroft Library, where Mr.
Stein was warmly greeted by friends who know him and his admirable archives.
Mr. Stein's home is on a very ample lot in Kensington. My photograph
of him on board his streetcar hadn't been planned — he was ready to give me the
photograph, included, of Anson Blake and himself at the historical society
meeting — but I had my camera, and when we were taking a look outside, after
the interview, at his trees and his garden, he asked whether I'd like to see
what was housed in the rather large shed in the back part of the property.
It was a streetcar! This streetcar has since been donated by Mr. Stein to
the Society of California Pioneers. And so, the photograph of the
streetcar, the man, and the garden now constitutes another piece of history.
Suzanne B. Riess
Interv iewerEditor
November 11, 1987
Regional Oral History Office
486 The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
Room 486 The Bancroft Library
96
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please print or write clearly)
Your full name
T v T r
Date of birth Au6 2l 190S Place of birth Berkeley Cak
Father's full name Louis Lorenz Stein
Birthplace
Occupation Butcher
Mother's full name Dorothea Reismann
Birthplace
Occupation House wife liillinery
Where did you grow up ? North Berkeley
Present community
Education
Berkeley
Chemistry S -.n Fr
years at Cak Berkeley Cne year Pharmacy School $
l st
SP.CRF. rV;?r-vr? 4Q veara
Occupation(s)
"Fa.T7r.pi"
Cwner
Special interests or activities History ,of Pharir.acy. Railroads, "Berk-ply
Costa County, California. Gave Druestore at Co.un.bia Sta
Granc Fur.bu - ---
Y«rb(
irTTT_ „___,. , ~ ---.-«, - UClia. Ulictp ler S U.LAJ/ir'Ub V±
I5TCRICAL liATIOITAL SITE I ART I ICE Z CAL.
97
Excerpts from a Conversation about the Blakes in Kensington
[Date of Interview: December 10, 1986]
Riess : You said on the phone that you used to drive Anson Blake to meetings
on occasion.
Stein: Here's a picture taken in 1958. We went to the famous Paul's
Restaurant in Martinez. This picture shows myself. Justice Bray,
George Harding, past president of the California Historical Society,
and Anson Blake. I don't recall just what that talk was about, but
I took him to many regular meetings of the Contra Costa Historical
Society, he and George Louderback usually. Louderback was from the
geology department, and they were classmates at the University of
California.
We used to enjoy talking and reminiscing about early Berkeley.
(I happen to have been born myself in Berkeley.) I also have
pictures from when Mrs. Stein and I purchased the Martinez adobe,
which is now part of the John Muir complex [John Muir National
Historic Site], and we had a dedication of the plaque on the
building. Mr. Louderback was there; also Anson Blake. I have some
beautiful shots, but they're over there now in the Contra Costa
County Historical Center — we call it the library — in Pleasant Hill.
Riess: Was Anson Blake very scholarly?
Stein: Yes, very scholarly. A very quiet man, very quiet. But he could
give you lots of information about early Contra Costa County. He
told me about purchasing the Schmidt and Fink tract down in El
Cerrito. And there is a street in El Cerrito, out near Potrero
Avenue, called Blake Street after him. This was in 1894, the first
subdivision in El Cerrito. [looking at subdivision map Stein
unrolls] He later had his quarry out there.
Riess: In 1894 he was quite a young man, twenty-four.
98
Stein: This date, 1894, is the Schmidt and Fink tract. Later he went in
with George Schmidt and purchased most of this tract here. That's
where the famous French Lafayette Park was located, a very popular
picnic ground. [continue to look at map and discuss turn of the
century El Cerrito]
This is Moeser Lane, and this is Fink Lane. I went to high
school with Mr. Fink's daughter. It's now called Portola. They
didn't like the name [Fink]. It wasn't unionized. [laughter]
Here's Schmidt Lane, named after George Schmidt. His family came to
Berkeley in the 1860s and got a lot of the Domingo Feral ta land down
by Sacramento Street. They were in the construction work, building
streets, and they had a quarry up on Grizzly Peak when I was a boy.
Riess : Was Anson Blake a good investor? Was this a good investment on his
part?
Stein: Well, you can see here that in 1894 the lots sold for $375. But he
just speculated. Maybe he was interested in the quarry. There's a
quarry up on the top of the hill there. It was Hutchison Quarry.
Riess: I wonder if he studied geology.
Stein: I don't know. I have an old Blue and Gol d, and I see he was
interested in sports. Usually was the manager or something. Edwin
Blake, his brother, was the athlete, and Anson was the engineer. Ed
was the more loquacious one than Anson. Anson was very quiet until
you got to know him.
Riess: Did he always have a beard?
Stein: All the time that I knew him.
He got me to join the California Historical Society, and I've
been a member over thirty-five years. I used to go once a month
over to the Palace Hotel where they had their luncheons at that
time.
Riess: How did you first meet Anson Blake?
Stein: Oh, through my drugstore. I had a drugstore in 1928. Down in
Kensington. I was the second businessman out here. It was the
Arlington Pharmacy, Louis B. Stein. (My Kensington book is out at
the Contra Costa Historical Society. I just loaned it to them to
copy.)
[discussion of early railroads in Berkeley-El Cerrito area, 1890s,
and where the rail ran through property in the Schmidt and Fink
tract that was owned by Anson Blake]
Riess: You met Mr. Blake because of the pharmacy. He and Mrs. Blake used it?
99
Stein:
Riess :
Stein:
Riess ;
Stein:
Riess :
Stein:
Yes. And Mrs. Blake, his mother, was still alive, and she had a
chauffeur who had been a delivery man for Sills Grocery Store, which
was a very fine grocery store, like the Goldberg Bowen Store [San
Francisco] .
Where was Sills?
The corner of Allston Way and Shattuck.
Edy1 s, the creamery.
Later the location of
The chauffeur would drive her around in a nice, fancy car.
Then when the Depression came along he [Anson] drove an old Dodge —
we had one too — one of these old four-wheel hard Dodges that you
couldn't wear out. And you'd see him every morning driving to his
quarry out in Richmond.
Were the Blakes a real part of the Kensington community?
Yes, they were. They were very interested in politics. Later he
got control of the cemetery [Sunset Cemetery]. He got there
because of keeping up the roads and selling them aggregates and so
on. Anson did, and Ed.
[looking at a 1936 map that shows the Blake lands in
Kensington] E.T. Blake, Ed Blake, had 11.9 acres; R.P. Blake,
9.926; E.B. Thacher. And then here1 s Anita Blake.
Why is this land in Anita's name and not in Anson1 s name?
I don't know. Maybe it was homesteaded. They homestead it to the
woman, and they can't sue them if anyone tries to take it away from
them. That's the Homestead Law. The wife can be assigned a
property and nobody can seize it for debts or anything. Could have
been that. He was a smart fellow.
And this shows how the Sunset Cemetery was located. That swung
along Franciscan Way up to the E.B. Thacher part here. This part,
after they developed it after the War Number Two, was known as
Blakemont. It was all subdivided, and it was very poor land, kind
of clay and big boulders in it and so on. And it had all these wet
spots on it. It had been a cattle ranch. A man named John M. Balra
had a dairy there.*
*Recalling the spring day in 1922 when the family went out to choose
the site of their new home in Kensington, Mrs. Blake wrote that the
property at that time "was a mile from where the little street car
ended, and it was open land, largely pasture land, but sloping down
100
Riess: Did Anson have to do with locating the Sunset Cemetery there?
Stein: I don't know. I do know he sold them the aggregates and so on.
Riess: Back to Anson Blake's historical society interests. He was involved
in Contra Costa?
Stein: Yes.
The California Historical Society met where the Society of
California Pioneers met — there weren't too many — and then Mr. George
Harding came along and they bought the Whittier Mansion where they
are now.
Riess: And did Anson discuss any of the talks he gave with you?
Stein: No, he didn't like to show off. A very quiet man. Shy.
Riess: Was it that they were quiet, or were they rather above things?
Stein: No, no, just shy. Ed [Edwin] was the more outgoing one. He was
younger and he ran the plant out there. He did all the engineering
and so on and so forth.
Riess: Did the two of them, Anson and Edwin, go to work together?
Stein: I don't recall. I imagine Ed went separately, because he might have
to take his car to go to downtown Oakland. You see, the original
quarry was Blake and Bilger, across from Oakland Technical High
School, where the big shopping center is there now [Rockridgej.
There was a big canyon there, a big lake in there where the old
quarry was, that was called Blake and Bilger Quarry.
from the top of the ridge above us to the more level land below. It
was bounded by two little lines of drainage, really streams at that
time, and there were wild flowers everywhere: houses were not in
sight. Down below we faced El Cerrito, that big mound on the
shoreline, with an adobe of the Castro family which was still there.
Down at the foot of the grade not far away was the 'metanza', a
slaughtering field for the cattle owned by the Spaniards. Along our
southern stream was a trail... followed by the coyotes...When we got
there we heard almost the last howls of the coyotes. There were not
many left, but everything else was left, and it seemed as though we
would never have a garden." [From Blake House files]
101
Riess : What were your impressions of Anita Blake?
Stein: Oh, she was very quiet. But later I got better acquainted, after
Anson passed away. They had prescriptions at the drugstore, and
they had a Chinese cook, and the Chinese cook had a young boy who
they sent to the local schools there, sent him through school. And
during the Depression he had one niece living there — her married
name was Hooper. She had a little Ford coupe that she used to go to
Cal in, a little Model A. She'd stop in the store all the time.
And there was a nephew there, a relative there who was in the
lighting business. Is there a Day Lighting Co. in San Francisco?
He had something to do with that. And they all lived out there with
them during the Depression. All lovely people, very friendly.
They had a man out there named Mr. [George] Isola who was sort
of the grounds keeper. He lived on Temescal, in north Oakland, and
came out to work. He'd water down the old macadamized road, and it
would get dusty every day. You always wondered why he didn't ever
pave it with tar, so it wouldn't be dusty all the time. [laughter]
Of course Anson was in the rock business, see!
I've been into the house. Of course you had that beautiful
Italian pool there, in front of the place. And he planted all those
redwood trees there. That beautiful grove.
Riess: Yes, but I think of it as her doing, not his.
Stein: Probably Anita.
When I was at the house I found a lot of stationery. I don't
know why I didn't keep it. She corresponded with different flower
groups, getting seeds. And Anson also had a privilege of getting
from the United States Agricultural Department, or whatever it was,
all the new, exotic plants as soon as they came out. They farmed
them out, to see how they would grow.
Riess: Where did you see the correspondence?
Stein: I think in some old letters laying around. There was stuff there in
his old library that I went through with the groundskeeper. He was
just watchman for the place, a very friendly fellow. This was after
they had died. He had a German name, as I remember. [Walter
Vodden]
Riess: Apparently she had gotten seeds from many people. There would have
been a lot of correspondence.
Stein: That's right. I remember it there, but I never had sense enough to
keep it.
102
Riess : Was this in a library, or in her bedroom?
Stein: A library. It was on the east side, and there were a lot of glass
doors there in front of it. Books and so on, and all kinds of
papers lying there. There was a lot of stuff just laying there.
They just didn't want it. But everything was gone, except some
stuff in piles there. They had weeded through it. All of those
letters — most of them addressed to Miss Symmes.
She [Miss Symmes] showed me — they had a cactus garden just
below the house, where it was sunny, the south side, and there were
all these quail down in there, lots of birds and so on. But kids
would get in there, and they finally put in a cyclone fence around
it that went all the way down to Franciscan Way. [Mr. Stein also
noted that a nephew, Lester Symmes, lived with the Blakes in the
1950s.]
Riess: Who did they socialize with in Kensington?
Stein: Anson knew Walter Baxter very well, who ran the cemetery. The
Baxters were very close to the Blakes. Anything that Anson wanted —
Kensington was unincorporated then, and they wanted to take the
cemetery in, for taxes I dare say. So Anson would get into a little
politics once in a while.
Riess: Apparently Anson spent a lot of time, early in his career1 — before
they moved to Kensington — in Venice, in the Delta.
Stein: I know that the Napoleon Byrne family was in Venice. They owned
Venice Island and lost their shirt on account of the flood. They
had a beautiful house in north Berkeley up on Oxford Street, just
caught fire, the oldest house in Berkeley. [discussions of oil
speculations in Wildcat Canyon, ca. 1906]
Riess: I'm interested in the names on this map of owners of land adjacent
to the Blakes in Kensington. Here we have Stebbins.
Stein: That' s Lucy Stebbins.
Riess : Did they live up there?
Stein: No, it was an empty tract for a long time, and then it was sold to
the Mormon Church around the late 1960s. They were going to put a
church out on that hunk of land there. It was very poor land, very
unsteady land. There have been a few houses put up there now.
And this is Reverend Westwood.
Church.
He was with the Episcopal
103
Riess: And Annie Maybeck. The wife of Bernard Maybeck.
Stein: The Maybecks owned land up along the ridge there, the extension of
Purdue Avenue, and they would sell you a lot, but you had to have a
house that he would design. One of those houses out there is made
of slabs of concrete with rice hulls in it, and it has a tin roof on
it. It's still there.
Transcriber: Suzanne Riess
Final Typist: Elizabeth Eshleman
104
Regional Oral History Office
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California
Blake Estate Oral History Project
Clark and Kay Kerr
THE BLARES' S GIFT TO THE UNIVERSITY, 1957-1963
An Interview Conducted by
Suzanne B. Riess
in 1987
Copyright
1988 by The Regents of the University of California
Clark Kerr with the family at home in El Cerrito. Left to rights
Caroline; Clark E. ; Alexander, on chair with Clark. March 1952.
Kay Kerr with
105
TABLE OF CONTENTS — dark and Kay Kerr
INTERVIEW HISTORY 106
BIOGRAPHY 108
Meeting with the Slakes to Discuss Disposition of the Estate 109
Stiles Hall HA
The Condition of Blake House 116
The Valuables in the House 120
Prytanean Undertakes Making Blake House a Graduate Women's Residence,
19631964 122
Turning Blake House into a Livable President's House 125
Maggie Johnston 128
106
INTERVIEW HISTORY
When I was planning the Blake House Oral History Project I looked
forward to linking three University of California presidents' wives in
the story: Libby Gardner, the wife of the present President David P.
Gardner, whose enthusiasm for the Blake House got the oral history project
going; Nancy Hitch, whose devotion to remodelling, and residence in the
house with President Charles Hitch, gave it the face it has today; and Kay
Kerr, who championed the house's role as a gracious residence for graduate
women in the interim between the demise of the Blakes and the advent of the
Hitches.
I met with President Emeritus Clark Kerr and Mrs. Kerr at their home in
El Cerrito, about a mile north of Blake House's Kensington address. The
Kerrs1 is a big, generously-situated modern house of the California indoor-
outdoor living school, and they have always preferred, when chancellor and
wife, or president and wife, to live there rather than in the official
residences — University House, or Blake House.
Dr. Kerr opened the interview with his recollections of visiting Blake
House with Mrs. Kerr in 1958. They were the guests of Anson and Anita Blake
at tea. The Kerrs remember a pleasant meeting at which a gentleman's
agreement was reached as to how the University of California would handle
such a gift as the Blake Estate. But four years later, after Anita Blake's
death in 1962 when the property came to the University, the house that
seemed dark and conservative-looking at that afternoon tea was revealed more
accurately to be dilapidated. And the job fell to Mrs. Kerr to do something
about it.
After Dr. Kerr left for his office on campus, Mrs. Kerr and I continued
our interview, talking further about her response to Blake House, and she
gave some background on her role as president's wife in the early 1960s in
seeing to completion the creation of appropriate housing for chancellors on
the expanding campuses of the University of California. For the story of
how the Prytanean Alumnae group took on the project of using Blake House as
a women's residence, she referred me to Janice Kittredge, and an interview
with Mrs. Kittredge follows.
Busy in those years as president's wife, travelling from campus to
campus, Mrs. Kerr was helped greatly by Maggie Johnston, who brought
imagination and zip and the proverbial Old Blue Cal spirit to her job as
assistant to the president's wife. Between Kay Kerr and Janice Kittredge's
interviews, Maggie Johnston and the projects she dreamed up are vividly
recalled. Indeed, one of the intentions of President and Mrs. Gardner in
initiating the oral history series was to have naggie Johnston interviewed,
but she died before the interviews actually started. It requires no reading
107
between the lines of the Kerr and Kittredge interviews to see how important
Maggie Johnston was to the presidents' wives. The notion of grace and
graciousness ties her to Blake House history.
Suzanne B. Riess
Interviewer-Editor
October 29, 1987
Regional Oral History Office
486 The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office ,Qg University of California
Room 486 The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please write clearly. Use black ink.)
Your full name Clark Kerr
Date of birth MaY 17,1911 Birthplace Reading, Penn.
Father's full name Samuel William Kerr
Occupation teacher - farm adviser Birthplace Pennsylv.
Mother's full name Caroline Clark Kerr
Occupation housewife Birthplace New York state
Your spouse Catherine Kerr
Your children dark Edgar. Alexander William. Caroline Mary
Where did you grow up? Berks County, Pennslyvania
Present community El Cerrito - Berkeley
Education see WHO'S WHO and University file.?,
}
)
Occupation(s)
)
Areas of expertise
Other interests or activities
Organizations in which you are active_
Regional Oral History Office University of California
Room 486 The Bancroft Library 108a Berkeley, California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please write clearly. Use black ink.)
Your full name Catherine Mary Spaulding Kerr
Date of birth March 22. 1911 Birthplace Los Angeles, CA .
Father's full name Charles Edgar Spaulding
Occupation electricl engineer Birthplace Iowa
Mother's full name Gertrude Mary Smith Spaulding
housewife Poughkeepsie, NY
Occupation ™ ra Birthplace °
Your spouse Clark Kerr
Your children clark EdSar' Alexander William, Caroline Mary
Where did you grow up? Los Angeles - summers in the Santa Clara Valley
Present community El Cerrito
Education B.A. Stanford University 1932
Occupation(s) housewife -
Areas of expertise community leader - public relations - journalism
Other interests or activities See Oral History on Save S.F. Bay Association
Organizations in which you are active East Bay Regional Park District - Adv. Board
Vice-Pres. Save S.F. Bay Association
formerly active with Univ. groups such as YWCA, Mortar Board, Theta Sigma Phi (hone'
journa '
109
Meeting with the Slakes to Discuss Disposition of the Estate
[Date of Interview: March 3, 1987]
C. Kerr: Our meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Blake was probably about the spring
of "58, wasn't it? Is there any record of that?
Riess : No, there are very few records, and that's exactly why we're doing
this.
C. Kerr: My remembrance is as follows: I think the Blakes asked us to come
to see them. My impression was that there had probably been some
comment in prior years by the Blakes to Robert Gordon Sproul about
the desire to make a gift to the University.* They were good
f riends.
Riess: I know that Ida and Mrs. Blake were friends.
C. Kerr: Sproul had been a member of Stiles Hall, hadn't he? as an
undergraduate, and shown some interest over the years, and I just
assumed there had been some contact there.
As well as I remember the occasion, the Blakes asked us to
come to see them, and we went one afternoon — I was on the way back
from the office, and Kay came in. I had met him before, I knew
him somewhat, but if I'd ever met her before, it was just to say
hello. It was a very dark house in those days, with very subdued
lights and very conservative furniture and so forth, and we sat
there and had tea in the big room. I guess the fireplace was
going.
Anson Blake said something about having been devoted to the
University all of his adult life, and they wanted to give their
house and their garden to the University. They wanted two
*The deed of gift of the Blake Estate is dated December 4, 1957.
See Appendices, U, V.
110
C. Kerr: assurances, which I gave: one was that the garden would be
retained and kept up properly — Mrs. Blake in particular had spent
a lot of her life developing the garden — and that the house — they
didn't, as I remember, say anything about maintaining the house,
and they didn't make any specific request about it, except that it
be used in some worthwhile way, for the sake of the University.
Kay can take up on how we did initially use it, and then it became
the president's house after that.
Anson never asked us how we would use it. He just asked for a
commitment that it be put to a good use, and we said "Well, there
are lots of ways it could be used, and we have to consult various
people," and we could assure them it would be called Blake House.
I don't know whether he asked that; I don't think he did. He was
a rather shy person, but I made some comment that we would of
course want to recognize the Blake name. Because it was the Blake
estate, and the area around there was called Blakemont.
Riess : Yes, Louis Stein said that it was called Blakemont.
C. Kerr: Yes. And he'd had such a long connection with the University. He
was a very nice and sincere person, not asking anything for
himself, or for the family; he just wanted to be sure that the
things that I've mentioned, the garden, and then the house would
get some good use. It was polite, and friendly, and that was
that.
I don't know if there's any follow-up correspondence or not.
There may have been, but he didn't ask for anything in writing at
all; he just wanted personal assurance. If I remember correctly,
that meeting would have been after I had been appointed as the
incoming president, but before I was president. It was more as
the incoming president, as I remember it, than it was as the
outgoing chancellor, at Berkeley. It is easy to remember
situations. I can see the room, and see them sitting there, and
so forth. But to remember what the dates were is another matter,
without looking at the record. He certainly didn't ask for any
commitment by the University. I guess at some point we took it to
the Board of Regents, as a kind of a routine matter, but I don't
remember having been involved in drawing up any contract.
K. Kerr: I think after he died she took over, and it went through the
landscape gardening department, and I don't think much was done
until she died.
C. Kerr: That could very well have been. As far as I remember, it was done
very much on the oral level, and there were no commitments by the
Regents or by the University except what was said alone.
Riess: But you certainly thought it was a good thing?
Ill
C. Kerr: Oh, yes, sure. Well, it was a wonderful garden, [laughs] We
didn't—
K. Kerr: We didn't know anything about the house, [laughs]
C. Kerr: It didn't occur to me at that time that it might become the
president's house. Or if it did occur to me, I don't remember it,
because we had our own place here, where we had lived as
chancellor, because the Sprouls lived in the main house on campus,
and we were perfectly content to keep on living here — in fact,
wanted to. University House was reserved for the chancellor, and
as the incoming president we were content with where we were. It
was when Charlie Hitch came along, and he didn't have a facility
which could be used as a president's house, then we developed it.
Riess: When the Blakes were giving it, do you think they were thinking in
terms of a University-wide or Berkeley-wide use?
C. Kerr: I don't think that was a distinction that they made. In those
days the University was Berkeley. Since then there's become a
whole University-wide system, but when people — particularly
Berkeley alumni — thought of the University, they thought of
Berkeley. I don't remember any distinction drawn between the
Berkeley campus and the University. It was to be given to the
University of California, that was clear, but the University of
California in his mind was Berkeley. It was said "to the
University of California;" it wasn't said "to the University of
California for the use of the Berkeley campus."
Riess: Mai Arbegast said that she "babysat" Mrs. Blake towards the end,
and kind of fostered — something. Had you felt that it had been
fostered by the landscape architecture department, this whole
relationship?
K. Kerr: With the landscape department, sure.
Riess: The whole gift?
K. Kerr: I don't think they were interested in the house at all.
C. Kerr: My impression was that it was an unsolicited gift, that they
wanted it done of their own accord. Did they have any children?
Riess : No.
C. Kerr: That was my impression: that they had none. The institution they
were closest to was the University of California. In my opinion,
it was done out of their own initiative, out of their devotion to
the University, and with the hopes which I have expressed.
112
K. Kerr: But there really weren't any strings.
C. Kerr: No.
K. Kerr: They didn't say, "You can't sell it, "and they didn't say, "You
have to use it for this," it was just: "This is for the
University." It was very casual.
C. Kerr: As I say he was a very gentle, reserved person.
K. Kerr: Very much a gentleman of the old school.
C. Kerr: The University wasn't out there soliciting it, and he was sort of
hesitant: "Are you sure the University will want it and make good
use of it?" Most gifts come in other ways [laughs], with people
having demands, and they are solicited, but this they did on their
own and just with a sense of goodwill.
The other brother had had his house become a nunnery — is it
still with the Carmelites?
Riess : It is, yes. Noel Sullivan apparently purchased that and then gave
it to the Carmelites.
C. Kerr: I carried the impression that they didn't want anything done there
which would disturb the Carmelites. They didn't visualize
having a big dormitory put there, you know, or a lot of faculty
housing. They hoped it would be kept somewhat as it was,
particularly the garden — less the house.
Riess: It sounds like he dealt with you as gentleman to gentleman.
C. Kerr: That's right, it was.
K. Kerr: And somebody else carried the ball afterwards.
C. Kerr: Afterward we all must have said something.
K. Kerr: Maybe not until it was done.
C. Kerr: It wasn't even done in the sense of a formal handshake, as some
things are, where you shake hands after you make an arrangement;
we shook hands when we left, but that was as friends, not as
somebody who had made a deal.
Riess: Did Anita have any input in this conversation?
K. Kerr: I don't even remember her saying anything.
113
C. Kerr: I don't think she said very much, I think he carried it, and
carried it for her, about how devoted she was to the garden. She
certainly was polite and friendly, but it was his conversation.
Riess: Was Mabel Symmes, her sister, there?
K. Kerr: No.
114
Stiles Hall
Riess: One other thing: you said that he was certainly a friend of the
University. I do know that Stiles Hall was such an interest of
his, and he was an Old Blue, but in fact had he been a donor
and an active friend of the University? Why is it your impression
that he was a great friend?
C. Kerr: Through Stiles Hall, and wasn't he on the board for fifty years or
something?
Riess: Yes. Did you have dealings with him in Stiles Hall?
C. Kerr: I would see him, yes. Stiles Hall played a much more important
role then in the life of the Berkeley campus than it has since.
There was something called Rule 17, which I did away with, and for
my pains in doing away with it, I paid some costs, both left and
right — but that's a separate story. Rule 17, among other things,
said you could not have controversial speakers on campus, and it
was ruled that anybody running for public office was
controversial.
But anyway, Stiles Hall took the burden of the controversial
speakers. I always thought that Robert Gordon Sproul supported
Stiles Hall in part because it was the safety valve. But Anson
Blake, all through those years, supported the right of people to
speak, and he was a fairly conservative person and a leading
businessman in the community, and owner of property, etc. He was
always absolutely 100 percent behind having Stiles Hall open to
the expression of any point of view. He, to me, represented the
spirit of that board.
Riess: This was just tacit, or was he actually outspokenly for freedom of
speech?
C. Kerr: No, he was just always there, and would join in any statements in
its defense. He was not an aggressive person; he just took his
position in a quiet way, but it was always known that Anson Blake
was there. I admired him greatly.
115
Riess : Actually, one of the things that he felt very strongly about, and
put some money into, was the idea that women should not vote.
C. Kerr: Oh, really? I didn't know that, [laughs]
K. Kerr: That doesn't look well for his sister-in-law and his wife.
[laughs] I think he was a very conservative person in certain
respects, the "old school" type. But the "old school" would also
be very much in favor of American freedom.
C. Kerr: Yes, sure, the Bill of Rights and all of that. He was a very
upright, principled person.
K. Kerr: Very conservative in dress, was how I —
C. Kerr: Oh, yes, and the house was just sort of out of the 1890* s.
Riess: Did they walk you around to look at any of the paintings or
scrolls, or the things that they loved in the house?
C. Kerr: No.
K. Kerr: We weren't there very long. We were there an hour at the most.
probably.
C. Kerr: Well, the conversation was about a half an hour, and with the
pleasantries and so forth we were there about an hour or so.
Riess: That's quite a good picture of the whole thing. Thank you.
[Clark Kerr leaves]
116
Riess :
The Condition of Blake House
Your impressions of that first meeting were the same? Did Mrs.
Blake take you aside?
K. Kerr: No. we all sat together. I was trying to remember, but I don't
recall that she had any help. She must have had live-in servants
at some point, but I don't remember any help, and I don't remember
having any great impression of the tea. I know we sat around and
had tea, but I don't think we had anything else, in other words.
The house was, as dark said, very dark and dingy inside, and not
inviting. We had a feeling that they lived for the garden — or she
lived for the garden.
After Maggie [Johnston] and I got in there, after Mrs. Blake
died, we had Mr. [W.A.] Parish in the crew from the University
looking at it and we found the structural problems — you know, the
foundation had sunk, and the front hall was maybe one foot lower
from the front door to the window. As you walked, you were sure
you were on a boat. [laughs] That whole side of the house had
sunk. There was nothing in the sunroom, it was just kind of a
hole, which was later turned into a nice sunroom.
Riess: It was just an open loggia, wasn't it?
K. Kerr: Yes, just an outside patio kind of a thing, under the overhang.
The condition of the house — it's awfully hard to tell because she
was so old, whether it was the result of being old, or whether she
never had any interest in keeping up the house anyway. I mean, I
can't imagine living in a house, even old, where everything was
wrong. The furnace didn't work, the plumbing had to be replaced,
the lighting was no good, the foundation was off, the curtains
had to be — everything had to be done. Whether that was because
she was really only interested in the garden, and had never been
interested in the house — because I never knew her — or whether it
was because she was old, I don't know.
Riess: Or, is it possible they didn't have money to put into it?
117
K. Kerr: Oh. I think they had plenty of money; all that development down
below the house brought in lots of money.
Riess: I know money didn't come with the gift of the house; the gift to
the University was not endowed.
K. Kerr: I don't know where that money went because they owned so much
land. It would be interesting to find out what happened to it;
they must have given it to somebody. You might call Ruth
Kingman — do you know her?
Riess: I have talked to her.
K. Kerr: And see if she has any idea where the Anson Blake money went.
Riess: The will I saw was Anita's will, I think, and I haven't seen
Anson1 s.
K. Kerr: What happened to her will?
Riess: There were nieces and nephews.
After this first meeting, then, you had no reason to return
for further teas or anything in that five-year period?
K. Kerr: Never did.
Riess: In fact there was just no thought about it? It was just being
taken care of by the landscape architecture people?
K. Kerr: All we knew was, as Clark said, that the house and gardens were to
go for the use of the University, but I didn't even know Mai
Arbegast was that involved until you told me.
Riess: Then I take it also that in the years before, the house hadn't
been a place where Mrs. Blake would have teas, or invite people to
come and look at the garden?
K. Kerr: I don't think they entertained even when he was alive; I didn't
get the impression it was that kind of family. But Hunky [Helena
Thacher] could tell you more about the social life, maybe.*
Riess: You were saying that you and Maggie went in, and then what?
*Before the taping began Mrs. Kerr explained to the interview that
Helena Thacher and she had been classmates, and that Helena's
nickname was "Hunky."
118
K. Kerr : Well, everybody came in. As soon as it became the property of the
University — the garden had already become the property of the
landscape architects, as I recall, because as soon as she died,
they came in with an enormous crew and cut, cut, cut, cut. As
Maggie and I said, she'd turn over in her grave if she could see
what they were doing. But nothing had been done for a long time,
and it took about three years for it to look normal again. There
was so much taken out, and so many shrubs cut way back, and so
many trees removed. They could hardly wait to get in there and
fix that garden up. [laughs] I'm sure Mai has told you.
Riess : Yes, and Geraldine Knight Scott, who was in charge of that, has
talked about it. Did you, as president's wife, hear from the
neighbors about this? Apparently the neighbors were in a great
state of shock and alarm to see it all cut back. I wondered
whether any of that had come to you.
K. Kerr: All we knew was that there were crews out there working.
Actually, there was such a problem with the house — . You
see, it was rather unfortunate that this followed after the Sproul
house. University House, was vacated. I don't remember — what year
was it that the University got Blake House?
Riess: In April, 1962, when she died.
K. Kerr: So about '58 Maggie and I went into University House, where the
Sprouls had lived for twenty-eight years and had done nothing, and
so for two years Helen Seaborg and I and the University crew took
that house to pieces. All the plumbing, all the wiring,
everything had to be completely changed and redone. The furnaces,
the kitchen, the downstairs, the ballroom, the attics — anyway, it
took two years, and we were sort of fed up with old houses.
Then here comes the Blake House, which was even in worse
condition, and Maggie's reaction was, "Just tear it down! There's
no reason to keep it: the amount of money that you would have to
put in to salvage it could make something a lot more useful,
because it was never designed to entertain in." But the Regents,
or the University, or whoever made the decisions — . I think by
that time I suppose it was Regent [Dorothy] Chandler because she
was most involved in redoing University House and she liked this
authority, although her concern was usually not the "best" but
"taxpayer's gothic."
Riess: Yes, she was actually all for it.
All of the work that you did on University House, I imagine
money had to be appropriated by the Regents.
119
K. Kerr : The Regents had already put out a lot of money for University
House. I don't think they were very much interested in putting
out a lot of money for another old house that they weren't sure
anybody was going to use.
Riess: There was no public fuss about that in the way that there was
about the cost of renovating Blake House?
K. Kerr: No. The reconstruction was done by University crews and the
budget for interior furnishings was so meager that each chancellor
added to theirs — for a new stove, or chairs, etc.
Riess: In refurbishing University House, you knew that it would be used
as an official residence? In fact it was already being used?
K. Kerr: Well, no, because when dark was made president he made a policy
decision which was approved by the Regents, that the president
should not live on any one campus, because there was a lot of
dissatisfaction at UCLA over the fact that Sproul lived in the
north, and they thought that they weren't getting proper
treatment. University House was primarily for the Chancellor.
Since we were already living here [El Cerrito], the
possibility of using Blake House by the President didn't arise.
Since the policy was that on every campus there would be a
University House, we worked with the chancellors' wives at Santa
Barbara and Riverside and San Francisco, and with the various
architects to design a kind of a University House that could be
used for both entertaining and living in. The idea here was well,
if the chancellor didn't want to live in it — and neither Mrs.
Strong nor Mrs. Seaborg wanted to live on the Berkeley campus — it
would still be University House," and it would be for
entertaining, and we could use it or they could use it. And
that's the way it was set up.
Riess: So one old house was all pulled together, and then suddenly it was
1962 and you had another one to deal with.
K. Kerr : Blake House, right.
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121
K.Kerr: wa» with any consultation — which things ought to go where, whether
to the art history department, or the design professors, or
whatever. I remember he would say "There's no intrinsic value in
this piece, but it's a good teaching device." And so off it would
go to some department for teaching.
Rsss: The whole arrangement, in your report of it, sounds very
unstructured.
K Kerr: It was, but after all we were supposedly using very good experts;
nobody ever questioned his judgment, as far as I know, and Maggie
and I never made any decisions.
Rass: But without going back into the documents — which isn't easy to
do — what I don't understand is whether "Duke" Wellington had been
appointed to this position, or whether he thought, "Aha, this
looks like an interesting collection of stuff; I think I should
make myself visible."
3E
K Kerr: Probably — I'm just guessing — the building department, the
carpenters and all of those people there, didn't want to touch it
until they had had some expert advice. They probably just went to
the art department, and it was just done that way: "We aren't
going to tear up the floor or do the roof or anything until you
get everything out of here that's worth anything." I remember
once we had Hunky come and asked her if she had any ideas about
anything. I can't remember whether she said she didn't want to
come, or that there wasn't anything that she wanted, I got the
impression that everything the family wanted, they had taken. So
I imagine that's where the books went, and the papers, and
everything else, because I'm sure they weren't there by the time
Maggie and I got in the house. But it's interesting that they
apparently don't know what happened to them.
120
The Valuables in the House
Riess: I said on the phone that I was interested in what had happened to
various items that are considered to be lost from the house.
There's a first edition of David Copperf ield that disappeared,
seed lists, letters from James West, some scrolls. Mai Arbegast
had been shown them by Mrs. Blake, and Walter Vodden apparently
knew that Mrs. Blake kept everything that she valued under her
bed. Towards the end the bed itself apparently was being dripped
on by the leaky roof.
K. Kerr: Everything was falling apart. [laughs] It's a wonder the house
didn't fall down, it really is.
The only things I remember that Maggie and I found of any
value — we didn't see any papers or any books; all that kind of
thing left before we got in the house — all we saw were rugs, and
pieces of furniture, and two or three sets of china. I remember
one Minton set that we thought maybe could go to Santa Cruz. They
were furnishing some of the chancellors' houses at that point.
Riess: Yes, there were some bowls, vases, serving pieces, Canton dishes,
silver and linen that went to University House on the Berkeley
campus in 1962.
K. Kerr: Some went to University House, and we could ask Mrs. McHenry if
some went down to Santa Cruz.
Riess: I think so. yes.
K. Kerr: I think she said she wanted that pink Minton, but I'm not sure
whether it's still there.
Riess: How did you work with "Duke" Wellington, Winfield Scott
Wellington?
K. Kerr: Well, he'd make an appointment, and Maggie and I would be at the
house, and he would come and make an inventory of the stuff that
we had found, and then he would decide — I don't know whether it
121
K. Kerr: waa with any consultation — which things ought to go where, whether
to the art history department, or the design professors, or
whatever. I remember he would say "There's no intrinsic value in
this piece, but it's a good teaching device." And so off it would
go to some department for teaching.
Riess: The whole arrangement, in your report of it, sounds very
unstructured.
K. Kerr: It was, but after all we were supposedly using very good experts;
nobody ever questioned his judgment, as far as I know, and Maggie
and I never made any decisions.
Riess: But without going back into the documents — which isn't easy to
do — what I don't understand is whether "Duke" Wellington had been
appointed to this position, or whether he thought, "Aha, this
looks like an interesting collection of stuff; I think I should
make myself visible."
K. Kerr: Probably — I'm just guessing — the building department, the
carpenters and all of those people there, didn't want to touch it
until they had had some expert advice. They probably just went to
the art department, and it was just done that way: "We aren't
going to tear up the floor or do the roof or anything until you
get everything out of here that's worth anything." I remember
once we had Hunky come and asked her if she had any ideas about
anything. I can't remember whether she said she didn't want to
come, or that there wasn't anything that she wanted. I got the
impression that everything the family wanted, they had taken. So
I imagine that's where the books went, and the papers, and
everything else, because I'm sure they weren't there by the time
Maggie and I got in the house. But it's interesting that they
apparently don't know what happened to them.
122
Prytanean Undertakes Making Blake House a Graduate Women's
Residence. 1963196A
Riess: Regent Catharine Hearst and Regent William Coblentz apparently
were taken on a tour of the house in December, 1965 and they felt
that $25.000 a year was too high a cost to keep it operating.
K. Kerr : Was this at the time of the students living there?
Riess: That was after the Prytanean students had been there. I wondered
whether you had any dealings with these Regents. You had
mentioned Mrs. Chandler. She was helpful in finding some funding
from the Regents, but apparently Catherine Hearst thought it was a
great drain.
K. Kerr: Yes, I'm sure there was division in the Regents about whether any
more money ought to be spent on it. I think that all I remember
about that discussion was what I heard from Maggie, that maybe
they'd tear it down, and maybe they wouldn't, [laughs]
Riess: That's what Mrs. Hearst suggested, to tear it down and build a
new, more practical house.
K. Kerr: Well, it cost a fortune when they did decide to keep it. It was
unbelievable, I think. And then of course every president's wife
that's lived there has redecorated in a very expensive way, thrown
out all the china and all of the regular things and secured their
own preferences.
Riess: The Prytanean residence plan, November, 1963 — who pulled that
together? Was that your idea?
K. Kerr: We were trying to think: here was this empty house in poor
condition, which nobody wanted to spend any money on at that point
because the Regents were certainly not going to fix it up any more
than just to make it livable. I think that the roof was fixed so
it wouldn't leak, and I don't remember if the furnace was fixed — I
don't think so, maybe a little bit. But at that time there was a
housing need, we thought, for graduate women. There wasn't any
123
K. Kerr : way of having undergraduates out there, and there wasn't any way
of anybody in the University taking charge of it, so we went to
Prytanean. Maggie was a Prytanean, and I was an honorary, but I
seldom participated.
We asked Imogene [Mrs. Eric C.] Bellquist, who took charge
really, whether they would have a committee that would look at it
and see it there was any way it could be operated. So they were,
1 guess, enthusiastic at first, and they provided the sheets and
the towels. As I recall they got less expensive china and things
that the girls could use. It was a surprise to me when after two
or three years Imogene and the committee announced that it wasn't
worth it. that the girls had transportation problems; they had a
hard time finding enough girls who wanted to come out that far,
and the alumnae women who were being housemothers really were fed
up. So that's why it was stopped.
Riess: It sounds like a nice idea, though, doesn't it.
K. Kerr: It sounded great at the beginning, but I think it was very
difficult transportation— wise.
Riess: The University hadn't provided a shuttle?
K. Kerr: No, no. A bus went out to The Arlington, but a graduate student
spends a lot of time in the library, and that meant that they came
back at night. The buses didn't always run very much at night, so
that there were real problems, partly I think because they didn't
have cars. If they had had cars it would have been easy. I think
today you wouldn't have had any problem at all, because there's
such a terrible shortage of housing. But in those days you could
get apartments in Berkeley. Graduate students weren't really
completely left out of housing like they are now.
Riess: Yes. The phrase in one of the publicity releases is that "a noble
Spanish house had been secured as a home for women scholars."
K. Kerr: I wonder who wrote that one. [laughs]
Riess: The Berkeley Barb later said that the house was once used
for women students but was so poorly maintained, it had to be
abandoned. I think that's perhaps their interpretation. That
isn1 t what your impression was?
K. Kerr: Well, it was poorly maintained because in the first place nothing
had been really fixed up by the Regents. The Prytanean house
mothers raised enough money to put in sheets and pillow cases and
towels, but it wasn't any luxurious living. But it certainly
wasn't poorly maintained, except for the fact that it had been
poorly maintained for twenty years before the girls came in.
124
Riess: After putting some time into arranging that, you didn't
remain involved?
K. Kerr: I didn't have time. I was spending my time going back and forth to
seven campuses and trying to raise a family at the same time.
There would be teas and lunches, and I'd get on the plane in the
morning, go to lunch, and come back; or go down and have tea at
UCLA or Riverside or Santa Barbara. That took a lot of time.
Riess: It seems to me that of all people you really would have had an
important point of view about whether Blake House should be
brought up to a condition to be used, or whether it should have
been razed.
K. Kerr: I think I was really trying to distance myself from any more old
houses. I had really spent entirely too many years of my life on
University House on the campus, and I did not want to go through
that again. It's no fun. You operate daily with painters,
carpenters, interior decorators, everybody; it just takes an
enormous amount of time, and when the Regents have to be involved
for funds — well, once was enough.
Riess: It wasn't that you anticipated the difficulties with the Regents
about it, or the difficulties with the community?
K. Kerr: No. I didn't even know there were difficulties with the
community. The only difficulties we ever heard about were the
fence and the deer. The community complained because a couple of
times the landscape department would call the sheriff to come and
shoot some deer — that seemed to upset people. Other than
that I didn't know anything about the community.
125
Turning Blake House into a Livable President's House
K. Kerr: Was Blake House made into a president's house after the Hitches
were made president, or just before? In other words, did they
move into a completely finished house?
Riess: They moved into a mostly finished house. He was named president
in September, 1967. By October and November Norma Wilier, the
University project architect, was already having meetings with the
Hitches and with an appointed architect to work on the renovation
of it, and Nancy Hitch was saying what it was that she would
require for the house. Then she spent the entire next year and a
half at least doing what you're talking about.
K. Kerr: I remember early on, or maybe after Nancy had taken over, when I
talked with Nancy and Maggie about the circulation problem, and it
was my idea to put this outside room on the front — the gallery — so
that you could get to the dining room. I thought what they did
was very minimal; they could have added another two feet in width
without making it that much more difficult, and much more useful.
Riess: Because your idea was that there could be tables out there too,
and seating, which there really can't be now.
K. Kerr: Right. The dining room was too small, and there was no way to get
to it, really, and by the time they closed off some of the other
rooms — Maggie had a telephone, in a little office on one side, so
that you couldn't go around anyway. The way it was designed,
there wasn't any way to make use of that room, so it looked like
there just had to be an outside room. This was agreed to — I don't
think there was ever any problem, except that it costs money.
Riess: But that was the major structural change in the house, that
addition?
K. Kerr: We probably wouldn't have even been able to do that, but they had
to completely take out and redo the foundation on that side
anyway, so it wasn't all that much more difficult.
126
Riess: Norma Wilier in a file note says that the first mention of having
the gallery is in the conversation that she had with you in
September or October.
K. Kerr: I don't remember whether she was there when we were talking about
the impossibility of using the dining room the way it was.
Riess: Did Nancy Hitch consult you in any way?
K. Kerr: We probably talked, but I don't remember. As I said, I didn't
encourage it because I thought she was going to live there, she
would know, and it's really not anything I particularly enjoy
doing — redoing old houses.
Riess: And yet it has been very much your role, as the president's wife,
I can see. In fact, I didn't realize there was a University
House, or the equivalent, on every campus.
K. Kerr: Well, I learned a great deal. That's one reason why the
circulation problem here was so obvious, because by the time
you've built a new house at Riverside and one at Santa Barbara,
and the disaster at San Francisco — because the chancellor's wife
there was a. very stubborn and peculiar woman who had to do it just
her way, and it had to be completely redone after she left. Both
Mary [Mrs. Vernon I.] Cheadle and Evelyn [Mrs. Herman T.] Spieth
were very wise ladies, and we talked a lot of times, because in
those days the Regents meetings included the chancellors' wives.
We had Thursday together when the chancellors were meeting before
the Regents would meet on Friday. I always went down, and we'd go
over the architect's plans.
In fact I remember when Evelyn Spieth' s husband was appointed
chancellor of Riverside. We were meeting before a Regent's
meeting, at the Beach and Tennis Club in La Jolla. She told me
that just casually somebody handed her the plans for her house.
She said, "Kay, you can't believe it; they're just impossible."
So we spent the day and we made a long list of all the things that
were impossible. The Regents and architect finally decided that
since she was going to live in it they'd listen, but nobody had
even thought to ask her, and the architect hadn't thought to ask
her what ought to be considered about the house. So that was the
beginning, and after that we had no problems except with San
Francisco.
Riess: Well, it's interesting. If I had been able to talk to Nancy Hitch
I certainly would have asked her how much she had the future in
mind, as well as the short term — I mean, how you do both things.
K. Kerr: There wasn't an awful lot more that you could do to the Blake
House. The study in the back — well, the sunroom was a great
addition, because that meant another spot for entertaining: you
127
K. Kerr : could put the bar out there, and so the living room wasn't too
small. But it's still a limited house in terms of the number of
people that it's convenient to have.
Riess: But perhaps a house can be furnished once and for all. or is that
not possible? You always have to think of the furniture as
changing?
K. Kerr: Well, it depends how much money you have. When we did University
House, Regent Chandler was there with her eye on the budget, and so
everything was done in the least expensive way, and we used the
oriental rugs that were there, and we had inexpensive drapes, and
put grass cloths on different areas and so on. The first
person who came to live there was Esther Heyns, and she took a
look around and said, "I won't live in this dismal room," so down
came the drapes, and the rugs became orange, and there was a lot
of color — the whole thing was changed.
Well, Nancy Hitch always did believe in the most expensive
and the most beautiful things. Maggie would came and say, "You
can't believe how much money it's going to cost to upholster one
chair," but Nancy wanted to have everything just the best. She
was able to get the money from the Regents, and so as long as
you've got the money — . But then she brought some of her things;
she had several antique pieces of her own which were recovered,
and so she took them back with her. Mrs. Saxon was completely
different: I don't think she even looked at the furniture, or
cared.
128
Maggie Johnston
Riess: It's too bad, obviously, that Maggie Johnston isn't around to
talk. This project started with the wish that Maggie be
interviewed, and then Maggie died. [June 29, 1986]
K. Kerr: Oh, Maggie would have been able to give you all of the history.
Riess: How did you first meet Maggie?
K. Kerr: At the time Clark was appointed chancellor in 1952, I was in the
habit of frequently having afternoon coffee with my neighbor,
Marjorie Galenson. One day she included Maggie Johnston, whom she
had met at nursery school. Maggie had volunteered to take care of
a neighbor's small boy whose mother had died suddenly. Our coffee
hours were incidental to supervising our youngsters and nursing
our babies. (Caroline Kerr was born in October 1951.) Maggie
came frequently.
After Clark's appointment and our coffee-hour discussion
about how this was going to change my life and how I needed help,
Maggie volunteered on a part-time basis. She was paid through the
Chancellor's Office and not only arranged social events but kept
the records and paid the bills which were incurred within the
chancellor's budget.
Riess: Did she work for the president's wife or was it president's and
chancellors' wives both?
K. Kerr: When CL ark was made president, Maggie continued with me and with
all future president's wives. The chancellors' wives made their
own arrangements and these jobs differed among the campuses, some
having more responsibility within the chancellor's staff.
Maggie was a very likeable person, good friends with all the
wives, and the public ceremonies staffs. She was generous with
her advice and she had the responsibility for all the activities
hosted by the president or the Regents regardless of which campus
they were held on. She was the social secretary of each wife and
129
K. Kerr : worked with public ceremonies, really, on all the campuses, not
just Berkeley. She did the inauguration for the new chancellors.
The last thing she did, I think, was at Irvine, the new chancellor
there now. She took it as a profession — we worked on it as a
profession. She worked for me first, and we worked out all kinds
of office procedures and record-keeping, and policies for whom you
invite to what kind of thing, and how you mix up the community and
the alumni and the students, and whom you invite to what, and do
you need a list of the principals of the high schools and when —
this kind of thing. So we had a real professional attitude toward
it.
Riess: Did Mrs. Sproul have anyone?
K. Kerr: Mrs. Sproul never made a decision on her own; Robert Gordon made
the decisions, and Miss [Agnes] Robb made the arrangements and
decisions. Ida had a wonderful personality and she survived. I
would never have been able to under those circumstances.
Because Maggie was such a professional, I don't think she was
close friends with anybody but me, and we were very good friends
all the time. She used to come over in the morning for coffee, no
matter who she was working for. She'd call and come over for advice
and to let off steam about how so-and-so had to have her sheets
ironed in a laundry; she couldn't have them hanging out, and they
had to be a certain type — I won't go into it [laughs]. So every
chancellor's wife and the staff of each campus's public ceremonies
departments had their foibles, and Maggie adjusted to them.
Riess: On every campus, it wasn't just Berkeley?
K. Kerr: Maggie started when Clark was chancellor of Berkeley. Later, the
principal things she did on the other campuses were the public
ceremonies, such as Charter Day and the meetings of chancellors
and Regents. Each chancellor's wife had help with her own campus
events.
Riess: Drawing up these procedures sounds like it was an essential thing
to do.
K. Kerr: We were both very concerned that this should be a professional
type of operation.
Maggie got asked to go back to Pennsylvania State when Rose
[Mrs. John] Oswald became the president's wife there, to set up
her records and talk to her staff to get it started. And she was
giving somebody help at some other college whose president's name
was Spaulding — I don't remember which college it was. She always
was going to write a book on how to do these things, but Maggie
was much more interested in doing than in writing, so it never got
done.
130
Riess: She made your job considerably easier.
K. Kerr: Much easier, and much more fun. We both had a lot of fun, both cf
us were activists. I'd get an idea about what was wrong with
foreign student hospitality, and she'd inquire around, and we'd
decide that we could do this, and we could try that, and we'd have
all of the faculty wives that might be involved cut here for a big
breakfast in the morning. We'd say, "We've got a problem.
Foreign students come, and they don't ever meet a family, or they
meet a family when they come for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner
but they never get to know them." So we set up a whole new
foreign students' hospitality system.
And we decided that the faculty was not treating well the
famous visiting foreign celebrities that come to Berkeley to talk
to our famous professors, who would say, "Well, we've got fifteen
minutes for this guy" — this would be a Nobel Prize winner — but "we
can't spend all day with him, we can't show him the campus." So
we started another group called Alumni Hostesses, where we asked
women who were alumnae of the Berkeley campus to be the hostesses
for the campus and entertain and take around these famous
visitors. That still goes on today.
But I never would have had as much fun, and we wouldn't have
had all these ideas come to fruition without Maggie, because it
takes two. You get an idea, but somebody else has to help you
implement it.
Riess: And then Maggie continued to keep those good ideas alive and well
so long as she was able to work.
K. Kerr: Right. And added new ones of her own. She played a very
important role in the University Art Museum. Maggie had a great
number of friends on the Berkeley campus. These things that we
started when Clark was chancellor only related to the Berkeley
campus.
In addition to public ceremonies and the routine arrangements,
we did things on the other campuses mostly in relation to how the
chancellors' and Regents' wives could get to know each other.
Nancy Hitch and Shirley Saxon didn't like large groups of people.
Nancy was an artist, and Shirley liked to cook and didn't like
large groups, so that the kinds of things that Maggie and I
enjoyed doing were not done, and weren't carried on. Mrs. Gardner
is much more interested in reviving these interpersonal kinds of
relationships.
The chancellor's wife at Irvine was so excited when I saw her
last week because they were going to have a chance for the
chancellors' wives to meet each other, and talk together, and
131
K. Kerr : discuss their problems.* It takes a president's wife who wants to
get involved. Blake House is now being used for many more
University activities.
*'Vhile the Regents met at Santa Barbara February, the spouses of
UCs president and chancellors held a meeting of their own,
arranged by Libby Gardner. In addition to talks on the "Spousal
Role and Expectations,1 led by Mary Regan-Meyer [Davis] and Karen
Sinsheimer [Santa Cruz]; 'Recognition for the Spousal Role,1 by
Sue Young [Los Angeles]; and 'Achieving a Separate Self Identity,'
led by Rita Atkinson [San Diego], the group also discussed
pertinent University issues and policies with Senior Vice
President Ronald W. Brady." UC Focus, Vol. 1, No. 2, June 1987.
Transcriber: Johanna Wolgast
Final Typist: Elizabeth Eshleman
132
Regional Oral History Office
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California
Blake Estate Oral History Project
Janice Kittredge
MAKING BLAKE HOUSE INTO A
GRADUATE WOMEN'S RESIDENCE, 1963-1965
An Interview Conducted by
Suzanne B. Riess
in 1987
Copyright
1988 by The Regents of the University of California
133
TABLE OF CONTENTS — Janice Kittredge
INTERVIEW HISTORY 134
BIOGRAPHY 135
Prytanean Alumnae Association Approached to Run Blake House as a
Residence for Graduate Women 136
Difficulties with the Experiment 139
Prytanean Alumnae Association Projects, and Relationship to the
University 142
Efforts to Salvage the Experiment 145
Maggie Johnston, Kay Kerr, and the Alumnae Hostess Committee 147
134
INTERVIEW HISTORY
In such a mul tif aceted undertaking as this Blake House Oral History
Project, the best results often come from one thing, one person, leading to
another. Mrs. Clark Kerr referred me to longtime Prytanean Alumnae
Association board member Janice Kittredge for the particulars of the
Prytanean Alumnae Association's project of using Blake House as a residence
for graduate women. In this interview Mrs. Kittredge talks about why the
project, first considered at the suggestion of University President Clark
Kerr's wife Kay at a meeting in September 1962, didn't work. Certainly
there was a real lack of appropriate housing that the University could offer
graduate women, but the freedoms of the sixties were apparently in some
conflict with the givens of a "dorm" at Blake House. The place, and in some
ways the time, was not right.
Janice Kittredge, Kay Kerr, and the late Maggie Johnston whom Janice
Kittredge admires and speaks of — these women took on roles in the University
and in the Berkeley community that went a long way beyond that expected of
wife, mother, or faculty wife. Their intention was to improve the quality
of the school experience for University students, to enrich the time spent
here by foreign visitors and their families, and to salvage and improve the
environment for residents of the San Francisco Bay Area. And these things
they did effectively and with style. Specifically they created housing,
formed the Alumnae Hostess Committee, and created an entity to save San
Francisco Bay. [In a recent oral history, Save San Francisco Bay
Association, 1961-1986, that organization is documented through joint
interviews with the three women who founded it: President's wife Kay Kerr,
Regent's wife Sylvia McLaughlin, and Professor's wife Esther Gulick.]
I met with Janice Kittredge in her office in downtown Berkeley where
she is the paid staff person for Save San Francisco Bay Association. July
3rd was a holiday for most everyone else in town, but for her a good day to
get things done. Prior to setting a date for the interview Mrs. Kittredge
had reviewed all the minutes of the Prytanean boards for the years in
question, in order to bring the most precise information to the interview.
And she offered additional comments that filled in the picture of how a core
group of enthusiastic women came to volunteer for the University. I left
with my questions answered. The Prytanean Alumnae Association's project at
Blake House was clarified. And in my wallet there was a receipt for a
renewed membership in Save San Francisco Bay Associationl
Suzanne B. Riess
Interviewer-Editor
November 11. 1987
Regional Oral History Office
486 The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
Room 486 The Bancroft Library
^-35
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720
Your full name
Date of birth
7?
Father's full name
Occupation
Mother's full name
Occupation
Your spouse
Your children
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please write clearly. Use black ink.)
-3<? —
Birthplace
- -*J/
Birthplace
Birthplace
Where did you grow upl
Present community
Education
Occupation(s)
Areas of expertise
t^fc t-«— *-
^-^
Other interests or activities
Organizations in which you are active
^ &<. t
136
Prytanean Alumnae Association Approached to Run Blake House as a
Residence for Graduate Women
[Date of Interview: July 3. 1987]
Kittr: The very first mention of Blake House in the minutes is in September
of '62, and evidently Kay Kerr came to the Prytanean Alumnae
Association meeting and "gave a complete explanation of the Anson
Blake property and residence that had been willed to the
University. "*
Sometime in the summer of 1962 Maggie Johnston had gathered up
a lot of Prytaneans that she knew. We went out and looked at this
house. Evidently nothing had been done to it since — it was full of
Mrs. Blake's furniture, and the curtains were drawn. It looked like
she'd probably been living in this very dungeon-like place
throughout her last few years of life, maybe.
Kay and Maggie stood up there and said, "What are we going to
do with this?" I wouldn't be surprised if Maggie had a great deal
of input in it, because she was familiar with our working on
*Quoted material is from Prytanean minutes. Mrs. Kittredge notes:
"I had really sort of forgotten that at that time Prytanean had two
boards. There was Prytanean Alumnae Association, and there was an
incorporated board, Prytaneans, Inc. They decided they needed to
incorporate to do some of the business things they did, one of which
was running Blake House, so they had two different boards. (There
was a lot that I really couldn't remember from my own memory until
it was brought back by reading the minutes.) There were a lot of
disagreements between the two boards, and they eventually were
merged. Prytanean only has one Alumni Incorporated board now. But
to review the history I found that I needed both of these sets of
minutes, but especially the Incorporated minutes because they are
the group of women who actually ran Blake House."
137
Kittr: dormitory things. Prytanean had Ritter Hall, which was a co-op, and
fairly low cost. It was to help girls with financial difficulties
and so forth. The Prytanean Alumnae Association had started Ritter
Hall in the '30s.
I think Maggie thought that there never had been, up to that
time, any kind of residence for graduate students. They must have
started before the married student housing before '62, but for
single graduate students I seriously doubt whether there was any
kind of university housing. They thought, well, here this was way
out there in Kensington, and they couldn't put undergraduates there,
but they could use it for graduate women.
At this point it was just before the years when everybody
stopped wanting university housing; they felt that there would be
quite a need for this. Later, in the mid to late '60s, they
couldn't even get people to fill the dorms, and Ritter Hall had to
be sold because we couldn't get enough people even to go into a
subsidized co-op. Everybody wanted to live in apartments, and they
didn't want university housing. I think, if you look back, they
were running all those big dormitories that they had built right
after the war — they were running those not completely full. It's
absolutely incredible now, of course, because people are standing in
line, and there are waiting lists, and what have you to get in them,
because there's no other place to live. But at that point, I guess,
it was still reasonably priced enough to get rooms in apartments
elsewhere, and so forth, so kids would much rather go three and four
to an apartment and live on their own than to have university
housing.
Riess: When Kay said, "What are we going to do with this?" was she saying,
"What are we Prytaneans going to do with it?"
Kittr: No. "What are we, the University, going to do with it," because she
was the wife of the president of the University, and one assumes it
had sort of been handed to her. The University at that point didn't
want to put any money in it, or any more money than they had to.
Actually, it was pretty obvious from some of the minutes that Kay's
interest diminished after the start. After all, dark was president
of all the universities. Gertrude Strong was more involved then
because Chancellor [Edward] Strong was the chancellor then, so she
was active throughout the two years that we operated it and was the
one that, when we finally gave up, we were giving it up to. We
notified her. Oh, I guess they notified Kerr too.
Anyway, Kay and Maggie said, "What are we going to do with
this?" and "What do you think about this idea? You are all
Prytanean board members, or past board members, or what have you.
How about running this as a graduate dorm like you've been running
Ritter Hall as a student co-op?" So it was taken under advisement.
138
Kittr: The original thoughts, I gather, were even that we would provide the
money to renovate and buy furnishings and everything. My feeling is
that we did some of that, because we had a rummage sale evidently at
Mrs. [Eric] Bellquist's house, and we put together a couple of teas
that raised money. Then, of course, the first year at least, we had
money from the residence.
There's a letter here, a copy of a letter from Joe Mixer
[Chancellor's Office] to Mrs. [Parker] Trask, who was on the
Incorporated board, as to what it would cost, and the way's and
how's of raising money [letter dated January 31, 1963]. To the best
of my knowledge, nothing about this was ever carried through from
Prytanean anyway. At some point originally they thought they would
have to come up with some thousands and thousands of dollars to
equip it for a future, take out a Chirty-year loan, you know, all
these kinds of things for what was really an experiment, and I guess
they [Prytanean] sort of realized pretty quickly that they couldn't
really obligate themselves to such an incredible degree.
Riess : But at first it must have seemed rather exciting.
Kittr: Oh, yes! There were things in the minutes about leasing the house,
and having so many, twenty graduate women, each paying four hundred
dollars a semester.
Riess: That was for room and board?
Kittr: Yes, and all kinds of things. They had to have a house mother, and
maids, and a cook, and so forth. Anyway, the beginning was that
summer meeting, and then the next step was that Kay came to the
first meeting of the fall semester of '62, on September 25th. and
gave the official proposal to the board. They agreed to take it on.
Riess: Who drew up the official proposal then?
Kittr: I don't know, and I could find no record in the minutes. I'm kind
of inclined to think that if there is one, it's in the University
Archives.
139
Difficulties with the Experiment
Riess: I wonder if the whole thing was modeled on anything else that was
fairly closely detailed.
Kittr: I don't think so. I think the whole thing was an experiment, and as
it turned out, a somewhat disastrous one. It really never served
the original purpose. They thought it would serve twenty graduate
women; they never got twenty. Even the very first semester in
September of '63 nineteen was the most they could get, and it
dropped very quickly by the end of that semester to something like
sixteen or fourteen. There were several rooms upstairs, one room
downstairs, and those girls downstairs felt isolated. They set it
up originally for four or five girls to a room, if you can imagine.
So study desks had to be out in the hall.
I'm sure you've been to Blake House. You know what a gracious
place it is, but it wasn't as nice then. That lovely hallway where
you go to the dining room, that didn't exist, that's been added on.
Two little doorways were the way you got from the hallway into the
dining room-kitchen area. That I remember very well because I was
one of the people in charge of the first big fund-raising tea we had
in the fall of '63. We got a tremendous crowd because everybody
wanted to see what Blake House looked like. So we had tours of the
house, and we had this tea. But trying to get people from the big
living room areas into the dining room through these tiny little
doorways was a mammoth traffic jam. It was just really incredible.
Riess: What kind of redecorating had been done then?
Kittr: I don't think they really did anything. As it turned out, the
University did do some structural work. As I went through the
minutes, there were several places where they suggested that
Prytanean buy this or do that. But Prytanean didn't own the house,
and it's really the owner of the house that should make these kinds
of expenditures, so some of the things were done by the University.
140
Kittr: I remember that we did spend four or five hundred dollars on a gas
heater for the study hall because the girls were absolutely
freezing. I think the heating facilities in the house were pretty
antiquated at the time. Mrs. Blake probably lived in one room with
a little tiny heater or something. It just really was not good heat
for winter time there, and it's a pretty big house with not very
many bedrooms, which was part of the problem. It was a problem, I
think, for some of the presidents who lived there, not having enough
bedrooms.
You have this enormous living room-study-lanai area, and this
tiny little dining room. Maggie always used to say what a problem
it was. Maggie was instrumental in the purchase of what they now
call Morgan House, that marvelous house that was designed by Julia
Morgan [2821 Claremont Avenue].* I remember being there very early
on when the University first took it over. She said, "You know,
the best thing about this house is that the dining room and the
living room are exactly the same size. So if you have x-number of
people in the living room, they can all sit down in the dining
room. "
Blake House was better, of course, after they built that sort
of porch, gallery, whatever they call it. You could stretch dining
tables along there as well as in the dining room, and that helps.
But you still can't seat anywhere near the number you can have
milling around in that enormous liv ing-study- lanai area. I think we
used the lanai area as the study hall. I think that's where
Prytanean needed to buy the heater because it was so cold. There
was no heat at all in there, and the girls couldn't stay in there
without turning blue, I guess, in the winter time.
Anyway, just as a quick run down, we did raise money, and they
did get nineteen girls. There was a lot of changeover.
Riess: Do you remember how it was advertised? What glowing words?
Kittr: They didn't do much advertising.
University, really.
Riess: Just offered as an alternative?
I think it was just through the
Kittr: Well, as the only housing for graduate women. You see, at that
point it was still a question of — you know, if graduate women were
coming, there was no place for them. The University was still a
little bit in the "mother" business even though graduate women, of
course, were over twenty-one, and they didn't have to do the same
sort of things that they did for undergraduate women. I mean, all
the time I was in school I had to have my father sign a permit for
me to live at home. It was so silly. You couldn't live at home.
*Julia Morgan, Her Office, and a House, an oral history interview
conducted 1976, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library,
University of California, Berkeley, 1976.
141
Kittr: You had to live in an approved house, you had to have a signed
permit even if you lived in your own home with your own family. It
was a ridiculous situation.
I'm assuming graduate women were sent housing options, and I
suppose this was one of those. But, as I said, they had nineteen
instead of the projected twenty. So they didn't get the maximum
amount of money even from the very beginning.
Then they had some difficulties with house mothers and cooks.
They sort of came and went. Then very soon it was down to fourteen
or twelve. Then by the second year eight was all they had, which
didn't even make it pay. So Prytanean was subsidizing it, although
by then they were making economies, and one of the members of the
board was doing the books herself instead of hiring a bookkeeper.
It was too small to buy food in quantity. It had to be bought at
retail sources. So that was more expensive.
One of the main problems was that even though there was a bus
connection, the No. 7 bus came right downtown so there was fairly
direct bus transportation, still it was pretty far and it took quite
a while. So that wasn't too convenient.
Then the idea of having four and five girls, especially
graduate women, in a room was terrible. So when they finally
finished up I guess the six or eight or whatever that were left by
that time were only two left in a room, and they could have their
desks in their own rooms and that sort of thing. But you couldn't
make it pay. There just weren't enough rooms.
Somebody who knew something about it should have looked at the
physical layout in the very beginning and said, "You never are going
to do this. This is not going to work." But it was an experiment
because nobody had done any graduate housing before. So they really
didn't know what it was. We gave it the good try, and we did it for
two years, raised money, and spent money. Prytanean probably spent
a good couple of thousand over what they took in, running it for
that time.
Riess: But it wasn't really a financial disaster.
Kittr: It wasn't terrible, but a thousand dollars was a lot of money in
those days. The $750 we raised on that tea, I think, was the first
time we had ever raised anything like that amount of money, and the
tea tickets were $1.50. (You can't imagine going to a tea or
anything for $1.50 today.) So a thousand dollars was a lot of money
in those days.
142
Prytanean Alumnae Association Projects and Relationship to the
University
Riess: What is Prytanean Alumnae's basic commitment to the University?
Kittr: Some of the original Prytanean members started the Prytanean Alumni
Association in the mid '30s in order to help the students by running
some kind of low-cost housing. Then they bought the building where
Hitter Hall was (the Alpha Delt House now) and ran that. By the
time 1 was in school in the '40s, the Alumnae Association was
already ten or twelve years old, and it was a going concern, and
I've been off and on the various boards for most of the forty years
I've been an alum.
Riess: So the bylaws require that Prytanean alumnae do some project for the
University?
Kittr: I haven't seen the bylaws for years, but since the Prytanean Society
was founded for service to the University, I'm sure the Alumnae
Association has that same creed, and it started out being housing.
Earlier on, in the early 1900s, the Prytanean Society helped found
the first student infirmary, which then was turned into Cow ell
Hospital. So they've done all kinds of things like that. Since
leaving the housing efforts, we put up the funding and did some of
the major work to start the Women's Center. Now we're doing this
faculty enrichment project where we're raising an endowment so that
we can give a $10,000 grant every year to a non-tenure faculty
woman.
In between, when they finally found they could not run Ritter
Hall — there wasn't the demand, and this was in this period I told
you about when the demand for dormitory housing was nil — they sold the
physical building for $80,000 and then invested that money and used
the income. There are strict rules about what kinds of things you
can do with this income because Prytanean is non-profit, We had
incorporated previously, as I explained, so there were many years
there where we were giving grants anywhere from very small hundred
143
Kittr: dollar grants to several thousand dollar grants to any and all who
applied, as long as it had something to do with students and with
the University.
A couple of years ago, we agreed to start a faculty enrichment
fund and raise an additional endowment of $100,000 whereby we hope
we can get about $10,000 for an annual grant. We have been using
our regular interest money so far for this because they wanted to
start giving this gift right away. So that's what we have done
recently. Once the fund raising for this endowment is finished, I'm
pretty sure we will go back again to projects.
But there's a lot of change. Whereas one year it was nice to
give many small, five hundred to a thousand dollar grants, then
somebody said, "Are we frittering away our money? Shouldn't we look
for something really big?" When we did the Women's Center, for a
couple of years we concentrated our efforts and did a large project
instead of having small little grants. But those small little
grants were very helpful too. It just met different needs at
different times. I'm sure we will go on to doing something else
like that.
Riess: [Reads from notes] "November, 1963. Pry tanean Alumnae Association
delegated to direct operation of Blake House. Chancellor Strong's
decision. Mrs. Strong and Kay Kerr secured the noble Spanish house
as a home for women scholars."
Kittr: My recollection — I mean, it wasn't a chicken and an egg thing, you
know, which came first. What happened was the University had this
white elephant, and they wanted something to do with it that would
be useful. Maybe "conned" is a little strong, but in a way, they
really convinced those Prytaneans into saying, "We will do this,"
without really giving them much of any support.
At some point in the minutes, when something major needed to be
done, there was some mention of Prytanean board members saying that
they didn't think that we should put that sort of money in because
we didn't own the house. At least everything that we did at Ritter
Hall presumably we could get back in the selling price eventually.
Riess: Ritter Hall was undergraduate?
Kittr: Ritter Hall was undergraduate. It was a women's co-op run by
Prytanean.
But there really wasn't much remodeling done at Blake House
until the Hitches decided to move in. I think maybe the Blakes
thought this would be a nice house for the University president. The
Kerrs were not the least bit interested in moving from their
home. (Well, when he was chancellor they couldn't, of course,
because President Sproul was still living in the President's House —
144
Kittr: University House now.) But when dark became president he certainly
didn't want to move into the President's House on campus — which has
since been turned into University House, and no chancellor wanted
it. The next two chancellors all lived around here, [Glenn] Seaborg
and Strong, and didn't want to move in. It was only when we finally
got a chancellor from someplace else who didn't already have a house
that they turned University House back into a residence.
Save San Francisco Bay Association had its beginnings in
University House in those days. When I first started working for
Save the Bay I had my own key to University House because there was
so much stuff still stored there. They had moved the office out at
that point, but there were still things stored there that I was
trying to move out. University House was only used for entertaining
and housing an occasional Regent, or something. They had a
housekeeper and that was it.
But Blake House, there again President Kerr didn't want to live
there, and nobody did. When Kerr left and Hitch came in as
president, he had a very small house on Cragmont, and they needed
the entertainment space that the Kerrs had in their own home. So
that's why they made the decision. I just remember this from
conversations with Maggie, because I wasn't involved in that, of
course.
145
Efforts to Salvage the Experiment
Kittr: At the end of the first year they discovered that they could run it
with less than the maximum twenty they thought to have, and they
could cut it down so that there wouldn't be so many girls in a room.
The graduate women objected to a house mother, so they went to a
graduate manager, which most of the board members agreed to. One
that didn't, and I was astounded to read this, was Ruth Donnelly,
who was a former dean and a very good friend of mine. She was just
determined that these girls, even though they were graduate women,
had to have a house mother! It's really interesting, the girls
themselves wanted a graduate resident manager, which of course is
obviously what the University has gone to long since. They don't
have house mothers in any of their dormitories.
There was some question about whether there should be a non
resident manager too. I think for expediency and for financial
reasons Imogene Bellquist, whose husband was a professor on campus,
took it on. She was a marvelous woman, and if it hadn't been for
her the whole project would not have lasted one year, much less the
two years that it did. She did the books herself, so they didn't
have to hire a bookkeeper. She was doing all the sorts of things
that maybe a house manager did in assisting the resident graduate
student. I think she was very important to the project the whole
two years.
Riess: Did they have cleaning services and all of that for the girls?
Kittr: The minutes say they hired maids. They had two maids, so they
obviously had maids cleaning rooms.
Riess: Did they ever consider having the girls clean their own room and do
co-op cooking or something like that?
Kittr: I found no indication of that. So it sounds like maybe they didn't
want to. I don't know. It's really interesting, they even had
somebody who stayed there one night a week, because she came down
for a seminar one night a week, and they charged her so much to
sleep there and eat breakfast and dinner there. Then they had
146
Kittr: somebody on a month-to-month basis. There was one notation in one
of the minutes that they are now down to seven girls. One had left,
"the one that had such interesting ways." [November 16, 1964] I
thought, "Oh, I wonder what that meant." I gather she was some sort
of a problem, but that's all that was mentioned in the minutes.
Riess: Just what were the dates of operation of Blake House by Prytanean?
Kittr: It started in September 1963 and closed in July 1965.
Riess: Did Kay Kerr remain involved?
Kittr: I do not see any of that in the minutes. Almost all of the
references about that have to do with Gertrude Strong. Gertrude was
an honorary president of Prytanean, and she's been on the board a
number of times. I don't remember offhand whether she was actually
on the board, but she was evidently more the liaison with the
University.
Riess: Did Maggie Johnston remain involved?
Kittr: Maggie was involved only as all of us were as Prytaneans. I
remember her helping at this tea that we gave, and I don't think she
was actually on the board during those times. I think Maggie and
Kay then went on to other things. You know, the '60s were a very
busy time.
Evidently there was some question that the Department of
Landscape Architecture would use Blake House for their graduate
students as housing. This was mentioned several times, but then
obviously that never came to fruition.
147
Maggie Johnston, Kay Kerr, and the Alumnae Hostess Committee
Kittr: I would call Maggie my mentor. I graduated in '47, she graduated in
'43 but she was still around here, and I immediately went on both
the Prytanean Alumnae board and Mortar Board Alumnae board because I
was in both of those undergraduate organizations and so was she.
Mortar Board was a much smaller organization so somehow it was much
closer, and I think it was because of the Mortar Board alumnae
situation that Maggie and I got to be the good friends that we ended
up for the rest of her life. Even after I married and moved away
for a couple of years, when I came back we just carried right on.
She was very active in some of the projects that we did in
Mortar Board in those days. The war was just over, and we sponsored
a school through Save the Children Foundation. When that was no
longer necessary, she had relatives and a great interest in the
Southwest. (I don't know if this has come up in any other thing.)
We raised money and sent Christmas presents and things to the Hopi
Indian children in Second Mesa, Arizona.
We both were very involved with Mortar Board alumnae for many
years, raising money for various projects and so forth. Then they
finally ran out of a project and the alumnae association sort of
fell apart. I think Maggie and I, and a lot of us who had been so
active in the Mortar Board group when Prytanean sold Ritter Hall —
we were so determined that we had to have projects because otherwise
Prytanean Alumnae, which was much much larger because it was a much
larger organization, would fold. If you don't have anything to meet
about, or have teas about, or raise money for, or what have you,
there isn't a reason for being in existence. That's why I think
Maggie was one of the chief people instrumental in starting the
Prytanean project process to give grants in the years after we
stopped having Ritter Hall.
Maggie was so involved in every facet of the University. I I
don't know if you're familiar with the Alumnae Hostess Committee.
Kay and Maggie started that in 1960. (I had known Maggie very well
through the years, and I knew she had gone to work for Mrs. Kerr,
even before she had her little girl, Peggy. She retired and then
NEWS
i A7a
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 2, 1986
Mike Lassiter (415) 642-2325
Office of the President Be'keiev a-i~2C
university of California
Marguerite K. Johnston, chief social advisor and administrative secretary to five University
of California presidents, died Sunday, June 29, after a short illness.
As the principal social affairs and protocol advisor to former UC Presidents Clark Kerr,
Harry Wellman, Charles Hitch, David Saxon and current UC President David P. Gardner, Mrs.
Johnston organized countless social events and welcomed thousands of prominent guests to the
University, including Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, Prince Philip and
Prince Charles of Great Britain, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren.
Her expertise on protocol was sought by many other colleges and universities around the
country.
Mrs. Johnston, a resident of Berkeley, had worked for the University for more than 30
years. A memorial service will be held July 29 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Alumni House on the
UC Berkeley campus.
She was a 1943 graduate of UC Berkeley. Mrs. Johnston served three terms as vice presi
dent of the Class of 1943 alumni organization and was elected president of the group in 1985.
Mrs. Johnston was a member of the Prytanean Alumnae Association, a women's honor
society; the UC Berkeley Alumni Association and the University Art Museum Council. She
served as president of the museum council from 1977-79.
«An avid conservationist, Mrs. Johnston served on the board of People for Open Space and
was a member of the Sierra Club and the Save San Francisco Bay Association. She was also an
active supporter of the arts.
Mrs. Johnston is survived by her husband of 45 years, Ted D. Johnston; sons, Mike of
Berkeley, Stan of Los Angeles, and an adopted son, Armando Hurley of Australia; and a daugh
ter, Peggy of Concord. She also leaves a brother, Stanley Kulp of Santa Cruz.
The family requests that any remembrances be sent to the Class of 1943 UC Berkeley Fund,
2440 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, 94720.
.
# # #
lELEY DAVIS IRVINE LOS ANGELES RIVERSIDE SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SANTA BARBARA SANTA
148
Kittr: went back again later.) Anyway, the Alumnae Hostess Committee is an
interesting group. I seem to be chairman, and I've been chairman of
it for twenty-seven years. It's a kind of a weird thing to say, but
obviously nobody else wants to be chairman of it.
Mrs. Kerr discovered that foreign VIP's were coming to the
Berkeley campus, and nobody was taking them anyplace. This is an
interesting thing: she and Clark were going to go to Peru so she
asked somebody at the Bureau of International Relations, or whatever
it was, "If you have anybody from Peru, call me. I'd like to take
them to lunch. I'd like to learn more about Peru before we go."
Well, she did, and took him on a tour, and had lunch, and talked to
him. When she and Clark got to Peru, it turns out this man was very
important. She didn't know. She thought he was just somebody
visiting on campus. When she got back from that trip she got to
thinking, "Here all these people come on campus, and there is no
setup for anybody to greet them." They came to visit a particular
professor and if he had time to take them to lunch, fine. If he
didn't they were just left.
Out of that eventually evolved the International Visitor Bureau
at the University. Back in 1960 Kay and Maggie decided there needed
to be some personal contact, so they got to thinking, "Well, the
faculty wives are already taking care of foreign students." They
decided that alumnae women were not being used as much as they could
be. So they invited a whole group of alumnae women to work on this
idea. Maggie called me because we were good friends, and I knew
Kay, but not well. She said, "Come and do this." Well, I had a
three- year— old and a one-year-old, and I was pregnant. I said,
"Maggie, I need another project like a hole in the head. This is
ridiculous." She said, "Oh, come out. You have never been to the
Kerr's home, and the bougainvillea in the garden room is lovely."
At that time the bougainvillea covered the entire ceiling. It was
absolutely spectacular. This was in April of 1960.
I don't know why, but when I walked in the door with this large
group of women of all ages, mostly older than me, they handed me a
note pad and said, "Why don't you take notes, Janice." So I took
notes and ended up helping to write the original draft of what we call
Questions and Answers of what foreign visitors would like to know,
and so forth. We called it the Alumnae Hostess Committee, and it's
still functioning through the auspices of the International Visitor
Service. There are alumnae women who donate their time and their
automobiles to meet foreign visitors and take them to and from appoint
ments, take them on tours of the campus if they want it, or pick them
up at bus stops and take them to their appointments and what have you.
In those years in the '60s there was plenty of government
money, and the USIS, the State Department, was sending lots of
people from the other parts of the world on tours of the United
States. Berkeley and Cal were always on the itinerary, so we had
149
Kittr: many visitors, singly and in groups. It was very interesting. We
also meet with each other several times each year and have tours or
talks about particular places on campus. We just compile as much
knowledge about Cal as possible to use when we take our foreign
visitors around.
Anyway, Maggie and Kay started that, and Maggie was extremely
involved all the years even after CLark was no longer president of
the University. Kay has remained a member of the committee and
occasionally will come to a meeting. I don't know that she's
actually done a tour for quite a while or met with a visitor, but
she would if the occasion arose, I'm sure.
Riess : What is the official connection of organizations like Alumnae
Hostesses and Prytanean and Mortar Board to the University? Is
there always one member of the group who is the liaison? To whom?
Kittr: Well, Mortar Board Alumnae does not exist anymore. Prytanean along
with probably Golden Bear Alumni, etc., really has only a social
connection, I would say. I don't think there's any official
connection. Alumnae Hostess Committee is just a group of volunteer
women that operates out of the International Visitor Service, which
is under Public Relations. Professor Ollie Wilson has recently been
put in charge.
I became more familiar with Kay Kerr through the Alumnae
Hostess Committee. Kay was also one of the three founding women in
Save San Francisco Bay Association in 1961. In 1964 I was sort of
interested in a part-time job, and so when Kay and others felt they
needed a paid person, they hired me at Maggie's suggestion. The pay
was very small and I only worked part-time. I think all volunteer
organizations sometimes get to this point where they like to have
somebody they can tell to do something, because if everybody is a
volunteer you can't tell anybody to do anything. You have to ask
them to do things. I've been working for Save the Bay ever since.
For a long time I was the only employee.
As you see, Maggie was directly instrumental there; it wouldn't
have occured to me to ask for the job. Kay might not have known
that I was interested in having a part-time job. It was just
totally happenstance with Maggie as the main person. Maggie worked
on a number of conservation efforts. She was always willing to help
with the Save the Bay project. Then she went on to be secretary to
the other presidents' wives. She was always interested and involved
in the Alumnae Hostess Committee, and was always interested in
helping me and brainstorming about who would be a good speaker, and
where could we do this, and so forth.
As a matter of fact, we [Alumnae Hostess] had our twenty-fifth
anniversary in 1985 and I said to Maggie, "Well, we haven't had a
meeting at Blake House for a long time." (Blake House isn't
150
Kittr: technically a place we take a visitor to, but it's a nice, gracious
place, and we hadn't seen the gardens for a long time.) Maggie said,
"Well, this is special. Why don't we make it a potluck luncheon?"
I would never have presumed to ask to use somebody else's house,
even though I knew that Mrs. Gardner didn't live there. But still,
you know. So she talked to Libby Gardner and we worked together,
the three of us.
Riess : Did Mrs. Gardner attend?
Kittr: Oh, yes. It was just a marvelous event, all really due to Maggie
who had said, "Well, let's do something special." because it's been
twenty-five years of this committee, and we're still going strong
helping the University. It's the old Prytanean attitude of giving
service to the University, which we're still doing as alums for all
these years and years.
Riess: And linking the town and gown, it seems to me.
Kittr: Well, I don't know. An awful lot of the women on the Hostess
Committee, a lot of the women on Prytanean are connected with the
University a lot more than I am. I'm only connected with the
University through alumni activities such as this. I've never
worked on the campus, which almost everybody else has, it seems
like. My husband has no connection with the University, and only
one of my three children even went there.
Whereas that's not true with many of the other people on both
the Hostess Committee and Prytanean. For example, Maggie. I mean,
Maggie went to Cal, and Maggie has continued to work, have many
connections, alumni connections as well as job connections and so
forth, with the University all these years.
Was there anyone ever like Maggie before Maggie?
No. I don't think there was ever. I haven't the vaguest idea what
President Sproul had in the way of social secretary or someone to do
entertaining. I have no knowledge of that. I would have been at
school at the time. There would have been nothing I would have
known about that.
Riess: So Maggie and Kay kind of created Maggie's position in the
University.
Kittr: Yes. Definitely. Then it carried on after Kay left. Maggie didn't
know if Nancy Hitch would want her, but of course she did. Then she
did the same thing for all of the others.
Riess :
Kittr:
Transcriber: Catherine Woolf
Final Typist: Elizabeth Eshleman
151
Regional Oral History Office
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California
Blake Estate Oral History Project
Norma Wilier, Anthony Hail, Ron and Myra Brocchini
REMODELLING AND DECORATING BLAKE HOUSE, 1967-1968
An Interview Conducted by
Suzanne B. Riess
in 1987
Copyright (c] 1988 by The Regents of the University of California
152
TABLE OF CONTENTS — Norma Wilier, Ron and Mrya Brocchini, and Anthony Hail
INTERVIEW HISTORY 153
BIOGRAPHY 155
Renovating Blake House 156
The Condition of the House in 1967 156
Selecting the Architects 157
Regent Dorothy Chandler 159
Keeping in Mind the Multi-Campus Presidency 160
Budget 162
Working with President and Mrs. Hitch's Requests 164
Selecting a Decorator 166
Making the House Livable 169
The Garden 170
A Private Life 172
Bees I75
Furnishing the House 178
Blake House Since the Hitches 180
The Working Drawings
The Public Response 185
153
INTERVIEW HISTORY
In 1962 Anita Blake died and the vast Mediterranean-style house that
she and her husband Anson had built on Rincon Road in Kensington, California
came to the University of California. By the terms of the Blake's 1957
gift, the house could be put to any use the University chose, and an idea
occurred to Mrs. Clark Kerr, the president's wife. She urged the Prytanean
alumnae group to undertake transforming Blake House into housing for
graduate women. Minor remodelling was done with an eye to the immediate
logistics of turning a three-bedroom house into a women's dormitory, and
accomodations were ready in the fall of 1963. For many reasons, however,
Blake House failed to attract enough residents to make it viable, and the
residency program was discontinued after 1965.
The deferred maintenance that the University inherited with Blake House
had not by any means been faced in the 1963 "remodelling." When the Board
of Regents decided in 1967 to upgrade Blake House to the status of official
residence of the President of the University of California — Charles Hitch
had been named president in September 1967 — major renovation was in order.
No longer a property solely associated with the University at Berkeley,
Blake House would be the statewide University's White House. But
considerable work would need to be done to make it equal to the honor, and
the new president wanted to occupy it as soon as possible.
The design challenge was to allow for a gracious pairing of functions:
a private place for the University's top executive to relax in after a hard
day, a home in which his wife could carry on her creative and social life,
normal surroundings for their daughter to grow up in, as well as a public
place where Regents, visiting dignitaries, delegations of one sort and
another could park their cars, find a chair, have a conversation, eat a
meal, use the towels, enjoy the view, and conduct official business. It was
a challenge that was carried out with great spirit by the four professionals
here reunited to recall that year together, architects Ron and Myra
Brocchini, interior decorator Anthony Hail, and University architectural
liaison Norma Wilier.
By all testimony the undertaking was great fun, gratifying, appre
ciated, and full of anecdote, as the interview will show. The Brocchinis
and Tony Hail acknowledged Norma Willer's essential role in articulating the
needs of President and Mrs. Hitch, coordinating the work of the architects
and contractors, and following through on the ultimate decorating decisions.
Mrs. Wilier, who suggested the joint interview, arranged for us to meet at
the Brocchinis' San Francisco office. We were joined there by Mr. Hail to
record this roundtable conversation — a vicarious look at how design people
get things done, as well as valuable documentation of Blake House.
154
Editing the oral history was done by passing the transcript from one
interviewee to the next. There were few changes. The editing, like the
interview, went smoothly despite the involvement of more than the standard
two persons. Mrs. Wilier had been interviewed for another Regional Oral
History Office interview, a history of the Women's Faculty Club at the
University, and on several occasions has been able to offer valuable advice
in planning architecture-related interviews. Her familiarity with the oral
history process made her at times seem a co- interviewer, which gave a parti
cular strength to the interview.
Suzanne B. Riess
Interviewer-Editor
November 20, 1987
Regional Oral History Office
486 The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
154a
BERKELEY'S ALUMNA
| MORE THAN 1,000 foreign businessmen, teachers,
government officials and students visit the Berkeley campus
each year — and the number is increasing. Many of them
come on business, and many of them often find themselves
— business completed, or between appointments — with
nothing to do, and nothing planned.
Such was the case four years ago with a young Peruvian
official with whom Mrs. Clark Kerr was discussing Uni
versity President Kerr's anticipated trip to South America.
During the conversation, Mrs. Kerr discovered her com
panion was interested in flowers and that he had an entire
afternoon with nothing planned. Although she was ex
tremely busy with her own heavy schedule, Mrs. Kerr
invited the young man to visit the beautiful garden which
surrounds the Kerrs' modern, glass-front home high on the
El Cerrito hills, overlooking the Bay. Later, she drove i
to his San Francisco-bound bus.
When the Kerrs arrived in Lima, Peru, a few moi
later, the official welcoming committee was headed by
young guest, and it was apparent that at least one b
Peruvian official's opinion of Berkeley — and of the U.S
had been strongly influenced by Mrs. Kerr's hospita
that afternoon.
Mrs. Kerr also was strongly influenced by her guest-
more precisely, by the fact that foreign visitors to Bei
ley were not "being taken care of" while they were h<
The Bureau of International Relations had, on occasi
used student guides for campus tours, when request
however, students proved too unreliable — some di<
even show up. No funds were available to hire guides.
C.alUornia Month
154b
HOSTESSES
Undaunted, Mrs. Kerr asked a group of 21 Bay Area
University alumnae to her home in April 1960 to "discuss"
the problem. Mrs. Kerr already knew how she wanted the
problem solved; before the women left, they had formed a
unique, little-publicized organization — the Alumnae Host
ess Committee — which, during the past four years, has es
corted some 800 foreign visitors on one- to two-hour
campus and community tours. Some hostesses have assisted
their guests on shopping expeditions. Some even have in
vited their guests home for dinner and "to meet the
family."
The Hostesses are a loosely-knit, informal organization
of approximately 30 former Berkeley students who meet
as a group three to five times a year. They have no official
status. All are volunteers. Most are housewives with grown
ON A TYPICAL assignment, a
hostess may find herself, as did
Mrs. Marjorie Watt '33 (at right in
photo at left), showing the campus
to a group of Ryulcyian science stu
dents from the top of the new
chemistry building. Often, however
a hostess is asked to escort only one
or two visitors. Such was the case
with Mrs. Helen Weis '33, shown at
right greeting George Spentzas.
deputy director of the Bank of
Greece, as he arrived at the School
of Business Administration office.
During an hour-long tour, mostly by
automobile, Mrs. Weis showed her
visitor the Campanile (below),
where both were startled when
chimes began to play, and the
Greek Theatre (left). Returning
past Memorial Stadium and Inter
national House (below), Mrs. Weis
delivered her charge on the door
step of his next appointment.
Hostesses drive their own cars —
often pay for their own meals — but
may park on campus while escort
ing visitors. Just prior to his return
to Greece. Spentzas wrote Mrs.
Weis: "America is ... now the
country where many of our friends
live. We leave much richer in ex
perience, and more optimistic
about the future of the world and
better international understanding.
Farewell and thank you."
JANUARY, 1964
15
HOSTESS COMMITTEE meets three to five times a year. Each meet
ing usually includes a special orientation program — a Library tour,
for example. The first meeting each fall, however, is held at University
House (above). During this meeting, under the chairmanship of Mrs.
Janice Kittredge '47 (above, right), the Committee is organized for
the coming year, new members are welcomed, and each member is
provided with the latest information and resource materials. The
Committee's sponsor, Mrs. Clark Kerr (below, right), attends most
meetings; sometimes bakes bread or cookies to be served. Day-to-day
coordination between visitors and hostesses is capably handled by
Dora Seu (below, left), of the campus' International Visitors' Bureau.
16
or teen-age children. Hostesses provide transportation
their own cars, often pay for their own lunches, since
expense funds are provided in the campus budget
The Committee's activities are coordinated by an ei
vescent bundle of energy, Janice Kittredge '47, w
mother of three school-age children, and one of the o
inal group called on by Mrs. Kerr. Scheduling of tours i
assignment of hostesses is handled by Dora Seu at
International Visitors Bureau on the Berkeley campus.
Lest one think the hostess' life is an easy one — filled v
suave, sophisticated dignitaries and businessmen — e
hostess can describe incidents which made her wish
were back in the kitchen, working over a hot stove v
children running 'rampant through the house. One host
for instance, recently guided a group of Japanese fami
— complete with children. As she was pointing out vari
local landmarks from the top of the Student Union, she
horrified to find several of the youngsters doing a baL
ing act on the platform railing — four stories above
pavement below!
Another hostess recently led her group of visiting
dents into the middle of a prohibited construction ;
Perhaps, however, the fear of many hostesses was
lized one day last summer when, as is the hostesses' cust
one hostess casually mentioned that there were two
dents at Berkeley from her guest's country. "Fine,1'
said. "Let's find them!'
Fortunately, both were soon located at Internatit
House.
As the number of foreign visitors coming to Berk
increases, the Alumnae Hostesses will be called upon n
and more. And it will be largely through their efforts t
in years to come, these visitors will remember Berkele
a "friendly place to be."
California Monti
Regional Oral History Office
Room 486 The Bancroft Library
155
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please print or write clearly)
Your full name
Date of birth
Place of birth
> C*A .
_
Father's full name
Birthplace
Mother's full name
Birthplace
Occupation
A PA
Where did you grow up ?
Present community
Education
Occupa
Special interests or activities
A-/JP
Kegionaj. uraj. na.ai.oi-y
Room 486 The Bancroft Library
155a
Berkeley, California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please print or write clearly)
Your full name
Date of birth
f^*)Zplace of birth f'fctg
Father's full name ffitlflfr
Birthplace
Occupation
Mother's full name
Birthplace
Occupation
Where did you grow up ?
Present community
Education
Occupation(s)
Special interests or activities
Regional Oral History Office
Room 486 The Bancroft Library
155b
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please print or write clearly)
Your full name
Date of birth
IMi
Place of birth
Father's full name Q|U0 AA/TJ^IO
Birthplace && fl^Att^/*^^
Mother's full name
Birthplace
Occupation
Where did you grow up ?
Present community
t
Education T
Occupation(s)
Special interests or activities
Regional Oral History Office
Room 486 The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley," California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please print or write clearly)
Your full name
Date of birth
. /J
(&W Place of birth
U
Father's full name
A..
Birthplace
Occupation
Mother's full name
U
MA>I
Birthplace
Occupation
Where did you grow up ?
Present community
Education . A fe
Occupation(s)
Special interests or activities
TO
156
Renovating Blake House
[Date of Interview: February 19. 1987]
The Condition of the House in 1967
Riess: What did you think of Blake House when you first saw it?
Myra: I thought it was just great.
Ron: I think it's a good example of that period of architecture.
Norma: Yes, but it was pretty shoddy when we got it.
Myra: It was in bad shape.
Ron: It had collapsed. I think the garden was stronger than the house
because Mabel Symmes apparently had traveled the world and collected
plants. I recall that the first time that I ever saw a kiwi was in
that garden out there by that loggia, and it was bearing fruit. I
thought it was a walnut because it looks like a walnut in growth.
There was one of everything. There were redwood groves —
Myra: And hose bibs in the closets.
Ron: To take care of indoor planting. It was just a hose bib like on
the outside of the house, so you had to be very careful. Those were
inside all of the upper bedroom closets, but there were no drains,
so if it leaked it would go all over the hardwood floors.
Riess: Had alterations been made at Blake House by the Prytanean group when
they moved the women graduate students in there in 1963?
Norma: Yes. Ron, you remember what it was like.
Ron: They did a lot of wallpapering and painting, and cosmetic
remodelling to the building.
157
Myra: Didn't they partition off a toilet?
stalls in it?
Wasn't there a toilet with
Nonna: I remember that. It had a kind of barracks look to it upstairs.
Ron: They had remodelled the house in a distressed situation because the
house had sunk about seven inches in the middle, right opposite the
grotto. One of the major things we had to do was to try to level
the house. When we did that, then put new foundations in — there's
concrete columns that support the ground living floor. We had to
lift the house, and when we did that it popped a lot of the
remodelling that had been done by the Prytaneans because we were
restoring it to its original shape. So walls cracked and wallpaper
came off — that was expected to happen. And we raised the house to
within three quarters of an inch of level. But it took about two
months to do that, just to raise the house.
[Tony Hail arrives]
Riess : Women were not in residence, I guess.
Ron: The house was vacant, I believe, when we went in. The stories that
we heard were that they moved out because it was a scary situation
to live out there all alone in the building at nighttime.
Myra : It was too far away.
Ron: They would hear noises at nighttime, probably deer or raccoon,
things like this, and call the police. And the University police
and El Cerrito police both got a little tired of driving out there
and finding nothing. I think because of the distance, plus the
separation from campus activities, plus the scare factor, they had
moved out.
Selecting the Architects
Riess: Norma, what is your recollection of the beginnings of the work at
Blake House?
Norma: I can't really remember the very beginning. I think that we got
word in my office from University Hall. Bob Evans called and wanted
somebody assigned to the project from our office, and I was the one.
Then we met with the Hitches, and the first thing we did was to
select an architect, and we interviewed Ron and Myra. [to Ron and
Myra] Do you remember that?
Myra: Vividly.
Ron: Yes.
158
Riess: Why vividly?
Ron: It was an interesting interview. I think we ended up having a one
o'clock interview on Saturday scheduled at the house site. I called
up and got it changed to eleven o'clock, the reason being that I'm
involved in Cal sports. Men's Intercollegiate — more so now than I
was then — and it was a football game day. We had an appointment to
go to the football game. It was the starting time for Golden Bear
Athletic Fund —
Myra: The truth of it is that he hasn't missed a Cal football game since
1938, and he wasn't about to miss one for this occasion either.
[laughter]
Ron: And it amazed me when Norma said we got the job. As I was leaving,
somehow Charles Hitch asked me why we changed the meeting, and we
were talking about that, and I said that it was very important to me
not to miss a Cal football game. As we walked out then I think
[Dan] Warner was walking in to be interviewed. He was one of the
other architects, I guess. We switched times. That was an
interesting anecdote about how to be selected or not be selected for
a commission. I don't know that it appealed to Charles Hitch at the
time, but I think it did.
Myra: I think it probably did. You certainly were an Old Blue.
The other funny thing was that I had lived part of my childhood
about two blocks away and never seen the house. It was fun to
actually see it.
Riess: Norma, how did you decide who you were going to interview?
Norma: My memory is a total blank. I can't even remember the other people
we interviewed. I'm sure they were selected from a list of people
who had experience in residential remodeling.
Ron: Dan Warner. They were the heirs to Gardner Dailey's office. I
think Gardner Dailey had just died, and it eventually became Warner,
Yuill- Thornton & Levikow. That was the firm. We didn't know the
third one, but we knew the second one because we passed each other
in the garden.
Riess: Are you aware that Catherine Hearst thought that it would be a waste
of time to put thirty-three thousand into the house? She thought it
just should be razed.
Myra: Really?
Ron: No!
Riess: That's in the files. [July 16, 1966]
159
Regent Dorothy Chandler
Ron: We went through two interviews with the Hitches, and I think the
third one was a lunch at their house. Myra can't forget the salmon
on pewter plates. We met Buf fy Chandler, who was the Regent who was
put in charge. This was a Regents' project, as I understand it, not
a Berkeley project.
Norma: No, it was a University-wide project.
Ron: I know Bob Evans [University architect], when we met him, was
filling in for Elmo Morgan [University vice-president], who was on a
one-year sabbatical. I think Buf fy Chandler came to one or two of
the meetings, and then she sort of disappeared from the scene.
Myra: I remember that differently. I thought what happened was we were
going along in the preliminaries and somehow it came up that there
wasn't going to be room for the help.
Myra: She said, "Come on you guys," and I thought that meant somebody was
going to cough up some more money. And as soon as she said that,
there was money to do that addition.
Tony: For the servants' bathrooms mainly, that's what she said. I didn't
know who she was; nobody introduced anybody. I said, "We have very
nice bathrooms planned for the servants." She said, "Have you ever
given a spur-of-the-moment lunch for four thousand people?" or
something ridiculous like that. (I've told this so many times and
it gets bigger.) [laughter] She said, "I have." So I said to
somebody, "Who is that woman?" and they told me who she was. She
said, "They don't like using each others' bathrooms." Do you
remember that?
Myra: Yes, right.
Tony: "Permanent servants don't like having someone come in from outside
to use their bathrooms, and men certainly don't want women — or vice
versa — using the same bathrooms, and you'd better provide them now
because you won't be able to do it later, and find the room for it."
She was very firm about that. She asked me a great many questions,
Mrs. Chandler. Mrs. Hearst didn't say anything — I knew who she was,
she spoke with a southern accent. But Mrs. Chandler was very
strong, just what you'd expect, and knew exactly what she was
talking about.
Riess: She was very much in favor of the project too.
Tony: Very much in favor of the project, but also a very strong woman who
intended to have her thoughts listened to, let's put it this way.
160
Riess: That must have been very hard for Nancy Hitch, I should think.
Norma: No, she was quite open to it. She was soliciting ideas from Mrs.
Chandler and anyone else who had experience in running a big house.
Tony: She had no false pride about that, and she was very intelligent not
to, because very few people are accustomed to running a house on
that scale, and also very few who would be expected to give lunches
like that, and she was to be expected to, wasn't she?
Norma: She was, and she really didn't have that much experience, but she
knew Mrs. Chandler did, and she had invited Mrs. Chandler to give
advice.
Keeping in Mind the Multi-Campus Presidency
Riess :
Tony:
Riess:
Tony:
Myra:
Tony :
Myra:
Tony:
Myra:
In the files there are many of Nancy Hitch's notes. She was
planning constantly, it appears. I wonder how she communicated with
all of you.
All the time. [laughter] All the time, and she took it as a
personal chore, as if it were to be her house. She chose the china,
the silver, the glasses, the napkins — well, let's say we did. She
was interested in every detail of a pepper shaker, right down to the
kitchen things and where the family was to sit.
This is a good thing?
It's an excellent thing from my point of view,
wanted, and then we got it.
She told us what she
But also I always had the feeling that it was slightly turned
towards the fact that it was University- owned. It wasn't like she
was picking out what she wanted.
It wasn't selfish, or that she was interested in her personal
aggrandizement at all. It was just to make sure that if it was done
under her auspices, it was going to be a job done correctly. That's
the way I felt.
Wasn't there something about the china?
about.
I forget what that was all
It was about the gold emblem.
Yes. You had to search all over creation to find somebody to do it.
161
Tony :
Myra:
Tony:
Riess :
Tony:
Myra:
Tony :
Myra:
Tony:
Norma:
Tony :
Riess;
Tony :
Norma;
That's it. She wanted the seal of the University on all the china
in Blake House. Nobody knew how to get that made. I had to
scrounge to get it done.
You got it from North Carolina someplace?
Something like that, another college. North Carolina, or Vanderbilt.
I got it to show Mrs. Hitch what it would look like. It wasn't on
everything then. Now you see it everywhere, but you didn't see it
then. It was a good-looking thing, wasn't it? Mrs. Hitch loved it.
Rather than their initials — and you had to have something on it.
But it was supposed to serve all the campuses, not just Berkeley.
What number of settings did you decide on?
it.
Not four thousand I take
No, but a great many, it was a very big service.
I remember that we had to have place settings for fifty-four people,
and the reason I remember it is —
That's how many you could seat.
Yes, and the reason I remember is that we had to figure out where to
put it. Remember how I went around and measured how tall the plates
were going to be?
We chose every single thing, and they made provisions to store it.
It was a vast amount.
That was Italian china, Ginori.
That's why it was so difficult to get that coat of arms [seal of the
University] on it.
That point keeps being made that the University is not Berkeley. In
recalling Mr. Hitch's term there, and some of his wishes when he
came on as president, people mention that he was very clear that he
didn't want even to set foot on the Berkeley campus unless he was
invited to, that he was head of all the campuses.
The Hitches wanted that point to come across all the time, in
everything, that it was not just a Berkeley thing, and it certainly
wasn't anything to do with them.
However, I don't think there were any other labels where the
University seal was placed, other than on the china.
I can't recall that there was any place where we could make that
statement, other than verbally.
162
Tony: No, but I do remember that the absence of initials is odd on napkins
and silver, so that was their way of getting around it. I thought
that was very nice of them not to want their name on anything.
Riess: Whoever supplied the Stieff silver offered to initial the back of it
free. Was it initialed?
Norma: I think that was one thing we decided not to do.
Tony: We sat around at Mrs. Hitch's house on all these little things and
decided, and she never, ever put her personal stamp on it, never
pushed herself forward.
Norma: She was really a very quiet person, so quiet in fact that it was
difficult to hear her often.
Myra: That's right, I'd forgotten that. She spoke so quietly.
Norma: And she had laryngitis to begin with. I remember that very clearly
because she used to call me on the phone, and it was very difficult
to understand what she was saying. About that same time I was
dealing with Bill Wurster, who also had problems speaking, and I was
a nervous wreck. [laughter]
Budget
Riess: That $458,000 budget, how was that determined? On July 5th, 1966 —
Cliff Dochterman gave President Hitch three proposals for different
ways of handling the renovation costs. Big money was involved, but
not anything like $458,000; it was more like $200,000. Did you make
up the budget, Norma?
Norma: It originated in the office of the University architect and was
based on an assumed program, not knowing really what had to be done
to jack up the house or about the additions.
Riess: That was before you found Ron and Myra.
Norma: Yes. An outline program and a budget was always developed for every
project before we ever hired an outside architect or any outside
consultants. There had to be Regents' approval given of that budget
and program before we started. Later it would have been turned over
to Ron and Myra to develop a budget, and they would have come up
with the first real estimate based on the program that developed.
Ron: I think it's important to understand the difference between the
construction budget and the project budget. What we were involved
with was the construction budget. Beyond that is the project budget
163
Ron: that takes in all the costs involved, and having A & E [Architects
and Engineers] on it — and Tony on it. We would only be involved in
restoring the house and adding onto the house. It's not unusual to
have a $300,000 construction budget that might be a $400,000 project
budget, depending on what goes into it after it's completed.
Riess: In choosing the architect, is that a competitive bid?
Norma: There are no bids, no discussion of fees at the time of the
interviews, but it is competitive.
Ron: In the past few years, I have been involved in selecting architects
for the state and for the University, and I think it has always been
traditional to select on talent and experience — if you have a
building type — yet you don't want to leave anybody out that doesn't
show experience but does show creative talent that could develop
that experience. Otherwise we never would have done Bodega Marine
Biology Lab for the University because it was the first one of its
type. You don't go out and bid competitively for it.
Everyone going in and working with the University realizes that
they have a fee schedule. So if you're doing a lab building, and
you know the approximate cost, you know what your fee is going to
be. It's pretty straightforward: I think basically professional
talent and capabilities.
Myra: Theoretically that's the way any job is supposed to be done, not
just University work.
Riess: Was the bid for construction also very straight- forward? Was Al
Heff ley-
Ron: That was a competitive bid. Al was on the bidder's list.
Myra: He'd done a lot of work for the University and everybody liked him.
Norma: He had done some work for the Hitches, on their house on Hilldale.
Prior to the actual house remodeling and addition, we leveled the
house, and did some work on the foundation. Another contractor did
that work.
Ron: I don't remember who bid against Al. Mario somebody. He's an
expert in lifting buildings.
164
Working with President and Mrs. Hitch's Requests
Ron: Even before that aspect of the project, I recall that the Hitches
were some of the easiest clients that I'd ever had.
Tony: I was going to say that, too. The nicest.
Myra: It wasn't that they went along with everything you said. They
weren't easy that way.
Ron: They were nice, they were easy, but when we went to meetings — and we
had frequent meetings in University Hall — we would present three
alternatives, and Charles Hitch would ask us what we thought was the
best, and we'd try to justify it, and then he'd make a decision. So
when you left, you knew where you were going, there was no
vacillating. After the decision was made, that was the decision.
Our contact with them was extremely easy. We didn't work with
a committee, we worked with the two of them, and I imagine Nancy did
a lot of the background and notes and gave it to him, and said,
"This is what we want to do." and he digested it. He was a very
busy person. Just like he had a staff person do his reviews and
hand him conclusions and directions, I'm sure that it worked that
way with the house. It meant that it was extremely easy for us. We
sort of went from A to B without a lot of going sideways on that
project.
Myra: A good part of that is right here. Norma's the one who orchestrates
that.
Ron: Norma took the brunt of most of that.
Tony: I've never had that middle person on any other project I've done.
Myra: You always have the person in Norma's position, but most of the
people in Norma's position are not Norma. A lot of times the jobs
just get —
Ron: I think we established a sort of system in the day-to-day dialogue
that went on between Nancy and Norma. Our contacts were only at
those meetings, about every other week. A lot of the resolutions
and options were handled by Norma before they got to us.
Riess: I'm a little surprised that Mr. Hitch was involved.
Ron: He was. I think we had a half dozen meetings with him in the
conference room at University Hall. We worked rather rapidly on
this job because they wanted to get in before he was no longer
president.
165
Tony: That's it. [laughter]
Ron: The job moved rather quickly.
Myra: How long did they live in the house?
Norma: Probably seven or eight years.
Ron: The only concern besides the house itself was security.
Tony: And the child.
Ron: Also their ability to live there and have a private life in the
building as well as the life of a university president.
Tony: That was very important to her.
Ron: It had to do with the scale of some of the spaces: a small kitchen,
a small dining room —
Myra: We put the elevator in for that reason too.
Ron: The elevator so that they could communicate without going down the
main stairway. But also the garden itself. We added that entry
gate around the grotto particularly to keep that part more or less
as a private garden. The remainder of the garden was to be left open
and accessible to public and public tours. We worked with Walter
Vodden who was in charge of all the garden, and decided where we
could develop an exterior use space that was enclosed. We worked
with Gerry Scott, landscape architect, as well. The whole back area
was lifted. There's about fourteen feet of fill out there where
that lawn area is, so that there'd be an outside area. And then we
built a crafts room downstairs for Nancy and Caroline.
Riess : This memo from the conference on October 12, 1967, at which Mrs.
Hitch and Mr. Evans and Frances Essig were present —
Norma: Fran Essig was Dr. Hitch's executive secretary or administrative
assistant.
Riess: At that time Mrs. Hitch was outlining the things that she
particularly wanted. One of the things was an outdoor roofed dining
terrace with a fireplace.
Norma: She didn't get that. [laughter]
Riess: And a game room or play room downstairs to accomodate the children.
Norma: That was done.
166
Riess: Is that what is now the housekeeper's apartment?
Ron: No, this is down below in the back side, adjacent to the new west
loggia that was added. The house was a very large house, but it was
designed as a very small house, and you had to circulate through
spaces.
Myra: It was your basic three-bedroom house, wasn't it?
Ron: That's right, and you couldn't get in and out of the living room
except by one set of doors.
At first guess I can see why Catherine Hearst might say that it
was totally unsuitable as a house where you have to give teas for
five hundred and hold receptions. There was no way of moving people
gracefully through the house. This was a major reason for
developing the west loggia, which was all added on, so they could
come through the receiving line, go back out and circulate through
the dining room. That was a major problem. It was just a three-
bedroom house, not designed for that kind of social use.
Norma: It was Mrs. Kerr who suggested that loggia. She [Nancy Hitch] said
that others had been given credit for that idea, but she wanted it
to be noted that it was Mrs. Kerr who suggested it.
Myra: She was right; it was the right place to do it.
Selecting a Decorator
Riess: [to Tony] When did you first see the house, and what did you think
of it?
Tony: I don't remember. I remember I went to Mrs. Hitch's house. You'd
gotten me to come, hadn' t you?
Norma: Mrs. Hitch and I came to see you at your house and talked to you a
little bit before you came over to Blake House. And then I think we
walked through Blake House together and then went to the Hitches' on
Hilldale.
Tony: Yes. I don't know when that was. It was very near the beginning.
[to Myra and Ron] You'd just been chosen, I know that.
Norma: Because we did talk about furniture layouts and arrangements at a
very early stage. You people did some furniture layout plans,
didn' t you?
167
Myra: We usually do. although I don't remember.
Norma: Tony gave you his ideas on that and you laid it out for them.
Tony: We never had any problems professionally with any of it.
Myra: Right.
Riess: The business of having furniture layout plans: was that because
this was more of a set piece, or do you do that anyway?
Tony: You always do.
Myra: You can't design a conference room unless you know where you're
going to put the furniture because you don't know what to do with
the lights or plugs or doors or anything, so you do it for
everything.
Riess: Including residences?
Myra: Oh, absolutely.
Riess: [to Tony] Anyway, what did you think of the house?
Tony: I'm used to working in California on houses that aren't necessarily
pretty houses. I think we get used to it. You probably build more
than you remodel, but I'm always remodeling, called in to change
houses that exist. Far more often than I'm asked to build new ones.
Riess: As a piece of architecture you're saying it wasn't —
Tony: It's an interesting location, and a marvelous garden, and it just
never entered my mind that it should be criticised. It was a fait
accompli by the time I got there. There was no question that that
was going to be the case. You were already into your loggia things,
and jacking it up. It was going when I got there, so I had no
critical views.
Norma: I think we were all caught up in the enthusiasm.
Tony: And the excitement of it. It was quite exciting to be asked to be
included. It's a wonderful location, and the gates, the whole
thing was attractive.
Riess: How did you and Mrs. Hitch decide on Tony?
Norma: Someone, Regent [William] Coblentz I believe, whose wife is a
decorator, suggested several people. We made a list of those
people, and I think the only one we really did interview was Tony.
We felt that what we saw at his house was just what we were looking
for, so we didn't go any farther than that. I think Michael Taylor
168
Norma: was one of the ones that was suggested, but we thought the
warmth that we found in Tony's house, and the kind of informality
that was there, was just right for the Blake house.
Riess: You said once that twenty or even ten years later you never could
have done what you did at Blake House because of the National Trust
landmark implications for a house as old as that.
Norma: The addition of the bedrooms and the gallery were really an
improvement to the house. The attitude today with many of the
houses considered historic landmarks is that you can't change any
part of the exterior, so if it were considered to be an historic
landmark, we couldn't have done those additions.
Riess: Was that ever a consideration?
Norma: It wasn't, but it probably would be today, because even little
shacks in Berkeley are considered historic landmarks.
Myra: You have to fight tooth and nail not to give it that status.
169
Making the House Livable
Tony:
Myra:
Norma:
Riess ;
Ron:
Myra:
Ron:
Myra :
Norma:
I think that they were incredibly lucky to have found a use for this
house, and by the same token the people who use the house are lucky
to have a house like that. They never would have found such a
handsome house and they never would have gotten such a location.
Plus the garden which the kids still use.
landscape architecture?
Isn't it a lab for
Oh, yes, that was one of the agreements, that it would remain. Ron,
you were talking about people going through the garden, and that the
gate was placed there to create an element that would suggest
privacy for the Hitches, and that is true. But they allowed people
to come through that gate and look at the fountain and at the
reflecting pool and then go beyond that to the redwood grove. Mrs.
Hitch used to look up and see people who were going on that tour
peering in the windows of the living room and the lanai from time to
time. She had some screens in the window which she used to pull
across when the tours were going on and when she had guests.
Some of the other things that she wanted back in 1967 were the
potting room for her ceramics, a play yard outside with swings, and
a swimming pool.
The play yard developed, but the swimming pool didn't.
I don't even remember that that was even a cost factor. It's too
cold out there. It's sort of in a draw and the fog comes up. I'm
sure we said that it was just too cold to build a pool.
Gerry Scott probably also said that because that would have been her
area, and she wanted to preserve as much of the garden for public
use as possible.
But I remember we talked about it.
I don't think she was too enthusiastic about the pool.
170
Ron: We talked about how if the pool went in. it would be very remote
from the house, out in the public area where the fill was.
Norma: There really was only one place to put it, and that was in the fill
area.
Ron: Yes, and it would be difficult to maintain privacy out there, so
they'd be very self-conscious using it while people came through.
And the hazards of having a pool —
Tony: I think you ask for everything when you start a project like this
and see what you get.
Norma: I don't think they got the play yard either. There was a space — not
swings, but there might have been a sandbox.
Myra: She was sort of getting beyond that age anyhow. Wasn't she almost a
teenager?
Norma: Caroline was nine.
Riess: Then a dog kennel and dog run.
Norma: Beatrice, [laughter] that was the dog.
Ron: Wasn't that underneath the loggia? And we had the doghouse right at
the end of the loggia, with a dog door.
Norma: The dog door was in the ceramics room.
The Garden
Riess: Gerry Scott would list these things as the "demands" of the Hitches.
Was that because so many of them intruded on the gardens, so they
would be seen by a landscape architect as demands?
Norma: Well, Gerry really felt that the garden was hers.
Myra: And in fact she had single-handedly been taking care of it for a
long time.
Norma: She had, yes. She was a member of the faculty in landscape
architecture, and when she took over the directorship of the garden,
she tore out a lot of the overgrown shrubs and things, and she'd
taken a lot of heat for that. She improved it greatly, but still,
you know how people are when you go to cut down a shrub or a tree.
So she had scars from all of that activity, and she really jealously
guarded the garden.
171
Ron: I think Gerry's real concern was the private intrusion into the
Blake gardens, and how to control that.
Myra: You mean making it so that it wasn't available.
Ron: Right. Her argument on the swimming pool was that it was such a
private use in a public garden. We worked together on the dog run
and kept it very close to the house so it wasn't obtrusive, and were
able to get the dog in at nighttime. It's coordination and design
review between the architect and the landscape architect as to who's
going to do what. We talked to her carefully about where we'd put
the gate in the wall, and the entry, and how we'd handle the
turnaround and how to get service into the building and not make it
too obvious at the end of the turnaround.
I think we had several schemes. One of the requirements was
additional parking, and we built a parking platform behind the house
that served as a turnaround — it goes over the gully. We all wanted
to keep that as a non-element in the landscape.
Myra: Didn't we talk about there being an actual garage once, or carport?
Ron: Right off the turnaround we had carports at one time.
Riess : Yes, that was one of her requests.
Ron: It finally rationalized itself that we'd put parking under the new
wing and the garage would be inside the house. How do you get
groceries in and out? We had a separate entry for the servants, but
the landscaping disguised all that when you arrived at the bottom of
the turnaround. So we tried to augment the parking requirements by
making them non-building elements. We created the parking lot up
near the top, and the parking down below on the edge of the turn
around so that it would be adjacent to the formal garden. I think
this is just the dialogue that occurs during the design process.
Frequently clients tell you that they want this, but as you
talk to them you find out they don't want this, they really want
that, but they have difficulty in telling you what they want. So
when you look at all of these things you discuss the good points and
the bad points. Like the swimming pool: you'd be out swimming in
that backyard and you've got all these tourists going through
gawking at you. So that's a very uncomfortable feeling. Would you
ever use it? Would the next University president have a need for a
swimming pool? All of these points were discussed. Where can you
put it? Where can it be private? The north side of the house was
too shady; the fill area was pretty windy, although it got sun. I
think that she just changed her ideas. This dialogue that goes on
in the design development should reinforce all these ideas — cast
aside all the ones that don't prove to work well, and strengthen the
ones that do work well.
172
Riess : But a client typically asks for as much as possible?
Ron: I don't know if she was asking for as much as possible, but I
imagine she was putting down what she thought would be necessary to
have a house of that type.
A Private Life
Myra: But also she had to live in it. and they had a dog, so you have to
do something about the dog.
Tony: I think she was thinking about that all the time, living in it and
raising a young child, and having as normal a life as you could have
in that situation, and as many concessions towards that as were
possible. So you could get a glass of milk at night, and all that
kind of thing.
Ron: Right. Two kitchens, the commercial kitchen and the private
kitchen.
Tony: And all of her private furniture in her private dining room.
Ron: And that little extension on the bay where the three of them could
eat dinner and not feel that they were sitting in a huge vacant
dining room.
Myra: The other thing is that with a house of that size, whether it was
the Hitches or anybody, those requirements would be the same.
Ron: I think as history has proven, it's fairly difficult to do that kind
of an official residence that's going to be acceptable to everyone.
Apparently Gardner feels more comfortable living in Orinda than he
does at Blake House, primarily, from what I've heard, because of the
social problems of having teenage daughters that would almost be
isolated in an island. I think Caroline was isolated out there. To
have friends over was a big effort; you didn't just go down the
block or next door. It probably does make it difficult to have kids
in a circumstance like that.
Riess: It's rather too bad, isn't it, that they were only there for seven
years. [1968-75] That's not really enough for the amount of work
that went into it.
Ron: Well, I think the other way. If you look at anybody at the
corporate level that he was at, they probably move every four years.
If you1 re in government —
173
Tony: Think of the President.
Ron: The President's in for four years, maybe eight. He was president
[chief, economics division] of Rand Corporation [1948-1961]. He was
someplace, somewhere for four years [assistant secretary of defense,
1961-1965]. I think people at high corporate levels do move a lot,
and maybe seven years is a long time to be in one place. How long
does the University keep a president? After all Sproul was there —
Tony: For more than seven years.
Norma: Twenty-seven or eight.
Riess: Maybe doing houses is just the j ob of a president's wife. Do you
think that's how Nancy Hitch saw it, that that was her job?
Ron: Yes.
Myra: It's fun, you know, people like to do it. I'm sure she really
e nj oye d it.
Tony: She enjoyed the whole thing and liked the results.
Myra: It's not a chore; it's a fun thing to do. Especially when it isn't
your own money.
Riess: Well, I guess that has a lot to do with Norma, and all of you, then,
that it is a fun thing to do. I don't think it's fun.
Tony: It was really a rather pleasant experience for everyone, I think,
including the Hitches.
Norma: Oh, yes.
Tony: Unlike a lot of jobs that are not necessarily altogether pleasant.
Riess: Well, there was the money. But there certainly was some negative
publicity about that. Though by now when I mention Blake House to
people they don't even know what it is, or where it is.
Myra: Clever old usl [laughter]
Norma: We did have some monetary difficulties from time to time, and we did
have to go back for additional funds. So that wasn't all roses. I
can remember one meeting that we had with Nancy when I told her that
we didn't have enough money to finish the basement. Do you remember
that, Tony?
Tony: Yes. Now I do.
174
Norma: She was very upset with that news, and she went to Charlie who must
have talked to the Regents and it was shortly after that that we got
a little infusion of funds to finish the basement. That was
referred to in the program as the recreation room. And for
refurbishing the dumbwaiter that went down into the basement, the
wine cellar and storage room for odds and ends, extra chairs and
things.
Tony: Well, that's par for the course, isn't it, in the course of a
renovation.
Norma: Sure, it's not unusual. But it wasn't that we had money flowing in;
it didn't flow; there was an effort that had to be made to get it
when we ran short. I think that we did everything we could to make
it an economical job. Certainly Ron and Myra didn't splurge on the
architecture, and neither did you, Tony, on the interiors. It is a
huge house so the square foot remodeling cost was low but when that
cost was multiplied by the number of square feet in the house it
came to what seemed to be a large amount then.
Riess : Ginori china and Stieff sterling were considered an investment for
the lifetime of the house?
Tony: Well, it's just dignified. It is the president of nine colleges.
and in a sovereign state like this I think you would expect to go to
the President's House and see something rather attractive. You
don't expect pottery.
Myra: [to Riess] You've interviewed other people for this? And you've
read a lot?
Riess: Yes.
Myra: I get the sense that you have a feeling that there was a very
negative thing about this house, about the job. Boy, I didn't feel
that. Several times you've talked about demands.
Norma: I think she's getting that from the notes.
Tony: I don't think that was the case at all.
Riess: Well, I'm not in the field, and I see files full of notes, and it is
not possible to know what the tone of it all was. That's why we're
talking, partly.
Tony: You should read the communications between Julia Morgan and Mr.
Hearst. [laughter] It's fascinating. It's a love affair. "What
do you know about trees?" says Mr. Hearst. She says, "Plenty, more
than you ever will." It's all on the drawings. I think there's an
awful lot of dialogue going on between clients.
175
Ron: There's no way of understanding what you're doing with someone
unless you have that dialogue. It takes a long time to do a house.
It's a very personal thing. I can do a twenty-story office
building, it's totally impersonal, in half the time it takes to do a
house.
Tony: Particularly this kind of a house.
Norma: There was one instance also that I remember — I don't know why — but
we were talking about what to do with the towels in the master
bathroom.
Tony & Myra: I remember that.
Norma: What will we do with the towels? I think finally Ron said, "Well,
you dry yourself, and then you throw them into the bin for the maid
to take and wash. The bathroom didn't have enough wall space for
enough towel racks to put the towels up to dry. So Ron said, "No,
you don't put the towels up to dry, you just throw them in the bin
after you've used them." It's that kind of detail.
Ron: Yes, and I think some of those things crept into this design. That
was her lifestyle, was to hang all the towels on towel bars. That
was the way she lived. The next president maybe didn't use towels,
maybe they wanted electric dryers. So there is a certain amount of
personal lifestyle that creeps into any design you're doing for a
public building, which this was.
Bees
Ron: Did you have a chance to talk to Maggie Johnston before she died?
Riess : No.
Ron: Because Maggie came on after we were through. I remember that there
was no office in Blake House, and we finally did the anteroom to the
dining room, we stuck it in there because she needed an office. She
wasn't too happy with that.
Myra: It was tiny, wasn't it?
Norma: It was really a coat closet.
Ron: It was a passageway.
It's unfortunate you couldn't talk to her because I'm sure that
she knew more about the on-going situations that developed at Blake
House. We took it through construction, and there were a couple of
176
Ron: f tinny things that went on in construction, and in the beginning of
design. Besides the hose bibs in the closet, every closet had a
ventilator in the ceiling, the theory being that in older houses — we
don't do this today — but frequently there's a window in the closet
in an older house so you can open it up and air the clothes out. In
the Blake estate they had these grills in the ceiling, and the attic
was ventilated.
The theory was that that would dry those areas. But they had
ten thousand bees, and there was honey dripping down from these
ventilators. When I walked through the first day, at first I
thought it was roofing tar coming through. We looked at it, and I
could hear this "bzzzz" going on. I thought, gee, there's rattle
snakes in the attic, or bees or something.
It turned out that Charles Hitch was extremely allergic to bee
stings, they were toxic to him, so I remember that one of the first
things we did was that Norma's office got a bee killer, a DDT
exterminator. We sprayed the house, and we couldn't go into it for
a week. I remember walking into the house at the end of the week,
and I think every three square inches on the upper floor was a dead
bee. It was amazing.
Well, we thought we'd gotten rid of the bees, and then we got
into construction. Because of distress in the house, in certain
areas that we had to reinforce, we had to remove the stucco,
especially around the fireplaces, and put plywood back, and then
stucco back in its place. When we took off the stucco, we found
that the spaces within the stud walls were solid honeycomb. We had
honeycomb fourteen inches wide and six feet high, full of honey,
except no one could use it because there had been DDT and everyone
was fearful of it.
Well, we figured that everything was solved until the day of
the dedication. We knew that the bees had come back, and I think
Norma hired this old beekeeper [Mr. John Watson], who was the only
guy who would come to the house to get rid of the bees. We kept
getting after him to come get them, and he wouldn't come. I guess
he was the only beekeeper within many miles, and he would come when
it suited him. If the weather was right in the morning he'd come.
They had this huge dedication at the Blake House on the lawn, on the
opposite side of the turning circle, and in the midst of this this
guy comes down the hill in a Model A truck going pop! pop! bang!
bang! boom! boom!
All these people from the University — Regents were there, and I
don't know who was talking at the time — everybody turned around to
look at this guy driving down the road. He parks right in front of
the house, and everybody gets back to the ceremony, except — I had my
back to the house — as you watched the people up on the podium, they
kept looking up like this. [laughter] So everybody turns around.
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177
Ron: and here's this guy, about eighty years old, dressed in this silver
suit with a helmet, and he's walking across the roof ridge on the
house, on the clay tile, with a box to lure the bees. I thought I'd
die. The funniest memory I've got of Blake House was of this guy.
They finally sent somebody up there to get him off, because we
were afraid he was going to fall off and kill himself in the middle
of the ceremony. People were saying that it was the first ceremony
they'd been to with entertainment, this highwire act up there on top
of the roof.
Norma: He got the bees.
Ron: I think they're still a problem, aren't they? The come back every
time. You just couldn't get rid of them.
Riess : So the honeycomb stuff you just threw away.
Norma: Where we could get at it.
Ron: Yes, where we tore it out, we got rid of it. I don't know where else
it is in the house, but we sealed the house up pretty tight.
Riess: That's weird. It must have been buzzing for years.
Norma: Oh, my, yes.
Myra: No wonder those girls were scared.
Ron: We heard another rumor — we weren't actually there, fortunately: At
the first Regents' dinner we had put up a thing in the kitchen
called an "Instant Hot." They were just new on the market. It's
one of these electric units that you can put a cup under and get hot
water and make coffee or tea. Apparently, during the dinner this
thing started steaming. They were sitting in the dining room, and
they didn't know our number —
Norma: Fortunately they knew mine.
Ron: — and the plumber went out at about ten o'clock at night.
Myra: What did you do, give him Heffley's number? And Hef fley gave them
the plumber's number. [laughter]
178
Furnishing the House
Riess : [To Tony] You bought a refectory table and chairs from San Simeon;
weren't there Hearst rugs and things that the University owned
already?
Tony: We were taken to see a whole batch of rugs someplace, where the
president of that campus had lived.
Norma: We had rugs in the house that came from the Blake estate.
Tony: That was in the house on the campus, on the top floor of the
chancellor's house?
Norma: That's right. It was the chancellor's house on campus, up in the
attic.
Tony: I had to choose a whole batch of rugs that we thought were
possibilities. We didn't use them all.
Norma: No. but we had them all delivered over there.
Tony: We had them delivered and tried them out. And we had a lot of the
furniture that I had to recover.
Norma: Yes, that was from the Blakes' furniture. And then there was
furniture that the Hitches moved from their house on Hilldale.
Tony: Yes, but that they wanted to be kept in a separate area, so that
they could feel at home.
Norma: They used some of it in the living room, in the lanai dining room,
in the study, in the upstairs hallway as well as in their bedroom.
Tony: They had careful plans made, so that we knew where everything was
going, and what had to be bought new.
Norma: You suggested the new sofas on either side of the fireplace and the
two chairs. What else?
Tony: We tried to get it up to date. Then we did a lot of curtains for
that house, and a lot of windows were left without curtains, like in
the loggia, the lanai. Didn't we buy new furniture out there?
Norma: Yes. That was McGuire.
Tony: Then we did all the private places upstairs using the Hitches'
things — just like a normal job.
Norma: I remember a lot of things about Caroline's room.
178a
ANTHONY HAIL
IS MONTCLAIR TERRACE, SAN FRANCISCO
February 15 , 1968
Dear Mrs . Hitch:
Here is the item from Herb Caen's column that
you wanted to see:
"Dr Edward Hitch, the new Pres . of UC ,
thinks big. He has hired S.F.'s inter
nationally-known interior designer,
Tony Hail, to turn his Kensington house
into a work of art, or even Tony. On the
other hand , Chancellor Roger Heyns lives
on campus in a house with beige carpets ,
beige walls and beige curtains. 'This
place,1 he explained one night, 'was
decorated by a committee - and the only
shade a committee can agree on is beige' ."
Sincerely ,
179
Tony: Yes, I do too.
Norma: You suggested that little canopy at the head of the bed for
Caroline. She had two beds in her room, so that she could have
friends for overnight.
Tony: She liked it, I remember that. It all went very smoothly, didn't
it? It seemed to me it did.
Myra: Yes.
\
Tony: Colors were chosen that everybody seemed to agree on. And also Mrs.
Hitch was extremely helpful with Norma taking a lot of the
conversation, before it ever got to us. I think you talked it over
with Mrs. Hitch, and then you'd come tell me what she said, and I'd
go looking, and do it.
Riess: Did you have things given by Regents or by families?
Tony: No, I don't think so. We had things that the house inherited, that
belonged to the Blakes. Then we didn't have much given, did we? I
don't recall we had anything given.
Norma: I think you bought the dining room table and then we had some
chairs made to match the ones that you got.
Tony: You said you wouldn't be able to do this house now [because of the
landmark constraints] but you wouldn't be able to do it financially
either. It would have been a much more expensive project now.
Really ridiculously expensive.
Riess: Does the University, because it is the University, get discounts on
anything?
Tony: They get it at wholesale cost, but I don't think they get it below
wholesale.
Norma: We did buy everything through the purchasing department and that
was quite a task. [laughter]
Tony: Enormous task, but it got done, and I think we got always the best
price we could, but I don't think we got below wholesale. We did it
as economically as we could. We made more sense there than we
normally would, at least I think so.
Riess: What do you mean?
Tony: Well, I mean we weren't extravagant because we knew it was
University money. There was some furniture that we got from the
chancellor's house [University House].
180
Norma: Yes, we got a few chairs and things.
Tony: Some, but then I insisted on nice, up-to-date upholstery and
curtains, which made everything look like it was more up-to-date,
and not so old and fuddy-duddy. I think the house was quite dark
and depressing.
Norma: I remember that you suggested quite strongly — let's put it that
way — that we have very fresh-looking fabrics on everything, and that
really lightened the house. And also that the carpets were light.
Tony: You were asking earlier about my first impressions: I remember it
being very dark, with dark red bricks, and so I think anything one
did to the house to lighten it improved it enormously. Because it
was sitting in this beautiful garden, a dark old house from the
twenties. I think we successfully got rid of that, between all of
us, completely, so it never appeared to be very depressing at the
end of the project.
Myra: Right. No, it seemed very sunshiney at the end.
Tony: Yes, very cheerful, and I remember thinking at the beginning it
was pretty un-cheerful.
Riess : When was the solarium glassed in?
Ron: That was before we arrived.
Riess: Have you seen the pictures? That used to be just an open loggia.
Myra: We didn't enclose that?
Ron: No, I don' t think so.
Norma: I think there was glass in the north end.
Myra: Maybe that's it, it was partly glazed.
Norma: Then you added the glass on the east, and the doors.
Blake House Since the Hitches
Tony: Is the house still the way it was?
Norma: The Saxons lived there. Of course all the Hitches' furniture was
taken away, and they never really bought anything to replace it.
The Saxons had Danish modern furniture that they moved in there,
[laughter]
181
Tony: So the answer is no, it's not the same.
Norma: But since Dr. Gardner became president they have had it redone, with
Jean Coblentz and Janet Lam as the decorators.
Myra: Nobody lives there now?
Norma: No.
Myra: So what they've done is left the bedrooms upstairs empty?
Norma: I'm not sure how they use it. I haven't seen it since it was
redone, but it's possible they may use it as a guest house. I do
know that they still use it for large entertainment and that David
Gardner works there sometimes in the study. Remember the study
where the Hitches had their desks?
Tony: All their desks?
Norma: Yes. Dr. Gardner told me, when I was designing his office in
University Hall, that it was his intention to use Blake House when
he wants to get some peace and quiet away from University Hall.
Tony: It's a pity it's not being used more.
Norma: I think it's used quite a lot; it just isn't being lived in.
Riess: Yes, I think there's a lot of official social activity that goes on
there. President Gardner's study is nice: it has a painting of his
wife and various family pictures, and it has an at-home study
feeling. I think he meets people there rather than on campus
occasionally. Upstairs I think Mrs. Gardner has a study, and then
of course there's all the running of the house that goes on from
upstairs. Pat Johnson is the person who has taken Maggie Johnston's
place.
Myra: What room was Maggie in?
Norma: One of the bedrooms down at the end of the hall, right at the top of
the kitchen stairs.
Riess: Every time I've been there it's been very cold. It must be very
expensive to warm that house. I end up just huddling, and searching
for sun, as a matter of fact. The sun doesn't exactly stream into
that house.
Tony : No.
Riess: Even though it may be lighter.
Ron: Well, the solarium is on the northeast side. [laughter]
182
Myra: I don't remember that the heating was a problem at the time.
Riess: They may not keep it heated.
Ron: That's what they do. Once you get a building up to heat it's not
hard to keep it heated, but if you turn it off, turn it on, turn it
off, it's very inefficient.
Norma: It was also pretty warm when I went out to see Nancy. She used to
call me quite often to come out and talk over changes and repairs
and things of that nature.
Myra: There was a fire there once, wasn't there?
Ron: No. When they first moved in, the first time they lit the
fireplace, they didn't open the damper, and it smoked up the living
room. They had to call the fire department.
Norma: There was a fire when the physical plant people were preparing the
windows for painting. They had a torch that they were taking the
old paint off with, and they ran into a rotten spot. There was no
flame, and obviously to the person who was operating the torch
things were okay, and he went to the men's room. When he came back
the entire living room was aflame. So there was a lot of damage
that was done to the walls, ceiling and to the curtains and we had
to replace those. [to Tony] We got the same fabric, I think I
called you about it.
Tony: Yes.
Ron: They had a burglary too, of the rugs, wasn't it?
Norma: Yes. During the time that they were doing the foundation, the house
wasn't really secured, and we had those rugs all stacked up for the
cleaners to come and get the following day. When I came to meet the
cleaners to tell them what to do, there were only half the rugs
left. They took the best ones. I had pictures of all those rugs.
Ron: And within the last year, didn't somebody go out there and steal
rugs?
Norma: I don't know about that.
Ron: I think I talked to Maggie. They cut a hole in the garage door, and
got in that way, and stole a bunch of rugs.
Norma: I do remember that I had taken pictures of all the rugs that were in
the collection, and I was going to turn those over to the police. I
had them in the pocket in my jacket, and I went to the ladies room,
[laughter] and somehow my jacket pocket got tipped up and they went
183
Nonna: in the John. [laughter] So I had to fish them out, of course, and
wash them off and dry them. They never were the same. [laughter]
Never found the rugs, however.
The Working Drawings
Tony: [looking at drawings] And there was new furniture for the dining
room, I remember now.
Norma: (I think that's my drawing.)
Tony: (I think it is too.)
Myra: (Yes. Is that your signature?)
Norma: (Yes.)
Riess: So this is a color-coded furniture layout. What color is the Hitch
furniture? This seems like —
Tony: I don't know if that's the case, I just know what is Hitch
furniture.
Norma: I think we actually color coded it in the colors of the upholstery
that was used to cover them in.
Tony: We got all new upholstery, but we used all the existing chairs and
furniture that we could — and got new upholstery which brought it
all to life. [looking at plans] I haven't seen these in twenty
years.
This is the porch, lanai isn't it? And that's all McGuire, I
think. They had visions of having lunch up there and never did.
This was quite attractive.
Myra: Yes. We had the flag from when he was —
Norma: I think there was the University of California flag, and the
secretary of defense's flag.
Tony: And we were given some very nice paintings.
Riess: There's the famous "Duke of Shrewsbury."
Tony: Yes, and here's Queen Anne — but I don't think it was.
Norma: Yes, I'd forgotten about that whole episode about getting the
paintings restored.
184
Tony: We had quite a few to place around, and wonderful tapestries.
Riess: Those were the Blake tapestries?
Tony: Yes. And we had them cleaned, or backed, or something. We did all
the things we'd do to a normal house.
Riess : Was this considered an art gallery, along the back?
Tony: I don't think we thought about that particularly. We just thought
that this was a way to get there.
Myra: Exactly right.
Tony: Because it was a bottleneck. You had to go out that door again.
This way you could come in and have a reception line, and go out,
and go down here, see the whole house, and go out.
Norma: Nancy used to use that as a picture gallery. She got paintings from
the faculty of the various schools of art on various campuses. I
know she had people from Davis and Los Angeles and others. It was a
rotating exhibit.
Tony: Yes, I remember that too. I also think that this turned out to be
very comfortable and like a family's house. That's why it was
successful, don't you think?
Myra: Right, yes, I do.
Tony: It didn't look just like a president's house.
Myra: Because it's huge.
Tony: Enormous, like a big tennis court.
Myra: But it never felt like that.
Tony: There was a lot of furniture, and a lot of different seating groups.
I remember I was big on three seating groups at the time.
Riess: Wasn't the carpet one continuous piece?
Norma: No, this was especially woven to size, wasn't it, Tony?
Tony: Yes. And then we put an oriental on top of it.
Norma: Yes. They were both laid on the hardwood floor.
Tony: This was a new rug that we bought.
185
Norma: And that was on hardwood. Then we carpeted the stair with a new
ribbed carpet, and everybody said. "Well, when are you going to put
the carpet down? I see the padding doesn't look too bad, but when
are you going to put the carpet down?" [laughter]
Tony & Myra: I remember that!
Norma: [looking at pictures] That's Caroline's bed.
Tony: That's m^ drawing. I didn't know people kept all these things.
Riess: Everything is in the files at Blake House, and that's where I
gathered that Nancy Hitch was as involved as she was because there
are just so many of her personal notes, as if she woke up every
morning and made notes on everything.
Norma: I think she did.
Tony: I think that's exactly what she did do.
Riess: And various inventories of the things that went from the house, back
and forth, the odds and ends that went from University House to
Blake House, and from Blake House to Santa Cruz. That's another
thing you were involved in, wasn't it Norma, recovering a lot of the
furniture that had been dispersed?
Norma: Yes. We did lend some — Myra, you were involved in that, weren't
you, with the rugs that went down to Santa Cruz for a provost's
house?
Ron: For Merrill College.
Myra: They used some of the rugs from up here? I didn't remember that.
Norma: I recall that they were some of the tan runners. They were
particularly interested in those and I was not. [laughter]
Myra: Worked out well.
Norma: Yes, it did.
The Public Response
Myra: "Where Charley Crashes." Gosh. [looking at publicity files]*
Tony: Is that the scandal thing? [looking at newspaper article]
Norma: That's the scandal thing. "Million-dollar Pad."
See Appendices. Appendix Y.
186
Tory: Well, it wasn't so bad. was it?
Norma: If you look at it from today' s perspectivel
Myra: "Kitchen repairs and equipment for $5, AGO." I can't believe it.
Riess: You've certainly put up with a lot of this, Norma, because the same
thing happened with the McCorkle house, the Julia Morgan house.
There will always be a community that will say that it's too much
money.
Norma: Oh, sure.
Myra: Or not enough. You can't win.
Tony: (There's everything in this file.)
Norma: It's like choosing a paint color for a public area. When you choose
a paint color, and fifty percent of the people like it, you're a
success. Don't you think so?
Tony: Oh, yes.
Norma: Another funny thing that happened — I don't know if it's in this
article or some other article — there was a discussion about the
project manager for the Blake House keeping a secret set of files.
She kept it in the trunk of her car. I did, as a matter of fact,
keep files in the trunk of my car because I was constantly on the
move from my office on campus to meetings. Wasn't like our
University project files. But I did keep those I used constantly in
the car.
Tony: You lived in that car.
Norma: I did, yes, I was back and forth all the time. Somebody in our
office was very much against the project going ahead, and so they
took it to the newspapers that I had these files in the car.
Myra: Do you know who it was?
Norma: No. It wasn't who I thought it was. [laughter]
One of the women in the office, who was a bookkeeper at the
time, told my boss that she wasn't going to work on this job because
she disapproved of spending state money on it. He told me then that
she wasn't going to keep the books, I was going to have to keep the
books myself from now on. I had a number of assignments in addition
to Blake House. I was project manager for the University Art Museum
and a married student project in Albany, etc. So I want back and I
wrote him a letter, and I said, "I'm sorry, but I can't work on this
job for these reasons, and I can't work on that job for those
187
Norma: reasons, and I can't work on this for those reasons. It's all a
matter of conscience, and I simply can't do it." [laughter] So he
called me into his office, and he said, "I get the point. The
bookkeeping will be done by the bookkeepers as usual." (You have to
realize that that took place in the late sixties.)
Transcriber: Johanna Wolgast
Final Typist: Elizabeth Eshleman
188
Regional Oral History Office
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California
Blake Estate Oral History Project
Charles Hitch
THE PRESIDENT'S RESIDENCE, 1968-1975
An Interview Conducted by
Suzanne B. Riess
in 1987
Copyright uT) 1988 by The Regents of the University of California
President and
Mrs. Hitch and
daughter Caroline
at Blake House
San Sfnmdstt COjromdf
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1995
OBITUARIES
CHKONICLf Fill PHOTO
CHARLES J. HITCH
He led UC in tumultuous times
Charles J. Hitch,
Former President
Of UC System
Former University of Califor
nia President Charles Johnson
Hitch, an economist who played a
major role at the university during
seven tumultuous years from 1968
to 1975, died yesterday of pneumo
nia in a San Leandro rest home.
Mr. Hitch, 85, had suffered
from Alzheimer's disease for sev
eral years.
He was a prominent adminis
trator during years of upheaval on
the Berkeley campus, centered on
protest against the Vietnam War,
the People's Park project and oth
er issues. He also figured in contro
versies over the university employ
ment of Angela Davis and Herbert
Marcuse, who were outspoken in
their Marxist views.
Mr. Hitch was born in Boon-
ville, Mo. His father, Arthur, was a
teacher and administrator at the
Kemper Military School and Col
lege in Boonville. Mr. Hitch gradu
ated from the junior college in
1929.
Mr. Hitch went on to graduate
from the University of Arizona in
1931. He then went to Oxford Uni
versity as a Rhodes scholar and
earned his master's degree in eco
nomics. He was the first American
Rhodes scholar to become an Ox
ford don, and taught at Oxford un
til 1948.
He served in World War II as a
member of the first Lend-Lease
mission to Britain, under Averell
Harriman, and then joined, the Of
fice of Strategic Services.
Mr. Hitch came to Calif ornia in
1948 as head of the economics divi
sion of the Rand Corp. in Santa
Monica. He rose to the chairman
ship of its research council, and re
mained with Rand for 13 years.
In 1961, he was appointed by
President John F. Kennedy to be
assistant secretary of defense and
comptroller of the Pentagon. The
appointment came after Defense
Secretary Robert McNamara read
Mr. Hitch's "The Economics of De
fense in the Nuclear Age," one of
his three books.
Mr. Hitch left the Defense De
partment in 1965 and was hired by
UC as vice president of business
and finance. .
The student rebellion that,
made Berkeley world-famous as a
symbol of the 1960s was in full cry.
In 1967, UC President Clark Ken-
was fired by then-Governor Ron
ald Reagan, and Mr. Hitch replac
ed Kerr at the beginning of the
next year, with Reagan's support
"Charles Hitch was president
of the University of California dur
ing a very challenging period, with
escalating student violence and de
clining financial support," Kerr .
said yesterday. "His leadership
was marked by total integrity,
steadfast good judgment, great in
telligence, and seemingly inex
haustible patience."
Mr. Hitch's term was punctuat
ed by some of the most bitter con
flicts to strike the university sys
tem. One of his first challenges
came in 1969 with violent deirion-
strations over the use of a patch of
land that had been declared a
"People's Park" by community ac
tivists. UC administrators sought
to build a student residence hall on
the site.
Mr. Hitch was notable in his at
tempts to moderate the situation,
criticizing police for their use of
shotguns and the National Guard
for helicopter spraying of tear gas
during street disturbances.
The same year, Mr. Hitch resist
ed demands by Reagan that Ange
la Davis and Herbert Marcuse be
fired from the faculty, with vary
ing success. Davis was fired, but
Marcuse was retained.
Mr. Hitch also fought against
cuts in the UC budget
He retired in 1975, becoming
president of a Washington, D.C.
think tank, Resources for the Fu
ture. In 1979, he joined a research
group studying national energy
policy at the Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratory.
He is survived by his daughter,
Caroline Hitch Rubio of Hay ward,
and two grandchildren. His wife,
, Nancy, died in 1983.
Plans for a memorial service
are pending. 8lepltM ScluoaHt
189
TABLE OF CONTENTS — Charles Hitch
INTERVIEW HISTORY 19°
BIOGRAPHY 191
Blake House Designated as the President's House 192
Nancy Hitch and Art in Blake House 195
The Neighboring Carmelites 201
Entertaining at Blake House 202
Public Relations, and Publicity 205
Maggie Johnston, and Official Houses and Functions 206
190
INTERVIEW HISTORY
This interview with President Emeritus Charles Hitch was to have been a
joint interview: Nancy and Charles Hitch talking about Blake House, about the
planning and renovating preceding' their residency, about normal family life in
Blake House, about how the house functioned as an official residence, the
events that were held there, and about the "Blakeness" of the house, if there
was such a thing. However, Nancy Hitch died on January 15, 1987.
I had been pleased when several months earlier Nancy Hitch agreed by
phone to be interviewed for the Blake House Oral History Project. Norma
Wilier, who suggested I ask Nancy, had been the University's liaison between
the Hitches, Nancy in particular — the initials NSH are visible on many of the
memos and documentation regarding the remodelling and decorating — and the
architects, Ron and Myra Brocchini, and the decorator, Anthony Hail. Mrs.
Wilier knew firsthand how completely involved Mrs. Hitch was throughout that
remodelling and decorating period. I also hoped to be able to understand more
of the real presence of the house by talking to this woman who had been the
second "lady of the house." I thought Mrs. Hitch must have had reason often
to think of Mrs. Blake for whom another architect had forty years earlier
designed this unusual house.
Unusual indeedl President Hitch described it in 1968 to a reporter as
the biggest three-bedroom residence in the worldl Remodelling was necessary
to make it larger, to accomodate official gatherings, and to make it smaller,
to make it livable. Reports of the cost of the remodelling, sensationally
headlined in the late sixties when the University of California was embattled
by the Free Speech Movement, were the single thing that brought the house from
relative obscurity on Rincon Road in Kensington to a certain notoriety.
While the controversy was soon forgotten, the house was not granted such
peace. Because of the Blake Garden, and the furnishing of the interior by a
pre-eminent society decorator, it was considered a showplace, a favorite for
tour groups. I suspect that Nancy Hitch, had I interviewed her, would have
said what her husband and others have said, that she never completely got used
to being at the mercy of the curious viewing public.
President Hitch and I met in the Hitches' apartment on Oxford Street in
Berkeley, comfortably and beautifully furnished with the Hitches' period
furniture that had for a time been part of the Blake House furnishings. It
was a little over a month since his wife's death. I would have chosen a later
date, but this timing was what he preferred. If the interview has something
of the nature of a memorial to Nancy Hitch, it is certainly understandable.
And probably that is not entirely a matter of timing. Clearly both Charles
and Nancy Hitch enjoyed life in Blake House, and the work they undertook there
endures.
Suzanne B. Riess
Interviewer-Editor
November 11. 1987
Regional Oral History Office
486 The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office University of California
Room 486 The Bancroft Library 191 Berkeley,' California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
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191a
CHARLES J. HITCH
Born, January 9, 1910, in Boonville, Missouri, Mr. Hitch received his B.A.
with highest distinction from the University of Arizona in 1931. At Oxford
University on a Rhodes Scholarship, he was elected in 1935 a Fellow of Queen's
College, a position he held until 1948. He was general editor of the Oxford
Economic Papers.
Mr. Hitch was with the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California, from
1948 to 1961, first as Head of its Economic Division and later as Chairman of its
Research Council. He was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)
by President Kennedy in January 1961, a position he held until September 1965.
He then became Professor of Economics and Vice President Business and Finance
of the University of California in September 1965, Vice President of the
University for Administration in July 1966, and was President of the University
of California from January 1, 1968 to June 30, 1975. He joined Resources for the
Future as its president on July 1, 1975, a position from which he retired in June
1979. Mr. Hitch has written and edited several books and has been active in
professional organizations, serving as President of the Operations Research
Society of America, 1959-60, and Vice President of the American Economic
Association, 1965. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the
Econometric Society. He served as a trustee of the Asia Foundation, the
Aerospace Corporation, and the Center for Biotechnology Research, and as a
member of the Advisory Councils of the Gas Research Institute and the Electric
Power Research Institute. He was chairman of the General Advisory Committee
of the Energy Research and Development Administration during 1975-77, and a
member of the Energy Research Advisory Board of the U.S. Department of
Energy 1978-85. He was a member of the Assembly of Engineering of the
National Research Council 1975-78, and a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar 1977-
78.
Mr. Hitch is now living in Berkeley, California, and has an office in the
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory of the University of California.
192
Blake House Designated as the President's House
[Date of Interview: February 20, 1987]
Riess : I think it was when you were a vice-president of the University that
Regent Catherine Hearst said that it would be like throwing away
$33.000 to "pave over the termites" to make Blake House habitable.
Hitch: I don't remember that, but Catherine Hearst was very much against
it. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it was because [Dorothy] Chandler
was for it, and they were great rivals on the board.
Riess: That was in July, 1966. And then very soon after that, in the same
month, Clifford Dochterman put together a draft of the various ways
that the house might be used and what the costs would be. Were you
involved in considering all of this from the vice-president for
administration point of view?
Hitch: [pause] I don't remember being involved, but that isn't very
significant. At that time I had no personal interest in Blake House
and no thought of becoming president.
Riess: You had no thought of becoming president?
Hitch: No.
Riess: It seemed so inevitable.
Hitch: Not to me, and certainly not at that time. In 1966 I wasn't
thinking of the Blake House as a place for me to live. I was very
much in favor of the idea, of doing it, if it was done right, which
it was.
Riess: Why were you in favor of it in general?
Hitch: I thought it was very important at that time to separate the Office
of the President from the Office of the Chancellor at the Berkeley
campus, and saw this as a part of meeting that need. I thought it
193
Hitch: was a plus, for example, that the postal address was Kensington
rather than Berkeley — that the official president's house would have
a Kensington address.
At that time we were thinking quite a lot about that problem,
and we were seriously considering a move of the President's Office
to San Francisco, just because of the confusion between the responsi
bilities of the president and the chancellor. We thought that if it
were in San Francisco we could draw a cleaner line; then people
wouldn't go to the president with problems that were really the
responsibility of the chancellor. Reinforcing that consideration were
strong feelings at UCLA that the proximity of the President's Office
to Berkeley led to favored treatment of the Berkeley campus over UCLA.
I don't think any of this is very important now, with what has
happened since.
Riess: The strength of UCLA?
Hitch: Yes, I think that UCLA is reasonably happy with the present
arrangement. I'm puzzled that they keep talking about relocating
the Office of the President when the principal reason for it has
disappeared. But anyway, that's somebody else's problem.
But in 1966 we thought it was also important that the president
have an appropriate place to entertain and perform other official
functions, like putting up visiting dignitaries.
Riess: Would dark Kerr have agreed?
Hitch: I don't know. Not for himself. Clark of course had built his
present house, which is large and suitable for many official social
functions, and insisted upon living in it as a condition of his
accepting the presidency. At that time it was thought that Kay
Kerr, who suffered from severe arthritis, was probably going to have
to be put into a wheelchair before long. (She fooled them; her
arthritis didn't get worse, and she's never had to go into a
wheelchair.) But that house, if you've been in it, is all on one
level, made for a wheelchair. So he was not interested at all, in
fact would have refused to live there. Of course he had an El
Cerrito home address anyway, though it wasn't quite official since
it didn't belong to the University.
Riess: When you were offered the presidency in 1967 was Blake House
already going to be the house or could it have been another?
Hitch: It was an open question. The search committee of Regents had spent
a lot of time talking about it, and when they approached me they
said that if I wanted to move into Blake House, and wanted to have
it fixed up as an official residence, that they would support this
before the Regents.
194
Riess: It was the presidential search committee?
Hitch: Yes.
Riess: And that was Elinor Heller and — was Mrs. Chandler on that?
Hitch: Mrs. Chandler and Ed Carter were on it, and Ted Meyer and Phil Boyd.
Riess: Had they already addressed the question of the cost and the means of
financing it?
Hitch: No. That all had to be done, and that was one reason it took so
long. We had to do so much planning before we could start the
actual work of reconstruction.
Riess: So the matter of beginning to jack it up and level it had all to
wait.
Hitch: It all had to wait, yes.
Riess: There is a letter in the file from Mrs. Chandler, on October 16,
1967, saying to N.S.H. [Nancy Hitch] that she will bring Blake House
matters to the Regents for a policy decision as to usage and degree
of repair.
Hitch: Yes.
Riess: Once it was brought to them, were they able to decide quickly? This
was October, 1967.
Hitch: I can't remember precisely, but not long.
Riess: What about your long-range vision of the house?
Hitch: Well, I hoped and expected that it would be occupied as the official
residence of the president. Is that what you mean?
Riess: Yes. So all of the decorating decisions were made with two thoughts
in mind then? One, yourself, and one a kind of second-guessing —
Hitch: Of the future, yes. Of course my successor David Saxon did live in
the house. I don't think he and his wife were enthusiastic about
it, but they lived there. The present President, David Gardner, has
decided, for personal reasons which I understand and fully respect,
to live in his own house, but he and Mrs. Gardner make extensive use
of the Blake House for social functions and business meetings.
Riess: So the Saxons weren't too fond of it. Did you enjoy it?
195
Hitch: Oh, I enjoyed it very much. Almost made it worthwhile to be the
president. It was a lovely place, once we fixed it up and moved
our furniture in. We employed a Chinese couple, cook and
housemaid. We were very comfortable and happy in it.
Riess : It was your house: you came home from your office, and drove in
your driveway, and it was home.
Hitch: That's right. Now, Nancy was very sensitive about her privacy, and
on occasion she resented the large numbers of people who came to
visit the garden and then would come up to the house. Let me show
you a picture that she painted. [Hitch and Riess walk over to look
at painting of ghostly faces pressed against a window.]
Nancy Hitch and Art in Blake House
Riess: I know that Mrs. Hitch had the studio and the arrangements for
potting and painting. She was able to settle in and do that? She
did find time?
Hitch: She did. It was a pretty productive period for her. That was when
she painted that [round painting over fireplace]. Do you know the
story?
Riess : No.
Hitch: These were from my remarks at the service for Nancy.* They were
about two events in her life, the second of which relates to Blake
House.
When Nancy and I moved into the refurbished Blake
House one thing that struck her as not quite perfect was
one's first view of the magnificent living room as one
entered it from the entrance hall. One faced a large
fireplace and over it a great mirror reflecting nothing
but a featureless white arch. We thought and talked about
what to do, but took no action until Christmas approached
when we received, as a present from Regent John Canaday, a
very handsome Christmas wreath which inspired Nancy to
suggest: why not hang it in the center of that empty arch
to greet visitors as they enter the room? We tried it and
*From President Hitch's remarks, spoken at the February 8, 1987
memorial service for Nancy Hitch, who died January 15, 1987.
196
Hitch: liked it. The shape and dimensions seemed just right.
But, of course, we couldn't sport a Christmas wreath the
year 'round; we needed something appropriate throughout
the year. So I said to Nancy: 'Why don't you paint the
picture we want there — a striking picture the same shape
and size as John Canaday's wreath?
Well, Nancy was thrilled. "You know," she would say,
exaggerating somewhat, "my paintings have always been
relegated to bathrooms and kitchens, and this one is to
hang in the most prominent place in the President's
House." But she was confronted with many problems. Round
paintings to serve as models are rare in the history of
art and most are Madonnas by Raphael — not quite Nancy's
style. She had somehow to obtain a round piece of wood on
which to paint, and a round frame of the right size and
character. Then there was the painting itself: she knew
she wanted it non-objective and started with some general
ideas about its design and color, but the main job had to
be accomplished with brush and palette. She was working
hard to complete it in time to hang before the official
opening of the University Art Museum, when we were
entertaining at brunch at Blake House a large number of
visiting art dignitaries here to celebrate the occasion.
But the day before the party the painting was simply not
finished — almost but not quite — and Nancy had a block — she
couldn't see how she wanted it finished. So sadly to
bed.
She woke up early the morning of the party and all
had changed. She saw in a flash precisely what she had to
do to finish the picture and dashed down to the studio to
do it. Almost breathless, she produced the picture and
had it hung in its niche minutes before the first guests
arrived.
Among the early guests was Erie Loran, Professor of
Art at Berkeley and great expert on Cezanne, Nancy's
favorite painter. He was a friend of ours but did not
know about Nancy's new painting. Also among the early
arrivals was Harold Rosenberg, the famous art critic of
the New Yorker. By coincidence they were talking together
when Rosenberg spotted the painting in the arch and
remarked to Loran, "That is an interesting picture. You
don't suppose it could be a Paul Klee." Maggie Johnston
was nearby and overheard the conversation, and dashed
across the room to where Nancy was standing to tell her
about it. Soon Loran joined them to confirm.
197
Nancy was walking on air for weeks after that — to
some extent, I think, this success buoyed her spirits to
the end. It was an inspired painting. It was not a Paul
KLee but a genuine Nancy Hitch. Interestingly, while
Nancy had some knowledge of Paul Klee, she had not seen
any of the few Klees which bear a close family relation to
her Blake House creation. Hers was an independent
invention. I have brought two of the Klees for those who
may be interested in making the comparison. The Klees are
not round, but in other respects — composition, style,
color and 'feel1 — they seem to me, as they did to Harold
Rosenberg, very close to Nancy's. Except, as I am sure
you will agree, that Nancy's is clearly the best of the
lot.
Riess: When you were in the house did you occasionally stumble over
things that would give you a sense of Anson or Anita Blake, or a
sympathy for what their life there was?
Hitch: I can't recall anything of that sort.
Riess: Did people stop by who had known the Blakes, or — ?
Hitch: None that I saw.
Riess: I think it was Ella Hagar who said, "Be sure to ask about the lunch
that Nancy gave in which the price of admission was a story about
the Blakes."
Hitch: I can't remember it.
Riess: Their history didn't impinge on your life, I take it.
Hitch: No, I can't recall any way in which it did. Of course there were
all the things that were in the house, the furnishings, and some of
those were from the Blakes, but not many. I'd say well over half of
the furniture and the furnishings had been taken away to furnish the
new chancellors' houses that were going up on the new campuses.
That didn't leave much. It's a big house, though it doesn't have
many rooms.
Riess: Yes, you said to a newspaper it was the largest three-bedroom
residence in the worldl
Hitch: [laughs] Yes.
Riess: There was a certain amount of retrieval of furniture from the other
campuses, wasn't there?
Hitch: Not much, no. It was in use elsewhere.
Riess :
198
One of the things that I heard was that the Blake furniture went
very well with your furniture.
Hitch: Yes, the furniture went very well together.
Nancy's parents, in the 1920s, spent a great deal of time in
France. Her father was a professor of music, and every opportunity
that he had he would go to Paris where he studied with some of the
leading musicians of the time. But he had little money, and
financing these trips was quite difficult for him. So he conceived
the idea of buying and selling French antique furniture, and he left
a lot of very fine things, of which we ended up owning quite a
number by gift frcm Nancy's parents or by inheritance.
He also bought paintings, and this was almost laughable because
he had no eye for paintings, as he did for furniture, and what he
bought were all forgeries. Let me show you some, [shows Riess
paintings by "Boudin" and "Whistler"]
Riess: Where was he a professor of music?
Hitch: All sorts of places. He was a very difficult person. I gather he
was an excellent teacher, and a very fine musician, but he just
couldn't get along with other members of his department, especially
the chairman and the dean, so he moved around quite frequently.
Finally he decided that he would give up university teaching. He
taught at the University of Washington, Seattle, where Nancy was
born, and he taught at Smith College for quite a while, but he
finally decided that to escape academic administrators he would set
himself up as a private teacher of piano and organ in New York. So
he divided his time pretty much between New York and Paris.
Riess: Nancy must have watched her mother adapt and adjust to many new houses.
Hitch: Yes, that's right. A lot of different houses on two continents.
Riess: Where did Nancy do her art study?
Hitch: Never in any university. She had private lessons in Washington at
the Corcoran Gallery. And here she studied with Yip, in watercolors,
and various other people, some of them connected with the University
Extension. She and Patsy Taylor took a number of trips with other
painters to go to places like northern California and San Miguel de
Allende in northern Mexico.
She also took lessons in pottery. First at Oxford in a class
conducted by the city when we lived there, 1946-1948, and continuing
through the Blake House period. That led to another story — "No Room
at the Inn":
199
Hitch: "In the early 1950's Shoj i Hamada, the great Japanese
potter and honored national Treasure of Japan; Dr. Yanagi.
the Director of the Folk Art Museum of Tokyo; and Bernard
Leach, the famous English potter who was the major conduit
through whom Japanese and Korean pottery had such great
influence on western pottery, were traveling throughout
the United States giving lectures and demonstrations of
potting in the Japanese folk art style. The site for the
Los Angeles demonstrations was the Chouinard Art
Institute, but there was a problem: it is hard now to
remember or believe the intensity of anti-Japanese
feelings in the immediate post-war years. No hotel near
Chouinard would take the Japanese in. One of the
organizers at Chouinard asked Nancy if by any chance the
Hitches could offer them the hospitality of our home and
she accepted with alacrity, although at the time we were
living in a modest faculty house in Pacific Palisades.
The week of the pottery classes, immediately
preceding Christmas, was an incredibly busy one for
Nancy — participating in the classes, providing
transportation, marketing and preparing meals for our
guests, and generally running the household. As our
relations with our guests became warmer and closer there
was much good-natured bantering about Nancy being the
perfect Japanese wife.
It was the beginning of lifelong friendships. The
group had no engagements the following week (Christmas
through New Year), so we invited them to stay on with us
and they did. Hamada had thrown pots especially for us at
Chouinard, which we treasure. The three of them
discovered a market in L.A. where one could buy Japanese
ingredients for cooking, and one evening they prepared an
elegant multi-course Japanese dinner for us on our hearth.
We took them on drives and walks where Bernard Leach made
lovely sketches for us of the beaches and the Santa Monica
Mountains. Subsequently, when we went to England we would
visit the Leaches at the St. Ives pottery or meet them in
London. And on the several occasions we went to Japan in
the sixties and seventies, we always visited Hamada at his
pottery in Mashiko. And always Hamada would insist over
our protests that we choose and take one (any one) of the
special pots he had made during the proceeding year.
Hamada, you know, in the true Japanese folk art
tradition, never signed his pots. Leach was also in the
folk art tradition, but he didn't go that far: he
imprinted on each of his pots the logo of his St. Ives
pottery. Once he protested to Hamada that with all
Hamada's imitators it would be hard for future generations
200
Hitch: to know which pots were really his. "Oh." Hamada
responded, "that doesn't worry me at all. A generation
from now the best of theirs will be attributed to me, and
the worst of mine will be attributed to them." Nancy
loved to tell that story, but she, like Bernard Leach, did
sign her pots. [Hitch, Ibid.]
Riess : What was Nancy's father's name?
Hitch: Walter Squire. And everyone, including his children, called him
Walter, [laughs] Nancy always referred to him as Walter. He never
found time to teach his children music.
Riess: But he obviously inspired a love of the arts in his daughter.
Did Nancy have a couple of days of the week when she simply put
herself in that studio and was not available? Did she close the
door to the world that way?
Hitch:
Riess :
Hit ch ;
Riess :
Hitch;
Yes. At least, those were her intentions, and sometimes they got
carried out.
I noticed that one of the things that she and Tony Hail did was make
a date with Peter Selz — and they ended up working with Larry
Dinnean — to get different paintings into Blake House.*
We had a succession of paintings from art departments on the various
campuses. I can't remember just who organized it, but the idea was
that the Davis art department would provide pictures by faculty to
hang along the gallery, and then after I forget how long, several
months, they would be changed, and we'd go to another campus to get
pictures.
Your apartment here has wonderful art on the walls,
all of it hanging there?
Did you have
Yes, all of our things were there, and some are still there, some of
the pieces we left. When we moved to Bethesda, where we lived in a
townhouse, much much smaller than the Blake House, there wasn't room
for some large pieces, which we left in the Blake House for the
University.
*This meeting was held in January 1969 to discuss Blake House
paintings, possible substitutes, and possible additional paintings
to borrow for the Blake House. Materials in storage in the
University Art Museum from the Andrew Lawson collection of English
portraits as well as some modern works, were loaned to the Blake
House.
201
Riess: Furniture or paintings?
Hitch: Furniture.
Riess: [tape interruption] Speaking of the renovations of the house in
1968, what would Nancy say about how it had all gone? Did she feel
it went as smoothly as everyone else felt it went?
Hitch: Yes, I think she did.
Riess: She worked very hard, I can tell.
Hitch: She worked very hard on it, and she liked all people involved. And
[laughs] she still liked them at the end of it.
The Neighboring Carmelites
Riess: Did you have any communication at all with the Carmelites up the
street?
Hitch: They don't communicate. We exchanged and still exchange Christmas
cards. And Caroline would go up and talk through the closed door.
Riess: She did that on her own initiative?
Hitch: Yes. She was something of a fixture, but even she couldn't get in to
see the nuns.
Riess: What did they talk about?
Hitch: I don't know. Caroline, unlike her parents, always seemed to have a
great interest in and need for religion. Actually she first, after
sampling several religions, became a Jew. She was told it was
impossible, she couldn't do it. They wouldn't take her at her age.
Riess: How old was she when she did it?
Hitch: I suppose sixteen, seventeen. She just went from rabbi to rabbi
until she found one that would support her cause. She was confirmed
at the Wall in Jerusalem.
Riess: That's very interesting, very unusual.
Hitch: Very unusual. That did not last forever. Later, when she married
Edgar Luis Reto, a Peruvian Catholic, she decided that she wanted to
be of the same religion as her husband. So she has recently been
confirmed as a Roman Catholic.
202
Riess : So the conversations with the Carmelites apparently didn't take
completely on the first round.
Hitch: No.
Riess: Did she go out and explore the neighborhood generally? Find
companions in adjacent houses? Were there children to play with?
Hitch: No, not much. She did have friends from her Hilldale years, one in
particular, Lise Gottwald, who was her best friend. They've
kept up since. But there wasn't much interaction with other people
in the houses around.
Riess: Was she in private school?
Hitch: For a couple years she was in Anna Head, but for the most part she
went to public schools.
Riess: Earlier you were talking about the problem for Nancy of feeling
invaded by people peering in the windows. Was there anything that
you could actually do about it, or did it just wax and wane
periodically?
Hitch: The latter. She was perhaps overly sensitive. But she loved Blake
House, and so did Caroline.
Entertaining at the Blake House
Riess: How about opening the house itself to the public? Was it ever opened
in your time there to the public, for a house tour?
Hitch: My recollection is quite vague, but there were some such occasions.
There were more when Nancy was using it for Town and Gown and
Section Club meetings, and that sort of thing.
Riess: When there was a Section Club meeting, did she have to be there as
hostess, or did the club just take it over?
Hitch: I don't remember. It probably varied depending on the program.
Riess: Did you do Regents' dinners there?
Hitch: Yes, many.
Riess: So that happened regularly, several times a year, because the
meetings rotate?
203
Hitch: Their rules for rotation kept changing during the events in the
sixties, but yes, we had Regents' dinners, and of course chancellors'
meetings and chancellors' dinners and lunches.
Let me show you something, [pause] Do you know of Narsai David?
Riess: Yes. [reads letter:]
January 20, 1987
Dear Mr. Hitch:
We were so sad to hear the news. I was honored to be
selected by Mrs. Hitch as her caterer for Blake House, and
have so many fond memories of her dinners. She set the
most classic table of anyone I ever knew, and her
expectations of the staff kept every one of them always
alert. Her style and her choices set the tone for her
followers at Blake House. We wish you peace.
Sincerely,
Narsai David
This must have been quite early and important in his career.
Hitch: Nancy gave him his start as a caterer. My recollection is that he'd
been involved in a restaurant, and then he decided to go into
catering, and Nancy was at least one of the people who gave him this
opportunity. We had him frequently as a caterer at Blake House.
When the refurbishing was done we had two kitchens: the small one
for family, the big one for caterers.
Riess: So he was your caterer, and then other than that you would use the
Chinese couple?
Hitch: We'd use the Chinese couple for small parties and the caterers for
big ones. Tsui Tsang Mo, who was the cook, had spent some time in
Hong Kong, working for British families, so he knew something
besides Chinese cooking, and one thing in particular was steak and
kidney pie — the best steak and kidney pie I've ever had, made by
Tsang Mo in his kitchen at Blake House.
Riess: It's interesting. You said "Chinese couple," and I would have
assumed the she cooked and he did something else, but it was the
other way around?
Hitch: No, no, he was the chef. She walked three steps behind him, wherever
they went. She was the housemaid, she took care of the beds
upstairs, cleaning.
Riess: How long were they with you?
204
Hitch: They were with us, as best I can remember, right from the start.
When we moved in I think they were there.
Riess: They weren't part of your household on Hilldale?
Hitch: No.
Riess: Was there any language problem with them?
Hitch: Yes. Wu Chui Kok, his wife, did not speak any English at all, and
Tsang Mo's English was halting. But the two boys — they had two
boys, who were about twelve and ten — knew English almost as well as
a native. They would interpret. They were very bright boys.
Riess: Have you kept track of them?
Hitch: We did for a while. Both of them, as soon as they started school
here, made straight A's, right from the beginning. Doug, the elder,
went to Berkeley, and took his degree in electrical engineering,
has done very well at Hewlett Packard, and has married the daughter
of a wealthy Taiwanese businessman. We attended his wedding. Jim,
the other boy, won an all-expenses-paid scholarship through
Princeton. We've lost track of him. Tsang Mo died. They bought a
fine, big house on The Arlington in 1973.
Riess: They made so much money working at Blake House that they could do
that?
Hitch: No, but I don't know how they did it.
Riess: Did they invest in the stockmarket?
Hitch: Almost certainly, and had help from their fellow countrymen. But I
don't know how they did it.
Riess: Were Jim and Doug companions for Caroline?
Hitch: Yes, to some extent they were.
Riess: Was there any awkwardness about that on anybody's part?
Hitch: There was some awkwardness, I was trying to remember just what it
was. Nothing serious. They played together.
Riess: Seems like it might have been more on that family's end rather than
on your end, perhaps.
Hitch: Yes, I think that's so.
Riess: What were the Yak Yak girls? I know who they were, but where did
that name come from?
205
Hitch: I don't know. Who were some?
Riess: Well, they were guests at several lunches. One of the Yak Yak
lunches — you'll be able to picture it instantly — was Esther Heyns,
Ida Sproul, Amy Braden, Mrs. Monroe Deutsch, Mrs. Francis Hutchins,
Mrs. Chester Nimitz, Mrs. Esther Pike, Nancy Hitch, Mrs. Knowles
Ryerson. Were these friends, or was this an official relationship?
Hitch: I think they were just friends.
Riess: It wasn't that Nancy had to cultivate this particular bunch of
people?
Hitch: No, that sounds like people who were good friends already, who liked
to get together and yak-yak. I don't know anything more than that.
I'm very familiar with the term, but I know less about it than you do.
Riess: Another year it added Marjorie Woolman and Mrs. McCorkle, and then
another year Mrs. John Sproul, Mrs. Farmer Fuller, Mrs. Theodore
Meyer, Mrs. Earl Warren and Mrs. Angus Taylor — is that Patsy Taylor?
Hitch: Yes.
Riess: She was an artist too?
Hitch: Oh, yes. She was very talented.
Riess: Who was Angus Taylor?
Hitch: Angus Taylor was my vice-president for academic affairs. He had the
same job when dark was president.
Public Relations, and Publicity
Riess: Funny, I should know that name. It reminds me that when people ask
me and I say that one of the oral histories that I'm working on is
the history of the Blake estate, honestly, people don't know that it
exists. More people than you would think, in the Berkeley area.
Was it even the case when you were there, that it was generally
unknown to the town — perhaps very little to the "gown"?
Hitch: I suppose the only town people who would have occasion to know about
it would be the people that we would entertain there.
Riess: So whatever sense I have of it being like a kind of Filoli or a
generally known stately and historic home, it never took on that aspect'
Hitch: No.
206
Riess: The publicity from the Berkeley Barb, was that hard to take at the
time? Did you or the University actively try to counteract that?
Or did you just pretend that it wasn't happening.
Hitch: There was little we could do. We ignored the Barb. More serious
because of his location in the state capitol was a very hostile
columnist in the Sacramento Union who was on my back all the time.
Not mainly about Blake House, although that came into it sometimes,
but mainly about my "sweetheart contract" with the Regents. Do you
remember that?
Riess: No, I'm trying to think — I have something from a Sacramento paper,
actually.
Hitch: I've — in a Freudian way — forgotten his name. He would resume the
attack every month or two with the same themes. His principal
complaint about Blake House was its cost.
Riess: Norma Wilier said that there was a time when you were alerted that
some students seemed to be marching up Euclid Avenue, but they never
got as far as Kensington. Do you remember anything of that? Or
students actually picketing, or coming out and presenting themselves
in force?
Hitch: That happened in my office in University Hall, but never at Blake
House.
Riess: They confined themselves to People's Park, probably.
Hitch: Yes, most of those activities were south of the campus.
Riess: Did you have student receptions, or state-wide student groups?
Hitch: Not receptions, but occasionally the student body presidents from
all the campuses. That was in keeping with the role that I envisaged
for the president.
Maggie Johnston, and Official Houses and Functions
Riess: It's too bad that we didn't have a chance to talk to Maggie
Johnston. Could you tell a little bit about her role?
Hitch: She was Nancy's social secretary, and she helped her with all the
parties and things we did at Blake House. She was a full time
assistant. She had played a very similar role with Kay Kerr.
Somewhere I have a story of how she happened to be working for Kay.
Maybe Nancy told me. You haven't talked to Kay Kerr yet?
207
Riess : No. I haven't yet.
Hitch: You ought to talk to Kay, because I'm sure she can tell you
how Maggie got involved with her, as her social secretary. Nancy
inherited her from Kay, and they were very fond of each other, got
along famously.
Riess: Did Nancy talk to Maggie every day? Did Maggie come up, or did
Maggie have an office in the house?
Hitch: Maggie had an office in the house. She also had an office in
University Hall, and she divided her time between them.
Riess: Did she make the arrangements for the Regents' dinners and that kind
of thing so that Nancy wouldn't have to?
Hitch: I can't tell you just how they divided their responsibilities, but
Maggie would get out invitations, keep track of who was coming, and
set out place cards.
Riess: Was she kind of the protocol officer also, if there is such a thing?
Hitch: I hadn't thought of her in that role. But yes, she had a lot to do
with seating arrangements, subject to Nancy's and my review. She
was doing this right up to the time of her final illness. She was
always very good to me when I'd attend Regents' dinners after I'd
ceased to be president. She knew just who I'd like to be seated
next to and would always put me there.
Riess: That's a wonderful talent.
You had Beatrice, the Airedale, in a run. And then you had to
walk her, too?
Hitch: I think that was mainly Caroline's function, walking the dog. We
had complaints about our Airedale, who apparently wandered around
the neighborhood. We finally had to put her in a kennel.
Riess: Were there any other complaints from the neighborhood about the
house?
Hitch: Yes, the trees, those tall trees growing up and blocking their view.
They didn't come to us directly, but there were complaints that had
to be dealt with by my office.
Riess: Did you capitulate periodically?
Hitch: We'd compromise, we worked it out. The Blakes put in some very fast-
growing trees, Canary Island Pines, and redwoods, for example, and
they continued to grow, still do. I don't know what's happened on
that front recently.
208
Riess: Did the amount of coming and going change the tenor of the neighbor
hood, do you think?
Hitch: No, I don't think so. Large functions were not that frequent.
Riess: I guess the inital question was one of security, and the general
isolation was a minus factor rather than a plus factor?
Hitch: Yes.
Riess: But it didn't feel that way once you had renovated the house to your
satisfaction?
Hitch: There was some concern about security, and for a period we had a
guard who stayed there overnight in an office in the house.
Riess: Was that a period where there had been incidents or noises?
Hitch: No, just concern.
Riess: Was it a period that was politically troubled? Was it because of
concern about your own selves, or was it about the valuable things in
the house?
Hitch: Both, I think. And there was, not too long ago, a massive theft of
University carpets from the Blake House when no one was living in
it. There is a couple living there now.
Riess: Yes. You received a letter from Bob Evans, and he asked you to make
a decision about whether you wanted the place referred to as the
Blake Estate, Blake House, President's Residence, President's House,
University of California President's Residence, or 70 Rincon Road.
Do you remember thinking much about that?
Hitch: Sounds like a weighty decision, [laughs] I vaguely remember
discussions.
Riess : It's interesting. Why call it the Blake House rather than the
President's House?
Hitch: I can't reconstruct it.
Riess: You had a lot to do with acquiring the Julia Morgan house, the house
at 2821 Qaremont Ave? That was bought for the senior vice-
president, but it's not called the Vice- President's House.
Hitch: No, it's called the Morgan House, just as the other one is called
Blake House. Morgan didn't live there, she designed it.
Riess: Yes, but the other one might have been called Bliss House for the
architect.
209
Hitch: It could have been, I suppose, yes.
We thought it would be quite helpful to have an appropriate
residence for the senior vice-president, who also has a considerable
responsibility for official functions. We looked for a house, and
inspected quite a number in the area. And then we found that this
Morgan house was available, at what seemed to be an extraordinarily
fair price of $100,000, so I scurried among some of our alumni and
campus foundations and collected the $100,000, and we bought the
house and moved Vice- President McCorkle in. It did not need major
renovation.
Riess: How did things work out between the Department of Landscape
Architecture and whatever you needed in Blake House?
Hitch: Oh yes, let's make it clear: we had no responsibility for the
garden; that was left by the Blakes to the Department of Landscape
Architecture.
Riess: I realize that, but could you have what you wanted from it, when you
wanted it, or was that not that easy? If you wanted to plant
tomatoes, and you wanted to be able to pick roses?
Hitch: We never went through the department. We dealt with Walter Vodden,
the head gardener appointed by the department. Our relations with
him were always most cordial. He assigned one man named Bob Lutz to
care for the garden immediately adjacent to the house, and he was
very friendly and very faithful — incidentally a Protestant minister
in his spare time. Both Vodden and Lutz have recently retired, Lutz
remaining a minister of the gospel.
There was no question of picking roses. The deer always picked
them first! So they were no longer grown in Blake Gardens.
Riess: And someone kept vases of flowers around the house?
Hitch: Yes, Flo Holmes, that was her job. She would come in from time to
time and change and arrange the flowers. She is a true artist in
flower arrangements.
Transcriber: Johanna Wolgast
Final Typist: Shannon Page
210
Regional Oral History Office
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California
Blake Estate Oral History Project
Toichi Domoto
MRS. BLAKE AND MISS SYMMES, HORTICULTURISTS
An Interview Conducted by
Suzanne B. Riess
in 1987
Copyright (cT) 1988 by The Regents of the University of California
TOICHI DOMOTO, NURSERYMAN
Over sixty years experience with flowers
Photograph by Ouen Pearoe
211
TABLE OF CONTENTS — Toichi Domoto
INTERVIEW HISTORY 212
BIOGRAPHY 213
Mabel Symmes and Anita Blake at the California Horticultural Society
Meetings 214
The Search for Uncommon Plant Material 218
The Nurseryman's Point of View 221
Tom Domoto and the Piedmont Customers 221
Floyd Mick. George Budgen, and Thomas Church 223
Competitiveness in the Garden 224
Anita Blake and the Relocated Japanese Families 226
Pricing and Bargaining 228
212
INTERVIEW HISTORY
Toichi Domoto's nursery in Hay ward is an oasis in that sprawling
southern Alameda County city. Located between the railroad tracks and
Whitman Boulevard, it exists in a tranquility of birds, bonsai, and bamboo.
Towering trees and stout-trunked stock form jungle-like allees. There is
sufficient flora that the place may well create a weather system of its own.
Daily Mr. Domoto tends his acre or so of bonsai of all the standard
descriptions and then all the variations thereon. His house is tucked
behind fruit trees in the center of the oasis. His office in a small
structure off the parking area is dated by its cash register and its files,
but Mr. Domoto's memory more than makes up for his lack of computer-era
iSS."
In 1981 I had interviewed Toichi Domoto for the Lurline Matson Roth
oral history. At that time he discussed the plant material at Filoli, Mrs.
Roth's estate in Woodside, California. He also talked about his father Tom
Domoto's nursery business in East Oakland and the stock, such as persimmon,
he introduced to California. Toichi Domoto studied at Stanford University,
transferred and graduated in horticulture from the University of Illinois.
in 1926, and spent the World War II relocation years in Crystal Lake,
Illinois.
For the Blake House History Project I wanted to talk to Mr. Domoto
about the California Horticultural Society, "Cal Hort" as he calls it, of
which he had been a member since the late thirties, and president in 1957 —
in particular about the Blake Garden specimens that Anita Blake brought or
sent to meetings of the Society. But the bonus in this interview was Mr.
Domoto's childhood memory of Mrs. Blake and Miss Mabel Symmes coming to his
father's nursery and buying stock, between 1925 and 1930. The insider view
of the horticultural trade is fascinating.
Mr. Domoto's choice made long ago not to visit gardens he serves was a
disappointment: I expected he would be able to offer informed recollections
of the Blake Garden at various times in the forties and fifties. But that
choice came from some wisdom of Mr. Domoto's that I think must have to do
with the amount of ego that gets tied up in gardens. While it frustrated
many a proud garden lover, perhaps that pride was what dissuaded him.
Serenity is what I found at Domoto's Nursery, and an absence of ego,
desirable qualities in gardens, good reasons to make gardens.
Suzanne B. Riess
Interviewer-Editor
October 29, 1987
Regional Oral History Office
486 The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
Room 486 The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
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Occupation(s)
Areas of expertise
Other interests or activities
Organizations in which you are active
214
Mabel Symmes and Anita Blake at the California Horticultural
Society Meetings
[Date of Interview: June 8. 1987]
Riess :
Domoto:
Riess :
When did you join Cal Hort?
I don't remember exactly. I didn't join in the beginning because I
wasn't too much interested in going all the way to San Francisco
for it. I was more interested in the nursery side of the business,
rather than the non-commercial side, which the Cal Hort was in the
beginning, until my arm was finally twisted by different people
that were members of society.
It began in 1935, and then — I've forgotten where you were during
the war.
Domoto: I was allowed to leave the relocation center for Crystal Lake,
Illinois.
Riess: You were active before the war?
Domoto: Yes, I was active in Cal Hort before that. I used to go to
meetings and bring material in. But it wasn't until after the war
some time that I really got active in it.
Riess: Do you remember seeing Anita Blake and Mabel Symmes before the war?
Domoto: Oh. yes. They used to come to my father's nursery in Oakland.
That I remember as a youngster, that they used to come in — probably
that would be between 1925-1930 they used to come in.
I never waited on them, because I was a youngster then.
But my father used to wait on them. I remember them talking, and
sometimes they'd talk about a certain plant. Then Mrs. Blake would
say, "Tom," — that was my father's name, Thomas, but they all called
him Tom — "I think that this should be named so-and-so," or, "Do you
215
Domoto: know that?" My father would say, "No, I know this is the way I
bought it, so-and-so." I'd heard them talking about it. That was
mostly with Mrs. Blake.
Miss Symmes was very quiet, and I knew her later when she used
to come by. Those times when she was buying something for the
garden, Mrs. Blake would pick out or look at the plant, and then
she'd ask her sister, "What do you think about this?" Her sister
would say, "I think it would be all right." She was buying plants
for her client, and there seemed to be a sort of a very quiet sort
of a dividing line there. One would make the comment, and the
other wouldn't, you see.
I remember at the Cal Hort meetings it was the same way. I
don't think Mrs. Blake ever went up to the podium to discuss the
plant material. The plants were exhibited up on the stage, and
whoever was chairman then would say, "Now this material was brought
over from the Blake Gardens," and then the person would go up there
and talk about the material. They'd go on and describe it, and how
it grew. That was the way the program was conducted.
Riess : You mean, Mrs. Blake wouldn't get up and describe it herself?
Domoto: I don't remember her getting up. Miss Symmes, I think, did a
couple of times. I remember the Blake Garden material more later,
after [Walter] Vodden came. He used to bring the materials over,
and he used to describe them.
Riess: Why do you think Mrs. Blake didn't get up?
Domoto: Well, she was very unassuming. As I remember, some of the East
Coast society type customers who'd come out — some of them were very
demanding, and some were very quiet and unassuming. I think the
difference was there. She never tried to show off her knowledge.
Riess: But your father thought that she was very knowledgeable.
Domoto: Oh, yes, she was, because when they started to discuss certain
plants they could converse on the botanical names and more on the
culture of the garden material.
Riess: Would you think that she was, in fact, head and shoulders above
other society people about plants?
Domoto: I think so. Well, she never tried to show it off.
Riess: For instance, some of the other "society customers" — are you
thinking of someone like Mrs. [Lurline Matson] Roth?
216
Domoto: Well. Mrs. Roth really didn't get into her garden itself until
after she gave up her racing. You see, she used to exhibit those
horses. I think not so much riding, I think she was —
Riess: Harness racing.
Domoto: Harness racing. She was active in that. After she gave that up,
then her efforts became more active into the garden. The early
part of it, I think, she was more interested just in having
somebody come over, order the plants for her, and put them in the
garden. At that point, when she retired to the garden and gave up
the society side of life, that's when she became interested.
Riess: It's interesting to me who might have been comparable
to Mrs. Blake and Miss Symmes. What other fine, old gardening
ladies do you think of?
Domoto: Well, going back, of course, the person that was quite active in
the introduction of plant materials was Professor [H.M.]
Butterf ield.
Riess: Butterf ield. I saw his name in early Cal Hort journals.
Domoto: I called him professor, but I don't think he was full professor.
But he was of the Extension Division, and very active in the
Alameda County Horticultural Society.
Riess: But any amateurs that you think of?
Domoto: Oh, in the amateur line, in the early part of the Cal Hort Society,
was Mrs. Scannavino — she was very active in the Alameda County
Horticultural Society way back. I think her husband was a dentist,
and they had a home down near Saratoga. They had quite a
collection of irises and lilacs and different plants. She was very
knowledgeable plantwise.
Riess: How would you characterize the garden at Blake Garden?
Domoto: Well, you know, I have often been invited by these people to come:
"Will you come to look at my garden?" I thought that if you go,
you get to the point where you felt there was a certain amount of
rivalry between these people, these customers. If you went to one,
you had to go to the other if you want to keep them as customers,
you know.
So I said, "Well, I know how to grow the plants, and I can
tell you if you give me a location whether they grow there, or not.
But as far as design," I said, "I don't know anything about it." I
maintained that so that I never went. My father also would not
visit customers' gardens.
217
Domoto: The only visit I had to Blake Gardens — she had some Clematis
armandi variety growing in the garden. Evidently she grew some
from seed, and had one that was an improvement over it. She
exhibited it at the Hort Society, since the clematis was in vogue.
I wanted to get some cuttings to propagate it, but the exhibited
material was not7 the type that would be suitable for propagating.
She said, "Well, if you'd come up to the garden you can take what
you want." That was the only time I went. And even then I didn't
take the whole tour of the garden. I just ignored it. The vine
was climbing on a tree trunk.
As I remember it, the garden was kept up, but — this was just
my impression, I may be wrong — but my impression was that it was a
garden you liked to be in, but not to show off in. That was the
feeling I had, and that would be her personality, that she was
knowledgeable and would do her duty in whatever she does. She
wasn't bragging to the community that she was doing this or doing
that. She had different things planted in different areas wherever
they would do well. I think that's the impression I have of the
garden.
218
The Search for Uncommon Plant Material
Riess: When she was asking you, and when she was asking your father to
come and visit, wasn't she asking because she thought you would
love to see her plants, not the design, but just the plants?
Domoto: Yes. I don't know if she was importing, or friends would send her
things from someplace like England or other areas and she'd have it
in the garden. My father always was importing a lot of different
things. So she would say, "I just got such-and-such from Japan,"
or wherever, and, "How is yours doing? Did you get this and that?"
If my father had something that she hadn't gotten and got ready to
sell, if it was interesting she'd always buy a plant. But how or
where she planted, I never knew. I wasn't interested that much
then.
Riess: If your father got something in that was new and exotic, would he
automatically tell her?
Domoto: He never used to phone or anything. They'd come out, and they'd
start talking. See, generally new plants from abroad used to come
in in late winter or early spring, because that was about the only
time you could bring them in safely.
Riess: Bare root, is this?
Domoto:
Riess :
Domoto ;
Bare rooting wasn't done until much later, after plant quarantine
#37 went into effect. Then they had to bare root. Before that,
why, you would bring the plants in with soil on the roots.
So people like Mrs. Blake would know that in winter they should
check out Domoto' s to see what's new.
Even now most of the new material that the nurseries import would
come in in the fall. They try to stock them in the fall and have
it ready for the spring sale. It was a very seasonal business.
Now, of course, the merchandising nurseries try to make it as even
as possible, without a lot of big ups and downs.
219
Riess: She had people she corresponded with, and she would get seeds in
the letters —
Domoto: I don't know that part of it, but I know that she used to get
different plant material that other people hadn't gotten yet.
Whether she traveled, or corresponded — a lot of the plant amateurs
in those days were in correspondence with other people and other
botanical gardens, or someone, not necessarily the gardeners, but
the person that's in charge. They would exchange notes: "Do you
have this?" or, "When I get back, I'll send you a seed or a
cutting." That's about the way, I think, a lot of that was done.
Of course, some of the English nurseries used to send
catalogues out to those people, just like Wayside Gardens does to
the society type, where their prices are way above the normal
garden prices.
Riess: The prices are way above what a normal nursery charges?
Domoto: If you look at the Wayside Garden catalogues, they are beautiful
catalogues, but their prices are way above. They prided themselves
in sort of being the best. They have good material, but I don't
think it warrants the high prices they get for them.
Riess: Did you see, when you were in Cal Hort, a lot of competitiveness
among the gardeners?
Domoto: No, I don't think they — there may have been, between some of the
people trying to outdo the other on some things. But on the whole
I don't think there was. I would say that most of the members that
came to the Hort came to see and be educated.
Riess: And to share.
Domoto: Yes. And there was always a problem to keep enough of the active
members bringing in material. Some of the membership, unless they
were into a certain hobby which they were very familiar with, they
hesitated bringing something in, unless they were encouraged to
bring it in.
And on that score I think Mr. [Ernest] Wertheim was very good
in trying to encourage people. He was active and he was forceful.
I think he came from Germany, and being trained that way, he was
very thorough. He was active in it, never a person that would make
you feel you were being pushed at all, but he would see that things
were organized. I call it the German thoroughness in getting
detail worked. out. He and Victor Reiter, who has passed away,
they were very active.
Riess: So the horticultural society also would be more interested in plant
material than they would be in looking at gardens?
220
Domoto: Yes, plant material. And, of course, if they went on a field trip
they would go to someone's gardens, or something like that. But
most of the interest was in plant materials. The meetings would
be — if new material was being brought in we would discuss it, and
have a speaker. Most of the time you'd have a speaker first. You
would have, say, one hour or forty-five minutes to talk on certain
things, like on — oh, anything exotic, or even commonplace, irises,
or whatever. They would have a talk on it.
Mostly, they did more uncommon material, rather than common,
because you had special societies. Like they had the Rose Society,
African Violet Society, and Orchid Society. So those things were kind
of held on the short side, because if they were interested in that, it
would be possible for them to go to those special societies. So it was
more the new and unusual plants that were being tried or brought in.
The speaker would know some botanist, horticulturist, or
visitor from another area. They would arrange to have him on the
program of the meetings. The last half would be discussing the
plant material that was displayed up there on the stage.
The material that came in was put in the foyer rack, and the
people would put their name displayed there on a little card. Then
the committee would go through that, and while they were speaking*
they would try to go through and pick out the material that would
be of interest or different.
That material would be picked out by a committee of maybe I
think about three or four people — and there was a chairman — and as
they were picked out they would be brought up to the stage and
exhibited so that the whole thing would not be discussed. Then the
chairman would say, "In the plant material back there there's such
and such a display of iris, or something, brought in by so and so,
that you should look at."
The special material would be brought up to the stage, and
each one would be discussed as it's brought up by whoever brought
that in or someone speaking for them. Meeting places changed as
the membership increased, but the format of the Hort Society and
meetings remained stable.
Riess: When Walter Vodden came, it was because Mrs. Blake was so old that
she didn't want to come, or what?
Domoto: I don't exactly know just when that thing changed, but Mr. Wertheim
would know. He was very active, and still is active.
Riess: When Miss Symmes was there, did she talk?
Domoto: Sometimes. I know they used to come there, and bring the material
in, but I don't remember either one of them going up too often.
221
The Nurseryman's Point of View
Riess :
Domoto :
Riess:
Domoto :
Riess :
Domoto :
Riess :
Domoto:
It's very nice that you knew them, or at least you saw them when
they were young. You were very young.
Yes. Most of the people that would come out to buy from my father,
a good many would drive their own car. I remember in those days
they would come with chauffeurs.
Mrs. Blake and Miss Symmes came with a chauffeur?
I think they had chauffeurs mostly. Not until later did people of
society decide to drive their own cars. There used to be the
feeling that in order to get around in the car, you had to have
someone that knew how to drive it. It wasn't until much later that
everybody would drive a car.
Did Mr. Blake come out with them?
Hardly. A couple of times later to my nursery in Hayward. I
remember him coming out with her to look at the tree peonies. I
don't think that his interest was quite that much into the garden.
He knew of the plants, but I don't think too much of it.
Did he come to Cal Hort meetings?
No. I don't remember him coming to the Cal Hort.
Tom Domoto and the Piedmont Customers
Riess: Where was your father's business first?
Domoto: The nursery was first in Oakland. He started the nursery down at Third
and Grove. That was just in the beginning. Then he moved out to East
Oakland, that's on Fifty-Fifth Avenue. In those days it was known
as Central Avenue. That's where he really got the nursery started.
222
Riess: Do you remember any of his comments about the Blakes?
Domoto: No. He hardly ever made any comments that way. The only thing I
know that I remember is in the discussion of plant material, that
they were talking on equal level. Some of the other people, they
were asking about whether this plant grows better than that plant.
Riess: I wonder if your father supplied them with any of the plants that
they had before they moved to Blake Estate. First they lived on
Piedmont Avenue where the Memorial Stadium of the University later
was buil t.
Domoto: He must have because, as I remember — I don't know when they moved
up to Blake Gardens.
Riess: Nineteen twenty- three or twenty- four, I think.
Domoto: It would be before that when they were buying it. I always used to
think of them as Piedmont customers. Like the Blakes and —
Riess: Well, the [Duncan] McDuffies maybe?
Domoto: Yes. The old McDuffie place, and the Crockers, and [Herman]
Nicholses.
Riess: These were the Piedmont customers?
Domoto: Yes. And some of them even later, to my Hayward location. I
remember the Nicholses, both the parents and the daughter used to
come out. I don't remember the granddaughter, but the daughter,
until several years ago.
Riess: Did your father, or do you, ever keep records by the customers so
you could go back and pinpoint everything that they had bought over
the years?
Domoto: I did at one time. Not my father's records because those belonged
to the corporation in Oakland. But in Hayward I did until I needed
storage space. My auditor said, "Well, you don't have to keep too
many records." He gave me a list of material which I would have to
keep. I looked up some of my old invoices for this meeting, and
they only go back to about '69-'70.
Riess: It would be interesting.
Domoto: Certain ones from Piedmont would come in at azalea season to buy
azaleas or camellias. General plant material went to those gardens
when they were in the formative period; not so much the owners
themselves but whoever was doing the landscaping would come out and
buy the plants for them.
223
Floyd Mick. George Budgen, Thomas Church
Domoto:
Riess :
Domoto:
Very few of those people, I remember, did their own gardening, so
somebody, the gardener or someone, came with them. If they liked
the plant they would buy it and put it in. Most of the gardens
were all designed. Floyd Mick in Berkeley, he did a lot of those
gardens here.
In fact, Miss Symmes was a professional landscape architect,
she doing other peoples' gardens?
Was
Oh, yes. She was doing that mostly. I don't think the home garden
much, because there I think her sister more or less decided what
she'd like, and then she had it planted. I think that was the way
it was then, judging from the conversation that they used to get
into when they were out looking around. Mrs. Blake would like a
certain variety, and Miss Symmes would say, "Yes, I think we could
use them." If Mrs. Blake liked it, all right, she'd find a place
for it.
Riess: I see. Did you ever, though, see Miss Symmes come in with any of
her other customers?
Domoto: I may have, but generally I don't remember so much.
Riess: Did the sisters look alike?
Domoto: I would say, as far as stature, they were built pretty much the
same way. I guess their demeanor about the same too. Miss Symmes
always kind of deferred to Mrs. Blake as though — I'm not sure, I
think she was the older sister. Anita was the older sister. Miss
Symmes was like a younger sister, you know. I always had that
feeling.
Riess: The Blakes had had Walter Vodden in 1957. He came because of the
University. But before that was there a gardener you associated
with the gardens?
Domoto: I don't know who the gardener was then. They must have had a
gardener there before.
Riess: Apparently there was an Indian fellow they had who used to work for
them.
Domoto: Mr. Mick is available. He lives in, I guess, Oakland. It's Floyd
Mick.
Riess: Yes. I think I talked to him once a long time ago. You think he
would remember?
224
Domoto
Riess :
Domoto;
Riess :
Domoto;
He might. You see, he and George Budgen of the Berkeley Hort — they are
about the same period. George started a nursery out there in Berkeley.
I think Mr. Mick was getting started in the landscape design business.
Tommy Church along about that period too. I know that as far as
the gardens over in Piedmont and other areas in the Oakland hills,
that Mr. Mick was instrumental in doing a lot of the gardens there.
Was he a designer on the scale of Tommy Church?
I don't think he was — actually I've never gone to all the garde
that he had done.
ns
As I have them classified, there are those that do the gardens
to be doing a good garden, and others would like to do a garden to
show off. The one garden is a garden that's designed to make it
feel like it's not the designer's garden, but the person they're
designing it for. In other words, you have a show garden, the
personality is not displayed, but the architect's personality is
displayed. The other is a home garden. I think Mr. Mick was the
type that more or less designed a garden that would make the person
feel like it was his own garden, whereas Tommy Church was designing
the kind to show Tommy Church off.
That's what his customers wanted, probably.
"That's a Tommy Church garden."
They wanted to say.
Well, it starts out that way, but later on, why, you're still not
satisfied with it. It's just like you go and buy a Gump's piece of
furniture, and you don't like it. But just because it's from
Gump's — . [laughter]
Competitiveness in the Garden
Domoto: It's the same as when people used to come out and buy certain
plants from my father. They'd say, "Did Mrs. So-and-So buy that?
What [did] she buy?" My father would say, "Well, I don't know."
He never used to say exactly what. Then they'd say, they would go
on, "What about this plant? Is this good?" "Do you think it would
look good in my garden?" "^ell, it should grow there." And they
would buy it.
Sometimes two or three people would come out together. One
person would buy the plant. The next one would say, "Oh, I must
have one too." [laughs] But in most cases before delivery they
would say, "I've changed my mind about that plant. I don't think I
want it." We'd laugh because the one that was already there had
the funds. The other one was climbing and trying to be up there
but she didn't have the funds to spend.
225
Riess: That's a very interesting observation.
Domoto: Anyone buying, most of the time if they were serious buyers they'd
never bring anybody else, they'd come on their own. If they were
coming as a group you'd always make a sale to someone, but it would
never be on the basis of actually wanting. Sometimes they'd want
to show off, and they'd buy. If they had the funds they would buy.
Different personalities.
Mrs. Roth was never that way. She'd always come out and say,
"I want something for my garden," and this and that. A lot of
things were left up to me to pick out for her. Colorwise, why, she
knew which colors and what shades she liked. Otherwise,
plantwise — . Most of the time she used to come by herself, not
even with a gardener.
Riess: Interesting.
When Mrs. Blake and Miss Symmes came to you. were they looking
for plants that were associated with the Orient?
I don't think so. In my place I was more in camellias and azaleas
than I was in some of the other plant material. Almost always in
camellia season or azalea season they would come out and see if
they could find a new variety to introduce to the garden.
Incidentally, since I liked oddball plants, I'd find something.
She'd say, "Well, what else do you have that's new?" or something
like that. I'd say, "Well, this, and this." She'd say, "Oh, yes,
I have that from a seed that I got from Australia," or something.
"Mine is only about so high, and it never has flowered." We'd get
into a discussion that way.
Domoto:
Riess:
Domoto;
Riess :
Domoto:
Riess :
Domoto
You had mentioned peonies,
garden?
I don' t think so.
Did they have an interest in a cutting
It was mostly perennial, shrubby — ?
As I remember, I think mostly shrubs, maybe perennials too. But
since I wasn't into the perennials at all, why, I don't know. But
I have the feeling that certain parts of the garden were perennials
and flowers. The Piedmont [Avenue] garden, the way it was laid out
I don' t know.
So your specialty was flowering shrubs.
Shrubs, yes.
226
Anita Blake and the Relocated Japanese Families
Riess: I came across correspondence in Mrs. Blake's letters that are in
The Bancroft Library, with Japanese families who were relocated. I
wondered if you knew about that.
Domoto: I heard that she was very good that way. But she was never one to
say, "Well, I did this or that."
Riess: How did you hear it then?
Domoto: I think it was either one of my father's customers or something
saying that, "I had a pretty tough time, and she helped me then."
There were several people of that pre- relocation period that got
talking to my dad. They wouldn't say who they were doing it for,
but, "I have a family I'd like to get this for," or something like
that.
Riess: Was it unusual then?
Domoto: I think so. And as far as I remember, some of the customers who
came out would be dressed high fashion. As I remember her, she was
always well-dressed, but never the flamboyant type. You know, some
like to show off their clothes. She probably had — it was good
material, but it wasn't one that said, "Here I have the — " you
know. That type. I never got that feeling at all.
Riess: And so it was very natural for her to help the Japanese family?
Domoto: Or any other one that was in the group that would be in need.
Riess: By "in the group" you mean that she met these people through Cal
Hort?
Domoto: I don't think so. I don't think Cal Hort.
Riess: How many Japanese gardeners were in Cal Hort?
227
Domoto
Riess:
Domoto ;
Riess :
Domoto;
Riess :
Domoto
Very few. I remember only about one or two used to come in once in
a while to the meeting. Most of them not, either because of the
language difficulty or else they weren't — . I remember Pete
Sugawara, he used to come in.
I don't know whether these families that she helped were working at
the Blake Garden.
I think most of the Japanese who came in as gardeners came usually
as a couple. The wife would work in the house, and the husband
would either work in the garden, or sometimes, if he was good, he'd
be hired as a chauffeur. And then they would have a room there in
the house to live in.
Yes. I haven't heard of that up there, though.
Blakes had that.
I don't think the
I don't think by the time they went up to Berkeley. Maybe when
they were in Piedmont [Avenue], they may have. As far as helping
that way, they may have some other — . The people that were
actually helping the Japanese during the evacuation, those that did
very seldom talk about it because it wasn't the proper thing to do.
It would be very much on the quiet side, and you were surprised
where you got help from — the people that you least suspected that
you would get any help from. The ones that you thought were
friends, they shunned you, and not even a word from some of them.
That was my experience, and I understand that's the way it was with
a lot of the others too. I would think Mrs. Blake would have done
it because of a personal relationship with the family, and she
wouldn't speak much about it.
She bought a lot of Chinese scrolls and she had Asian art in her
house. Maybe she really had an unusual sympathy with the Orient.
Well, with that type of material, whoever she bought the material
from, she probably got to know the dealer pretty well personally.
Because of that connection, why, she may have bought more things
that way.
228
Pricing and Bargaining
Riess: I've been reading about the beginning of Gump's, because I'm going
to do an oral history with Richard Gump. A lot of the early
history of Gump's talks about how A.L. Gump learned how to deal
with the merchants in China, and how he convinced them to show him
their best things. Was it the same when Mrs. Blake came out here?
Would your father only show her something if she really looked like
she knew her business? And do you feel the same way?
Domoto: No. See, my father's actual business experience was learned the
hard way here in the United States. I think his interest in the
person was more from the standpoint of whether they were interested
in the plant itself. But the rest of the time, if they came in and
were interested to buy, his idea was to sell on that basis.
Riess: He didn't hold back special things for special customers?
Domoto: No. I don't remember him doing that.
I'm not sure of the name now, but I think it was a Mr. [James
K.] Moffitt, he always used to come out with a chauffeur. "When
you go out to Domotos," he used to say, "if you go out with a
chauffeur and a Fierce-Arrow, he's going to charge you one price,
and if you go out with a Ford, it's another price." I think my dad
used to do it that way. [laughs]
Funny thing, one day Mr. Moffitt came out in the chauffeur's
car, driving it himself. My father, when he got through laughing,
he said, "You don't fool me." [laughter] My father was laughing
with Mr. Moffitt, and he says, "Okay." But as far as most of the
prices, there'd be one price he'd quote and it would be the same
price he'd quote to anybody else.
My father was a good psychologist, I think, in thinking back.
The old Hellman Estate, which is now the Dunsmuir House, next to
that was the place where the zoo is now, that used to be the Chabot
place, I think — .
229
Riess: I don't know the family — Chabot is an Oakland name. Maybe you'll
get it and can fill it in. Why don't you tell the story.
Domoto: There were a number of people that owned the place next to the
Hellman's. Anyway, he married a chorus girl, and 1 remember them
coming out to father's place to buy. She was very outspoken. I
remember one day, everything my father'd quote, she'd always say,
"That's too high. Make it cheaper." I remember going around
sometimes behind them to tag some of the things they'd pick out,
for my father.
When they got through my father told her, "You want to pay
your price or my price?" She said, "My price." "You sure?"
"Yes." "All right," he says, "here's your price; here's my price."
His price was a lot lower because he had jacked the price up.
[laughter] She didn't know the material. In other words, she was
strictly on the basis of bargaining. In most of the old countries
you go to, it's a bargaining basis. If you buy it at the first
price, why, you're losing face.
After that when she used to come up and buy, she'd always tell
him, "I want that. I want this, and I want that," and never a
question about the price. She was a good psychologist too; having
grown up the hard way, she knew that if you trust them you get the
right plant.
Riess: Yes. Well, that's something that's difficult to figure out in some
situations.
Domoto: If you don't know the material, and if you don't trust the person,
don't buy from them. If you trust the person you go by what he
says. If you don' t 1 ike it, why, youjust leave it.
Riess: For the Blakes, money was not an issue?
Domoto: I don't know that part of it. But I know as far as — we used to
have what they called clean buyers and some buyers who always used
to try to bargain. Of course, those that used to buy from my
father wanted it to come out the same way. I said, "No, I don't do
it that way. I quote one price, the wholesaler price, and the
retailer price. It's the same whether you come today or tomorrow.
If the plant gets bigger, it'll be more. If the plant gets poorer
or out of date, you get lower." Whether they come in a Fierce-
Arrow or anything else, it makes no difference."
Riess: Actually, because Miss Symmes was a professional, she might have a
different price.
Domoto: Well, yes. See, there'd be a retail price. Landscape people would
get, depending on the volume, mostly a 20 percent discount off of
the retail. Or in some cases, if they were big volume they would
230
Domoto: get the regular wholesale price. But I think in most cases, until
about the NRA days, along after the Depression when the government
was trying to regulate prices and everything, until then most
nurseries had what they called a volume deal, or else they'd each
have an individual price. There were no definite price structures.
You could go to one nursery and buy a gallon at one price, and
you'd go to another nursery and it's another price.
Riess: What other local nurseries were there?
Domoto: The Sunset Nursery. It used to be in Piedmont. They supplied a
lot of the smaller shrub type of material to the Piedmont area.
Then Berkeley Hort got into shrubbery too. He was at first quite a
bit of the perennial type of material. The Sunset was — their
nursery was operated quite a bit — I think that was really, I'm not
sure, but I have a feeling that they were operated by people who
were maybe gardeners at first. Then Sandkeule and Carlson, the two
partners, they became Sunset Nursery. They had a lot of the
gardener trade there in Piedmont. I know the bedding plant people
liked to supply them because they were always good pay. Then
shrubwise, right in this area, my father's place. Then California
Nursery, in Niles.
Riess: Over the years did they come out every year, Mrs. Blake and Miss
Symmes? Now we're talking postwar and the '50s.
Domoto: Yes. At least once a year in the season, when things were in
blossom, I used to see either one or the other.
Riess: Would they make an appointment ahead of time to say that they were
coming?
Domoto: No. About the only one that ever made any appointments like that
to come in was Mrs. Roth, and Andrew Welch in San Mateo. They were
part of the Welch pineapple people. You know, the Hawaiian people.
The Nichols family in Piedmont, they were part of the Hawaiian
group too.
Riess: Well, are you tempted to go out and look at the Blake Garden now,
after all these years?
Domoto: No, my interests are limited now. I have gone to some afterward.
Like all the Japanese gardens, they always want me to look at them.
Well, I look at them as plant material, not the design. I
appreciate it. But my interest is not that way. My brother went
into the design part, and he's doing landscaping back east now.
But as far as the flower shows, there were days when I used to put
in the displays and help.
Riess: So you're really interested in the individual plant.
231
Domoto: More on the plant side than the design. But since I like to draw
and things like that, I guess I had a feeling for certain
arrangements. I never tried to follow any design pattern or any
set rule. If it pleased my eye, I was satisfied.
Transcriber: Catherine Woolf
Final Typist: Elizabeth Eshleman
232
Regional Oral History Office
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California
Blake Estate Oral History Project
Walter Vodden
BLAKE GARDEN, 1957-1986
An Interview Conducted by
Suzanne B. Riess
in 1986
Copyright (c) 1988 by The Regents of the University of California
Walter Vodden, photographed at Blake House, 1986,
Photograph by Suzanne Riess
233
TABLE OF CONTENTS — Walter Vodden
INTERVIEW HISTORY 234
BIOGRAPHY 236
Walter Vodden' s Education, and Background 237
Transition Year, 1957-58 241
The Job and the Title 242
Anita Blake 244
In Command 244
Mabel Symmes, In Deference 24"
Encyclopedic Plant Knowledge
The Blakes, and Other People
Personal Supervision of the Gardens
California Horticultural Society Meetings 257
The University and the Blake Estate 258
Department of Landscape Architecture Faculty 258
New Financial and Moral Support and Interest 261
The Monastery and the Neighbors 265
234
INTERVIEW HISTORY
Walter Vodden entered Blake House history in 1958. That year he was
hired by Professor H. L. Vaughan of the Department of Landscape
Architecture at the University of California. The department had the
responsiblity of maintaining the gardens of the Blake Estate which had
been given to the University in 1957. Walter Vodden was put in place as
the head gardener. No doubt it was a relief to the Blakes to have a
competent, young, energetic, full-time employee at a time when they, and
Miss Mabel Symmes, Mrs. Blake's sister who lived in the house with them,
were in their late eighties. The sisters worked Walter Vodden hard and he
learned a lot from them.
It is somewhat ironic that it is to Mr. Vodden that we turn for an
"inside look" at Anson and Anita and Mabel. Mrs. Blake was always so
careful to maintain the distance between "inside" and "outside," the
upstairs/downstairs dichotomy peculiar to the Blake House. And in fact it
was really Miss Symmes, with her more academically- informed approach to
horticulture and landscape design, who gave Walter Vodden a supplementary
education in plant families, and an appreciation for what he had been put
in charge of. His recollections of her make clear that she was a good
teacher and that the legacy and future of the garden were uppermost in her
mind as she gave her pupil as much information as he could absorb.
While having a tutorial relationship with Miss Symmes, Walter Vodden
had great admiration and respect for Mrs. Blake, and there was obviously
some mutuality, as she turned over to him the job of representing the
Blake Gardens at the meetings of the California Horticultural Society.
She had faithfully presented plant materials for years; when she could no
longer do so, Walter went in her stead.
Walter Vodden's story overlaps Geraldine Knight Scott's which
follows. Mrs. Scott was the Department of Landscape Architecture's
representative to the Blake Garden. Mr. Vodden, as Senior Superintendent
of Cultivations, worked under Mrs. Scott's direction in the years from
1962 to 1968 when the garden was revitalized by carving out the excessive
growth of forty years. By 1973 when Linda Haymaker joined the staff at
the garden, Walter Vodden's stories of the sisters Anita and Mabel were
the stuff of history, and in Ms. Haymaker's interview some more of those
stories are recalled.
Walter Vodden and I met to record in the sunroom at Blake House.
Once an open loggia, it is now glass-enclosed, but it still has a view of
the pool and the grotto. The photograph which accompanies this interview
235
is of an animated interviewee — at the time it was taken Mr. Vodden was
speaking with Mrs. David Gardner. Coincidental to our interview she was
at Blake House and she joined us to talk for a few minutes about the
garden for which Mr. Vodden still has evident love and concern.
Suzanne B. Riess
Interv iewer-Editor
September 23. 1987
Regional Oral History Office
486 The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
Room 486 The Bancroft Library
236
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please print or write clearly)
Your full name
Date of birth "//"/ 6> ,
Father's full name
Birthplace
Occupation
Mother's full name
Birthplace
Occupation
Where did you grow up ?
Present community
Education
Place of birth
/
"t X"
/ /JSttT?
Occupation(s)
Special interests or activities
237
Walter Vodden' s Education, and Background
[Date of Interview: November 13, 1986]
Vodden: I graduated from the City College in San Francisco with only an
associate of arts degree in ornamental horticulture. This was in
the 1940's, and the community colleges didn't have many programs in
ornamental horticulture back in those days. I got involved in it
because my parents insisted that I go somewhere to college when I
graduated from high school and I was never that great in math or
chemistry or foreign languages or what have you. My father was a
contractor and my grandfather before him was a contractor, and I
was always handy with tools.
But they insisted I go somewhere, so I went down to San
Francisco State and got their booklet of courses that they offered,
but decided to go to what at that time was the San Francisco Junior
College. At that time they didn't even have their own building,
they were on Powell Street at University of California Extension,
now out on Phelan. I looked it all over; I ran into this thing
that said "Ornamental Horticulture" and I thought, "Aha! That
looks easy for me." So I ended up taking a two-year associate of
arts degree in ornamental horticulture, back before World War IL
I had never done too much of this because I was born and
raised in San Francisco. I was a city boy, lived out on the
avenues, the Richmond district, and we didn't have a large garden
or anything. But once I got into it it apparently appealed to me,
because I eventually made the Alpha Gamma Sigma National Honor
Society. I had a fine time, and really enjoyed it.
After graduating from there — it was only about a year or two
before World War II — I worked for a landscape contractor and went
in the navy for World War II. The navy immediately sent me to
diesel school — I don't know how far away you could get from
horticulture, to diesel school, but that's where I ended up. I put
five years in the navy, during World War II, and shortly afterwards
I got out at the convenience of the government. I knew that I
never wanted to earn my living working on greasy diesel engines, so
238
Vodden;
Riess :
Vodden:
Riess:
Vodden!
Riess :
Vodden;
I got back into horticulture. Then I worked for a couple of
nurseries and landscape contractors to get the feel of the business
again after being away from it for five years.
Eventually 1 went into business for myself. I was self-
employed for about ten years when my old professor from the city,
Harry Nelson, called and said, "Walter, why don't you call
Professor Vaughan over in the UC landscape architecture department?
He has something that may interest you." I had reached the stage
in my business where I had to start hiring more people and buying
more vehicles and all of this kind of thing. By that time I was
tired of working on Saturdays and Sundays, taking my vacations in
the wintertime when my son was still in school, but on vacation —
Christmas — and not being paid for my vacation. So I called
Professor Vaughan and he told me about this place and asked me to
come over and talk to him.
I want to ask a couple of questions about some things you brought
up that interest me historically: When you were taking that
ornamental horticulture course in San Francisco did they take you
out to beautiful gardens and introduce you to elegant places like
this [Blake Estate]?
No, actually they didn't. As I said, we had no buildings of our
own, so the professor that was actually teaching the design part of
landscape architecture was a Professor Herman who came from the
University of Ohio, and I guess he was a landscape architect, but I
don't know. We spent most of our time in Golden Gate Park, or in
Funston Field, or walking around neighborhoods — this kind of thing.
As a native I would say that most of the nicer gardens that came
into San Francisco came later. I don't think there were that many
pre-World War IL, Places like the Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden
Gate Park were there, but they were not the things that they are
now.
Did you meet John McLaren?
known him?
Is it possible that you would have
I never met McLaren himself, no. I belong to the California
Horticultural Society, and he by that time had retired I think. I
know a lot of people who came later in Golden Gate Park: Roy
Hudson. Jack Spring — all of these people who were superintendents.
I used to play football with the gang where the arboretum in Golden
Gate Park is right now.
Was there any work training that was part of your class?
Only insofar as the professors — and I'll call them professors with
tongue-in-cheek — but if those who were teaching could convince
people to come to their houses on weekends and do a little work for
them, [laughs] As I recall — and it's been a long time, because
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Vodden: we're talking about over forty years — there was very little taught
in the way of construction at alL We had mostly plant material
and design, and art — I was going to get an associate of arts degree
besides — they didn't give a certificate in those days like they do
now. We also had the math classes and the science classes and the
English classes that were required for that, too,
Riess: What were the jobs that one would typically get with a degree like
that?
Vodden: I did mostly maintenance, but also some construction. I don't know
if you've ever heard of Charles Harney: he built Candlestick Park.
He has a reputation in San Francisco of doing a lot of shady kinds
of things, [laughs] but when they widened Portola Drive, which runs
alongside St. Francis Woods, they moved six or seven houses up that
side of Mt. Davidson. They moved them all up on the hill, and I
did all the landscaping on those. But primarily it was
reconstruction of whole gardens and maintenance, and that kind of
thing.
You must remember also that in those days there were very,
very few trained horticulturists, or gardeners — whichever word you
prefer to use. For some reason the connotations of the word
"gardener" are not as great in this country as if you say you're a
horticulturist. In England if you're a gardener it's a pat on the
back, you're really doing something, but in this country people
tend not to call them gardeners any more. Most of the people that
were gardening in those days were not trained at all, they were
mailmen or painters or firemen that on their days off were going
out and chopping down bushes, and that's why there were little
round shrubs all over the place.
Riess: Who were the people then who knew plant materials?
Vodden: Well, hopefully the nursery people, and there were a few of us.
You also must remember that when I was going to school there were a
lot of Japanese in the classes. The Japanese were operating the
nurseries mostly, and when World War II came along they all ended
up in the internment camps. The Japanese, as far as I can
determine, never really gained a foothold back in horticulture
afterwards.
Riess: What about women in the business?
Vodden: When I went out of business, and, as I say, that was close to
thirty years ago, I turned what business I had over to a woman
gardener. I knew six months ahead of time that I was going to go
out of business because that was part of the deal, when I was
interviewed and hired, that I didn't have to come to work until
July. This was around Christmas time so I had a lot of time, and
little by little I divested myself of those jobs that I wasn't
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Vodden: happy with anyway, but those few jobs that I had left that were
good and had good customers, I turned over and gave to a woman
gardener. So there were some around.
Riess: You were already making a distinction then between gardeners.
Vodden: There's no question about it; the gardeners that were operating
knew who had knowledge, and they would come across the street where
I was working and say, "Hey, what's wrong with this shrub over
here?"
Riess: But as far as a knowledge of drainage and the kind of structural
aspects of gardening?
Vodden: I don't think any of us had the training to really know what we
were doing in those days. You know, a lot of that kind of thing
only comes with the best kind of experience. I don't know if you
understand that the Department of Landscape Architecture here at
Berkeley — which requires four years or longer to graduate, with
enough experience to go to work with some landscape architect to
get the experience to take the state examination — only offers two
classes in plant material, and only one class is required.
Riess: I do realize that. That's part of what I was trying to get at.
Vodden: It's incredible. That's why the landscape architects are in great
need of all these young people that are graduating from Merritt,
Diablo Valley College, and San Francisco with certificates in
ornamental horticulture. That may or may not have anything to do
with our survey of the history of the Blake House, but it's a
background in what's happening with ornamental horticulture anyway.
When I left here there was John Norcross, who took over my
job, who had graduated from McGill University and the University of
Pennsylvania with a degree in architecture — he decided somewhere
along the line he didn't want to sit in somebody's office drafting;
Linda Haymaker, who had just come back from a leave of absence from
a landscape design school back in Massachusetts — she had taken a
year's leave of absence to get her master's degree in landscape
architecture; Jeff Evans, who's working out here in the back at the
house graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree
in natural resources; Allison Cardinet, who was growing the cut
flowers, who has teaching credentials and was teaching in the
Berkeley school system when she decided that she couldn't control
the students and got out of it.
All the people who were here were well educated and in some
cases with some experience too. Whenever we had a j ob opening
here, which wasn't very often, I'd get thirty or more applicants,
and I'd have people with master's degrees in ornamental
horticulture from Davis or Cal Poly amongst the applicants, and
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Vodden: almost all of them had some degrees. So the field is changing very
rapidly. Some of the few that did apply for the job that weren't
well educated, you couldn't even read their applications. I wasn't
looking for formal education at all. I was looking for a strong
back or people that really wanted to work.
Riess: One of the things you're saying is that you never could have gotten
this job today.
Vodden: No, that's exactly right.
Riess: That's a good introduction.
Transition Year, 1957-58
Riess: It was Punk [H.L.] Vaughan who hired you?
Vodden: [laughs] Punk Vaughan, right.
Riess:
Vodden;
Riess :
Vodden:
This was in 1958.
the University.
In 1957 the house and the garden were deeded to
Right. When I was hired, for the first six months I actually was
paid by the Blakes and they were reimbursed by the University in
some way — I don't know exactly how it came about. But all three of
the family were still living here. Mai Arbegast was babysitting,
shall we say, with the Blakes, because this officially had all just
been turned over and there was a what's-going-to-happen-next kind
of situation. Mai Arbegast was an assistant professor at that time
in the landscape department. She was assigned by Punk Vaughan
because I guess she brought her classes out here. They had always
brought their classes out here.
What had they done when they'd brought their classes out in the
past? Had they had a real hands-on experience?
I don't know because I wasn't here then. This was prior to when I
got here. When I got here the place was in shambles. During all
World War II it had been neglected.
Riess: Why?
Vodden: They couldn't get any help. Any able-bodied people were serving in
the armed forces somewhere. You couldn't find a path, or even the
entrance road.
Riess: So they never had used students to work on it?
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Vodden: Not to my knowledge. Afterwards, yes, we did use some students.
When Garrett Eckbo was chairman of the department, he saw that we
got some general assistance money, so I was able to hire three or
four or five landscape students to work during the summer. That's
when we got a lot of the clearing-up done. In later years almost
always I had work-study people, which we paid part out of our
budget. Almost invariably we could not get landscape students
because they couldn't qualify; most landscape students were older.
A great many landscape students don't decide until they've already
taken something else and decided that that's not for them, and so
they switch to landscape architecture because it sounds glamorous.
A lot of them had money and couldn't qualify for work-study.
One time I had as many as nine out here during the summer, but
we had law students, history students, practically every discipline.
Riess: Probably made them a more malleable group, actually.
Vodden:
Riess:
Vodden:
Actually we got along fine, and they were good workers. They were
being paid though, and the work-study jobs out here paid
substantially more than if you were stacking books in the library
or something else.
Did
you really just look for strong backs, or did you take women?
Women are just as strong as many menl The two women who are
working here now were both hired by me. I've had a great deal of
women help out here; I've absolutely nothing against them. I do
look at the fact of whether I think they can do the work or not,
too, but no, I like to feel that I have no problems with that at
all. When I interviewed for jobs, at least half of them would be
women that were applying, and I just looked for the best person.
The last person I hired was Allison out there. I've had a great
many females working out here long before her.
The Job and the Title
Riess: When Punk Vaughan hired you did you have to be interviewed by the
Blakes also?
Vodden: No, and I don't know how many people he interviewed at all.
After they finally called and said I had the job, I did have
to go over to the personnel department and interview with them
because the personnel department had to decide how much they were
going to pay me, where I was going to fit into the scale of job
order, and this kind of thing.
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Riess: What was your first title?
Vodden: I was hired as a senior nursery technician, senior nurseryman at
that time. But you don't call them nurserymen anymore; it's senior
nursery technician. It wasn't too long before I became "senior
superintendent of cultivation," which was an entirely different
thing and never really matched the job. Many years later personnel
finally caught up with it and changed my classification from what
was by that time "principal superintendent of cultivation" to
"senior superintendent of agriculture." To this day I can't see
how they ever arrived at that title. Most senior superintendents
of agriculture are directors of agricultural experiment stations;
they're really in agriculture and not in ornamental horticulture.
Riess: They were probably just trying to get more money for you.
Vodden: Are you kiddingl When they finally hired John Norcross they
changed the classification, and John is "botanical gardens
manager," which makes more sense.
I think there were only two senior or principal
superintendents of cultivation in the whole University complex.
Actually I lost money when they switched my title. Since a senior
superintendent of agriculture pays about five percent less than a
principal superintendent of cultivation, they were real magnanimous
and they said, "We're not going to lower your salary; we'll still
pay you the same amount." But the very next six months, when the
state legislature passed a pay raise, they only gave me part of it
because they couldn't pay me above what the pay scale was for the
classification.
Riess: I thought you were going to say you were told you could have all
the tomatoes you could eat.
Vodden: [laughs] 1 used to pick blackberries in my lunch kettle and take
them home.
244
Anita Blake
In Command
Riess: You didn't take over from anyone. There wasn't an old Italian
gardener or anything like that?
Vodden: No. I worked very closely with Mrs. Blake. Mrs. Blake was a
lovable old tyrant — and I mean tyrant 1
Riess: She had no one who was out there with his wheelbarrow day in, day out?
Vodden: No, she had a fellow, Jim Anderson, who worked here, and he worked
full-time with her. He was a handyman: he buried the garbage and
burned the papers and cleared the weeds and this kind of thing.
Jim was here already, and there was another fellow by the name
of Churchill Womble, and he was a horticulturist. Jim was a handy
man. Churchill was an alcoholic, a young fellow — too young to be
an alcoholic. He eventually died because of this alcoholism. He
was kind of her compatriot. They worked together and this whole
area was full of gallon cans full of rare plants and things like
that that he had bought for her. So he was here on the rare
occasions when he wasn't home sobering up.
Riess: It sounds like the relationship that she had with her gardeners was
working hand-in-hand.
Vodden: You have to remember that it was her garden, she planted it, she'd
tended it for thirty years. You don't come into a place,
particularly after they've given it to you, and tell people what to
do with their garden. So we didn't do much of anything.
Riess: She had physically tended it herself?
Vodden: Well, by this time she was in her eighties, so she wasn't doing
much physical labor. But she was there sitting on a stool when you
dug a hole, or when you pruned, and if she wasn't there her sister
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Vodden: Miss Symmes was there. When we pruned roses her sister would come
out to where we used to have species roses in the middle of winter —
it would be coldl — and supervise every cut that I made on her roses,
even though I probably knew more about pruning roses than she did.
Riess: It must have driven you crazy.
Vodden: She [Mrs. Blake] had twenty-six cats that followed her all around.
She had a hoe, so you could hear her coming, scraping with this
hoe, and twenty-six cats would be following her. She'd have an
apron like a house cook's, with big pockets on it filled with stale
bread for feeding these cats as she came along.
Riess: Were the cats in the house ever?
Vodden: No, she fed them by the back door — that was part of Jim's job.
He'd put these big trays of catfood out for them every night. The
idea originally was that the cats were going to keep the gopher
population down, but they fed them so well they weren't hunters at
all. They were all so interbred by this time that each spring when
they had a litter half of them would be born blind or what have you
and we'd have to put them in sacks and destroy them. It was really
kind of sad.
Riess: Why did she have the hoe?
Vodden: Just for support. Like I say. she was in her eighties by this time.
She was eighty-eight or eighty-nine when she died. She died right
in that room alongside. [ President Gardner's office, west of the
solarium.] That was her bedroom, because she couldn't get up and
down the stairs. She had a canopy bed in there with a canopy on
it, and pans sitting on top because the roof leaked so much that
the water would drip through the ceiling, and she'd catch it in a
pan over her bed. Under the bed was this big wooden square box that
was full of oriental scrolls. Every six months or so she'd have us
pull this box out and spray it for silverfish. They're all in the
Asiatic department or somewhere [East Asiatic Library].
Riess: She really didn't care about the house so much?
Vodden: As far as the house was concerned, it was like a big mausoleum,
dark and dreary. She kept a twenty-two rifle by the front door,
and whenever she answered the front door she'd have the twenty-two
rifle right handy. I don't know what she was going to do with it.
But you have to remember that it was so overgrown here, and there
was no outdoor lighting at all.
There were three old people in the house at the beginning.
He was ninety when he slipped and fell and broke his hip and died.
Miss Symmes, the sister who lived upstairs, fell one night, and she
was unable to get up, and she knew there was nobody else in the
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Vodden: house to help her get up into bed. so she lay on the floor all
night and pulled the throw- rug up over herself. We got here in the
morning and the cook, who was deaf, came running out. and we all
came running in and picked her up and put her back in bed. And
Mrs. Blake was in her mid-eighties. So here are three old people,
and they were very vulnerable down here. I guess that Kensington
must have had a police department by that time that they were still
there.
Riess: But they could have afforded to have help, couldn't they?
Vodden: Well, they had a cook, and I think they deliberately went out of
their way to hire cooks who were not the best — I don't know how
they were at cooking, but the one that was here was deaf, and the
second one, Mary, didn't last very long.
As I say, Mrs. Blake was very difficult to work with. When we
finally had funding enough to hire another person here, he used to
work with her, and she'd tell him. "Now Charles [Modecki], meet me
up here at three o'clock" — she might take a little nap in the
afternoon or something — "and we'll plant this." So Chuck, who also
had a lot of other responsibilities working down in back, would
come up at three o'clock and she wouldn't be there — she'd have
fallen asleep or something. So he'd keep checking, and keep
checking, until finally he had to go back and do what he had to do.
She'd come out maybe an hour later and Chuck wouldn't be there, and
she rode him so much that Chuck eventually quit — she was this kind
of person.
Mabel Symmes, In Deference
Riess: She was really the dominant member of the family.
Vodden: There was no question about it. She and her sister used to have
big drag-out battles about where to trim certain shrubs. I used
to hear them out there.
When I first came here, that first winter, we had no buildings
over there at all, and so I had to sit in my car in the pouring
rain in the front here under a big tree. Miss Symmes came out and
would say, "Walter, come in the house and I'll set up a card table
in the dining room." You also have to remember that Miss Symmes
was the trained landscape architect, Mrs. Blake was not. She'd set
up a table and she'd say, 'V alter, sit down here and write me a list
of all the vines that are on the property." I'd only been here a
short while, and I maybe knew five vines that were here. She said,
"Well, all right, write those down." And she said. "Here's the
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Vodden: encyclopedia, you look them up in the encyclopedia and find out all
you can," She was really great, she was going to teach me about
what vas here.
Mrs. Blake heard about it and that finished that — just like
that. There was a great deal of jealousy involved, I guess. No
longer was I invited to come in and sit down and do my lessons.
When it rained and I couldn't work outside we ended up painting in
the kitchen or polishing brass work, or something like that —
something that was more menial, I'll put it that way. I'm telling
you just because of the difference between the two ladies.
We bought the greenhouse when they tore them down on campus to
build some new buildings — we paid $1,800 I think — and had it in
storage out here until we could move up on the priority list to get
it put up. Somewhere along the line we decided that it was almost
time to do it, and Miss Symmes said, "If you can't find the money
to build a building over there, I'll pay for it."
Riess: Do you think that Mrs. Blake could have been dealt with
differently?
Vodden: This is not a good thing, because I'm part of the Department of
Landscape Architecture, but I don't really think it was handled
that well. I think that there could possibly have been some
endowment funds, and also there's the fact that they didn't have a
great deal of money anyway. When he died, I think the paper said
that he left an estate in excess of $900,000, or close to a million
dollars. That's a lot of money, but by today's standards the taxes
on this place must have been fierce. I've always felt that's one
reason why they deeded it to the University because they had living
privileges here and their concerns for the garden would be taken
care of, the maintenance on the house, the leaks — this kind of
thing would be taken care of.
Riess: Yet Mai considers it to be quite a coup to have gotten it for the
the University.
Vodden: As I say, I wasn't here then, so I don't know, but from what I
could gather afterwards if anybody takes credit, I think it would
be Professor Vaughan. Mai was here, and she was babysitting.
What used to happen was that Mrs. Blake wouldn't come to me,
she'd call Mai. This used to happen fairly often. Mai would call
me at night and say, "Mrs. Blake is real unhappy because you
Vodden: pulled out her rare vine that was up along the pine needle
path up there." I said, "Mai, I didn't pull anything out up
there." "Well, she said you pulled it out, so you must have done
it. She's very upset with you." So I went up the next day when I
came to work and I looked, and it was still there, the thing she
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Vodden: was concerned about. So when Mrs. Blake came out I said, "Here it
is. I didn't pull it out." But never once did I get an apology.
She had just looked in the wrong place; she forgot where it was.
Another time she didn't want anybody to plant anything in this
garden if she didn't get to say where it should be planted. My
mother had a dear friend that went to Germany and brought back a
package of lamprantha seeds. I grew the little seedlings. They're
an incidental little herbacious. annual/perennial kind of thing,
multicolored with lots of flowers on it; it lasts one year, and
then you pull it out and throw it away. So I grew them in a flat,
and I had a whole mess of plants. I had just moved to Walnut
Creek, and I used what I had at home and then I thought, I'll plant
the rest of them here. I planted them up in the rose garden. Mrs.
Blake had a habit of going out after we'd left and walking around
to see what kind of trouble we'd gotten into, so she went over and
she found these plants growing there, and she immediately got on
the phone and called Mai: "Walter had no business planting those
things there."
The very next day I came and I pulled them up, when they were
just beginning to bloom, pulled them up by the roots, and I took
them over and threw them on the dump area, which at that time was
fairly convenient, up above. I deliberately didn't throw them
down, I put them at the top. So the next day Mrs. Blake came along
and it just broke her heart to see that somebody had thrown some
living plants out. She never came to me and made any excuses or
anything, but she never said another thing. Just as I said, she's
lovable at heart.
Riess: You haven't told me anything lovable yet.
Vodden: [laughs] No, she was. She was fine. I'll tell you another
experience: the first time I brought my wife here — I tell this all
the time — I hadn't officially come to work yet, but I wanted to
show my wife where I was working, so we came on a Sunday. I think
I called and told Mrs. Blake I was coming — one didn't just drop in
on her — and she said, "Fine." We were down by the rock wall in
back and she was down there watering when we arrived; we came down
the steps and she was busy watering over here. As we got closer I
called to her, I said, "Mrs. Blake," and she turned around and
turned the hose right on my wife — not on purpose of course. But
she was fine.
In her later life she had a great deal of difficulty, and
having gone through the experience with both my mother and father I
knew the problems that she was having. You get a little senile — at
my age I forget, and I'm certainly not eighty yet. Little things
would happen. The cook came running out of the house once saying,
"Help, help, Mrs. Blake is on the floorl" She always had her lunch
in the dining room there, she sat at the end of the table. We came
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Vodden: rushing in and she was lying on the floor. I didn't know if she
was having a heart attack or what was going on, so we picked her up
and put her on the couch in the living room. I had her doctor's
telephone number by this time, so I called the doctor and the
doctor came out. Everything was fine, she'd just fallen asleep at
the table, just dozed off and landed on the floor. She was so
confused by waking up on the floor that she didn't know what to do.
Encyclopedic Plant Knowledge
Vodden: Another thing about the two sisters that always interested me — .
As I say, I was new on the job here, and I knew a lot of plant
material, but this garden is rather unique in the fact that there
was a great deal of very unusual plant material. So I got into the
habit of asking, "What's this? What's that?" If I asked Mrs.
Blake something, she'd be able to tell me just like that. But if I
asked Miss Symmes, she'd say, "Walter, I'll tell you at lunchtime,11
or "when I go up to get the mail," because she used to walk up to
the mailbox. Lo and behold at lunchtime. or whenever she came out,
she'd have it all written down, the name and a little bit about it;
she had gone upstairs and checked her files and her notes to jog
her memory about what it was. But Mrs. Blake was sharp right up to
the end. You could ask her the name of any plant in this garden,
almost to the end, and she could tell you just like that the
correct botanical name for it. And yet she was not the trained
horticulturist.
Riess: There were 2,500 different plant species in the garden?
Vodden: That was originally; it's changed.
Riess: She'd be able to give you the proper name?
Vodden: Yes.
Riess: Do you think Miss Symmes had that bit of teacher in her, and she
wanted you really to know it so that you could use it?
Vodden: I think that was part of it, yes, and I think she wanted to be
positive about it. I think Mrs. Blake was positive in her own
mind. I'm sure she made mistakes just like we all make mistakes.
When I used to run guided tours through here somebody would ask me
the name of something and I would say, "It's there, but it's gone."
Ten minutes later when you're walking down somewhere else it comes
to you.
Riess: Did labeling plants begin before you were hired?
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Vodden: I did most of that. There were no labels on anything here, and
there were virtually no records of anything here. The only records
that we were able to salvage that I had over in the office we got
after Miss Symmes died. Mrs. Blake had us clean her room, the
front bedroom up above our heads up there. You hear these stories
about these recluses that live in this one room, with papers and
books, well that's what her room looked like. She had trestle
tables up there with dried specimens and plants folded in
newspapers — the newspapers dated back to the mid-1 900' s. This
stuff was all dried and shredded. She had, on shelves underneath,
the stock market brochures from companies, financial reports, balls
of string and all this kind of thing. So when we had an
opportunity to clean, I was able to salvage a couple of plant file
lists of what was done when they had an herbarium collection out
here and a few odds and ends like that. But those are the only
records or anything like that that we have.
Riess: It was just in their heads.
Vodden: Right.
Riess: Did the labeling of plants happen while Mrs. Blake was alive?
Vodden: No, not at all.
Riess: She would not have approved of that?
Vodden: No, I think she would have approved of it; I think she would
approve of what's been done out here since she's gone. She was
very protective, she used to station me at the gate to keep the
school kids from cutting through, and if I caught any I was to
bring them down to her and she'd call the police. Apparently she'd
had some bad experiences with juveniles running through when there
was nobody here. I could understand that. I understand what
you're saying, that she was jealously guarding her knowledge of the
plants so that nobody else would know. I don't think that was
happening at all.
Riess: Or perhaps partly that she never conceived of it as a public place.
Vodden: Well, it still is not really a public place since we're closed on
weekends — I keep saying "we" but I'm not involved in it anymore. I
don't think she ever envisioned that it would be a public place per
se, she envisioned it as a place where the department would bring
their classes.
At that time there were no ornamental horticultural courses in
the community college system at all, so it was Berkeley that she
was interested in. And of course Anson was the grand old man of
Stiles Hall, and all this. So they were very much involved with
the University, and I think that's what she meant it to be. I
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Vodden: think she probably envisioned that the house would be used not
necessarily by the president of the University, but something in
between, or that the department would use it. I have a feeling
that she wouldn't have been disappointed that it had been used —
when it was used — as a residential dormitory of the Prytanean
Society; I think she would be very pleased that it was used by
presidents of the University. The day that Anson got his honorary
law degree Dr. Sproul came and picked him up in their limousine to
take him over, and there was the inauguration of Kerr when Kerr
became president.
The Blakes. and Other People
Riess: She came from a fine family; was she a bit of a snob about all of
this?
Vodden: She came from Rincon Hill in San Francisco, and her father was in
the electrical contracting business. She was not a snob. Miss
Symmes delved into genealogy, and I don't know if the University
has the information or not, but she showed me once that they went
back to Geoffrey Chaucer.
Riess: Was this part of why they couldn't speak directly to you?
Vodden: I think they were in the social registry; they were in Who's Who;
I would assume they went to the opera and this kind of thing. I
think I would have really enjoyed knowing them when she was about
fifty years old, or maybe fifty-five, because I think they were
right in the thick of things, of Berkeley and the University.
Her father was in the electrical fixture business, and it's my
understanding that as a house-warming or anniversary present he
gave them the big stone pillars and the big light fixtures that
used to be in the top of them in the gable. We still have one of
them stashed away behind the tool house over there.
Riess: I was asking those questions because 1 was trying to gather what
her attitude was toward people, that she felt that she couldn't
speak directly to you, that she had to talk to Mai, because Mai
was more professional.
Vodden: No, I always thought I was never anything more than a peon, a
handyman, the man who was here to do her bidding.
Well, the job was such at that time that it needed somebody
that was going to dig in, take a chainsaw, or what have you.
That's one of the first things that we did, we bought a chainsaw.
252
Vodden: We had to be very careful when we were using it. If we needed a
shovel or something like that I'd go to Anson. Mr. Blake, and say.
"Hey, we need another shovel." He'd go down to the quarry and
bring us back a shovel. There weren't even any wheelbarrows here.
There were two of us here, and ten-and-a-half acres. Mrs. Blake
wanted somebody here all the time Saturday and Sunday, so Jim
Anderson worked on Saturdays and Sundays. So there were only three
days a week when there were two of us here — and ten-and-a-half
acres. We really couldn't do much at all.
Riess: Sure. And if you're being called inside periodically to take care
of household things — .
Vodden: Jim took her shopping all the time, particularly after Anson died,
because she had to go to the grocery store. She and Mrs. Thomas,
who lived over on the other corner over here, and — I don't know
whether you've run into the name of Gladys Wickson? She was the
sister of Mrs. Thomas. I think there's a Wickson Wood over on the
Berkeley campus. Thomas was an architect, and Gladys Wickson was a
horticulturist botanist kind of person. They lived over there.
Jim would take Mrs. Blake and Mrs. Thomas to do their grocery
shopping, so he was gone part of the time.
You know, ten-and-a-half acres — if you can walk around it
you're doing pretty good. You also have to remember that there was
no irrigation system here; it was all three-quarter inch pipes that
they put in as they developed the garden. Half of it was leaking,
so if we turned two sprinklers on down there we got no water up
here. It was a real chore, and actually very little was
accomplished while any of the Blakes were alive as far as improving
the status of either the house or the garden.
Riess: It was sort of the last ditch.
Vodden: Right.
Riess: Did she enjoy walking people through the gardens?
Vodden: Oh, nobody came, and she wouldn't take anybody through unless they
were old friends or something like that. Now, you do have on your
list Igor Blake and Mrs. Thacher. Particularly Mrs. Thacher used
to come out once in a while when she was still alive. After Mrs.
Blake died Mrs. Thacher said, "Walter, you should have something
from the house." So she gave me two Royal Doulton pieces: a
chocolate pot that came from Shreves and has Mrs. Blake's initials
on the sterling silver top; and an ewer that came from the house.
Mrs. Thacher was left all the European china as I remember.
Riess: That's nice. So her social life while you were around —
253
Vodden: Was nil. Nil. I wasn't here in the evenings of course — at that
time I was commuting from South San Francisco — but there was no
entertaining, no dinner parties. I think when you talk to Igor he
will tell you that dinner parties here at the Blake House were a
tradition, and I think on Sunday night all the clan gathered here
for their final — well, not final, but their Sunday dinner.
Riess: [laughs]
Vodden: The reason I said "final" was because after Mrs. Blake had died
they had the last supper here, kind of a wake dinner, when they
finished up all the old wine that had been around. It was right
after that dinner that the first editions of the books that I knew
were in the library here disappeared, too. But I don't blame them
for that at all. They must have had their feelings hurt a little
bit. I think it was Igor that got the dining furniture, and he
also ended up with the stained glass window that used to be in the
entrance hall, and the grandfather clock, and a few things like
that.
Riess: They felt they had been by-passed in favor of the University?
Vodden: I have a feeling that there might have been some animosity, that
here the University's getting all of this, and even in those days
the property must have been worth a substantial amount. I only saw
Igor during the funeral period, but to the best of my knowledge
Igor never really came out again after she was gone. Mrs. Thacher
used to come out once in a while. Have you talked to her?
Riess: I'm going to talk to her in a week or so.
Vodden: She can tell you a lot of stories about the family get-togethers
and all of that, which I have no knowledge of.
Riess: We haven't talked much about Anson Blake.
Vodden: Anson was a great old guy. He was I think ninety when he died, and
he was in good shape. He was driving his car up until a year or
two before he died, and never did I ever see Anson standing in the
front here talking when there was a lady present that he didn't
have his Panama hat off in his hand — a perfect gentleman. He had a
little goatee, a dark blue or black suit — looked like the same suit
all the time. Always very polite, very nice, very congenial. Not
a great conversationalist as far as I was concerned. I don't think
he had the same attitude that she had though. He wanted to be
helpful. He fell on the front steps and broke his hip, and they
called an ambulance, and they hauled him away. He came back, and
he was here for another week or two. He had trouble getting around
so they had a private nurse with him here all the time. Somewhere
along the line he fell again, and they hauled him off to the
hospital again, and then that was the last we saw of him.
254
Riess: You described Mrs. Blake as sitting at the table, having lunch. It
sounds like she was by herself, she wasn't really with her husband
or with Miss Symmes.
Vodden: I'm primarily talking about the time after he was gone. He died in
'59, and she died in '62, so there was a fair time in between that
she lived here alone. Her sister was with her for a while but then
her sister died and she was here all alone except for the cook that
was in the house.
Riess: I see. That's why.
Vodden: So who was she going to be sitting with? Are you asking, did she
have lady friends in for lunch or tea? I never saw it happen, and
if Mrs. Thacher came out or something like that maybe they had a
cup of tea together or something. But she was by herself, and so
really the cook, or we in the garden, were her only company outside
of the twenty-six cats. She was alone. I have no way of knowing,
but I suspect that she went to bed very early. I can't really
remember that far back to remember when she came out to start
supervising us in the morning. If my recollections are anywhere in
the ballpark at all, we probably had until ten o'clock or so when
we could go about and set sprinklers and do what we thought we had
to before we knew that she was going to be out to start giving
instructions. She probably had things to do in the house.
Personal Supervision of the Gardens
Riess: Did you ever have any actual showdowns with her about anything?
Vodden: No, I don't think so. I don't remember having an argument, or
either one of us saying a harsh word to each other. Probably when
I turned my back and walked away I had a few things to say, but I
think one of the few good traits I have is that things don't upset
me. I'm usually very calm and collected and if something all of a
sudden I know is going to happen in the garden, and people are
running around like chickens with their heads cut off because they
want things to look nice or something, I like to feel that I'm
always very calm and collected and don't have problems that way. I
don't have that much of a temper. If I do anything, I sulk. I'm
not vocal, I don't come out and say, "The heck with you."
Riess: You said something earlier in another context, but it's probably
valuable, that you didn't get hung up on the details, it was the
larger picture.
255
Vodden: Oh, yes. No, we couldn't, there was no way. She was in love with
the details. She would have us dig a hole, sitting on her stool
there, and we'd fill it full of leaves, and then, when it was
planting time — which might be six months later — she would know
where the holes were. The leaves would be all rotted, and we'd go
back to the hole and plant something in it. I guess by that time
certain things become important to you and other things do not, but
by this time the place, as I say, was a shambles. One of the first
jobs I had was to trim the boxwood hedge out here in the formal
garden area. The boxwood hedge at that time hadn't been trimmed in
years, so it was all over the paths, up and around and all over the
place. She was very deliberate, she knew exactly where she wanted
it trimmed. She'd come out, and we'd put the string across, and
that's where I was to trim it.
Riess :
Vodden:
One of the biggest arguments that I heard she and her sister
have was when we were trimming those shrubs around where the pagoda
pool is, that has that tall oriental pagoda in it over there. The
pittosporums that were in there had grown for years and years and
hadn't been touched, so Miss Symmes and I took a piece of string
and put it around there, and this was where I was to cut them.
Mrs. Blake came out and saw where we had the string, and said "Oh.
no, you can't prune it there 1" and she immediately lit into her
sister — not me. So her sister walked away in a huff.
You have to remember that her sister was living here kind of
as a guest. It was her sister's and her husband's home, and she
had living space upstairs. I have no way of knowing, but I doubt
that she was paying any room or board or anything like that. So
she was living there as their guest, and there was no way she could
get so perturbed that she would say, "Well, I'm going to move,"
because I don't think she could have lived by herself. So I think
they were a great deal of support in their old age to each other,
particularly after Anson died.
Did Anson care about the garden?
Oh, yes. Earlier I used to hear all kinds of stories about this
being his favorite tree over here — the white oak which we
eventually took out — and how he'd planted the hemlocks that were
down below the redwood canyon. She used to tell me how when they
had the dry years they'd all get out themselves and water, all
three of them. He was very much involved with the garden, although
I don't think he was knowledgeable as far as botanical names of
plants and that kind of thing. Also you have to remember that he
was involved with business, the quarry and the street-paving
business, so he had other things on his mind.
One of the stories that I started to mention before, that I'd
heard rumors about, was that when he'd go down to the YMCA and get
involved with the dancing he was a regular old cutup. He was
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Vodden: having a ball while Aunt Anita was home, probably tending plants.
I don't know how true that is, but maybe if you hear it again
you'll begin to put some credence to it.
Riess: This is in his earlier days, in his salad days.
Vodden: My knowledge of him wasn't that close; we saw him coming and going
in the morning, or if we needed something he'd bring us a shovel
back, or he'd stop and say, "How are things going?" but that's
about what it amounted to.
Riess: Did she tell you stories of the earlier days?
Vodden: No. She never told any stories about any parties or socializing
they had here, and they must have had some.
Riess: But when you'd be working together, working on a particular plant
or corner of the garden, did she talk about how it had evolved, or
where she had gotten this or that?
Vodden: No. The thing that surprises people about the Blakes the most I
think is that they were great collectors, and they collected these
plants from all over the world, but they never travelled them
selves. It was always someone else that went somewhere, or some
nurseryman that had collected it from somewhere, or it was through
the Berkeley botanical gardens that they were able to get certain
things.
We had growing down in that far corner some dawn redwoods that
came from seeds that Dr. [Ralph] Chaney brought back from the
original seeds. She did tell me once along that same line — I'm
pretty sure it was she and not Miss Symmes — that all the Cyclamen
Neapolitanum that we had growing over there was smuggled in to her
in the toe of a shoe of a friend returning from Europe.
I have some photographs, in fact I have some slides of the
house over there in our file, that show the house with nothing
planted around it. The pool is all bare out here, there's
absolutely nothing there. There was a little fallen-down
greenhouse over there that I guess they used when it wasn't falling
down, where they started things.
Riess: She must have been really good.
Vodden: She was very involved. Horticulture was her life in her later
days. Earlier I think she used to like riding horses, and I think
at one time they had a horse here on the property, until the
neighbors complained and made them take it off. Where they kept
the horses I don't know; there was a lot of open space in those
days.
257
Vodden: But you asked when we were talking and planting or pruning
together, whether she ever spoke about herself; I don't ever recall
her mentioning her life. If we were talking at all. other than
about the thing we were pruning or planting, it was probably
something that I brought up — telling her about my son or my wife,
or that I got stuck in the commute traffic — something like that.
As you have discovered, I like to talk. It's hard to be with
somebody without saying something.
California Horticultural Society Meetings
Riess: You must have represented the world coming into her life, towards
the end.
Vodden: Well, prior to that she used to go to the California Horticultural
Society meetings in San Francisco. I don't know exactly when she
stopped going, but as soon as I came here, it became my job to go
over there. She had a lot of unusual material here, and when it
was meeting time over in the Academy of Sciences, once a month,
she'd select one or two things for me to take over. Elizabeth
McClintock was there and all these people. When you take something
over, during the second half of the program you have to get up and
explain to them what it is and where it came from. To this day I
don't know whether it was that she thought it was a good
opportunity for me to get involved over there — which would be nice
if I thought she really felt that way — or whether it was because
she wanted them to know that the place was still over here and
things were still going on.
Riess: Sounds like you understood her psychology pretty well, though.
Vodden: Part of my wisdom came in later years, with older age.
258
The University and the Blake Estate
Department of Landscape Architecture Faculty
Riess : I'd like to review the people from the University who had an
official association with the gardens. Harry Shepherd — how did he
fit into all this?
Vodden: I had no contact with Shepherd except that I do have some of his
papers and lists over in the files in the office. He had a very
extensive plant material list, of what to grow in saline soil or in
a windy location, what to grow to attract hummingbirds, and that
kind of thing. I have a lot of that in my files over there. So I
never had any contact with him; it was Punk Vaughan by this time.
Riess: Did you have a schedule of reporting to Punk Vaughan, or to the
department?
Vodden: There was never any of that. I kept logs over there for years, and
nobody ever looked at them. Mostly time logs — how much time it was
taking to do this, how much time I'd have to water — in case
somebody said, "Well, what are you doing out there all the time?"
In fact, there's been very very little contact between the
department and myself, particularly in the latter years. Mai
Arbegast, as time went on, failed to publish, so eventually she no
longer was assistant pro-fessor. she was turned down for tenure.
Pretty soon she was a lecturer, pretty soon' half-time lecturer, and
pretty soon third-time lecturer. But finally she just got fed up
with the whole thing and quit.
Riess: Then it was Robert Raabe, wasn't it?
Vodden: Dr. Raabe is still over there, and he's a plant pathologist. What
happened is that the department had to have some kind of liaison
between myself and the department, because we were three miles
away. You also have to remember that not too long after all of
259
Vodden: this took place they moved into the new building, and so they were
very much involved in Wurster Hall and getting things set up there.
We were just here.
At that time they had what they called an acting director, and
they really weren't directors because the job is not of a large
enough scale to have a director at the University's standards. I
don't know what the financial arrangement was, but I don't think
they got paid very much. Their job was to be there if I had a
problem so I had somebody to call in the department and say, "What
do we do next?" Bob Raabe is still over there in plant pathology,
and he's a great friend of ours. He was very much involved. But
none of these people ever came out here and told us what to do.
It was always up to me, and I just went ahead and did what I
thought should be done. I knew that if I went over there and said,
"Should we take this tree out over here?" that they would have to
form a committee, get all the landscape architects over there and
discuss this for weeks on end, and finally maybe we'd take it out.
So I just went ahead and did things — good, bad, or indifferent. I
feel very strongly about the people I hired in the garden. I went
out of my way to hire intelligent people that know what they're
doing. They may know a whole lot better than I about what to do.
I told them to go ahead and do it, unless it's something major.
Riess: I think after Bob Raabe it was Gerry Scott.
Vodden: She retired from being a professional landscape architect, and I
guess she didn't want to be strictly retired so she was hired as a
lecturer in the Department of Landscape Architecture. She also
taught Extension classes out here. Gerry Scott was one of the best
things that ever happened to this garden. She was known as the
"ruthless Mrs. Scott." She would come out here with different
colored tape and say, "Walter, I want you to put blue tape around
this, and that means, 'prune'; we'll put red tape around this one,
and that means, 'take it out1." She's the one that's responsible
for cleaning things up, getting things open, taking trees out. She
was just wonderful.
When the University decided that they were going to use it for
the President's House she was hired to do the design work for the
entrance way, and changed the circle a little bit. She designed
the stucco walls in the inner gate. They also had a chain-link
fence all the way around here to kind of separate this from the
rest of the garden — this was to be the president's little thing.
There were gates all over. She was responsible for having the
outdoor lighting put in. The architects that did the remodeling
were responsible for the gallery and the servants' quarters that
were added on the back. She consulted with them on the steps down
in back, the lawn down in back, so she was really very much
involved, insofar as the department was concerned.
260
Vodden: Gerry Scott by this time is having a lot of physical problems, and
I haven't seen her in ages. But she was the only director that we
had that really came out here and said, "All right, let's do
this" — and we did it.
Riess: She put together a long-range plan.*
Vodden: Yes, and she spent a lot of time on cost estimates to make it an
environmental design research center. This was one of the times
when they were looking for something to do with the house. She got
absolutely no response from anybody. Felt a little mad about that.
Of all the people, she's the only one that was really interested in
what happened out here. When we had all the freeze damage, she
helped get some funds for replacing a lot of the things that we
lost in the freeze. Finally she retired. At about that time Russ
Beatty was working with her. Because she couldn't spend that time,
Russ Beatty was working with her. But he didn't want to get
involved out there because he was turned down for tenure. He got
turned down for tenure, and then he had a review a while back and
he got turned down for that, so the last I heard he was half-time
lecturer.
For the last several years we had no liaison person. We had
a chairman, Russ Beatty, of the Blake Garden Committee, which never
met. If I had a problem I would call the Blake Garden Committee or
go directly to the chairman of the department, whoever it happened
to be at that time.
The only other chairman we had that was really interested in
this place was Garrett Eckbo, and he and his wife almost moved into
the house. Just before Hitch was appointed president, during the
Free Speech Movement, Garrett Eckbo had retired from his practice
down south and moved up here, and he and his wife were looking for
a place to stay, and he said, "Maybe we'll move into the house." I
don't know why anybody would have wanted to live there at that
time because it was a shambles, but Garrett of course is a very
artistic person, so they decided yes, they'd like to live in it.
But the University would give no guarantee that they could stay any
length of time.
It was shortly after that when Charles Hitch was appointed.
Hitch lived in a little house on Hilldale off Marin and it wasn't
big enough to entertain or anything, so that's when they came in
and spent the million dollars or whatever it was for "Hitch's
pad. "*
*See Appendices, Y, NN.
261
Riess: So essentially then the gardens are still Gerry's design, you would
say?
Vodden: They are Miss Symmes1 design — I would assume — with vast alterations
by Mrs. Blake. Gerry Scott was only responsible for the entrance
road design, the parking lots, the big turf over in the front.
There's quite a bit of Gerry Scott when you get right down to it.
Riess: I shouldn't have said her design, but she did change it radically?
Vodden: She never changed it really radically, I don't think. The front
area, there's some trees and shrubs, but the design concept is
still there. Right now you might know these have to go out because
they're much too large. They're way out of scale, and we've cut
them back so many times one of them's dead already. They all have
to come out and be replanted. [Referring to trees alongside pool.]
But design-wise it's still pretty much the same. For instance
in the front here we put in all this brick patio with student help
and rebuilt the fence, but before there was lawn up here, so the
design really hasn't changed that much. In the redwood canyon
we've taken some things out, and we've lost some things in the
storm, but it's pretty much the same. What we call the cut flower
garden, over on the far side where the big turf is, that has
changed. That's where the old tool house, chicken coops and old
lathe house used to be. Now it's turf. But basically it hasn't
changed that much.
Riess: Gerry said that she started pruning and clearing much against many
peoples' wishes.
Vodden: That's why I was saying she was called the "ruthless Mrs. Scott."
But Gerry Scott had a great deal of vision. She had been in the
business a long time, and had done a lot of rejuvenation work. She
did a lot of work at the world's fair on Treasure Island, so she
knew what she was doing. She could look at a tree and she'd say,
"Walter, let's take these out." I'd think, "She's out of her mind,
what does she want to take this out for?" But almost invariably,
when it was out we were much better off. I can't think of anything
she did that I would say was a mistake.
New Financial and Moral Support and Interest
Riess: There must have been some money then because taking out trees is
expensive.
Vodden: Taking out trees is expensive, but you also have to remember that
we always did have an excellent relationship with the Berkeley
262
Vodden: campus facilities management. Ari Inouye was the campus landscape
architect at that time and was in charge of campus work, and at
that time they had their own tree people. We'd call Ari up and Ari
would come out and look at the job and give us a very modest
figure, send his tree man and helper out, and do the work for us.
He took out several pinus canariensis right in here. We had
practically no budget at all.
The biggest thing that ever happened to us was fairly
recently, when David Gardner became president. Even though they're
not living in the house he came over to make an appointment and had
me take him all around the garden and explain to him what we were
doing. We got over in our office in the far corne and he said,
"Well, what do you need?" Just like that. I said, 'Well, the
first thing I need is to get the man- and -a- half back that I lost
fifteen years ago when the University came on hard times," because
originally there were five of us here, and then we ended up with
three-and-a-half. He said, "Well, you've got it." I said, "Our
tractor's twelve years old and it's falling apart." "We might as
well do everything at once," he said. So we got together a list of
things, and I included in it things like $3,000 for tree work. X
number of dollars for path repair, X number of dollars for new
equipment, X number of dollars for this and that, and the man-and-
a-half back again. And we got it all. Almost doubled our budget
just like that.
We were on the list in 1958 to get our new irrigation system
here. We asked for $10,000 because that was the estimate we got
from the landscape irrigation consultant for an upgraded automatic
system. It came through ten years later when Hitch was appointed
president of the University, so it was always in my mind that
that's why it came through then. And then $10,000 by this time
would only do half of it, if that. So we worked with virtually no
money. You have to remember that the Blake garden is part of the
Department of Landscape Architecture. The Department of Landscape
Architecture is part of the College of Environmental Design. A
budget goes in to the College of Environmental Design and it starts
filtering down into the landscape department, and maybe we're going
to get some of what we've asked for. Particularly when there was
really no correlation between the department and us out here. To
this day Merritt College and Diablo Valley College use this garden
more than our department.
Once in a while they have a hypothetical design problem out
here. One time I asked them about a real design problem: I'd
always wanted to put in a lake over in the Australian hollow, so I
asked Michael Laurie, one of the professors over there, to give the
problem to his design class to find out — not what it's going to
look like when it's all finished — but how much water do we have to
have coming in and going out, what do we have to do to the soil to
hold the water, how deep should it be, this kind of thing. He gave
263
Vodden: it to his class, and what we got is a whole drawer full of
beautiful sketches of lakeside plantings with tea houses and all
this kind of thing. There's never been any money until recently.
and John is still complaining about not having any money. [John
Norcross, Senior Botanical Garden/Arboretum Manager, Blake Garden]
Our department — back to teaching plant material — if you know
they're only teaching two classes you know they're not coming out
here very often, they're using the campus or visiting other gardens.
On rare occasions they're coming out here, but the Merritt College
classes are out here quite often, and an Albany adult education
class comes out at least once during the term. When Andy Gotzenburg
is teaching down there he brings his class up here for a field trip.
On rare occasions recently I had some independent study
students from the landscape department. They would go to their
adviser and make a proposal to come out here and do some kind of a
project, or give a reason for being here. The adviser would then
okay it, and they would come out here. I would put them to work
for eight hours a week on this particular project or something
general, and then at the end of the semester I would write a letter
of recommendation for pass or no pass. Then their professor would
have them write a paper on their experience out here. So we would
get something, we would get eight hours of work from them. They
would also get three units of credit and much experience. But it
happens very rarely.
Riess: It sounds like it's hard to rationalize this place as a teaching
facility.
Vodden: That's been our problem all along. It is an excellent teaching
facility, but only because we have the kind of people working here
that will take the time to teach the individuals that did come out.
Riess: It seems to me that President Gardner might as easily have said,
"It looks like it's time to cut back."
Vodden: Oh, absolutely, but he's never been that way. I have a very strong
feeling that someday this place will no longer be under the
Department of Landscape Architecture; it'll be under University-
wide domain or it will revert to Facilities Management, which will
do the maintenance on it. That's mostly what it is.
Either they have to spend a lot of money and make it a
showplace that people will come from all over to see — . We do get
a lot of visitors from all over. We're listed in the horticultural
publications as one of the gardens to visit, and every once in a
while somebody from back east or Texas drops in. In two weeks the
American Society of Landscape Architecture is having their national
convention in San Francisco, and there will be about three hundred
of them out here visiting the garden.
264
Riess :
Vodden:
Riess :
Vodden:
Riess:
Vodden:
When you described President Gardner saying, "Well, what do you
need?" that reminded me of President Sproul's manner. I wanted to
ask you whether Sproul dropped in here.
I never had much contact with Sproul because he was just going
out; Kerr was president then, and they weren't living here. So the
first president I had contact with was Hitch.
Would Mr. and Mrs. Hitch come out to talk about the garden?
When he had been president for a very short time they set up a
luncheon. He, Hitch, came home from work, and Mrs. Hitch was here,
and they had Tsang Mo Tsui (the live-in servant at the house at
that time). They invited me for lunch so that I could come in and
explain to them what was happening out here. We had excellent
relations with the Hitches. The Hitches invited my wife and me to
a reception they had here for one of their long-time horticultural
friends and to a couple other social things. We got along fine.
I wasn't saying that your relations were poor, but just that there
was no one who was really interested.
You could talk with Mrs. Hitch, I had more contact with her, but
half the time you knew she was thinking about something else. We
didn't get any financial help from them. When the Saxons were
here, Mrs. Saxon, who is a living doll, because she was lonely here,
she'd come out and work with us or talk with us, or invite us in to
have ice cream and brownies on anybody's birthday. Every Christmas
she'd have us in for luncheon.
The one thing that I asked her husband, David Saxon, to do for
us — because I was having problems with our chairman over there and
had a big battle with them — he refused to do because he felt he
couldn't interfere with department policies. I always thought, "If
he couldn't do it, who can?" He is the one that cut out the power
and the lights because we had no money, and we never got an extra
nickel from him. That's why I was floored when I stood over there
with David Gardner and he said, "Well, what do you need?" Just
like that. He's going to be good for the University, he's a very
positive person.
The situation up here is unusual in that we have some contact
with the presidents of the University, and most departments don't.
When I had the retirement party over here, Mrs. and Mr. Hitch and
both the Gardners were there, and if the Saxons had been in town
they would have been here too. Not many people lower down in the
University complex can say this. I've had two presidents here, and
Mr. Gardner gave me a beautiful Tiffany crystal paperweight
engraved with the University seal on it. I'm very much
appreciative of that aspect of my job. The best thing that ever
happened was when the University decided to fix the house up.
265
Vodden: Otherwise I don't know what would have happened here. It was a
shambles. They've done a nice job on it and it's a comfortable
house now. While you're sitting here you feel like you could put
your feet up on the coffee table if you really wanted to.
Riess : It's not too imposing.
Vodden: They've done a nice job.
Riess: In 1967, $60,000 went into the garden. Was that just as the
Hitches were coming in?
Vodden: Yes, that must have been at that time. It was in 1962 that we
built the headhouse, so that money was probably the outdoor
lighting, the stucco walls, the upper parking lot — that kind of
thing.
The Monastery and the Neighbors
Riess: I want to ask you whether there's anyone at the monastery who would
have been a friend of Mrs. Blake's or Miss Symmes'?
Vodden: I doubt it very much. Have you been up there at all?
Riess: No.
Vodden: It's a Carmelite monastery, so if you go up there there's a little
reception room about half the size of this as you go in, and
there's a big wall over here with a turntable, with a solid
lattice-work thing on it. You push the bell and wait a while,
maybe you push it again, and pretty soon you hear some feet coming.
Then you'll hear a voice from behind the screen asking you what you
want. If you've brought them something — we used to take flowers or
mail up there once in a while — you put it on the turntable and the
turntable turns around to the back.
When we put the parking lot up there, since it's their
entrance route too, the University didn't want to go ahead and tear
it all up. There was just a little narrow road going there. So
they wrote a letter to the Mother Superior asking if she had any
ideas, asking what they could do to meet their needs too as they
were doing it. The Mother Superior wrote back and said that she
didn't really remember what it looked like out in the front because
when she came in, they came in by car, and it had been so many
years that she hadn't been out. She had no idea what the outside
world was like, or what was happening out there. They had a young
lady up there, Lorraine, who would get their mail and things like
266
Vodden: that. But that was the only contact we had, and that was years
ago, and I'm sure the Mother Superior has changed by this -time.
There's only about eight of them there.
Some years back we lost a tree alongside the fence over there,
and the Mother Superior sent Lorraine over with two twenty-dollar
bills in a card for me, with a little note from her saying that she
was sorry that the tree had died and that they felt somewhat
responsible because a man on their side had done something or
other. It wasn't his fault at all. so I sent the forty dollars
back with a little note saying that I couldn't accept it and that
they hadn't been at fault, and that I was sure that they could find
some worthy cause for their donation.
I will say that when I retired I got a very nice card from
them signed by the Sisters of the Carmelite. Somebody keeps them a
little bit informed. I think once in a while they'll have a
visiting priest or something that's visiting them up there, who
gets lost or has an accident and wanders around down here. But
that's the only contact.
The Mother Superior wrote to ask about the original land
grant. The Mother Superior was interested in knowing who the
original land belonged to, so Mrs. Blake wrote a handwritten letter
about who the land belonged to and how it was acquired.
Riess: There was no other prior history of relationship?
Vodden: No, because when Edwin Blake died that property was sold. [The
house was purchased by Noel Sullivan.] The part that the house is
on went to the Carmelites from the monastery, and the rest of it,
which is way up in there, was sold off because that's Jepson Court
and Anson Way, and part of it was all sold off. There were
actually three divisions of the family — you may know all this:
part of it was below Highgate Road, and then this section, and then
Edwin Blake's. My understanding is that the people that were
supposed to get the part down below Highgate Road were back East
and weren't really interested in it, so that was sold, and part of
this was sold.
Riess: Are there any neighbors I could talk to who knew the Blakes?
Vodden: Mrs. Barchfield if she'll talk to you. Her name used to be Agnes
McCormick. They bought the property from the Blakes. That's the
little corner where their house is, over there. She was married to
Bill McCormick, who was an architect, and Agnes worked like a dog
and helped him build the house, and they put the roof on it
together. She taught school, and then somewhere along the line
they had difficulties and separated, and eventually divorced. I
guess her part of the settlement was the house.
267
Vodden: She lived down there for a number of years, and she was a good
friend of Mrs. Blake's, so she probably could all you things about
it. Somewhere along the line she met Mr. Barchfield, and they got
married late in life — I suspect rather for companionship. She's
been quite ill, she's had cancer, and cobalt treatment, and all
kinds of things. Mr. Barchfield is stone deaf, so it's very
difficult to talk to him.
Riess : Maybe I'll write a note.*
Vodden: Yes. They're over in #1 Norwood Place. Our mailing address over
there is #2. They bought the property from the Blakes, and they
wanted the property over there to the middle of the stream — it's
not a stream but actually a storm drain. The very night the deal
was to go through Mrs. Blake said, "No, they couldn't have it,"
because she wanted both sides of the stream to plant on. So as a
conse-quence their property is up on the back part. At that time I
guess there was a little animosity going back and forth, but they
were friends, and she used to come over here to see how things were
going.
Riess: Paint a picture for me, before we end this, of Mrs. Blake and how
she got herself up for gardening, what she wore. You said she wore
a smock?
Vodden: Oh, yes, a smock and a big hat to keep the sun off, because she did
have skin cancer. Dr. Engles from Marin County used to come over
and treat her here, burn the lesions off her face and what have
you. He used to bring her big proteas that he grew in his place
over there which used to make her very happy.
Dr. Engles, after Mrs. Blake was gone, invited my wife and I
over to luncheon over at their house. He had I don't know how many
acres up above Paradise Cove in Marin County. He had gone down to
the cemeteries in Colma and bought up a lot of old blocks of
granite and marble and had them trucked up to his place, and it
kind of looked like Stonehenge up there where he was growing these
proteas. He had a manservant, lived alone. He gave us a gourmet
luncheon. It was filet mignon, and he served this with silverware
that he had hand-made himself in Sweden, when he was an apprentice
silversmith. He had made all the silverware himself. He
eventually became a doctor and lived over there. He since has
died, otherwise you could talk to him.
* Mrs. Barchfield was sent a request to talk, and through her
husband, Mr. John Barchfield, the answer, for both of them, was
"no" to taking part in a verbal or written addition to the oral
history.
268
Riess: Okay, Mr. Vodden, you're taking things in your hands and getting
ready to leave, and so I will let you go! Thank you.
Transcriber: Johanna Wolgast
Final Typist: Shannon Page
269
Regional Oral History Office
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California
Blake Estate Oral History Project
Mai Arbegast
MRS. BLAKE AND THE GARDEN IN THE 1950s
An Interview Conducted by
Suzanne B. Riess
in 1986
Copyright (c) 1988 by The Regents of the University of California
MAI K. ARBEGAST
1985
Photograph by G. Paul Bishop
270
TABLE OF CONTENTS — Mai Arbegast
INTERVIEW HISTORY 271
BIOGRAPHY 272
Working with Anita Blake. 1952 273
Introduction to Mrs. Blake and the Gardens 273
Harry Shepherd, Mabel Symmes, Katherine Jones, and Due Credit 274
Finding the Rare and Unusual Plant 277
The University's Interest in the Blake Property 280
The Horticultural Fraternity 281
Miss Symmes1 s Layout of the Gardens 284
Anita Blake's Preference for Garden People 285
The Public Blake Estate 290
The Garden as a Teaching Tool 290
Connection with other Bay Area Gardens and Nurserymen 293
Transfer of the Property to the University, and Anita's Special
Letters 294
271
INTERVIEW HISTORY
Mai Arbegast met Mrs. Anson Blake in 1952. Mrs. Arbegast was brought
up to the Blake Gardens by Professor Harry Shepherd whom she was
understudying to succeed in teaching plant materials in the University's
Department of Landscape Architecture. Mai Arbegast was fifty years Mrs.
Blake's junior, and Anita Blake was then a commanding octogenarian, but the
two women had in common a consuming interest in plant materials and gardens.
Mrs. Arbegast surveyed and inventoried the garden from 1958 to 1961. Her
contact with Mrs. Blake in carrying out that assignment fostered a mutual
respect.
Like Geraldine Knight Scott, Mai Arbegast can draw on a certain
reservoir of outrage at how little constructive attention the Department of
Landscape Architecture has paid to the Blake Garden. Mrs. Arbegast is
really dedicated to teaching on site. She was known to the Regional Oral
History Office because of her close association with Filoli, the Woodside,
California showplace garden and home of Lurline Matson Roth which was
documented by the oral history office. And she was helpful in making
possible the two— volume oral history, Thomas Church and the History of
Landscape Architecture, 1978.
Mai Arbegast has a very active landscape design practice and probably
knows the gardens of Berkeley better than anyone else in the business. Her
own garden is, as she describes it, "just full of plants." If it doesn't
get constant tending it is because Mrs. Arbegast is a champion of other
gardens, and adds garden tours of Japan and travels to Europe to her busy
life.
We met at Mai Arbegast's home in Berkeley one weekday morning. It was
hard for this busy woman to find a time to do the interview, and it was even
harder for her to get the edited transcript back! (She misplaced it in a
remodelling move.) In retrospect I particularly appreciate her prompting me
on the subject of Mabel Symmes1 and Anita Blake's papers. I asked her
initially where they were; her response of, "Well, where are they?"
constituted a challenge. We located a good deal with the help of Blake
Garden's Linda Haymaker who was similarly curious, and appended are excerpts
from our "finds."
Suzanne B. Riess
Interviewer-Editor
December 18, 1987
Regional Oral History Office
486 The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
Room 486 The Bancroft Library
272
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720
Your full name
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please print or write clearly)
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Place of birth
Father's full name
Birthplace
Occupation
Mother's full name
Birthplace
Occupation
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Where did you grow up ?
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272a
Mai K. Arbegast
Landscape Architect
Horticultural Consultant
1330 spruce street
berkeley. California 94709
415/841-9067
Education: M.S. in Agriculture (Landscape Architecture), University
of California, Berkeley, 1953; M.S. Ornamental Horticulture,
Plant Breeding, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., 1949;
B.A, Major Botany & Ecology, Oberlin College, Ohio, 1945.
Registration: Licensed Landscape Architect, California License #126.
Past Affiliations and Services:
Member, Design Review Board of San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development
Commission (BCDC), 1978-1984.
Member, Board of Trustees, Filoli Center, Woodside, CA, 1976-1983(on Founding
Board).
Member, Board of Directors, American Association of Botanical Gardens and
Arboreta, U.S and Canada (representing public horticulture 1976-78).
Member, Board of Directors, Strybing Arboretum Society, Golden Gate Park,
San Francisco, CA 1968-73; 1975-78.
Member, Board of Trustees, Saratoga Horticultural Foundation, Saratoga,
CA 1965-1980. Past president.
Member, Berkeley Planning Commission, City of Berkeley, CA, 1972-75; member
Board of Adjustments; Waterfront Advisory Committee; Heritage
Tree Program and Street Trees 1965-67.
r
Experience:
Mai K. Arbegast has practised full-time for 21 years (since 1966). Previous
to that, part-time professional practice combined with part-time and full-time
teaching at the University of California, Department of Landscape Architecture,
Berkeley, CA for 13 years (from 1953-1966).
Her work includes residential gardens, commercial projects, schools, wineries,
parks, housing, street tree master planting plans, management and maintenance
guidelines for future botanic gardens and arboreta, zoos, and cemeteries. Her
work has been in the San Francisco Bay Area and all of California and Washington,
midwestern and northeastern United States; with special emphasis on planting
design, horticulture, urban forestry, ecological considerations, native and
naturalized planting for difficult conditions, landscape horticultural
maintenance.
Much of her work is serving as specialist and consultant in matters ecological,
horticultural, and selection of plant palettes to architectural, engineering,
and landscape architectural firms.
273
Working with Anita Blake. 1952
[Date of Interview: December 4. 1986]
Introduction to Mrs. Blake and the Gardens
Riess: Let's start at the point where you first met the Blakes.
Arbegast: My first acquaintance with Mrs. Blake was really quite official.
I think it was through Professor [Harry] Shepherd, who was
teaching plant materials in the Department of Landscape
Architecture and had been for many, many years. He was one of
the first faculty members. He and Miss Symmes, Mrs. Blake's
sister, were in class together, it seems to me [Class of 1914].*
Professor Shepherd had had a stroke, and he took me up to
introduce me to Mrs. Blake, and to let her know that I was going
to help him.
I was still doing graduate work, and I had taken no plant
courses at all, simply because I had no time to take plant
courses. I had a very good background in horticulture and botany
from both Oberlin and Cornell, so when I came to Berkeley I
concentrated on architecture, engineering, landscape
architecture. I took no plant courses because everyone said,
"With your background, you can learn the plants so quickly that
there's no sense in your taking that kind of curriculum here; you
need engineering and architecture." So they threw me into those
courses and I almost sank, but I made it.
I didn't get to know Mrs. Blake except kind of officially
through Professor Shepherd. He introduced me to her as his
assistant, someone who was going to understudy him, somebody who
was going to take over his courses when he retired.
*Mabel Symmes, UC '96, returned to study landscape architecture,
1914. The Division of Landscape Gardening and Floriculture was
established in 1913.
274
Riess : He had been taking his classes up there for years?
Arbegast: He had been going up there on and off in a very select sort of
way, by appointment, to see her garden. She was very fond of
Professor Shepherd. She always welcomed him. She was delighted
to know that there was going to be someone who was interested in
plants taking over his role.
Riess: But what was his role vis-a-vis her garden?
Arbegast: Nothing, he just used her garden. She was very generous in
letting people come to the garden to visit who were interested
in plants. She really was not interested in people who were not
interested in plants.
Riess: You mean in general she was not interested in people who were
not interested in plants?
Arbegast: I got that impression. She didn't have much to do with anybody.
I thought she was kind of one-track-minded, but maybe that was
just myself. I didn't know her personally that well, but I do
know that when I was there we always had two— or three-hour
sessions. She was just delighted that I came because I knew
a lot of plants, and her great delight was in kind of trying to
get me to identify something that she knew that I didn't know,
[laughs] It was an interesting experience, and I liked Mrs.
Blake very much.
Harry Shepherd, Mabel Symmes, Katherine Jones, and Due Credit
Riess :
Arbegast
Riess :
Arbegast
Riess :
Arbegast
What did Harry Shepherd say about the garden over the years?
he make any comments about changes?
Did
No, he didn't say anything. We used to walk through the garden
together and he would kind of describe it, but she did a much
better job of description than he did. It was Miss Symmes who
designed the garden in the first place.
Are you talking in real landscape architecture terms? She
"designed" it, but it was planted by Anita?
It was planted by Miss Symmes and Mrs. Blake.
I've gotten to think of her as "Anita."
It's hard for me to think of her that way — "Mabel" and "Anita" —
no, I can't do it, sorry. [laughs] Anyway, the two ladies were
very much involved with it, and so was Miss Katherine Jones.
275
Arbegast: Miss Jones was a lady who taught plants in the department before
Professor Shepherd. She wrote a number of monographs on vines,
and acacias, and things like that. I remember when Professor
Shepherd gave me his materials, there were all of these notes and
notes and notes of Miss Jones's — I don't know how many carbon
copies of everything she made.
Riess : I've heard she was a wonderful teacher from other interviews;
isn't she the one who would reward with raisins?*
Arbegast: Yes, raisins and prunes. And she was very influential in that
garden. I think you will probably get more from Gerry Scott who
had a chance to see the garden as a student, and who maybe had a
chance to see it over the years. Perhaps she did not. I don't
know what her relationship was to Miss Jones. I know Miss Jones
was her teacher, and then Harry Shepherd came after Miss Jones.
I didn't know Katherine Jones; I just have a picture of this
lady who wore black, broad-brimmed hats, and kind of a cape. I
can't honestly say that I've ever seen a picture of Katherine
Jones, but I think I have: somebody who wore kind of a longish
robe or skirt with button-top shoes and always carried a bag of
raisins and prunes. [laughs] That's my image — a person who was
extremely precise.
These people in those days did an enormous amount of
corresponding. Katherine Jones corresponded a great deal with
Ben Morrison at the National Arboretum — back and forth, back and
forth — letters about acacias, about vines. The monographs that
she did were extremely thorough, and I'm sure that Miss Symmes
had much to do with helping Katherine Jones. I have a feeling
that Miss Symmes was kind of helping Katherine Jones in the
background, financially, and with support. [Mabel Symmes and
Katherine Jones, 1860-1943, were both UC '96.] She had all of
Katherine Jones's stuff, and it was in duplicate, triplicate,
quadruplicate and quintuplicate. I've seen this before, and I
knew they didn't have Xerox in those days. It was all on thin
tissue, typed.
Riess: What year was it that you appeared on the scene then?
Arbegast: I got my degree in 1953, so it must have been around 1952.
Riess: And was it very formal, this relationship which you had
with her? You went up at appointed times?
*Thomas Church, Landscape Architect, an oral history interview
conducted 1978, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft
Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1978.
276
Arbegast: I always called for an appointment. I mean, people don't do that
these days, but I did. I called her to let her know I was
coming. She was always waiting for me in the driveway, and we
always walked through the garden.
Riess: Did Miss Symmes accompany you?
Arbegast: No. I guess it's kind of part of that past era — and I find some
clients who are older today treat me in a similar way — when their
designer or their student or whomever comes to them, that's a
special time for them to be with that person alone. So the
gardener didn't go around with us, and Miss Symmes didn't go
around with us. Later on she would go in and tell her sister all
about what we'd talked about, and she would tell the gardener all
the things that we had discussed.
I was just starting out as a student/professional so I would
casually say, "Why don't you prune that?" or "Why don't you take
that away and plant something else here?" not realizing that I
shouldn't have been doing that, but I did. She appreciated that,
and oftentimes she implemented it, but —
Riess: But in the role you shouldn't have been doing that.
Arbegast: No, probably not. Because I was not her landscape architect, I
was just there to learn plants.
Riess: And Miss Symmes was still her landscape architect?
Arbegast: Well, she was her landscape architect. I think after Miss Symmes
designed the architectural features — reflecting pond and the two
formal gardens on the side, and the grotto, and the zigzag thing
down below — I think that was essentially Miss Symmes's role — and
any walls that had to be put in at that particular time — like the
rock walls on the west side of the house — after that, I think
Mrs. Blake and Miss Symmes worked out the planting, with Miss
Jones in the background probably kibbutz ing. That would be my
guess, and that those first major decisions about which trees to
bring over, etc., were made by Miss Jones, Miss Symmes, and Mrs.
Blake working together. That would be my own kind of general
feeling about it.
Riess: It would be nice to see that, observe that scene, see who did
what in that.
Arbegast: I'm always concerned when I read these articles and research
reports about people, with so-and-so getting all the credit for
doing something. You know very well that long before that person
ever came, there was one person who did this, and another person
who did that, and eventually the thing worked out so that it was
277
Arbegast: really beautiful and an award could be given. But it's always
given to the last person, and not necessarily to all the other
people who were so important in making it come about.
Recently the national organization of landscape architects,
the ASLA, awarded their award of merit to two relatively young
men, fifty years old, who designed a portion of a garden that had
been started many, many years ago. I remember sitting with the
owner about thirty years ago and he was telling me how Tommy
Church had done this, and how so-and-so had done that, and how he
wanted such-and-such here. When the award was given none of that
was expressed at all; it was all on this one person. The person
isn't old enough to have done so many of the things because it
was a carving out of a forest, a landscape that was quite aged,
and it was a matter of selecting, making a decision as to what
was to be selected, what was to be kept, what was to be taken
away. The end result, which at this particular moment is
beautiful, might be even more beautiful as it goes down the road
of time, but it may be worse. You never can tell. But one
person captures all of the glory for all of the other people who
have been working so hard at it. That bothers me.
Finding the Rare and Unusual Plants
Arbegast: I look at the Blake Garden now and I realize how much more
beautiful it is today than it was when I was there. It was a
jungle when I was there, you couldn't see very far because
everything was kind of crowded in. And Mrs. Blake didn't really
like to have a lot of tree work done, so it had kind of "messy
hair" — that's the way I'd put it.
Riess : There's a lot of supposition that Mrs. Blake would have loved
what has happened to the gardens since 1962.
Arbegast: Of course. I would say she would have loved what has happened if
it was full of unusual materials. She was of the school — I have
met many people with this fascination for rare plants,
particularly in my time in the east, in older gardens — very old
gardens that are two and three hundred years old, that have been
redone and redone and redone. I found that there was a period of
time — and I think this was about forty, fifty, or sixty years
ago — where there was a great to-do over the unusual and rare
plants.
Mrs. Blake belonged to many international societies. I
first heard about the South African Society for Plants from Mrs.
Blake because she was a charter member. She received seeds from
them because she was a member; she was a member of just about
278
Arbegast
Riess :
Arbegast :
Riess :
Arbegast
Riess :
Arbegast :
Riess :
Arbegast
Riess:
Arbegast :
Riess :
Arbegast :
Riess :
every horticultural and botanical group in the world so that she
could get their seeds. As a member you received seeds once a
year. She propagated all of these seeds, and whatever came up
and was unusual and nobody knew — this was her greatest delight.
That's how those groups function? As a member you receive seeds?
As a member do you also send things in?
Oh, sure. They have a seed-collecting time. For example, the
California Horticultural Society and the U.G. Botanical Garden,
and all of these groups, have a time when members bring in seeds,
and it's oftentimes in the autumn, in October and November. Then
there's a seed-packaging committee, and they make long, long
lists, and if you go to the herbarium in the botany department at
Berkeley you'll find these lists, lists and lists. The
scientists are there combing through the lists to find out who is
growing what, and what seeds are available, and then they send
for those seeds.
And they have to do it that year, don't they?
The seeds have to be fresh.
So it's exciting, it's fun.
It's very exciting because most people like to know that their
seeds are being distributed; whether they are pure seeds or
whatever hybrids makes no difference, it's just the idea that
they are making a contribution by disseminating certain seeds,
and they in turn are receiving unusual seeds from other people.
It sounds like a way to be connected to the rest of the world.
It is. I don't think Mrs. Blake traveled much.
She didn't travel in proportion to the exoticness of her garden.
It's because she belonged to these plant societies. I don't know
what happened to her books. Did they come to the landscape
architecture library?
I don't know. Are there books in the headhouse at the gardens?
Oh, there are some things that she gave Walter Vodden, reference
books, but it's not that good a reference library.
How about lists of seeds, and the kind of material that you're
referring to?
279
Arbegast: That's the sort of thing that Mrs. Blake had under her bed.*
Riess: Oh. dear.
Arbegast: Yes, because those things were kind of precious to her, and she
would always send out for those things. When the seed packets
came that was a happy time. They always came around January or
Christmas, I remember, and she'd open up her packages and say,
"'Oh, look at this!" She had so many seeds that she never
planted; it was just the idea of having the seeds. She planted
many of them, but it depended. During the war — I know she had a
lot of seeds from before the war, but I don't know how much help
she had during the war. And I don't know whether you have any
records of things like that at all about the Blake Garden.
Riess: No, not immediately accessible. I was wondering whether that
kind of thing was in the headhouse.
Arbegast: Those are the kinds of things that I remember saying to Walter,
"Oh, it would be wonderful if we could get this information." I
know when Miss Symmes died, most of her library went to the
California Horticultural Society.
Riess: Was she still propagating seeds when you came up to Blake House?
Arbegast: Oh, yes.
Riess: What were the facilities there?
Arbegast: Very mediocre and very meagre. There was a little glass house
next to the peacock run which is where the lawn is now, directly
to the left of the driveway as you drive in. That used to be all
of the propagating structures. There was a run-down greenhouse,
and a run-down lath house — all run-down because they were wood,
that's all. It was in those little buildings that she propagated
all of her seeds.
Riess: And she would have ordered or made her own fine soils?
Arbegast: Oh. she did her own, of course. She composted all of her
things.
Riess: She was out there digging at this advanced age?
Arbegast: Oh, yes, she loved it! She was out in the garden every day, and
she had something like twelve cats that followed her around. The
place was just reeking with the smell of cats, but the cats kept
*See p. 296.
280
Arbegast: down the field mice — and there were a lot of field mice — and they
kept down the gophers. She would proudly say to me, "Oh, this
cat" — whatever the cat's name was — "brought me a beautiful gopher
today." They all would bring them and lay them at her doorstep.
That's what cats do, after all; they get praised for all of their
good works.
The greenhouse that is there is something that was added by
me when I was working for the department as kind of the interim
person who took care of the garden.
The University's Interest in the Blake Property
Riess : After 1952 when you were introduced to Mrs. Blake, then there was
a five-year period before the gardens become University property,
and you continued to have an apprentice-like relationship with
her?
Arbegast: Yes. That's a good word, apprentice. The one thing that I do
remember, and it was one of my first lessons, is that since I was
new at the University and didn't know too much about how to do
what, Professor Shepherd, who was a very strong-minded man and
kind of head of the American Legion on campus and that kind of
thing, said to me: "Mai, I want you to understand one thing, and
that is that Mr. and Mrs. Blake do not have any direct heirs. I
know that they would be very comfortable giving their property to
the University, and you have to remember that."
He was the one who kind of drummed it into my head that I
should be very nice to Mrs. Blake because there could be many
rewards in it for the department. I was so young and innocent, I
didn't know anything, but it taught me one thing, and that is
that if you know that this could be the case, you should pursue
it. Another thing that Professor Shepherd said to me was that
Miss Symmes was independently wealthy, and that she probably
would like to be a part of any gift that her sister was involved
in. I didn't know what that meant at the time, but I realized
later on, from the way Miss Symmes was hinting around to me, that
she would like to leave an endowment to the department for the
garden. I remember there was a good long period when I felt
that, gosh, I should say something to somebody, but I don't know
who to say it to.
Riess: The gift to the University was of the house and garden, but with
no endowment from the Blakes, is that correct?
281
Arbegast: Yes. You see, Miss Symmes could have endowed it, but she died
before Mrs. Blake. Mr. Blake died first, in 1959, and then Miss
Symmes died in 1962 — she tripped and fell in her room upstairs in
the middle of the night, broke her hip and died of pneumonia in
just a few days. She was younger than Mrs. Blake. Mrs. Blake
died later in 1962.
The Horticultural Fraternity
Riess: Do you think Miss Symmes made money as a landscape architect?
Arbegast: No. I think she may have designed some gardens for friends.
There was a garden — it doesn't exist any longer — that I knew she
had designed, which was very nice, very small, about the size of
our backyard. It was quite formal. There's an apartment
building there now. It's close to the campus.
Riess: So you don't think she was out and around as an independent
practitioner?
Arbegast: Not at all. If she was, it was on a very limited basis, and it
was probably for friends of the family. I have only been able to
dig up one garden of hers over the years.
But there were quite a number of other women practicing in
the area at the time which I didn't realize. Women don't
practice in a way that they're noticed, you know, they're working
quietly behind the scenes. There was an Adeline Frederick up
here on La Loma who practiced until she was in her nineties, and
there was a Cicely Christie who came from England and who
practiced as a landscape gardener and did a number of nice
gardens. I met her when she was something like eighty-five, and
then she was moving from her little house to one of these
condominium tower things in Oakland. I'm sure they had
associations with other women landscape gardeners.
Riess: Yes, that's a whole line of questioning that I want to pursue.
Arbegast: I don't know a thing about it.
Riess: [laughs] Don't say that so quickly.
Arbegast: Well, I don't.
Riess: Isabella Worn?
Arbegast: Oh, yes. Her nephew is still alive, and he is over in San Rafael
or San Anselmo, at Perry's Sunnyside Nursery [Donald Perry],
282
Riess : Actually my question had to do with whether Mrs. Blake had a
relationship with other horticulturists.
Arbegast: Yes, absolutely.
Riess: Do you know of any specific people?
Arbegast: I don't know of any specific instances because I'm too young for
that era, unfortunately.
Mrs. Blake supplied plants on a regular basis to the
California Horticultural Society meetings. It was her greatest
pleasure on the third Monday of every month to take over a car
full of greens of different kinds. They would be displayed under
her name, and in the historical record of the California
Horticultural Society she was one of the founding members. She
was responsible for bringing in many, many new and unusual
plants. *
Riess: She would take cuttings, or did she take live plants?
Arbegast: Oh, big branches, and she'd talk about them.
Riess: And then if someone were interested, they could talk to her
afterwards and get seeds?
Arbegast: It's kind of interesting; she was of the era where you did not
share your seeds or cuttings with people.
Riess: Except through this seed —
Arbegast: Exchange business, yes. I'm not sure whether she did ever
contribute any seeds.
I met a lot of unusual and outstanding nurserymen just
because they would come to visit her garden. I think she must
have been a prolific letter-writer. She must have written to
people a great deal asking about this plant or that plant or
whatever. They all knew her garden as something that they would
want to see because she would mention to them, "I have a Eugenia
jambos," and everyone would say, "Nobody has a Eugenia jambos in
the area." And so they would all make a point to come see her
garden.
I was there a number of times when her garden was being
viewed by a couple of nurserymen, and one was a man who used to
come and covet certain plants in her garden. She actually made
*See Appendices, LL.
283
Arbegast: some of those nurserymen turn their coat pockets inside-out. You
know, they might sneak a little seed here, or something — that's a
terrible thing to say, don't put that down! It's that world of
plantsmanship that occurred about forty years ago when everyone
would say, "I have a plant that nobody else has. By golly,
nobody else has this plant, I've got it."
There had been a display at the annual dinner of the
California Horticultural Society, and there were these lilly
pilly [Acmena smithi] seeds, a beautiful kind of purplish-mauve
seeds that were in bunches as part of the table decor. I
remember we looked at a plant that was growing in her garden and
she said with a twinkle in her eye, "My plants came from seeds
that were on the dinner table." [laughs] So she loved to do that
kind of thing herself, which is kind of telling tales and I
shouldn't say that. But she didn't like to share plants with
other people unless they were special people, and the special
people were always plant people.
It was a regular presentation when she gave you a special
plant. That was something very special because nobody else had
it. So she was a very good friend of people like Victor Reiter,
who was an eminent nurseryman at the time. Victor was terribly
generous with everything; he was not of that school. [He would
say,] "Take a little piece of this, try it."
Riess: Isn't it true that in every garden a plant grows a little
differently anyway? Like grapes, which are responsive to the
soil?
Arbegast: Well, it is somewhat. But it's like people; you know, if you're
at the Palace Hotel you look different there than on the
Claremont Hotel tennis courts. Plants respond differently. But
basically it's having that special plant that nobody else has.
Today everybody's very generous and everybody exchanges freely,
but thirty years ago this was not the case.
Fortunately or unfortunately my background is such that I've
known a lot about plants, and I happened to go to school at the
right time and the right place when I went to Cornell, and I met
a lot of very important people. I had immediate entre to their
gardens, and people would be very generous and give me things,
but I had no place to plant them. But the reason they were
giving them to me was because they wanted me to have something
special that nobody else had. In those days that was something
very special. Today it's not like that at all; it's "anything I
have you can have a piece of," from any garden, just about.
Riess: Did the California Native Plant Society exist in the Anita Blake
days?
284
Arbegast: No. That was afterwards.
Riess: The kind of garden that she created — I know somewhat about the
DuPont and Longwood gardens. Was she the same kind of person,
accumulating the exotic?
Arbegast: I honestly don't know. I didn't know enough gardens at that
point, I wasn't that interested in garden design at the time and
I hadn't read enough about it to know the character of the people
who had those gardens to start with.
Miss Symmes's Layout of the Gardens
Riess: You said Blake Garden had "messy hair." It really doesn't sound
like her interest was in the design of the garden.
Arbegast: It wasn't. The backbones were all right, but everything there
was to kind of cover up the backbone. If that garden had not
been laid out in the certain formal way that it has, and had just
been planted, you wouldn't see anything today. Because a lot of
the trees are going to have to be replaced, they've gotten too
old, and like all gardens, unless there's some sort of a basic
structure to the garden — . When I say "structure" I mean walls
and paths and certain kinds of effects that don't deteriorate
with time. Plants grow up and then they go down, whereas hard
materials just kind of get older— looking but they remain in
place.
You can see the structure of the garden as laid out by Miss
Symmes. It's been changed, but you can see the various axes that
Miss Symmes laid out that are all linked: from the front of the
house looking east toward the grotto, or the reflecting pool;
looking straight north there's a kind of a circle; and then
there's a reservoir and a series of circles with dancing figures,
etc. On a plan it has a very Italianate look. A lot of that
look wouldn't still be there if Mrs. Blake had done it. If Miss
Symmes hadn't laid it out it would have just kind of wandered
around with all kinds of plants and would look like my garden,
which is just full of plants.
Riess: Was that ever acknowledged by Mrs. Blake?
Arbegast: Not at all. Why should she acknowledge it?
Riess: Oh, you might say to her, "This is such a wonderful garden," and
she might say, modestly and graciously, "Well, it does have a lot
of great stuff, but if it hadn't been for my sister Mabel — "
285
Arbegast: No, never.
Riess : Did she ever reminisce about earlier stages of the garden with
you?
Arbegast: Only the very, very early stages, when it was such a struggle to
establish the garden. It was so windy. It was a wind-swept
hill with lots of wild animals and lots of field mice, but a lot
of wind. Whenever she talked about it I got the feeling that the
house was built in that manner to cut off the wind so they could
have the garden on the leeward side. All the rest was very
windy, and the wind swept up the redwood canyon.
All those redwoods were cuttings taken from the redwood
trees which were where the University Stadium now is.
Riess: From their old address.
Arbegast: Yes. The University, because they wanted that property, trucked,
I think, three large loads of plants to the Blake garden.
Riess: Miss Symmes was a frustrated teacher?
Arbegast: Absolutely. Whenever I had a chance to be with Miss Symmes I
learned a lot, but it was not easy to be alone with Miss Symmes
if Mrs. Blake was there, just not possible. She was the top
person.
Anita Blake's Preference for Garden People
Riess :
Riess :
How close was your relationship with Mrs. Blake?
Arbegast: She was absolutely intrigued by my horticultural knowledge.
She didn't ask anything about you as a person?
Arbegast: Never. It was not personal; it was always academic. She knew I
had worked for Liberty Hyde Bailey — I let that slip one day. I
didn't mean to, but that's something I'm very proud of.
Riess: What is the significance of that?
Arbegast: Liberty Hyde Bailey was the dean of American horticulture. He
was ninety— two when I was a graduate student at Cornell. I had
worked in the hortorium there and he'd done this whole
encyclopedia of horticulture from which so many other things have
come. At that particular time Cornell was the school of
horticulture in the United States. I'm not sure that it still
286
Arbegast
Riess :
Arbegast ;
Riess :
Arbegast :
Riess:
Arbegast ;
Riess :
Arbegast
is, but it's high up there. At the time that I went it was right
after the war, and I was just very lucky to have gotten into the
school. I did have the opportunity as part of my graduate
studies — and I was working my way through college — to work in the
hortorium under Liberty Hyde Bailey.
I think that really impressed her, but we never talked about
my personal background at all. We never talked about my roots,
nothing. No, it was always about my scientific knowledge, which
she respected highly. It was always very professional, not
personal at all. I preferred to keep it that way. For example,
I was never invited to lunch or dinner, or to have a cup of
coffee with her — never. Interesting, isn't it?
Yes, you said she always met you on the driveway.
Always, always on the driveway. It was toward the end when I
met her in the house a couple of times.
That was just because she was so feeble?
Yes. We always sat and looked out at the garden from the
windows, but it was always to talk about plants and things,
I have a question here about how you think she felt about her
garden — a very "seventies" question — was she like a mother with
her children?
Oh, yes, it was her substitute for children, absolutely. That I
can absolutely attest to. That's why she was so precious about
it. She was very precious about her garden.
What do you mean by "precious?"
She really didn't seek advice from people about changing it, she
wanted to be the one to change it. Anybody who worked for her
had to do what she wanted them to do, and there was very little
opportunity to be independently creative in her garden. She knew
what she wanted, and she knew where she wanted to put it, and the
only thing you could say was that it might not grow there, it
might be too shady or something like that. That's why I found
later on that my saying to her, "Why don't you cut this," or "Put
it there," probably was really an affront to her. I was applying
those things that I knew, and I just had a feeling that she was
not putting everything where it should go, but I'm not sure I
should have said it, either.
Riess :
How about Mr. Blake?
were there?
Did he ever appear on the scene when you
287
Arbegast: He was there, and he was always very pleasant, but the garden was
hers.
Riess :
Arbegast
Did he walk through the garden with the two of you?
Miss Symmes wouldn't.
You said
Riess:
Arbegast ;
Riess :
Arbegast :
Riess :
Arbegast
Riess :
Arbegast :
Riess :
Arbegast
No, he wouldn't either. He might walk through with her later,
but never with us, no. Anytime anybody came to the garden it was
Mrs. Blake's thing to host that person around, and whenever a
visitor came it was rare that Miss Symmes ever walked with her
and a visitor.
Was it kept cleared so that it was possible to walk through, or
did it become more and more difficult to make your way through
the undergrowth?
Oh, no, she had gardeners who really tried to help keep the
garden open and uncluttered.
Can you say something about those gardeners?
There was one gardener by the name of Churchill Womble — such an
unusual name. Churchill was a very good gardener but he had some
drinking problems. He was very enthusiastic and helpful to Mrs.
Blake and he tried to do his creative thing with her. He worked
very hard.
Did he live on the property?
No. You know, I shouldn't say this, and you have to take it for
what it's worth: she always treated a gardener like a gardener.
He was never anything more than a gardener. You have to
understand that there was a very definite caste system that
applied.
In a way you've been saying that something of that was applying
t o y o u al s o.
It applied to everybody. It applied when she went to Cal Hort
meetings. She was Mrs. Blake; the others were all over here — or
there might have been a few at her level.
Once you know more than she knows then aren't you above her?
is this a social caste system?
Or
I don't know. I think that's why she was intrigued by me.
[laughs] But we were good friends, and she respected what I knew.
I probably shouldn't have told her to do certain things, but I
think a lot of the things that Mrs. Scott did could never have
happened when Mrs. Blake had been alive, absolutely never would
have happened. She would not have allowed it.
288
Riess :
Arbegast ;
Riess :
Arbegast
Riess :
Arbegast
Riess :
Arbegast
Well, perhaps you were so under her spell that you would have
been even —
I was not under her spell at all, not at all. I knew what her
role was and I knew what my role was, and she knew that I knew.
So your role essentially was to learn all you could and, at the
same time, keep alive this very nice idea of having it come to
the University.
That was my role. I still consider it my role. I get very
discouraged — at least I was very discouraged until Dr. Gardner
came into the picture — that no one really cared about that garden
except the people who worked in it. But certainly no one in the
department cared; they couldn't have cared less! Never really
supported it, never used it, and that bothers me.
Since that time I was the one who told Professor Vaughan
about the Beatrix Farrand gift that came. No one in that
department knew Beatrix Farrand, they didn't have the slightest
idea who she was. Because I was a member of the Friends of the
Arnold Arboretum at the time that she was going through this
controversy with them about the herbarium, I managed to
effectuate that thing. But you see I learned from the Blake
garden what you have to do to get a property, and what you have
to do to try to keep the spirit of it up. I also learned from
the Farrand thing that unless there is a group that backs that
gift and doesn't turn it completely over to the University — just
between you and me — the gift kind of peters out.
It just becomes money.
When I was involved with Filoli I cultivated Mrs. [William
Matson] Roth for eighteen years to get that gift going. Then I
knew that the only way to get that thing was to do what Mrs. Roth
had in mind, and what I had kind of painted a picture of for
her — because I kept telling her it was the "Wisley of the West,"
and she knew that. She knew I had this dream, and she had the
dream too. And she had the means. It was a matter of finding
the right people to start that thing so that it would do what
it's doing today. It took Wally Sterling, John May of the San
Francisco Foundation, and Bill Roth — those three critical
people — and three critical ladies in the Woodside area who were
good friends of Mrs. Roth, to put that package together.
Who are the three ladies that you're thinking of?
Sally [Mrs. Robert] McBride is one of them, she's a really
essential person. Timmy [Mrs. Peter] Gallagher is another. Then
myself, and our using our influence on other people — but actually
it's those two ladies and myself.
289
Riess: And involving the garden clubs of the area, was that important?
Arbegast: Not at that time. The idea was to keep them out of it, otherwise
they would take over. It had to be an independent group that
would further the goals that we had more or less set, and that
was to make it a horticultural showcase and a place to educate
future gardeners, horticulturists, and designers.
Riess: The Blake Gardens could be that, but they aren't, are they?
Arbegast: It was never set up that way. It was set up so that the gardens
went to the Department of Landscape Architecture, and it depends
on the faculty there what the gardens could be. The gardens
could be wonderful — and they are, but they don't serve as much of
a public purpose as they could.
Riess: That's the current nature of landscape architecture and, you're
saying, of the faculty.
Arbegast: It depends on what faculty person in the department has an
interest in that aspect of the field, and you know the people who
are interested in plants in landscape architecture, at least in
that department, are very few and far between.
290
The Public Blake Estate
The Garden as a Teaching Tool
Riess: There must have been a time of excitement and vision of what it
all might be, and I think it's worth getting on the record still
what it might be. I've read the long-range plan that Mrs. Scott
put together. I'm sure that was a source of frustration to her.
that it was never really completed.
Arbegast: I'm sure, but long-range plans are always made so that they can
be put on shelves. We hope that people refer back to them so
that they'll get a sense of the history of the place, but to me
the Blake Garden could give a sense of history of the development
of Berkeley even, and certainly of the development of landscape
design as it started in the Berkeley area. When you think about
how far the graduates have gone now, doing projects all over the
world, it's really wonderful.
Riess: How could the garden itself give that?
Arbegast: I think that it's an example of a situation where students can
get a chance to look forward and back, and where they can do some
experimental things. They can use the physical setting and all
of that as part of their studies because whatever they do, no
matter where they go, they're going to have to study a physical
setting of whatever the project is. This is only an academic
exercise, but you need places where you can do academic
exercises. I'm not sure the campus is necessarily the place.
There's a sense of history still about that building and the
garden. It hasn't become so modernized that they are putting in
parking places everywhere. Jusf the sense of how long it takes
for a redwood grove to come to be — she planted every one of those
trees. It's hard for someone to say, 1,ook, the oldest tree in
this garden is sixty years old." (There's one tree that's
older.)
291
Riess :
Arbegast
Riess :
Arbegast ;
Riess: It seems older.
Arbegast: Well, I know that it's the same age as I am.
Riess: That's amazing about the trees, and also about you, Mai!
Arbegast: I'm sixty-four. But the thing is, I always think of it as, gosh,
if you could take somebody out to a place and say, "Sixty years
from now this is what you can do if you think your problem
through completely from beginning to end and you know kind of
what you want to do. This is what you could do if you had the
right situation." Or, "You could do this, or you could do that,
and here's something that's twenty years old."
That's a very interesting way to use a garden.
That's the only way to use a garden, [laughs]
Well, I thought of using a garden for going and looking at
beautiful planted areas, but to see the unit as something that
shows what one might have —
Or, if you're looking at a grove that's sixty years old, what
will it look like in sixty more years? Then you take them to
places that have older trees. But to me that's the use of a
garden. Maybe it's because I look at gardens differently, but I
keep projecting in time what it's going to be for the next
generation, which is twenty-five years from now — what they will
be thinking. If you have places where you can say we know how
old these things are — it's really wonderful to be able to say,
'Look at what could happen. You're how old now, and if you do a
project in which you plant an oak grove, it might look like
this."
Riess: So it's not the number and exotic nature of the plants anymore up
there, it's really —
Arbegast: It's really the kind of setting that it has, and also the fact
that it gives you a sense of the history of Berkeley and the
sense of the place — which was made from nothing. It could be the
El Sobrante hills, or it could be all the hills that go from here
to Sacramento, which look very much like that and have similar
soil conditions and have slide areas. I think that's what
landscape architecture is all about; you're projecting to the
future. I'm not sure it's taught that way much. I think you
have to have a sense of the background and then what will happen.
Riess: Are there people teaching that at any of the other colleges?
Arbegast: No place, no place. I think a lot depends on how you're educated
to start with.
292
Riess :
Arbegast :
Riess :
Arbegast
Riess :
Arbegast :
So the current teaching —
I think it's going toward the computer, and it'll swing way over
that way. It'll feed all this information in and it'll come out
that way — and then people will just get fed up with it and say.
"Okay, let's stand back a little bit."
In the meantime, who is doing gardens?
A lot of people are doing gardens. A lot of people coming from
literature and history are doing gardens now. They're taking
extension courses or things like that. Unfortunately they may
not have all the other kinds of skills; they have the kind of
visual immediate image, "I want to do a Villa D'Este," or "I want
to do a this or a that," and they'll look at pictures without
realizing that it's also projecting that picture five, ten,
twenty— five years down the line.
Is there any way that something could be generated from the
garden itself, six-week summer sessions, that kind of thing?
Oh, it could be wonderful. You could do a tremendous amount
teaching in that garden. It would take a special kind of
teacher.
of
Riess: So that's what's missing.
Arbegast: Yes, that's what's missing.
Riess: Oh, dear. Well, maybe the gardeners will feel inspired enough to
take it that far. I don't know if they could.
When I talked to Walter Vodden he remarked that "Mrs. Blake
did her complaining to Mai." I can't remember what that had to
do with.
Arbegast: I think it was mostly about how the garden wasn't being tended,
or how people were taking things, or how the deer were eating
things. It was not anything major.
Riess: Tell me about the Howell Mountain property in St. Helena that was
given to the University by the Blakes.
Arbegast: The interesting thing about Howell Mountain is that it's one of
the unique places in California where three different plant and
climactic zones come together. It's a place where botanical
scholars go to study because in a very small area you can study
these three different kinds of flora. Jepson was fascinated by
this, and I think that this is one of the reasons why Jepson and
the Blakes were such good company with each other.
293
Connection with other Bay Area Gardens and Nurserymen
Riess :
Arbegast
Riess :
Arbegast
Riess :
Arbegast ;
Riess :
Arbegast
Riess:
Arbegast
What was the Blake connection with the botanical gardens at UC?
They helped Professor Jepson a lot. He was a bachelor, very
picky, difficult to get along with. But he liked the Blakes and
there are a number of plants in the garden that he collected.
They used to see Dr. Jepson socially, I would say at least once a
month.
The native plant garden in Tilden [Tilden Botanic Garden]:
you think they had anything to do with that?
do
Very little. Jim Roof was involved with the native plant garden
in Tilden. I remember when that was under construction I was
understudying Professor Shepherd, and Professor Shepherd thought
that the design was a travesty. He'd go up there and he'd rant
and rave and say, "This bridge is unsafe for people to walk
across," or "These paths are unsafe." He was constantly ranting
and raving, so I don't think the Blakes had much to do with Jim
Roof, unless they met him at the Cal Hort Society meetings and he
had unusual plants and he shared them with them. Otherwise there
was not much. I think it was always through the plant
communication thing, but I don't think they supported the native
plant garden at all. I don't think Professor Shepherd would let
anybody support the native plant garden.
How about Mildred Mathias: would she have known the Blakes?
No. Mildred's going to be my houseguest on Saturday night; she's
a good friend of mine. I can ask Mildred if she knew the Blakes,
but I doubt that she did. When Mildred was here living in
Berkeley I think she was so busy being a mother and a researcher
that she did not have time probably to do anything else — but I
can ask her.
What local nurserymen did Mrs. Blake deal with?
She got a lot of plants from [Toichi] Domoto's, and Hallawell's.
Where is Hallawell's?
In San Francisco. They don't exist anymore. There was a man by
the name of Mr. Abraham, or something like that, that she dealt
with. Victor Reiter; Camelliana — I took her several times to
Camelliana. They don't exist anymore, they were in Concord. She
did a lot of letter-writing and got a lot of things through the
mail. She ordered things from all over the country.
Riess:
How about Mr. Budget! at Berkeley Horticultural Nursery?
294
Arbegast: Oh, yes, of course, I'm sure she went to Berkeley Hort Nursery and
purchased things. It was a wonderful nursery at that time.
Riess: Did she cut flowers from her garden? Did she love flowers?
Arbegast: Oh, she loved to cut these long boughs. There was an exhibit at
the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939 that she
supplied with fresh-cut greens through the whole fair. I can't
tell you which exhibit it was, but somebody who was here at that
time could, I'm sure. They used to take truck-loads of things
from her garden, of unusual nature, to display in this exhibit
for what I think was a year or a year-and-a-half period. That's
why she was always looking for the unusual. It was very
important to her to be the only one that had a particular plant.
She was always interested in educating her peers, or the
people interested in plants. As I said, she really did not have
anything to do with anybody who was not interested in plants.
There were a number of times that people came who were kind of
socially inclined who wanted to meet her, and who came with
people who were interested in plants. And I know that whenever
they went away she would say, "Oh, so-and-so, why did she even
come?" because it was the other person who was interested in
plants and she wondered why they even bothered to come.
Riess: In 1941 she got a letter from Goodspeed requesting that she do a
paper on vines for some presentation. I wondered whether she did
much of the scholarly thing.
Arbegast: I think it was Miss Symmes who did most of that, because Miss
Symmes was the one who was working with Katherine Jones. Mrs.
Blake was busy growing plants more than anything else.
Transfer of the Property to the University, and Anita's Special
Letters
Riess: When the Blakes decided that the house and the garden were going
to come to the University, sometime in 1957, were you in close
contact with her at that point? Was she saying to you. "Mai, I'm
thinking about doing this"?
Arbegast: It was very systematically done; Professor Vaughan was the one
who handled it all.
Riess: So that even though you had been preparing the scene, how did it
actually happen?
295
Arbegast
Riess :
Arbegast
Riess :
Arbegast ;
Riess :
Arbegast
Riess :
Arbegast :
I can't actually tell you. She had a number of conversations
with Professor Vaughan. He came out to the garden. I told him
it was time to go and see them and he made an appointment. She
had mentioned to me that she wanted to do this and she wanted to
find out how to do it.
So she did say to you that she wanted to do it.
Oh, yes. And then people like Mr. [Joseph] Mixer and other
people got into the act. The president's office got into the
act, or the chancellor's office, I can't remember which.
Suddenly there were people from higher up beyond the department
who were coming to see her. They had a hard time it seems to me,
and maybe that's just normal. It just seems to me that it took a
long time for them to resolve it and assure the Blakes that the
property wouldn't be sold. They wanted life tenancy, and this
was something that the University wasn't sure about. I can't
remember how old Mr. Blake was, ninety or less than that, when
the property came to the University.
Probably somewhat less than that, but not much.
1870.
He was born in
I just remember the age of ninety because she died right after
her ninetieth birthday. She was bound and determined to live
until ninety, and then it seems to me soon after her birthday she
went. I can't remember exactly the details — I don't know what I
was doing, I was so involved with so many things. What can I
say?
Do you know whether any of the nieces and nephews stood in the
way of it at all?
No, I don't think so. You see, the property was distinctly Mrs.
Blake's, it was not Mr. Blake's. It was her property that was
given, it was not Mr. Blake's. I say that with absolute
assurance because I know that this was made crystal clear,
especially with the Carmelites when they wanted to buy that other
side of the canyon. It was her property and Mr. Blake said, "I
have nothing to say about it, this is Anita's property."
It had come through his side of the family.
But it was hers. It was in her name only even while he was
alive. I think it would be interesting for you to check that
out, but he was the one who made it distinctly clear that he
would have nothing to do with the Carmelites — and of course Mrs.
Blake would have nothing to do with the Carmelites. You heard
that wonderful story about that wooden fence there?
296
Riess : I saw a bit of correspondence, very delicate on the part of the
Carmelites, but apparently they were meeting with no success.
Arbegast: I don't know exactly what the words were, but Mrs. Blake said to
me with a twinkle in her eye that the Carmelites were going to
have to deal with God and the University, [laughs] She said, "As
far as I'm concerned the University's going to win on this one,"
because she was at that particular point contemplating giving the
property to the University. The Carmelites put in the wooden
fence because they just had a feeling they could buy that corner
of the canyon. [See Appendix T.]
I can't remember just how the dialogue went between the
Mother Superior and Mrs. Blake but I know that the wood fence
went in instead of the concrete block. It's concrete block up to
a certain point, and then it turns and it's wood. The Carmelites
were hoping they could build the concrete block across the canyon
there. They turned it and made it into wood, but Mrs. Blake
said, "I can see the day when we're going to have to make that
concrete block, the wood is just going to deteriorate." She was
very pleased with herself, [laughter]
Riess: In The Bancroft Library we have a mass of correspondence from
Anita to Anson; what do you think happened to any letters from
him to her?
Arbegast: I do know that her most precious items were underneath her bed.
She had beautiful scrolls, Chinese and Japanese, ancient scrolls
that she had purchased, and she loved oriental works of art.
Her most special letters from James West were under her bed.
James West was an extraordinary plantsman. He was at one
particular point in his life associated with the University of
California at Berkeley, and he wrote these letters. Most men
don't write such letters. She used to read the letters to me —
magnificent descriptions of things. He also wrote to people like
Gerry Scott and Elizabeth McQintock. All the women who got
these letters from him — he wrote especially to women — I think
they must feel that they were love letters almost. They tell you
about these letters, but you never see the letters.* They read
descriptions out of them. You know they've kept the letters.
I think if you could find any letters from James West to
Anita Blake you would find a wealth of information that would
give you a clue about what she was interested in in terms of
*Letter to Mabel Symmes in Appendices. Appendix II.
297
Arbegast: people. James West died mysteriously somewhere in South America.
There was an article about him in the California Horticultural
Journal. *
Riess: I wonder who would have those letters from James West to Anita.
Arbegast: I can tell you what happened to those letters, though you need to
hear it directly from Walter, not from me: when she died
apparently there was a kind of a house cleaning and all the stuff
that was under her bed was burned — her most precious items. Now
you have to talk to Walter Vodden about this because he was
caretaker or head superintendent or whatever. He was there at
the time and he mentioned it to me about a week after this had
happened when I asked what happened to all those wonderful things
Mrs. Blake had under her bed. Because I had the privilege of
going into her bedroom and occasionally she'd dig down underneath
the bed — which was rather high up off the floor, with a bedspread
that kind of hung over — she would dig out something and read it
to me, which was very nice. I just felt that was a very special
moment.
I have such a bad memory that I can't really tell you the
various things that she read to me, but they were always very
special and precious things that she'd dug out from under her
bed.
Riess: Who did the burning?
Arbegast: Oh, you really have to ask Walter this. Walter said, "It's such
a shame, it's such a shame," and I said, "Why didn't you call me?
Why didn't you tell me what was happening? I would have done
something to stop it."
* See Appendices, HH.
Transcriber: Johanna Wolgast
Final Typist: Elizabeth Eshleman
298
Regional Oral History Office
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California
Blake Estate Oral History Project
Geraldine Knight Scott
LONG-RANGE PLANS FOR BLAKE GARDEN, 1962-1987
An Interview Conducted by
Suzanne B. Riess
in 1987
Copyright fc} 1988 by The Regents of the University of California
Geraldine Knight Scott
at Blake Garden, 1963
299
TABLE OF CONTENTS — Geraldine Knight Scott
INTERVIEW HISTORY 300
BIOGRAPHY 302
Early Horticultural History/Blake Gardens 303
Harry Shepherd and Katherine D. Jones 303
James West 306
California Horticultural Society 308
The House and Garden Come to the University 311
Geraldine Knight Scott in Charge 311
Walter Vodden, and the Neighbors 311
Funding for Maintenance 313
Making Decisions 315
The Garden as a Teaching Tool 316
Long Range Development Plan for the Blake Estate 318
A Committee of the Regents Visits 319
Wider Use 320
Blake House Becomes the President's House 323
Talking about the Garden 330
The Paths, Labelling the Plants 330
The Brochure, and Articles about the Gardens 331
The Garden, Twenty Years Ago 332
And Twenty Years Later 334
300
INTERVIEW HISTORY
The Blake Gardens were a part of Geraldine Knight Scott's Department of
Landscape Architecture duties from 1962 to 1968. When Anita Blake died in
1962 the control that she had exercised over every detail of planting and
maintenance was in Mrs. Scott's hands.
Granted very few people from the University of California at Berkeley
or members of the community even knew of the existence of the Blake Estate,
to the neighbors on Rincon Road in Kensington the transition to the
University's stewardship was all too visible and abrupt. They knew Mrs.
Scott had arrived because she pruned the trees!
Without Geraldine Knight Scott, however, what is now a garden with
distinct formal features would be rampant and obscure. Mrs. Scott, an
active practitioner of, as well as lecturer in, landscape architecture, was
free of the awe for the relic that might have possessed less clear— eyed
designers. As well as being fearless, Mrs. Scott was, as Linda Haymaker
puts it in her interview, "the most sensitive person who has dealt with this
garden since the Blakes. "
Geraldine Knight Scott had another challenge. Besides dealing with
day-to-day garden decisions, she was asked in 1963 to create a Long-Range
Development Plan for Blake Estate. [Excerpts from that plan are appended.]
It was presented in 1964 to the Department of Landscape Architecture but
never given any attention. Mrs. Scott looks back on it as at best a
teaching and learning experience for those who participated in the studies
required to formulate the plan. It had little more impact than that, for
want of interest and commitment on the part of the University.
The ambivalent attitude to the Blake Estate continued through the
middle sixties, but in 1967 Blake House emerged as the President's House.
Mrs. Scott as Supervising Landscape Architect worked with the architects in
remodelling the house and grounds to make the Blake Estate function as a
residence for incoming President and Mrs. Charles Hitch. Today Geraldine
Knight Scott continues to be concerned for the future of the garden. She is
also interested in the future of the study of landscape architecture. As
the department reevaluates itself, the Blake Garden will perhaps move from
the periphery of attention and use to a place closer to the center and
closer to the wishes of the Blakes in entrusting it to the University.
Geraldine Knight Scott is well known to the Regional Oral History
Office. She was interviewed in 1977 for the Thomas Church Oral History
Project [1978]. A few years later she taped an autobiographical memoir with
landscape architect Jack Buktenica as her interviewer. It has not been
released. More recently Mrs. Scott has been editing fifteen tapes done with
her on her garden design class. And she is vitally involved in compiling
the history of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University.
301
It was a pleasure to spend time with someone so committed to historical
documentation of the oral history variety. Mrs. Scott's husband, Mel Scott,
author of The Future of San Francisco Bay, had earlier in the year
contributed a thoughtful Afterword to the Save San Francisco Bay Association
oral history. He was in his studio, painting — fascinating, highly detailed
colorful works which he exhibits — while Mrs. Scott and I talked, and looked
over the number of helpful reprints and illustrations which she had
assembled to illuminate our interview.
Suzanne B. Riess
Interviewer-Editor
November 11, 1987
Regional Oral History Office
486 The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office 302 University of California
Room 486 The Bancroft Library Berkeley ,' California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
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Occupation
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303
Early Horticultural History/Blake Gardens
[Date of Interview: February 24. 1987]
Harry Shepherd and Katherine D. Jones
Riess : Were you at Blake Gardens as a student?
Scott: Yes, I probably went with Professor Shepherd and met Mrs. Blake,
maybe once or twice, when I was a student.
Riess: Did she come out to greet students?
Scott: Well, I think I went alone with Shepherd, not with a group. We were
only a class of eight, so even if we'd gone as a group — but I don't
recall that we did.
Riess: Well, tell me all about that meeting, [laughs]
Scott: Oh, she didn't make a great impression. She was obviously English,
with a nice English accent, and pleasant. The garden was very overgrown.
Riess: Why did she have an English accent? She was not English.
Scott: Well, she did have a cultivated voice, maybe you'd call it that.
She used the broad "a."
Riess: "Ahh. "
Scott: Yes. I assumed that was an English accent, I suppose.
Riess: Was Miss Symmes there at the same meeting?
Scott: I don't recall ever meeting Miss Symmes. I should have, because she
was a member of the California Horticultural Society, and she and
Miss Katherine D. Jones were obviously connected with each other,
but I never met her. I've looked at pictures of her and I know I
never met her.
304
Riess: In a way your answers are eliminating a whole series of questions I
had about connections between Miss Jones, and the garden, and you,
and women.
Scott: I've learned quite a bit about Miss Jones recently. I have been
recalling my first teachers for a history that the Department of
Landscape Architecture is getting out. Miss Jones, I learned from
some material that Tom Brown brought me, was here when John Gregg
came to start a landscape design department. In some biographical
material about Miss Jones she refers to Miss Symmes, and Miss Symmes
was a student in the department for a short time. She did not get a
degree and what her years in the department were I don't know.
[Symmes was a student in 1914.] But she got to know Miss Jones
better than I did, obviously, as a student.
Riess: In The Bancroft Library in Anita Blake's papers are some papers in
Welsh, and I think that they are some of Katherine Jones' material.
Scott: I hadn't known she was Welsh. I knew her only as a curious
character —
Riess: In this paper it says her parents were Welsh.*
Scott: Yes, right, and she apparently had a good singing voice, like so many
Welsh people, and sang in a choir all the time. I never would
have guessed because she was such a shy Victorian lady. She knew her
plant materials and taught them very well. John Gregg relied on
her; I mean, she was the mainstay of the department. Naturally she
would have been acquainted with the Blakes, and the Blakes with her,
because they were collectors of plants, and she was probably the
most knowledgeable person in this area.
Riess: And yet she wasn't using the gardens for her own teaching purposes?
Scott: [pause] She probably did. She took us there maybe once or twice,
but also to gardens all around the Bay Area.
Riess: What other gardens would she have taken you to visit in the Bay Area
that would have been considered comparable then?
Scott: Other gardens such as the McDuffie weren't comparable, but we went
to Golden Gate Park to learn plants, or Belvedere to see many
smaller gardens because each micro-climate was different.
Riess: So you were looking at plants, you weren't looking at design?
*"Katherine Davies Jones, 1860-1943," by Mabel Symmes, in Madrono,
April 1946, Vol. VIII, No. 6, pages 184-187. See Appendices.
305
Scott: Not with Miss Jones. She taught only plants, and she had little
sense of design. She taught plants from a functional viewpoint,
their tolerances and growth habits.
Riess : And when Harry Shepherd was using the gardens, what was he teaching?
Scott: He had a little more sense of design, probably, but he really taught
construction and plants. He had learned his plant materials from
her, as the first graduate of the department, and continued teaching
in her method. Design was principally taught by Professor Gregg.
Neither one of these people had any real sense of design as we use
the term today.
Riess: I remember when I talked to John Gregg about design on
campus it was clear that John Galen Howard's hand was strong
in the campus landscaping as well as the architecture.*
Scott: Right. But Gregg did, of course, arrange for us — even though we
were in the College of Agriculture — to take all of the preliminary
courses in architecture. There was that much liaison, which he
doesn't even refer to in the oral history, but Gregg did establish a
curriculum that was half in architecture and half in agriculture.
But he didn't make the connection, really; we didn't have any of the
architectural professors giving us design criticisms.
Riess: When you went to visit Mrs. Blake with Harry Shepherd — you weren't
the only woman in your class, were you?
Scott: There was one other, Beatrice Williams.
Riess: I wondered if it was because you were a woman that Harry Shepherd
had taken you to meet Mrs. Blake.
Scott: No, I worked for Harry on the outside, I knew Harry very well. I
worked for both Gregg and Shepherd as a draftsman while I was in
college and after Cornell. Shepherd was an exceedingly good
estimator, I learned a great deal from him, we were simpatico
people, an easier person to know than Gregg. He took me to see lots
of places.
Riess: Was he doing some construction for Mrs. Blake?
Scott: No, I doubt that. We went to see the great variety of plants grown
from seed.
*John W. Gregg, A Half-Century of Landscape Architecture, an oral
history interview conducted 1965, Regional Oral History Office, The
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1965.
306
Riess :
Scott:
So that was your only actual face-to-face contact with Anita Blake?
The only one I recall.
James West
Riess: When I talked with Mai Arbegast, we got into the question of where
were Anita's letters from Anson; all of the letters that she had
written to him are in The Bancroft Library, but where were all the
letters that he was writing in return? Mai speculated that they
were probably under the bed along with the James West letters, and
the seed lists, and everything else. Can you shed any more light on
what has happened?
Scott: None, no. Later when I was teaching, and the Blake House was empty,
there were still piles of dishes that they had imported from China
and Japan still in original crates. Sometimes the crates had been
opened and the straw was all over the floor. There was a caretaker
who lived there and took care of the many cats. The odor was
terrific. When I first was asked by Professor Vaughan to take over
the direction of the work in the garden, that's the state that the
house was in.
Someone lived in the house because there were still pieces of
furniture in some rooms, the leftovers, and these piles of dishes.
I know that Duke Wellington — as we called him — Professor [Winfield
Scott] Wellington from the household art department, had selected
the best pieces, but where they had gone, I don't know. There were
still stacks of marvelous bowls and plates from which one sample had
been removed. I yearned to take one or two — of course never did —
and have no idea what happened to all those beautiful, porcelain
bowls and plates.
Riess: Chinese?
Scott: Yes, mostly.
Riess: Blue?
Scott: Many kinds.
Riess: So I guess you have heard about the James West letters that are
gone.
Scott: I knew James West very well indeed, in Marin County, and I have a
great many of James West's letters from South America. He talked
often of Mrs. Blake, but I never went to the Blake Estate with James
West. [pause] I don't know that correspondence. A lot of James
307
Scott: West's correspondence was turned over to the Horticultural Society
and they published some articles about him.* I've not turned over
my letters from his trip to South America, but I still have them.
James West was a very remarkable botanist, in touch with every other
horticulturist in the bay region.
Riess: Yes, the corresponding among horticulturists is fascinating to me.
Scott: Right. Well, James West had traveled very widely, and so had the
Blakes. He knew the flora of — I don't think he'd ever been to China,
but he knew the flora of all of Europe and the Americas.
Riess: So the correspondence, would it include a few seeds in the envelope?
Scott: Doubtless.
Riess: And just a kind of excited discussion of something that had turned
up?
Scott: That's what I would expect, but I don't know.
Riess: Is that the kind of correspondence that you had with him?
Scott: My correspondence was much later, from his trip to South America —
after [Thomas Harper] Goods peed sent him there on a plant-hunting
expedition. Marvelous descriptive passages of the whole terrain and
the life of the people, as well as lists of plants fill the letters
I have.
Riess: Interesting.
Scott: I went with James West on a good many plant-hunting trips in the
Sierras. He was myopic, wore very thick glasses, and his distance
vision then was probably as poor as mine is right now. I had
perfect vision, when I used to go with him. He would tell me what
he was looking for, in a particular terrain, and the right
association so I could find it for him. His descriptions were that
clear.
Riess: What an interesting way to learn.
Scott: He was working with Jepson and others, knew every botanist and
horticulturist and everyone knew him.
*"Incredible, Unforgettable James West, Plantsman, (1886-1939)," by
Jack Napton, California Horticultural Society Journal, Vol. 28,
No. 3, July 1967, 180-187, 196. Appendix HH.
308
California Horticultural Society
Scott: When the horticultural society was founded in 1935 — I was a founding
member, but it was really Eric Walther, superintendent of Golden
Gate Park and an authority on succulents, and James West who were
the founders of that organization.
Riess: Why 1935?
Scott: That was the year of a big frost, which brought plant people
together. Nobody in the San Francisco Bay Region knew what to do
with plants after they'd been frozen. There were many good
nurserymen, and good amateur growers, and professional growers at
that time, and they were all in trouble — none knew exactly what to
do. So those people who had lived in the east, or lived other
places, felt the need to get together to discuss what to do with
plants that had been frozen.
Riess: So it was a kind of camaraderie that did not really exist before?
Scott: That's right.
Riess: Would you say in fact that it had been more competitive before?
Scott: Yes, definitely. There were good nurserymen in the area, you know,
competing with each other, and amateurs and professionals had their
own kind of organizations, but trouble often brings people together.
Riess: I saw in the Anita Blake correspondence that Dr. Goodspeed asked her
to write an article for him on vines in 1941.
Scott: I bet she got her knowledge from Katherine D. Jones, who wrote all
these articles on vines.
Riess: "A Study of Climbers," in 1938.
Scott: As someone said, it has everything but social climbers in it.
[laughs] Katherine Jones never got her due in this university. She
was never made more than an instructor, and yet she was the mainstay
of the landscape design department, with the most knowledge about
plants and climate. She was there for seventeen years. Women.
Riess: "Women." It's as simple as that?
Scott: Yes. She had published quite a few things; this is just one. She
was a real authority on acacias, wrote this section on acacias for
Bailey's Encyclopedia of Horticulture. She had every reason to have
been advanced to full professorship, but was not. Professor
309
Scott: Shepherd tried without success to increase her pension when she
retired. An assistant professor's salary did not entitle her to an
adequate pension.
Riess: Mabel was the garden designer and Anita the horticulturist and
collector?
Scott;
Riess
Scott:
They had traveled in Italy together. They were both women of taste
and culture. Miss Symmes came back to Berkeley and took some
courses in the Department of Landscape Design. Garden design at
that time was mainly the study of gardens of the Mediterranean
region, of Spain and Italy, because the climates were similar, and
most design at that time in California — architecture and landscape
architecture — tended to be based on Mediterranean precedent. Miss
Symmes was able to lay out a formal Italianate garden.
Would Mabel would have been like Isabella Worn?
practice, from anything you know?
Did Mabel actually
Not as far as I know. I'm sure they would have met and discussed
gardens and plants. Isabella Worn set up a nursery in Marin County,
and I'm sure Mabel would have acquired plants from her, or exchanged
seeds. It was a common practice. Miss Worn also decorated for
banquets and weddings.
Riess: I wish there were evidence — I suppose just scratching through all
the letters would come up with it — of correspondence and fellow
feeling among the Bournes, for instance, down at Filoli [Woodside],
and the Blakes, and the McDuffies, with their Berkeley garden. I
would wish to know whether they were interested in each others
gardens.
Scott: Early copies of California Horticulture magazine have some
references to all those places, I believe. Pacific Horticulture is
a later development from California Horticulture Quarterly which
started after the founding of the society. The editor now is George
Waters, who is English and a very good horticulturist, and editor.
He has familiarized himself with most of the early records of the
society and has, of course, a complete file. .
It's unfortunate that Victor Reiter, who was one of the
founding members and a fine nurseryman in San Francisco, died just
last year, because I'm sure he knew the Blakes very well.*
Riess : And how they connected with everyone else.
*"Victor Reiter, Jr. 1903-1986." Pacific Horticulture. Vol.48,
No. 1, Spring 1987, p. 47.
310
Scott: Right, he would have known more than anyone.
Riess: Elizabeth McCLintock was trying to arrange a meeting with Peggy
Brown, who might have remembered Anita Blake at horticulture society
meetings.
Scott: Very probably she would have, and Victor Reiter. Who else? These
early garden enthusiasts are passing. There are one or two other
original members still alive. There is a former president, editor
emeritus, F. Owen Pearce, who also has clear recall.
311
The House and Garden Come to the University
Geraldine Knight Scott In Charge
Walter Vodden, and the Neighbors
Riess: When we talked on the phone you said you were in charge at the
gardens from 1958-1969. Walter Vodden came on the scene in 1957,
hired by Punk [H. Lei and] Vaughan, to help the Blakes in every way
that he could.
Scott: Yes, Walter was there, and he became very valuable because he knew
where the sprinkling system valves were, and things like this. The
watering lines had all been put in piecemeal, not a designed system.
Walter was also very helpful in making peace with the neighborhood
because the neighbors resented having the University take over that
property.
Riess: I didn't know that. What form did this resentment take?
Scott: Well, they knew that there would be more traffic, more people coming
to the garden. They liked the remoteness and privacy of the area
that they lived in, and were not happy to see it developed in any
way, or become an institution. The people who lived above had often
visited the garden, had been free to just walk through — any time.
Also the monastery people next door weren't happy about having it
become a University property; they preferred it to be as private as
possible. Having classes, or groups of students coming to the
garden, didn't appeal to the neighbors.
Riess: There had been a tradition of that, though.
Scott: Oh, but very few at a time. Classes were getting bigger by this
time, you know. Earlier there had been only one earful of students,
but by the time there were busses coming out — with classes of thirty
students, or a whole chain of cars, or you have a University bus.
312
Scott: the neighbors didn't like that. (The property is in Kensington, an
unincorporated town in Contra Costa County, not Berkeley, although
it has a Berkeley zip code.)
There were water problems out there always: two natural
streams run through and in flood years they overflowed, flooding the
property below or the property that adjoins at the service entrance.
Those neighbors fought over the property line all the time. They
really had built too close to the property line, so they kept trying
to move the line. A very peculiar woman, whose name I don't even
remember, would keep appealing to the University to do something to
try to control the deer problem. The University built a fence along
that boundary, and then she objected to the line of the fence —
although it was put on the survey line. There were objections all
the time from the neighbors.
When we really began to develop the garden for a presidential
residence and had to put in lighting systems, naturally they didn't
like that. Some wanted trees cut, the trees that were getting up
into their views. There were always objections, but Walter was very
good about keeping peace with the neighbors.
Riess: How did he do that?
Scott: Well, just by being friendly, I suppose, telling them they could
still visit the garden, that nothing was changed. He was good at
quieting their fears.
Riess: And did they not complain directly to the University?
Scott: Yes, some did. Also to the planning office in Contra Costa
County.
Riess: Had it all been dormant when the Blakes were there?
Scott: Yes. No problem, that I know of but when they gave the garden to
the University, and we began to prune or cut trees down, then they
objected. People didn't want the garden touched; they wanted it
left exactly the way it was. However, it was a jungle with the
trees too close together. The garden had to be opened up if it was
going to serve as a semi-public garden.
Riess: But the neighbors were offended by that?
Scott: Oh, yes.
Riess: At the same time they wanted the trees topped, though, or carved,
for their views.
313
Scott: Yes, different trees topped from the ones we were taking out. We
were taking out trees for a different reason, taking out pines and
conifers that were crowding each other, or because they were
diseased. They wanted eucalyptus topped because they were getting
up into their view. Competing interests.
Riess : I wondered if any of them were contemporaries of the Blakes.
Scott: Not that I know, but Walter would know.
Riess: I know that Mrs. Blake's friend was someone named Agnes McCormick
Barchf ield.
Scott: It was Mrs. Barchf ield — now you give me the name — that complained
most about the University. They had been good friends and I guess
that explains it. She contended that she owned to the center of the
creek. [laughs] Well, the creek moved its center frequently, and
when the University tried to put up a fence, you see, they didn't
put it in the center of the creek, it was put on the survey line.
Mrs. Barchf ield was connected to somebody; she had a straight
pipeline to the vice-president's office and complained bitterly so
that they always referred to her as "that can of worms" every time
I called. [laughs]
Riess: Actually the installation of lighting — again, I'm surprised that the
neighbors would complain. That is a dark corner of the world.
Wouldn't they welcome lighting for security?
Scott: I would have thought so, but they didn't like the glare from the
paved surfaces which interfered with their views of the bay.
Riess: Oh, I see. So Walter was conciliatory, but the University was
unbending, would you say?
Scott: Yes, totally, I mean policy. Walter just had to make peace; he
didn't have any authority.
Funding for Maintenance
Riess: Who else was about the place? Churchill Womble was one of the
gardeners. When you arrived there was Walter and who else?
Scott: That's all. There was no endowment left and I had to beg for money
to do everything that was necessary: the watering system was break
ing down, the trees needed pruning, and all kinds of things were in
need of repair. These were called "capital improvements," so the
314
Scott: Blake Estate would be No. 153 on the capital improvements list, and
then it would move up to No. 107 maybe, by the next year, and so on.
To do each was a battle, to get an allocation of funds for any
purpose.
Riess : Were they beginning to have second thoughts about what they had
taken on, then, do you think?
Scott: Management was funnelled through the department, and the department
just didn't have that much clout, I guess. The battle for funds in
the University is always there. It's a state university, and
there's a budget, and you can't get anything unless you get it on
the budget and then take your turn. Emergency funds didn't exist
until we had a real flood one year, and then they found some
emergency funds to take care of that.
Riess: It came completely unendowed?
Scott: So far as I know.
Riess: Robert Gordon Sproul was president when it came into the system, and
then dark Kerr — did Kerr take any interest in it?
Scott: Not so far as I know. Mrs. Kerr, but not Mr. Mrs. Kerr had her own
ideas, of course, of making the house into a home for Prytanean
graduate women students, yet any of us could have told her it
wouldn't work. Anyway, she was a very strong person, and they found
the money to do the work, about $35,000 in all. What they did was
put in double wash basins, and divide up the big bedrooms with
partial partitions, so each girl had a little privacy, but not much.
Riess: I know you said to me that it was bound to fail, and I wanted to ask
you today what was inevitable about it.
Scott: It was remote, and the girls wouldn't like that; they didn't want to
be that far from campus activity — it was dark, it was remote. The
first year a certain number of girls signed up, but they didn't sign
up to come the next year, and they couldn't recruit. After two-and-
a-half years, nobody wanted to be there.
Riess: I could see it as a very desireable place for a little scholarly
activity. Maybe that was the notion that Mrs. Kerr had, that
graduate students would wish to be cloistered and secluded.
Scott: But apparently they didn't wish to be.
Riess: Was it always something that the presidents had to deal with rather
than the chancellors? In other words, Mrs. Strong wouldn't have
been involved because it was University-wide rather than campus?
315
Scott: I don't know, that's a good question. I never dealt with anybody
except Mr. Canning in the President's Office. It had been handed to
him as a vice-president, in charge of property.
Riess: This was Lawrence Canning? [Assistant Business Manager, Business
and Finance Office, Sproul Hall]
Scott: I always had to deal with him; everything was referred to him. When
Professor Vaughan handed me the job and I asked, "How can I get
anything done?" Punk would just say, "Call Mr. Canning." I'd call
Mr. Canning; Mr. Canning would groan. [laughs]
Riess: So that even though it's your job, you become a thorn in his flesh.
Scott: Yes, right. He would laugh too, you know. There was no money.
Riess: I would really be interested in knowing whether, in fact, it was
considered to be an extension of the Berkeley campus.
Scott: There was very little discussion. The department was not really
interested in the property. Professor Vaughan had received it, and
I had already had many jobs of remodeling old estates in Marin and
San Mateo Counties. I was a natural. To hand it over to me — I was
a lecturer, teaching one course, could I take this on — it was a
cheap way of getting work done. All they'd have to do is put me on
for two-thirds time to handle the Blake Estate, which they did.
But it was something I'd done a great deal of, I liked
redeveloping old estates. I was teaching planting design, which
includes the creation of outdoor spaces. This was a jungle to be
cleared out to make some spaces that would be for visitors to a
semi-public garden. I enjoyed working on the garden. But I had not
enough money, or staff — you know. I had always done private estates
before, never had to deal with a bureaucratic set-up.
Making Decisions
Riess: But as far as what you cleared out, you didn't have to check that
with the University? Once they gave you the job, it was your baby?
Scott: My decisions. As a landscape architect that was my job. But there
were objections from the neighbors, hating to hear the sound of the
saw, and to taking down trees — people love trees. Also a few
department people went out there and asked, "Why are you doing
this?" They hadn't given the place two minutes' thought.
316
Scott: At the same time you should understand that the Department of
Landscape Architecture philosophy was going through a very great
change. It had started as gardening with great emphasis on
horticulture. Then it moved into a strong design and construction
phase, but a design emphasis, and at the same time as they added
more design courses they dropped horticulture. (This was before the
ecology movement.) They took out all the ag sciences — all that I
had had was taken out — and reduced the teaching of plants: whereas
Miss Jones had taught about five hundred plants, plant materials
were reduced to one hundred plants.
The staff and their main emphasis had shifted to what was
called "analysis paralysis", Le. to analyzing problems forever and
ever, looking at social factors, and economic factors, etc. All
very important, but cutting out almost all the ag sciences. When I
was invited in to teach whatever I wanted to teach, I found that the
weakest link in the profession was planting design. Private pro
fessionals were designing but didn't follow through with good planting
designs. They were making excellent ground plans. So I chose to
set up a course in planting design, the first one that had been
offered at Cal. I was the only woman in the department, you know,
so they just kept me there doing that plus working on the Blake Garden.
The Garden as a Teaching Tool
Riess : Was your course required?
Scott: Yes, it was required, but before students took it they had learned
only one hundred plants. I couldn't teach much planting design,
because they didn't know enough plants. Blake Garden was my
laboratory. The department as such took almost no interest in the
Blake Estate. I took my classes there, and we talked about design —
not just the plants. So it was a very good laboratory for me, for
what I was teaching, real examples of real problems.
Riess: Did botanists study out there?
Scott: No, botany had changed its emphasis to micro-botany already, and was
not at all interested. There were entomologists out there using the
garden, and plant pathologists. Old estates are full of diseases,
so Bob Raabe found it a wonderful laboratory. Trying to get more
uses of it, I encouraged the entomology department to set up
studies, which they did; they used it a good deal for studies in
biological control of pests. And occasionally taxonomists used it.
But the botany department made no particular use of it. Soil
technology students took soil samples out of there and came out for
study sessions. Various College of Agriculture people, made some
use of Blake Garden.
317
Scott: But the people at College of Environmental Design, no. I offered
many times. Because we had a fairly complete survey it was ideal to
use for design problems, really. The students could go to inspect
the actual terrain and study the basic data. Once in a great while
some professor would set up a problem out there, but very seldom.
Riess: Did they have to clear what they were doing with you, any of these
departments?
Scott: No, no.
Riess: So plant pathologists could just go out there, they didn't have to
schedule themselves, or do something about it?
Scott: [shakes her head]
Riess: So that wasn't a problem.
Scott: No, no problem.
Riess: When students from Merritt and places like that came, how did they — ?
Scott: None of those came in my time.
Riess: Oh, okay.
Scott: We encouraged horticultural society people to visit the garden. We
set up visiting hours. The whole point was to make it available and
useful as a community resource.
Riess: Because the more you did that the higher profile you'd get, and the
University might begin to support it a little more, too?
Scott: I don't know. It just didn't happen. It was Professor [Fran]
Violich who asked me to make the study, he was acting chairman at
the time.
[Note from Mrs. Scott]
In the American Society of Landscape Architect's Committee on
Education School Evaluation Report on the Department of
Landscape Architecture, University of California, 1966-1967,
the following was included, under "Facilities and equipment
available and used by the School": Blake Garden: 10 1/2 acres
of gardens and undeveloped land, Blake Residence, greenhouse
and head house. A gift to the University and the Department. A
rich potential, but development possible only upon adequate
staffing and adequate budget — realistic only in terms of
private or foundation funding. 1957 Deed of Gift requires the
Regents to keep the property for instruction and research for
twenty years. After 1977 it could be sold. Perhaps that is
why the Department was not interested in developing the use of
the garden. [See page 501.]
318
Long-Range Development Plan for the Blake Estate
Riess: Why don't we go to the long-range plan? Vaughan was head of the
department, but it was Violich who requested it of you, in 1963?
Scott: I think he was acting chairman at the time that I completed it.
Riess: Did you welcome that undertaking?
Scott: Yes and no, because I knew it would be a lot of work, and [laughs]
that I was being very much underpaid for doing it. Making a long-
range plan was simply an extension of what I was already doing, just
getting it down on paper.
Riess: Had you already been developing these ideas? Certainly for the
garden plan?
Scott: Sure, yes. Under this title of asking me to do a long-range plan.
Professor Vaughan must have wangled enough money to pay me for my
extra time. But this was certainly the most for the least for the
University. [laughs]
Riess: So in the long-range plan, then, you set up an administrative
structure, for one thing?
Scott: Well, that's in the long-range, yes. I had already increased the
staff of gardeners, but if it was going to be really developed, then
it would take more maintenance, and I certainly had to develop a plan
far enough to get some kind of a cost estimate of what would be required.
Riess: Was this plan to be presented to the Regents?
Scott: I don't know; it never was; it was only presented to the department,
and I don't think the department ever even presented it to the
college. A committee of the faculty was set up to review it, but
they didn't review it until I forced them to.
Riess: Because they were not interested in the first place.
Scott: That's right. About half-way through they reviewed my proposals,
and then finally they reviewed the whole thing. I asked Michael
Laurie to make sketches for the report and involved as many
department people as I could, my TA and some former graduate
students to make the survey, and so on.
Riess: So it was a real exercise in landscape planning.
Scot-t: Getting it done within the University set-up as much as possible was
certainly doing it the hard way, but everybody who did work on it
learned a lot. I've talked to those people — like Michael Wheelwright
319
Scott: and Carlisle Becker who did the survey, and Harry Tsugawa (they're
all mentioned in the introduction to it) — they all felt they learned
a great deal from what they did. It was both a teaching and a
learning experience.
Riess: When did the ideas for use of the house and the conference center
concept come up?
Scott: The conference center came out of my mind, as a projection of what
the property was suitable for. Nobody else had proposed that. I
still think this is a legitimate use for it. That's what a long-
range development plan is all about, the possible uses for an old
piece of property and an old house.
Riess: Conference center, or something a little bit like the Center [for
Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences] at Stanford.
Scott: I went down to see that, and felt that the Blake property was
suitable in every way for a similar use. But there was no interest
at that time. Many people thought the University should just get
rid of the property, as it's too remote from the campus to be really
useful. But I felt perfectly sure the University's not going to
sell property; there'll always be a use for it. It's tax-free. And
they never could acquire anything comparable, so why would they get
rid of it?
Riess: The long-range study basically just disappeared into the archives?
Scott: As far as I know.
A Committee of The Regents Visit
Riess: In December, 1965 Regent William Coblentz and Regent Catherine
Hearst took a little tour of the house. In July, 1966 Catherine
Hearst is quoted in the papers as feeling that $33,000 just to pave
over termites is not a justifiable expenditure by the Regents.
Thirty-three thousand dollars was an estimated cost for some very
basic structural work on the house so that it could be used. In
other words, there was no love lost for the house.
Scott: This was before the Prytaneans were tenants even.
Riess: No, but this was before they knew they had to house President Hitch.
Scott: Oh, yes, I did take them on a garden tour, yes. We met out there —
I'd forgotten all about this — also another woman from Los Angeles
who was a Regent.
320
Riess: Chandler.
Scott: Mrs. Chandler, yes, and a couple of men. That was a funny episode.
We met out there and discussed various problems, one being the need
to fence the property completely, and why? Because of the deer.
They couldn't believe there were deer there. After they went
through the house and we were walking toward the rose garden,
somebody turned around and there were four deer following us! A
wonderful moment, just like a New Yorker cartoon. [laughs]
But I received no report on that meeting, nothing, no
response — to me, [laughs]
Riess: Do you remember them responding to the garden positively?
Scott: Oh, yes, people all thought it was a lovely, lush place.
And it was looking pretty wonderful by 1965-66?
Riess
Scott
Riess ;
Scott;
Oh, yes, I'd gotten a great deal of the overgrowth removed and a new
lawn where the big lawn now is. It was in pretty good shape by that
time. The old greenhouse had been removed, and a proper work yard,
corporation yard, and tool house installed.
And was there a handsome sign at the entrance that identified it?
No. There was only a small sign. The garden was only open in the
afternoons. I don't remember the schedule, but whenever Walter was
willing to have it open, four days a week or something like that.
There were quite a few visitors to the garden.
Wider Use
Riess: You said that you had been putting on some courses in horticulture.
Scott: Yes, for some neighborhood women, and people from various garden
clubs. We advertised and held classes in the headhouse of the
greenhouse.
Riess: Extension classes, or how were they administered?
Scott: Under Extension, I guess. I can't remember how it was set up. I
taught several short courses and later somebody else taught them.
Linda Haymaker also taught some later. There were classes of twelve
to fifteen women one morning a week. They learned plants and a
little bit about design, or how to put plants together in garden
compositions in relation to form, color, texture etc.
321
Riess: Sounds like it would be good for goodwill, in any event.
Scott: Yes, it got the place known and used, and I guess justified some of
the work, as a University resource.
Riess: In fact, the place is still not known.
Scott: Oh, no, not widely.
I tried to interest the College of Environmental Design as a
whole in using it for entertainment purposes, or anything — having
class reunions out there. And then it came up one time — I think I
told you — about a wedding.
Riess: No.
Scott: I had two foreign students working in the greenhouses, for very
minimum pay, two foreign students who met there and loved the place.
They were from different countries, I don't remember which. Anyway,
they wanted to get married out there. So, "Would it be all right to
have it there?" And I said, "I don't know why not," I thought it
was great. Then I thought, uh oh. University — I'd better ask. So I
called Mr. Canning, and Mr. Canning said sort of "Ho, hum. hmmm. Is
this a religious ceremony?" And I said, "I don't know; I never
thought to ask." "Well, find out." And so I found out, and no. it
wasn' t.
So then he asked if wine would be served? (This was before
they had an open campus.) I said, "I doubt it, they're so poor; I
don't think that these kids have anything." Finally Mr. Canning
said, "Well, let's just pretend you didn't ask." So okay, they went
ahead and were married in the garden, and all went well.
It was at least four years after that before the garden was
ever used for a wedding again. It has become a very popular place
to have weddings since then. But — [laughs]
Riess: I guess the University was sensitive.
Scott: It was very uptight.
Riess: Did faculty wives use it for garden parties, or whatever?
Scott: I proposed setting up a Friends of the Blake Estate, a separate
organization like Friends of the Library, but I got little response.
I did invite some faculty wives from the whole College of
Environmental Design to discuss that idea — no takers.
Riess: Why?
322
Scott: I don't know, just no takers. Nobody wanted to put any effort into
it, so nothing happened.
Riess: Is that because everybody was — you know, were we all concerned with
Vietnam? It sounds almost like it was something that had to do with
the times as much as the place.
Scott: I think it was; people just weren't interested in doing any more
about the University.
Riess: Or gardens weren't relevant, maybe. I mean, if you read the
Berkeley Barb publicity when Hitch moved in, there was general
disapproval.
Scott: Oh, well, they tried to picket the place, sure, during the
construction. There was great protest because the remodelling was
costing so much money, and even the governor didn't have a residence
at that time. The old governor's residence had been condemned.
Reagan was governor; he didn't have any proper place to live; they
were going to build another place for him. We had to assure
everybody that this was private money — not state money — being paid
for the work. There were threats of picketing all the time the
house was under reconstruction.
Riess: You mean by students?
Scott: Students, and labor. A lot of union labor didn't want to work there
because the gardeners weren't union. They were employed by the
University, but that didn't make any difference to the union. The
union was really up in arms over this. The University was not
popular at that time at all, and this expenditure — I don't know how
much money it •• is.
Riess: It was $438,000 ultimately, I think.
Scott: Today we think that is peanuts, but there was a great deal of
feeling against spending such a sum.
Riess: Your effort to organize a Friends of the Blake Estate was prior to
your having any idea that it might be a presidential residence?
Scott: Yes, and then I was simply informed that that was going to happen.
323
Blake House Becomes the President's House
Riess: When did you hear about it first?
Scott: I guess the chairman of the department must have — it was Professor
Vaughan again, he was still there — told me what had been decided,
and I was recommended as the landscape architect, to work with
Ron Brocchini, the architect.
I met with Ron Brocchini first, and Norm a Wilier. We all met
out there together to look at what the problems were, and how we'd
have to "hitch" the garden to the house, [laughs] what provisions
we'd have to make for the construction, and at the same time keep
the garden available to students and visitors. We had to recognize
that these two activites would go on at the same time.
Riess: So that means access to the gardens.
Scott: We had to talk about how we were going to handle parking, and
entrances, and delivery, and placement of materials during
construction, and all of the typical problems of reconstruction.
Riess: I've looked at the files a lot, and there are many memos. In one of
the first memos in the first paragraph it lists the things that the
Hitches required, or wished to have, and it included a swimming
pool, and it also included something Nancy Hitch had seen somewhere
in Europe and liked very much, an outdoor eating area and fireplace;
And places for Caroline to play, and arrangements for dogs and so on
and so on. Were you in on the very early discussions of all this
stuff?
Scott: I don't remember such a list. I met with Mr. Hitch up in the
President's Office, with Ron Brocchini and Norma Wilier — Mrs. Hitch
not present at that first meeting. But I guess this list of what
was wanted was discussed and how each item could be accomo dated.
Riess: Were budget considerations uppermost, or was it just going to go
ahead?
324
Scott: Not discussed in my presence at all. Never discussed. As far as I
was concerned I was simply to plan to join garden to house, and
accomodate each feature. There was no budget set up for the
landscape work.
Riess: Was it a time then that you could do a lot of things that you'd
always wanted to do in the garden, because now here at last is a lot
of money?
Scott: Yes it did mean some further development, in line with my wanting to
do something in the area on the west side, below the house. That
area was a natural for a lake. It was remote for a swimming pool,
but we did consider it. I did a preliminary plan, with a swimming
pool there, and it was considered too costly and too remote from the
house. That area ended by becoming a golf putting green. We
considered the swimming pool in other locations closer to the house,
but they were worried about control responsibilities when it would
be more accessible to visitors. We considered a steel tank pool
raised well above the grade, instead of at ground level, as really
the best way to build a pool on the site. Such a pool would be
earthquake proof — it's so close to the Hay ward fault. That was the
best way to construct a pool in any case on that property. But that
was ruled out as being too expensive. I didn't get into estimating
the cost, as it was simply ruled out.
Riess: What were the major changes in the garden?
Scott: Well, the parking areas, of course. There had been very little
parking area, and the problem of how to get deliveries to the
kitchen entrance — so close to the main entrance at the same time —
and screenings, and garage — they wanted the garage in the house, so
it had to go clear around and under.
Then Mrs. Hitch couldn't back out easily. Later we had to
build an extension on a platform, backing over what was called the
Australian Hollow, on the other side of the ridge. That platform
allowed three extra parking places for servants or people assisting
in the house. I had to plan all of that plus fencing, because they
wanted the formal garden fenced, and the two gates, with electronic
controls. I also redesigned the house terraces and stairways to the
lawn area below the house on the west.
Riess: These are desirable things for the house, and the garden lighting — I
guess maybe that's something that you had perhaps always wanted to
do.
Scott: Oh, definitely desirable to do, and if they were going to entertain
it certainly was almost a necessity to add lighting to the garden in
addition to the entrance road. The parking and entrance way had to
be well lighted. Indirect lighting of the garden was something I
proposed and accomplished. It's in complete disrepair now, I believe.
325
Riess : I wanted to ask about it. There was an estimate from Scott Beamer
for garden lighting that was going to cost about $25,000, and yet
your budget ultimately, for all of your work, which includes
something called landscape lighting, was only $29,000.
Scott: Some landscape details went in one budget, and some in another. I
don't recall exactly.
Riess: But the grand plan for the garden lighting did go in?
Scott: Not all, some of it went in. Scott Beamer came out, great person
that he was, bringing thousands of feet of electrical cord, and
various kinds of fixtures, and set them up — which is the proper way
to plan garden lighting but very few people will do it, entirely on
spec. By trying it out we decided we could do without all that he
proposed. The essential lighting on the upper, formal garden, and
spotlighting one or two oaks to the north was about all that we did
install.
Riess: So the $25,000 sounds like it was reduced greatly. Who came to see
the light show?
Scott: Mai Arbegast and I scheduled a department party out there. So the
whole department came. We had a party to see the lighting — as an
educational project with Scott Beamer as the star performer and
teacher.
Riess: Was the department beginning to realize that they had a good thing
in hand, now that it was the president's residence.
Scott: [shakes head]
Riess: Still no particular interest?
Scott: I don't think the landscape architecture department took any
particular interest in the project at all. It seemed to me, and I
talked to Michael Laurie about this, that this would be an ideal
time to educate the president of the University on the importance of
landscape architecture, and to get more prestige for the department,
which had been always on the low end of the scale in environmental
design, and that politically this was a natural opportunity. But no
one followed through. I was retired very soon after, so I didn't do
anything about it either. Working through the planning and building
educated Mr. Hitch somewhat. I think, but not to the point of
enlisting his support. The department really could have used this
opportunity in a great way. If Professor Vaughan had been the
chairman, I think he would have. I don't know who was chairman at
that particular point.
Riess: Well, the dean of the College of Environmental Design might well
have used it.
326
Scott: He might have, but he didn't.
Riess: Was that Martin Meyerson?
Scott: No, that must have been William L. Wheaton. Wheaton was too busy
working on bigger things between Washington and the state. He was
working on national and state political issues in housing and
planning.
Riess: But you did educate President Hitch about it. In what way, and what
were the results of this education?
Scott: I don't think I did succeed very much in this. He liked what we had
planned and built, but I don't think I was able to make him see the
larger picture in any way.
Riess: According to Mr. Hitch, it was very hard for his wife to have the
garden a public place.
Scott: I got almost nowhere with Mrs. Hitch. I think she was very confused
about her own role as the president's wife. She was interested in
art and ceramics; they built in a special studio for her, into the
house, which she seldom used. She seemed to feel that she had to do
so many presidential duties that she couldn't take time for herself.
And yet she was not comfortable in that role as the president's wife
either, and always very worried about her daughter Caroline, worried
about kidnapping. She was a worrier. Her concerns were not, I
think, the larger issues.
Riess: So she didn't embrace the garden as a project?
Scott: She embraced the garden as a place to provide her with cut flowers
every day. The next job for Russ Beatty was to build a big cut
flower garden, and for Walter to deliver cut flowers to the house
every day. The Blake House was her residence, to be managed in a
kind of grand manner. She was interested in the history of the
house, and garden. Mai had made a fine album of early and late
pictures of the garden, which she lent to Mrs. Hitch.
Riess: There ia a nice picture album that is now on the table in the house.
Scott: Mai took the pictures and made the album. Mai is a recorder. Mai
has always taken pictures at various times from the same spot. She
really records plant growth, and how it looks at various periods.
She has taken wonderful slides and pictures. All those plant and
garden slides in the department are Mai Arbegast's work.
Riess: And she did have that intense relationship with the house and garden
for a couple of years. But then she was no longer part of the
program?
327
Scott: Well, she wasn't teaching in the University anymore, she didn't get
tenure, so she couldn't afford to just be giving more time to it,
although she often goes to visit. Mai keeps up her interest in
everyplace and everybody. She's an amazing person.
Riess : But there wasn't a way that you could hire someone like Mai? You
didn't have positions at the beginning other than just your
gardeners?
Scott: I got two gardeners to assist Walter, and some student help, part
time, and that's as much help as we ever got out there. Tree
cutting and heavy pruning was done by outside contractors.
Riess: Just a little detail: in memos where you refer to "filling and
developing bowl to west of house," is that the swimming pool area
that became the putting green? Is that what you mean by that?
Scott: Yes. That was a very difficult problem because that whole area is a
sink formed after an earthquake. There are two sloping ridges with
two sinks between the ridges. Water collects in those sinks natur
ally, and to get water out of there we had to dig through a ridge
and put in a very special kind of drainage in order to grow a lawn.
Otherwise it would have become a marsh. It was a really very
complex problem, and I'm sure in wet years it's still a problem.
That sort of drainage is very imperfect and often requires pumping.
A swimming pool in that area presented the same kind of problem.
The soil becomes puddled. Only marsh plants and grasses grow well
in such a hollow.
Riess: That's interesting. Such a big project, it makes me think again of
what a good experience it would have been for students to have
worked there.
Scott: Well, those students who were there during the time that this was
going on all learned, through me, quite a good deal. But the
department never set up projects in which various professors took
part. They each taught their own separate course, they did not
collaborate on problems — as they did at Cornell, which I think was a
very much better system. But at the time I was in the department,
either as a student or as a lecturer later, they never did that. So
that whereas a person teaching construction might set up a
construction problem using Blake Garden, it would be a little minor
kind of thing. A professor teaching detailed design might make his
students design a pergola for a particular place or something like
that, but never utilizing the site as an overall problem, which it
could have been — a very good problem.
Riess: And a little satisfaction if it's a real problem, too.
328
Scott: Professors were beginning to get more interested in public work.
park systems, and housing developments, at the time. They could have
used it, but they didn't.
Now, I think I ought to mention this, that when Robert Tetlow
became chairman, some years after I had retired, he got a notion
that he could get a little money to do something about the Blake
Estate. (Although he had ignored it totally before that and always
voted against doing anything about the Blake Estate.) He got the
notion that there ought to be a Friends of the Blake Estate. So he
appealed to me to head such an organization and he would support it.
I said, "Thanks, but no thanks." I'm not about to take on that
problem at this stage in my life. I'd had no support before and I
was not about to try again. Even though the times had changed and
it might have worked. It didn't work; he didn't find anybody, and
nothing happened. You might talk to Tetlow, because he's still
there, about how much of an effort he made — I have no idea.
Riess: If you retired, then you can't tell me, for instance, how the Saxons
interacted with the gardeners.
Scott: No. I stopped going out there because I felt Walter was not a good
enough maintenance person. I'd done a great deal to get his status
raised to a higher and higher level, and he, I feel, didn't set a
high enough standard for his own workmen. He never got ahead of
just common things like the weeds each year. It was so frustrating.
This place should have been a model of maintenance and I never was
able to raise it to that degree.
Riess: Even though you were his boss in this case.
Scott: [laughs] Walter's words are telling: I'd say, "I'd like to see you
do this, get this done by such and such a date." "No problem." But
he seldom accomplished what I had asked for.
Riess: He called you "ruthless, and w onde rf ul . "
Scott: [laughs]
Riess: So there.
Scott: Ruthless because I cut trees that he didn't think should be cut
because they were healthy trees. I've been called ruthless by many
people, as are most artists and designers, [laughs]
Riess: But "wonderful." He obviously knew that you must love the place as
much as he did.
329
Scott: Well, I gave it more attention than anybody else had and he got some
satisfaction out of that. Most gardeners feel very lonesome. Not
many people went out there; the garden wasn't used; they didn't get
praise. A head gardener's job in a place like this is difficult.
Mrs. Hitch was demanding in a way. Apparently the Saxons really
liked the gardening and took a considerable interest, and both, I
think, enjoyed the time that they were there very much because they
really were interested in the garden, Mrs. Saxon particularly,
according to Linda Haymaker.
330
Talking About the Garden
The Paths, Labelling the Plants
Scott: The stone on the Blake Estate, the walls, the grotto, and all that,
came from the estate. The Blakes were interested in that property
because stone was part of his business. Other people might have
been daunted by that rock — there's rocky subsoil and rock outcrop —
but it interested the Blakes. When they came to build the paths,
for instance, having a rock quarry, crusher in Richmond they
prepared paths with bases sometimes eighteen inches thick. Moving a
path was an enormous job. Where the lawn area is now, that lawn to
the south of the driveway was criss-crossed with paths around a little
old greenhouse, and service area. To remove those paths and get that
area into a uniform planting area of soil was a major job. Nobody
could understand why it took so long or cost so much in labor time.
Riess: Eighteen inches! The bases were really —
Scott: — crushed rock. You know, built up properly with coarse stone, and
finer and finer; built up better than the bases of our streets.
Riess: You couldn't have turned them into drainage systems?
Scott: They didn't go in the right direction; they were paths. [laughs]
Riess: That's a wonderful bit of archaeology.
Did you find signs of the Blakes' idiosyncracies? [pause]
We talked about the cats — .
Scott: They loved cats, and species roses. [laughs] With having so many
pine needles available, we used them to surface paths, producing a
marvelous springy walking surface.
Many of the areas that seem poorly planted are impossible
because of the rocky subsoil, and/or poor drainage; drainage
channels through all that area are curious because of earthquake
331
Scott: faulting action. Natural drainage has been changed by earthquake
action, resulting in something like a moraine, mixtures of different
kinds of soils deposited and drainage blocking, interesting
geologically. I had a geologist come out and talk to me about it.
There is a section about the geology in the long-range plan.
Riess: Was it under you tenure that plants were labelled there, to the
extent that they are?
Scott: Mai had made the plant inventory, and labelling was one of the
things that Bob Raabe and I did, and I'm sure that this continued
with Russ Beatty. Walter tried to encourage people like
horticultural society people and garden club people to come there,
and he knew that labelling was needed. I remember we studied
various kinds of labels, but the best waterproof kind are quite
expensive. We had to settle for something less than good. How many
got labelled I don't know. I think Linda Haymaker probably would
have added a good many. She's been there ten, eleven years. She
should have been made the director, after Walter.
Riess: You think it's another case of a woman being passed over?
Scott: Definitely.
Riess: Garrett Eckbo almost lived in the house? Do you remember anything
about that? I think Walter told me that when the house was empty, I
guess after Prytanean, Garrett Eckbo and his wife came up here and
more or less said that they wouldn't mind living in the house.
Scott: I never heard that, but I know he had a hard time finding a place to
live. When the landscape architecture department brought Garrett up
to be chairman, he left a very nice home in southern California, and
in Berkeley finding a house was difficult. So it's perfectly
possible.
The Brochure, and Articles about the Gardens
Riess: I have a couple of final questions: the files are thick on getting
that Blake Estate brochure together. It was just an impossible task
to even write it? Everyone was in on it.
Scott: Except me, which is the curious part, because Mrs. Hitch asked me
for quantities of material, which I gave her, and the next thing I
knew there was the brochure — I'd been by-passed again.*
*Letter from Scott to Appleyard. See Appendices, 00, PP.
332
Scott: The article that Linda Haymaker wrote in Pacific Horticulture
is the best thing that has come out in print.* Infinitely better
than the one that Garden Magazine did [1986],
Riess: The Garden Magazine one was full of inaccuracies?
Scott: Oh, yes, it's very poor.
Riess: Wonderfully photographed. It is by Lawrence Lee. Who is Lawrence
Lee?
Scott: Lawrence Lee is now the director of horticulture at Staten Island
Botanical Gardens [looking at magazine].
Riess: He was a graduate of U.C. Berkeley?
Scott: Yes, I guess that's why he came out here. He's a nice young man and
knowledgeable about horticulture. Linda's article is very good, and
well written.
The Garden, Twenty Years Ago
Riess: How different is the garden now from 1964, would you say? It was a
fully-grown garden then.
Scott: Oh, yes, much of it was overgrown already, because there were plants
from many lands, and many had been planted from seed, with no
knowledge of how fast they would grow in this climate. They'd been
planted too close together, which forces upright growth. Also the
Slakes liked vines, had planted quantities of vines climbing on many
trees — species roses, particularly, which have wild thorns. All
species roses are very thorny, really wicked kinds of thorns. Many
of those trees in what is now the lawn area and the entrance area
had climbing roses clear to the top, festooning over them. It was
handsome in a way, but truly a jungle.
I had made a study of species roses for Dr. Emmet Rizford, a
great rosarian, who had asked me to make the study. I found many of
then at the Blake Estate later. That study was published in
California Horticulture. I knew about these roses. They were
wonderful in a way, but you can't just cut them back, you have to
take them out, because if you cut them back they grow even more
vigorously, having such tremendous root systems. We had to actually
*"Blake Garden," Pacific Horticulture, Spring 1987, No. 1,
pp. 8-13. See Appendices.
333
Scott: do away with what had been a good collection of species roses. But
what was the place for? It wasn't a real botanical garden; it
didn't have any great collections. It did have plants from many
lands, adapting to this climate, and we tried to keep all of those
that were really significant, or to keep one specimen of each in a
place that didn't need to be cleared in order to make some space for
people. To enjoy plants you have to have some kind of viewing space.
Many trees, for instance the magnolias planted around this
main pool, were already too large. They were a poor selection. But
at the time there were probably no horticultural varieties.
They didn't grow those from seed; they bought those from the
nursery as little magnolia trees. (Since then cultivars that are
dwarfed, better proportioned, better shaped, have been developed.)
Those magnolias had just been allowed to grow naturally, and when
trees aren't pruned regularly, and later you start pruning them, you
deform them.
Riess : So these were replanted?
Scott: No, they're still the original trees, but they're very deformed, and
one or two have died, and their roots are cracking the pool. It's
one of the major things that must be tended to, by next summer I
understand. A lawn can't grow in that much shade. It's a design
decision: either the trees should be taken out completely, and new
ones planted, or given over to the lawn, letting the trees from the
side do the enclosing. These are all design decisions which Walter
was not capable of making, or wouldn't make, and even pruning
heavily hurt him.
Riess: But you were there to make that decision.
Scott: I made the design decisions all the time I was in charge, but in
order to control those trees then, they had to be thinned at least
every other year.
Riess: And since you've left there hasn't been a design person there?
Scott: Russ Beatty has been in charge.
Russ Beatty, who is a landscape architect and a designer, but
without the kind of experience that I have in back of me, simply
couldn't get the money and didn't force the pruning. He doesn't
have as strong a conviction about design as I have, let's say, so
that less pruning got done. Now, the new man John Norcross is
trained as an architect, not as a landscape architect. He worked up
at the Botanical Garden and learned his plants by working there.
Riess: But that doesn't give you garden design.
Scott: No, it doesn't.
334
And Twenty Years Later
Scott: Linda Haymaker has much more of a design sense. She came out of the
landscape architecture department, and has since gone back to the
University and gotten herself a master's degree. She loves the
place, and would have been an ideal person, but she's not exceedingly
forceful. She couldn't be forceful under Walter Vodden; she's never
been given the opportunity to make major decisions. I think she
would have been the ideal person. However, she was not advanced to
that position. Russ Beatty insists that Norcross has a strong
design sense and will keep the hedges properly pruned and all that.
I don't know.
Riess: What do you think the future is up there? You've hinted before at
another big change.
Scott: Well, it's still an appropriate place that the University could use
for some kind of a "think tank." There's plenty of space, both
above and below the house, with easy access from the roads below and
above to add extra housing, if needed, or extra laboratory space.
Riess: So you think it's not adequately used by having it the president's
official residence/office.
Scott: Well, it's an expensive thing to maintain for that purpose, but it
has been on the University's budget all this time. Only about four
acres of the ten-acre site are developed and maintained.
Riess: Do you see a new push for the garden?
Scott: I don't see it; however, they have a new chairman of the department
who's an entirely different kind of person. His name is Randy
Hester, and Randy believes in what he calls "responsible design."
He's done a lot of public work in which he involves all the people
concerned in the decision- making process. This the department also
believes in. I'm sure that he will concern himself with the Blake
Estate because he's that kind of person.
I've put ten years of my life into working on the Blake Estate,
and I'm still very hopeful that some good use will be made of that
property.
Transcriber: Johanna Wolgast
Final Typist: Shannon Page
335
Regional Oral History Office
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California
Blake Estate Oral History Project
Florence Holmes
THE FLOWERS OF THE GARDEN
An Interview Conducted by
Suzanne B. Riess
in 1987
Copyright
1988 by The Regents of the University of California
Flo Holmes in the Blake Garden's greenhouse, 1987,
Photograph by Suzanne Riess
336
TABLE OF CONTENTS — Florence Holmes
INTERVIEW HISTORY 337
BIOGRAPHY 338
The Flowers of the Garden 339
337
INTERVIEW HISTORY
Since the late 1950s Florence Louise Chilton Holmes has been arranging
flowers for the official houses of the University of California. Whenever
the University sets a fine table for an official function someone has to
decorate that table. In 1958, after the Robert Gordon Sproul years, as both
the campuses and the roles of the presidents' wives and the chancellors'
wives expanded, some of the traditionally wifely duties were delegated.
Mrs. Jack "Flo" Holmes was a graduate of Chouinard School of Fine Arts,
trained as an interior decorator, and already involved with flower arranging
through a Faculty Wives Section Club group. She had done some flower
arranging for Chancellor and Mrs. (Hark Kerr, and in 1958 when Kerr became
President she accepted a staff position where she was on call to do floral
arrangements for Berkeley's University House. In 1968 President and Mrs.
Charles Hitch requested Flo Holmes's services at Blake House, and she is
still, thirty years later, taking delight in finding the right arrangements
for the tables at Blake House.
To any query about how flower arranging might be a valid way of viewing
history, I would refer the social historian to the Regional Oral History
Office's memoir completed with Ida Amelia Sproul in 1981. The President's
Wife, in which Mrs. Sproul, in recalling the floral aspect of her duties
as president's wife also described working with Isabella Worn on flower
arrangements at University House for daughter Marion Sproul1 s wedding. This
is the same Miss Worn who worked in the gardens of Lurline Matson Roth at
Filoli in Woodside, and was a colleague of Mabel Symmes. Thus a bit of
connective tissue between those three institutions is woven and saved.
This brief interview with Mrs. Holmes was held in the sunroom at Blake
House. We were provided with tea and cookies by Marina Harrison. Marina
and her husband Dan are the resident staff at Blake House arj Viwe many
opportunities to recognize and appreciate from behind the see. s what Mrs.
Holmes takes on so willingly, often above the call of duty.
An open and cheerful person, Mrs. Holmes was very frank in the
interview. But while allowing herself to be amused by the vagaries of her
job and the idiosyncracies of the official families she has served, she
nevertheless clearly loves what she does and knows the Blake Gardens as well
as anyone on the gardening staff. She added her own conclusion to the
interview, saying, "Each day is a new and different challenge, never a
repeat, always something different. I guess they like my work. I'm still
around in my old age — still have plenty to do!"
Suzanne B. Riess
Interviewer- Editor
November 11, 1987
Regional Oral History Office
486 The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office 3 University of California
Room 486 The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California 94720
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please print or write clearly)
/•
Your full name ^
Date of birth i^^. 2- ^ -•</' Place of birth ~^/^/£>£<
Father's full name 4' UU&IH. ^/-u i •
Birthplace
Occupation ^WUt^ j^t^S ^ 2oten V
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Mother's full name
Birthplace l^.,' n c'V
Occupation -
Where did you grow up ? "^ .^^ rf..- -t:-t<- c^- •- ot-^c
Present community
Education Cft.'Ylc* ** /'
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Special interests or activities ^lUfite - S*.LLti&<i O.A-&-- ^ . tH-t-' * '-
339
The Flowers of the Garden
[Date of Interview: March 20, 1987]
Riess: How did your involvement with flowers at Blake House begin?
Holmes: Things just grew. I did things for the Kerrs when he was
chancellor, then as president.
Riess: You were a faculty wife.
Holmes: Yes, my husband Jack was a professor of educational psychology.
There was a need and interest in doing something with flowers, and
so we started a flower arrangement group in University Wives
Section Club.
Riess: When was that?
Holmes: In the late fifties sometime. I suppose the Section (Hub president
has a record of when it actually started.
Friends of mine, Nellie Rollifson, Margaret Horning, Rebecca
Cason, and I were made early chairman and co-chairman, and we
decided we'd better get a little training during the summer. I
asked Mrs. Obata if she could start a class, so we started a class
at the YWCA down in Oakland where she'd been doing classes all
along. She was glad to do it. We started at the top, really.
The Section dub group went on until a few years ago. and
then — . Well, the problem was that Strawberry Canyon [Haas
Clubhouse], which was built actually for faculty and student use,
outpriced us, and we couldn't afford to pay the rent to meet there.
It takes a lot of space and makes a mess. One has to have a place
to work, and so we just discontinued it. A home can handle no more
than a demonstration. (We do this through home and garden section
at times.)
Riess: When you were at the Y, it was just a small class?
340
Holmes: That was just six of us there. To learn flower arranging you have
to participate, and we took turns. With the Section Club group
sometimes we had guest speakers. And maybe someone would come and
do corsages. This training we have used at different University
events. There are a number of flower arranging shows and demonstra
tions in the Bay Area through garden clubs and the Japanese Ikebana
group.
Then when Dr. Kerr was president, they had many social events
at the house [University House] and Mrs. Kerr needed somebody to
help with flowers, so she asked me if I'd do it. Then after a
while I think they got embarrassed about it because I did it for
nothing. First they tried to get Mr. [Ari] Inouye to do it, and he
didn't know anything about it, even though he is Japanese,
[laughter] Not his job really — the campus grounds kept him very
busy.
They really ran me raggedl After the Kerrs then we had the
Strongs, then the Wellmans and others filled in, and they all had
their different ideas, and they were all using the place,
presidents and vice-presidents, chancellors. They were disturbing
days in the '60s.
Riess: Did you have any say in what they grew in the gardens of University
House?
Holmes: Yes, suggestions were welcomed. I had a lot of cooperation from
Ari Inouye. He's a wonderful person, very helpful and dependable;
he directed things.
Riess: Who planted the perennial and annual flower beds?
Holmes: Fred Chervatine, and he was really quite a guy. He kept us well
supplied with flowers. They've got quite a yard over there
actually. They don't have deer problems like they have here at
Blake. Now they have Bob West.
Riess: Did you know Ida Sproul?
Holmes: Yes, indeed. Grandma Sproul. too. Mrs. Obata used to do special
arrangements for Ida Sproul. I'd go in with her sometimes and
help. Just special events. She didn1 t drive.
Riess: Does that cutting garden on campus really date from Ida Sproul1 s
time in University House?
Holmes: Oh, yes, but Mrs. Sproul moved in armloads of greens. They've got
a big rose garden. There's a lot of sunny, south space. They've
got a lot more flowers there than they have here. We have to hike
around here for ours. Ten acres is quite a bit to cover to try
and find what's bloom ingl The flowers there were really very ample.
341
Riess :
Holmes
Riess:
Holmes
Riess :
Holmes :
Riess:
Holmes:
Riess :
Holmes
Riess :
Holmes:
Did you keep the house in flowers all the time, or were you only
called in for state occasions?
When the Heynses were there we kept the house pretty well filled up
with flowers because they lived there. They had come out from
Michigan, with three young sons. So things were lively, lived in.
Did you have a collection of beautiful vases at your disposal there?
Well, usually I went out and scouted, like I have here, for vases.
A few things came with the house. They have three Chinese bowls
that we used on the long dining room table. They had some real
heavy metal containers — you needed a derrick to pick them up.
After a while you can't carry all that stuff, especially upstairs,
so we kept these heavy ones down below and got things that were
more of the same shape, and of lighter material.
Did the gardeners cut the flowers?
Yes, usually, but I did too. We went over things I wanted. If I
ran short, I'd go out and get more. They didn't object to that.
We cut together more often than not.
If the chancellors and presidents hadn't had you, where else might
they have turned? Who were the professionals?
They used the florists. The professionals, state judges, you might
say, like competition and display things. They'll spend all day
doing one thing, which wouldn't fit in with what we needed, where
you had to put twenty or thirty arrangements in the house and get
it done before the caterers arrived or the party started. The
professionals spend a lot of time just on one thing, an amazing
amount of time.
You sound like you were essential to the social operation.
I guess so. Then I've included some of the girls who had had
training in flower arrangements. We did the Charter Day luncheons
too. for three or four hundred people, and special things at Kerr's
house, too. That was always something. But with Maggie Johnston
leading us around — she was wonderful, she really was a wonderful
person. She'd tell us what the president wanted. Maybe the number
would change, but she'd always allow for more than was needed, so
we didn't run short, things worked out well.
Were these things what the president wanted?
president's wife?
Wasn't it really the
Things fit together through Maggie. Every time it was something
different. Just like the food, the menu. But I got the orders
from Maggie. And I could suggest things too, whatever was in
342
Holmes :
Riess :
Holmes:
Riess:
Holmes :
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Holmes:
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Holmes :
Riess:
season. Sometimes you can't get things; it's not the season. Of
course the Kerrs liked to make it nice and showy. Each president
had his own idea, what kind of flowers, or vases.
Then how did you work with the Hitches at Blake House when they
moved up here?
Oh, the Hitches liked flowers all over. When she was away — . I
remember one time she phoned me on a Sunday and she said, "We're
home, Flo, and there isn't anything in the house." [laughter] The
house was big, though, and it does look kind of unlived in when you
don't have something alive in it. I hadn't gotten the message when
they were due home — no orders !
She wouldn't have done it for the house herself on that Sunday?
No, she didn't do it at all. She was an artist and potter, but
certainly liked the place happy. (Not time for things as
president's wife, believe me.)
She thought of you as a professional and she didn't want to
interfere?
I just don't think she did anything with plants, really. But she
liked flowers everywhere.
Didn't she ask the staff to grow particular things here?
Well, I think all the wives make a stab at that because of the
things that they are used to around their own place wherever
they've lived before.
Is there a cutting garden here? Or do you have to wander the
acres?
Holmes: It's up where you park your car, behind that big hedge of
blackberries. Just last time I was here the deer had broken into
the cutting area, chopped off all the new rose growth. But they
left the tulips, so I picked those. We figure if I don't get them
the deer willl The cutting area is rather poor, but then I don't
think we've ever had to go out and buy anything unless it was
something special, except in winter. December, January, and
February — nothing much but greens then.
Riess: The Japanese style of arrangement often is just a few blooms.
Holmes: Yes, the Hitches were contented with line arrangements. Of course
she was an artist too, so she understood. Mrs. Gardner likes a
bunch of flowers, a great bunch of them. Not just a line. You
have to fill it in! [laughs] Which is all right, but it takes a
lot more flowers to do that. Not Japanese style, more old English.
343
Holmes: Mrs. Gardner likes lilies and tulips and roses and freesias and
iris — though they are very expensive out of season. It hurts when
you have to go out and pay $1.25 for one lilyl Greenhouse plants
don't keep that well. Perhaps in California we use seasonal
flowers to better advantage.
Riess: The garden isn't able to support the "bunch of flowers" concept?
Holmes: Not in the wintertime. I've had to go out and buy supplies. We
usually try to buy it according to what the calendar is. too. If
they need it to last longer, then chrysanthemum or something that
will last.
But really we have an amazing amount of plant material around
here. I just really am spoiled. There are so many greens, and I
think greens are wonderful for contrasts. A great variety of
flowers, too. We've got some bamboo out here that's nice, a sort of
a variegated variety, it's kind of simple and good if I need extra
height.
They're trying to plant more variety out here for use. Linda
Haymaker has put in a lot of azaleas and rhododendron. If I live
long enough I'll be able to use them.
We've got a lot of varieties of pale grey leaves which is nice
to use. I like greens in different shades — grey, yellow-greens,
reds, wonderful combinations with flowers. Sizes, large, small
make a difference.
Riess: Who put together this organizational chart on how to handle flowers
for Blake House?*
Holmes: [laughs] I think maybe Maggie and Mrs. Hitch and I did that.
Walter Vodden was kind of dragging his feet. You know, the garden
is run by the Department of Landscape Architecture, and I don't
know — . That list gets funnier every time I read it.
Riess: You had to have it spelled out that there was one man who would
regularly cut flowers for you. and so on?
Holmes: That wore out in a hurry. If something came up that they wanted
Bill Jones to do, he'd take the truck and leave. They didn't do
much picking — a dream. I finally hired students to help me. If I
needed extra help in arranging I'd get a friend, usually students,
in to help. I did have several students over the years. Barbara
Balamuth [Andrews] graduated from Santa Cruz. She wasn't located,
*f oil owing page
343a 10/6/69
FLOWERS FOR BLAKE HOUSE:
The long run plan for handling flowers for Blake house should be as;J
/ follows:
1. Flo Holmes is told about a social event as far ahead as possible - right after
it goes on the calendar.
2. Flo Holmes should call the man who regularly picks flowers for her and tell
him 1) how many arrangements (approx) there gill be
2) what kinds of flowers she has in mind
3) when she wants them ready for arranging
3. There should be 1 man v;ho regularly cuts flowers for Flo. When she calls
him, he can decide how many of the kinds she has specified and from whence he
should but them, etc. If what she asks for are not available, he should
discuss this with her on the phone and work out substitutes fi.t that time.
He delivers the flowers to the back door in buckets at the time specified,
to be expected
4. Flo Holmes is NOT/to cut the flowers herself, ri — nrathnt unless there is
something special that she wants to find herself.
5. The gardener aho is in charge of the cut garden is to plant the flowers as
specified in the listing made up by Mrs Hitch so that they will be ready
for use in the house at the specified times.
Any other bedding plants that the Department wishes to plant may be planted
in ADDITION to those specified on the list.
6. It is Flo Holmes' responsibility to visit the cut garden with the gardener
handling it (as convenient to them) so that she will know what is available
and what is going to be available in the future.
7. It is extremely important that there be one regular employee who is responsible
for the cutting of the flowers for the house. He should be trained by Mrs.
Hoduaes as to the lengths she needs, type of foliage, etc. and any other
information that will make both the cutting and arranging more efficient and
less time consuming. The training will take both of their time, however,
in the long run a thoroughly trained full time, regular employee will save
both time and money for all of us.
8. If flowers on the list are already planted in hhe garden, it should be
ascertained that there are sufficient of each item to handle the needs of the
house. If these are scattered throughout Blake Garden and not concdntrated
in the cut garden, it is the responsibility of the man who cuts the flowers
to gather these from wherever they are growing and to bring them to the back
porch as requested.
344
Holmes :
Riess :
Holmes;
Riess:
Holmes:
Riess :
Holmes:
Riess :
Holmes :
Riess :
Holmes:
Riess :
Holmes :
Riess :
Holmes:
so I said. "Come on over and you can help me." Then they hired her
to help Maggie, and so she worked here quite a while. A wonderful
earnest worker, and always pleasant. Maggie really enjoyed having
her — real friends.
When did you start as a paid person?
When Mrs. Kerr was chancellor's wife. There were only a few months
that I worked free. Checks then came through campus maintenance.
Slowly!
Paid on an hourly basis?
Yes, I'm sort of like a free-lancer. But up here the house pays
me — still free lancing. I don't do it at the chancellor's house
any more. I worked there about thirty years. Too much of a hassle.
Have you trained the person who does it there?
No, they just picked somebody out of the hat that's learning — awful
stuff so they report.
From where? There isn1 t any Section Club group.
No, but they are hoping to start up again in the fall [1987], If
they can find a place to do it. It's a messy job, leaves dropping
around all over the place. The Heymans' [Chancellor Ira Michael
and Therese Heyman] basement there at the University House is a
good place, but I don't think she'd approve. I used to have my art
class there for quite a few years. She was nice about that.
Was that also University Wives Section dub?
No. Mostly we were Section dub women, not Section dub-sponsored
though.
Back to the old Blake House list of Dos and Don'ts. "Flo Holmes is
not to cut the flowers herself, unless there is something special
that she wants to find herself."
[laughs] Is that right? Once in a while they object if I cut off
a branch that they're trying to straighten a bush out with. We cut
four to five bucket loads each event and greens, a lot of stuff.
Now I have Vera Gough. English gal. She is great.
Does this list reflect difficulties in communication between the
house and — .
And Walter. He is really a nice guy, wonderful knowledge of
plants. He was sort of from a generation of not wanting women
bossing him around! No way! But helpful in telling about flowers
345
Holmes: in bloom. We could use the hothouse to plant things. Really I
1 ike d him.
Riess: Of course Mrs. Blake must have bossed him around.
Holmes: But not for too many years. She needed help, was lonely and living
alone. He came in to do things for her in the garden — caretaker
more.
Riess: You met her?
Holmes: Yes, she used to let us come in the gardens. We met her at the
door out here. She was pretty old, and nearly blind, too. She
must have been quite a gal, her sister, too. But the gardens
weren't really open when she was here. It wasn't until afterwards
that the University acquired the property and straightened up the
house and improved the place — adding things. Got a garden crew and
Mai Arbegast.
Riess: "It is extremely important that there be one regular employee who
is responsible for the cutting of the flowers for the house. He
should be trained by Mrs. Holmes as to the lengths she needs, type
of foliage, etc., and any other information that will make both the
cutting and arranging more efficient and less time consuming. The
training will take both of their time; however, in the long run a
thoroughly- trained full-time employee wil save both time and money
for all."
Holmes: Yes. We had a guy called Bill Jones. You can't tell gardener
people things like that, but that just sort of pointed out that
we'd like a few things, I think. You know, you don't go around
complaining to people because you haven't got the flowers you want
this week, when last week they all bloomed. It's very hard to
arrange growth of flowering plants around the calendar. The
calendars and weather are unpredictable.
Riess: Other places maybe use hothouses.
Holmes: We have a hothouse here, a big one, but it's rare that we have
anything in there we can use. They had a lot of freesias,
geraniums, and they bloomed beautifully, but nobody was here to use
them. You can't put geraniums outside because the deer just chomp
them al 1 of f .
Riess: The deer have always been a problem?
Holmes: Yes. Now we have them fenced in. They should be thinned out, they
should do this. They were just walking in the front gate! It's
been about two weeks now since they have changed it so that people
can't just drive in. You now can use a walk-in gate.
346
Riess: Hew much notice do you get of when you will be needed?
Holmes: Usually for the big things, about a week. It's President Gardner
and Mrs. Gardner who really decide things, or his office, though
sometimes the vice-presidents have dinners here too. At times
things come up on short notice.
Riess: When you need more flowers for this house, can you use the garden
on the campus, the University House garden?
Holmes: They have plenty there, just gobs, and they have a better area,
it's on a slope, and it gets the southern sun, the western
afternoon sun. There have been three fellows over there, and they
were good growers of flowers.
Here they are really more interested in landscaping. For
instance, in the south circle it is all planted with primulas, and
they are pretty with the magnolias, but they all bloom at once, and
they are just for looks for the landscaping. Alison Cardinet
here — I feel like she's the first one who's really been interested
in growing flowering things for us. She was hired just to grow
flowers in fact. They're still struggling with the cutting area,
that has a fence like a chicken coop — a terrible fence around it.
They keep saying they're going to move it out in the sun a bit more
too, which would help. (Times are developing.) When you have a
lot of blackberries, you're going to have a lot of bugs. Roses are
a struggle here. We will have more light now because they have
removed a tree.
Riess: But anyway, could you use the flowers at University House?
Holmes: No, Mrs. Heyman doesn't want us to. Why, I don't know. It used to
be all right. Now the gate is locked. I don't do the work there
anymore. She has a different attitude about it, about faculty
things. Section Club things.
The Gardners, my hat's really off to them. They gave up some
party to come to a Section dub event (60th year), believe it or
not. And Mrs. Gardner showed up the other day when the northern
campuses Section Clubs met in Davis for the annual meeting. The
Heymans openly admit that the Section Club is a nuisance. Yet
there are a few things that we have to do there. Section dub is
really in a pickle, having no place really to meet and do our
thing.
Riess: Where do you purchase flowers to supplement things here?
Holmes: Ashby Flower Shop or any place. Sometimes I get plants out my way
in Orinda where I know the quality is good.
Riess: Do you go to the flower market?
347
Holmes: I used to. But the traffic has gotten so terrible. I feel like I
have to bring my son or somebody because if you get an armload of
flowers and all those people, and everything's wet and heavy, I
need help! But we used to do it. Still go for pin frogs and vases
and supplies.
We used to get the flowers for Charter Day from campus and the
flower market, and I'd arrange them up there at University House.
I'd get paid by Maggie. Now that's all changed. There is no more
University-wide Charter Day. This year they dedicated the dark
Kerr Campus.
Charter Day was always interesting, because Maggie or the
president would move it around. If they were honoring a professor
from the Law School we would have it out on their patio. Usually
lunch in Pauley Ballroom. Charter celebration, Greek Theatre. But
we've had lunch outside, when they dedicated the new bells for the
Campanile. Had to anchor things 1 Makes a difference when the wind
is blowing. [laughs] Some days we'd just about die from the heat,
other days the wind took over. When they had the protestors they
had to move to Zellerbach, and that kind of cut the joy out of it.
The flags make it such a celebration, but the low, balcony ceiling
in there — it just wasn't right.
Riess : Did you have to deal with the flower and pollen allergies of
visiting dignitaries?
Holmes: Yes. One of the chancellor's wives over in the city couldn't stand
anythingl But there are plants and greens that don't have pollen
to bother most people.
Riess: Do you have any stories of strange things, funny things, that
happened about the arranging?
Holmes: There was one time we had a fawn in here. The kitchen door was
open on a hot day. Of course the floor is kind of slick for a
deer. It hopped around. We had a Negro maid at that time, and she
was really frightened. Maggie tripped and almost fell down the
stairs trying to see what was happening. She just picked this
little fawn up and went out the doorl
Back to Maggie. Maggie was wonderful, really. Very
complimentary. If everything went right she'd phone me up and say,
"Everything was just perfectl" It made you feel good. She was
very understanding, good directions as to what was wanted. Great
leader in the many interesting parts of her life.
Holmes: From this work I have met many wonderful people. One thing leads
to another in friendships. I have done a number of weddings,
special events, and memorials for dear friends. I feel
348
Holmes: complimented that people do like my relaxed way of flower
arranging, not stiff like florist things. Each day is a new and
different challenge, never a repeat, always something different. I
guess they like my work. I'm still around in my old age — still
have plenty to do I
Transcriber: Suzanne Riess
Final Typist: Elizabeth Eshleman
349
Regional Oral History Office
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, California
Blake Estate Oral History Project
Linda Haymaker
THE HISTORICAL VALIDITY OF BLAKE GARDEN
An Interview Conducted by
Suzanne B. Riess
in 1987
Copyright (cj 1988 by The Regents of the University of California
LINDA HAYMAKER
at Blake Garden
350
TABLE OF CONTENTS — Linda Haymaker
INTERVIEW HISTORY 351
BIOGRAPHY 352
The Garden's Designers 353
Sensitivity to Site 353
Historical Records 356
The Two Sisters, Anita Blake and Mabel Symmes 358
The Department of Landscape Architecture and the Garden 360
Restoration of the Garden 363
Understanding the Designers' Motivation 363
Unusual Features of the Garden 364
Mabel Synmes1 Vision 365
History and Precedent 366
Mediterranean- Style Planting 368
The Edwin Blake Garden 369
The Garden Today 371
351
INTERVIEW HISTORY
Linda Haymaker has worked at Blake Gardens since 1973 when as a student
she was hired by Walter Vodden. Ms. Haymaker is in the tradition of strong
and gifted women landscape architects that includes Miss Mabel Symmes, the
garden's original designer, and Geraldine Knight Scott. And the admiration
and sympathy for her predecessors are obvious in Ms. Haymaker's careful
explication of the reasons for the garden's excellences.
I had met Linda Haymaker several times in the course of my first visits
to the Blake Gardens, but an interview with her was not part of the original
design of the Blake House Oral History Project. Oral history tends to
overlook people under forty. By definition she could not have known Mr. and
Mrs. Blake, and unless carried as an infant in arms could not have seen
them. Linda Haymaker arrived at Blake Gardens in an historical vacuum. How
could she add to the story?
But in the thirteen years of working by the side of Walter Vodden,
until 1986 when he retired, Linda had been an audience for Mr. Vodden1 s
recollections of Miss Mabel Symmes and Mrs. Anita Blake. That lore whetted
her appetite for more. She delved into the available historical records and
wrote an article on the gardens published in Pacific Horticulture in Spring
1987. I felt the author had an exceptional understanding of the original
garden and its designers. I wondered what she might say in the conversational
setting of oral history that she had not said in the published article.
Linda Haymaker agreed to an interview. Her very thoughtful, informed
responses to my questions showed how well acquainted she is with the garden
and its history and how ably she verbalizes her feelings — and feelings are
for her much of what makes the garden interesting. In a way, this oral history
project's ideal audience is Linda Haymaker's generation. That she was
already asking many of the same questions in her own research was not
surprising.
We met in the glasshouse at Blake Gardens for an hour of taping and
then took a walk to see Linda's favorite garden spots. In the months after
the interview we continued to pursue the whereabouts of Mabel Symmes' s
papers, and through a certain doggedness located caches in the University's
Department of Landscape Architecture, in the Strybing Arboretum Library, San
Francisco, and in the University Herbarium in the Life Sciences Building,
Berkeley. Several of those "discoveries" are appended.
Suzanne B. Riess
Interviewer-Editor
October 29, 1987
Regional Oral History Office
486 The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Regional Oral History Office
Room 486 The Bancroft Library
352
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720
Your full name
Date of birth
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
(Please print or write clearly)
LA M
Place of birth
Father's full name
Birthplace
occupation
Mother's full name QOtW A
Birthplace
Occupation W 1 g
Where did you grow up ?
Present community
Education
\4
MA
LA i^ .
Occupation(s)
Special interests or activities
353
The Garden's Designers
[Date of Interview: May 27. 1987]
Sensitivity to Site
Riess : We're here to ferret out anything we can about the Blakes and
Mabel Symmes. You've worked here and you've written about the
garden.* I'm interested in how you've pieced it all together.
Haymaker: It's an amazing collection of facts that comes together in so
many different ways depending on who you talk to. I think that
was part of the mystery for me when I first started working here,
I guess it was in '70 or '71, as a student. I heard a lot of
lore about the garden. Some of the stories didn't mesh too well;
there were lots of very interesting stories.
It became a real desire for me. enjoying and actually loving
this property as much as I did, to try to uncover through the
garden itself — rather than from people and hearsay and stories —
what I really felt the evolution of the garden was. That is
something in a restoration process that a lot of times you have
to do from indicators, relics that you find within the garden.
Uncovering little bridges someplace, or finding areas for
seating, or paths that haven't been seen for thirty years that
you discover have gone to an interesting little spot. How does
it all add up together?
A lot of what I really felt a strong need to find out was
what these women were doing both in terms of design and in terms
of the horticulture right here in the garden. What that
collection probably was, what the planting evolution was quite
*"Blake Garden," Pacific Horticulture. Vol. 48, No. 1, Spring
1987, pp. 8-13, by Linda Haymaker.
354
Haymaker: likely to have been, and how they probably progressed along with
the site in a certain type of design direction. Because you
don't know that kind of stuff. You know stories about how Mrs.
Blake would always go to the Cal Hort meetings and show certain
very esoteric special plants that only she owned and that she
wouldn't give to anybody else because she wanted to have her
collection. And you hear stories about small — I assume they're
small — sisterly rivalries about territory in the garden and how
they handled that.
But what I wanted to work with was the fact that there was
an amazing sensitivity to the site on this piece of property, and
to ask how they put the design into the land, and how they
evolved this particular garden and garden system here at that
time. Because the standard fare that you got in the twenties was
a kind of a — what would you call it? the California exotic
garden, that you saw so much of particularly in the Santa Barbara
area and the southern California area. The grand estate, the
exclamation of exotic materials like palm trees and tropical
things, the showmanship of the garden.
I think a lot that was special — and I mean incredibly
special — about this garden was that they were able to somehow
make a unique California garden. They were trying new things,
not new plants but — I guess "new" is the wrong word. Maybe more
developing a technique that was going to be more of a California
style of planting, in a sense a rougher style — I certainly
wouldn't call it less sophisticated at all. I would call it more
sophisticated than eastern gardens in the sense that it
identifies a special aesthetic from the existing landscape and
its vegetation; we have here such a diverse and naturally wide-
ranging kind of native flora that the people like the Spaniards
and the earlier settlers in California had not really explored.
They'd come into the grassland or chaparral, they'd say, "Well,
we need our lilac trees, we'll put in some palm trees, we'll put
in a few orchard trees for our food, and this is what our garden
will be." Those were more of the mission-style gardens, frontier
gardens.
In the twenties I believe there was a strong new phase in
garden development — I think it was probably allied with this arts
and crafts style that was happening in California then, during
the twenties — a returning to the native material and locally
crafted arts, exploring the natural beauty that hopefully would
be existing in the area. Some artists were exploring that and
exploiting that, rather than trying to bring in this fully exotic
collection. I think the Blakes did both — kept up some of the
more traditional standards of horticultural collection, and
developed new ideas and directions of their own, based on their
unique site constraints and assets.
355
Riess: There are no models around here for what they did? Would you
have assumed that on the basis of your research?
Haymaker: I think the models that I know about probably were developing
concurrently, probably in the twenties, thirties and forties,
with, say, the Tilden Botanical Garden, which was a real pioneer
garden in terms of promoting and growing native material
exclusively. But you see the California Horticultural Society
formed in the very early thirties, and that was a real
effervescent kind of bubbling of people's ideas together that was
I think extremely fortunate to be happening at that time even
though it came from a negative impetus. [The California
Horticultural Society was formed in 1935 to pool knowledge, after
a devastating freeze.]
Riess: But you'd say that these sisters already had a lot of those
ideas, independently?
Haymaker: They had a lot of ideas; they had a lot of contact, largely
through their particular background in design and in
horticulture, but also because they had money to be spending in
avocational ways, towards the plants. But it's my feeling,
especially with Mrs. Blake, that it was kind of an isolated sort
of event, that the Blake garden was a separate and distinct
interest, based on Symmes1 and Blake's predilections. They would
go through their particular contacts — social or scholastic or
whatever — and would get through seed exchanges or gifts, very
unusual seed. They would grow them up, they would put them out
in the garden, they would test their beauty and growability.
You sort of need to ask the question, "Are they doing this
for the love of the plants? Are they doing this for the love of
trying to create a garden on this relatively dry hillside with
not a whole lot of water? What are they trying to do?" Of
course they had a very rare and valuable collection, and a great
number of species. So you have to say there's a certain kind of
quantity involved in what they were doing that was designed to be
impressive.
Riess: That's a way the garden's talked about, "twenty-five hundred
plant species"; at least at a certain time that was how it was
referred to, the quantitative aspect.
Haymaker: There was also a lot of real sensitivity for the effect of what
they were creating. It's impossible to tell exactly what it
looked like from early photos and large scale drawings, but I
imagine in certain respects there was this desire to avoid a
hodge-podge feeling that you get in botanical presentation, where
you're trying to grow a lot of different things, often one or two
of each one, just to see how they look, how they respond, what
their presentation is for the garden.
356
Historical Records
Riess :
Haymaker:
Riess :
Haymaker:
Riess :
Haymaker:
Are there planting plans then from year to year that you can
refer to? Are they in the archives here?
That would be incredible if they were. We do have some good
photos from the '20s and '30s, that help to portray the garden's
progression. I have asked a lot of people where Miss Symmes1
drawings were, and I heard that they were over in Strybing. I
called Strybing, I tried to find where they were over there —
nobody knew. I suppose they could be in some library over there.
I wouldn't be surprised if they were found sometime. But again,
it's this detective thing, they would have to be uncovered
there.*
There was a real unfortunate lack of understanding about
what to do with all this stuff when Miss Symmes died and their
papers were disposed of. I don't know if you talked to Walter
Vodden about this, but he said that essentially all of a sudden
there were people over there — I don't know who died last, it was
one of the women, I think it was Mrs. Blake —
Yes. it was.
People were throwing stuff out right and left, just by huge room-
fuls of material. Walter said that he went over there and tried
to salvage whatever he could that he thought was important, but
there was just piles and piles and boxes and boxes full of stuff.
Mabel died earlier,
earlier?
Do you know whether her room was emptied out
I don't. Presumably they had the whole trust thing worked out
with the University, and wherever books were given, a lot of the
books went to Strybing. There was apparently a lot of duplica
tion in their library, and several other libraries — probably
Beatrix Farrand's and a few others that went to Cal — so that was
why they wanted to send some over to Strybing or elsewhere, so
that they would disperse a lot of the material. But somewhere
along the way — and it could be just the fact that there isn't a
complete cataloguing of all these things — there may have been
overflow places where this material went, to some other building
or some other library, and they're just still boxed up someplace.
I know it's not unusual.
*Some letters to Mabel Symmes have been located in the Strybing
Arboretum Archives, including notes from James West. [7/14/87]
See Appendices, II.
357
Riess : But you know that there is material there?
Haymaker: I know that there was material there.
Riess: And we know that from Walter?
Haymaker:
Riess :
Haymaker:
Riess :
Haymaker:
Well, for instance in here* Gerry Scott has a drawing that Mabel
Symmes made of the two gardens. The original of this is on
yellow flimsy trace paper and is located in the Landscape
Architecture Department drawings room. This is a site plan of
Quinta de las Lilas [Villa of the Lilacs], which was Edwin's
property, and La Casa Adelante, which was Blake Garden. This
was, as it says here, drawn by Mabel Symmes, landscape architect,
although it doesn't have a date. I imagine it was right about
1930, maybe a little bit earlier. This gives you the obvious
deduction that there was professional drawing and thinking going
on here. This was the entire site plan, and I believe there
would have been some section plans and particular small-scale
drawings of the various borders and beds and what- have- you. The
other thing that we got, which I thought I would bring up today —
I don't know if you've seen these — this is Miss Symmes' three-by-
five card files of all the plants.
That's wonderful,
garden?
Does it say where the plant is located in the
Sometimes it does. It sometimes has the source. It was
basically I believe her trying to do some form of cataloguing
with the correct names, the flower colors. This was done I
believe in conjunction with the Royal Horticultural Society.
They did an encyclopedic survey with all the color ranges of the
botanic material that was drawn here. So a lot of what this was
doing was saying what the plant was, the species, hopefully the
origin, and the color of the flower. I don't know why this
flower color code was so important, but apparently it was, and
they had that catalogued through some sort of a standardized
international color source where you would match this up and say
what it was. That was part of how these herbarium specimens for
collection were indexed and compared to other species colors.
When was this project done?
This was done in the later thirties and early forties. Probably
it was discontinued by the Second World War, but that's what the
reason for this was. It's a very interesting file. This is the
*Long-range Development Plan for Blake Estate, Appendix NN.
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Haymaker: only real evidence that I've ever found of what plants were grown
here. Walter remembers certain planting combinations; he
remembered a lot more even when I first started working here than
he did in '86 when he retired. Many of the plants, you can come
back here and look up and see yes, indeed, there was this plant.
What this won't tell you is the planting combination, and that is
really the most interesting thing, is how they were combined. I
understand that although they had a very broad range of what they
would collect and grow, from trees down to bulbs, that their
specialty area of interest was herbaceous and South African bulbs
and smaller things. They're much easier to play with, they
flower a lot, and they're faster. It's a more — [pauses] feminine
way of looking at the garden, generally at a smaller scale, more
detailed, rather than as the large structure plants.
Riess : Then these things adapt themselves to the rocky outcroppings in
the back of the house?
Haymaker: Yes. There's really a limit to how many trees or even shrubs you
can have.
The Two Sisters, Anita Blake and Mabel Symmes
Haymaker: Basically it was very fortunate that Mabel Symmes was trained as
a landscape architect, because she was able to certainly form a
very thorough and efficient structure system for the whole
garden. Primarily this extensive windbreak system that she had
all down the north section and across the west end, that really
sheltered the top part of the garden from the winds. But also
just aesthetically to get these axes in the garden working
properly, and to have shrubs and trees that really began to
define areas.
Riess: It is interesting that this garden really began when the
house began. It appears to have all been of a piece. The
thinking apparently was going on even before they moved over,
because they brought plants from Piedmont Ave., where they lived.
Can you see any signs — do you know which ones might have come
from Piedmont Avenue?
Haymaker: Walter knows a few stories about plants, basically Mrs. Blake
being extremely concerned about how plants were moved and having
these old-fashioned wagon loads — I guess they were drawn by
horses at that time — of plants that were dug up and very
carefully burlapped over the roots and carried four or five miles
all the way out here and put into the garden. I don't know the
exact plants that they were, but I know that it happened.
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Haymaker :
Riess :
Haymaker :
Riess :
I know that Mrs. Blake was the detail particular person who
would oversee all the minutiae of the garden detailing. She
would drive Walter crazy a lot of the time, and she would go out
into the rose garden at pruning time and point to the gardeners
and tell them where to make each and every cut on the roses.
That didn't go over too welL I think Walter really respected
her a great deal, but of course by that time she was very old,
she was in her eighties, and I'm sure that she was cantankerous
some of the time about how she wanted things to be done.
But Miss Symmes was a different character.
Miss Symmes was a lot more laid back. They were both, as I
understand it, fairly formal people, but Miss Symmes was
certainly the gentler of the two, she was much more approachable.
If, for instance, Walter would want to know the name of the
plant, if Mrs. Blake was around, Mrs. Blake would probably recall
it pretty quick and give him the name of the plant. Miss Symmes
would maybe remember it, maybe not, but if she didn't remember it
right off she'd say, "I'll think of it in a little while. Come
by the house and I'll let you know." She would write it down on
a little piece of paper and give it to Walter.
Miss Symmes was the one that was really concerned in trying
to get an education process about the plants from the Blakes into
the University mostly via Walter. She really took great pains to
try to teach him as many plants as possible. I think that was
maybe why she was sometimes not so quick about the plant, because
if Walter would come over there then they could look it up in the
sources and they could talk about it, and she could explain
things about it, and it was more of a conversational process
rather than straight facts. Straight facts are great, but they
have their limits as to how much functional information can be
given.
That's interesting. Walter is very important in all of this,
sounds like he's it, there were no other sort of apprenticed
people.
It
360
The Department of Landscape Architecture and the Garden
Haymaker: The only other person that was really around then was Mai
Arbegast; she was doing the tree and shrub survey of the garden,
and she acted as a kind of a diplomatic liaison between the
department and the house and tried to keep some kind of
connection open. But I don't think — .
Riess : She was doing the survey based on her own plant knowledge then?
Haymaker: Some, and there was help from a number of students. I think a
lot of the plants were known or in the trade. There were many,
many plants that were real esoteric that she would have to
probably look up in an encyclopedic way in the records and then
verify them with the Blakes. I think it was Mai that did a lot
of that cross-cataloguing stuff.
Riess: But an independent operator, in any event, rather than the kind
of relationship that Walter had.
Haymaker: Yes, she was teaching on campus and Walter was here at the
garden. Remember that at that time the whole garden structure of
design was much more formal. When they moved out here the Blakes
were either in their late forties or fifties, very well
established in a certain regime of garden protocol and operation,
which was quite Victorian and certainly more old world than
anything we would even begin to consider now. Mr. Blake always
walked around the garden in full dress attire, with a suit, a
hat, a white shirt and a tie. I think even both of the women
really dressed for the garden, that they didn't really get out
there and grub, as many women of means will do today. It's more
accepted, even in English circles I think, to be kind of dotty
about one's garden and to want to go out there and do things,
than it was in a lot of American society.
Riess: So what are the implications of this, that you don't talk to the
gardeners?
361
Haymaker :
Riess:
Haymaker :
I think it would have been that. Certainly in this political
intervening between the Blakes and the University, where there
was the period of time when the Blakes were considering giving
the property to the University, they were having various
negotiations with the Department of Landscape Architecture,
probably a lot with Prof essor Vaughan, who was the department
chairman, and who was as far as I can tell the great chairman of
the Department of Landscape Architecture. He was really a very
unusual and highly-thought-of individual who had a great breadth
of knowledge and was able to do a wide range of diplomatic
efforts. I think that he embraced this effort and made it as
successful as it was. But I think that Mai Arbegast was also one
of the principal people. She was either a graduate student or a
lecturer at that time.
I think her real strength was her ability to do this
encyclopedic survey, and also in her attention to detail I think
she really made a lot of strong effort to try to keep some active
connection between the department and the Blakes. She knew the
Blakes, and she has told me that she would call them up
frequently and just keep a dialogue going. That's something that
would seem obvious but that just doesn't happen very often. Keep
them remembering the University, and make it that much easier for
them to actually give the property over.
That was the big thing for the department, was getting the
property over. I think particularly at that time of garden
design they probably thought, "Oh, we've got to really clean this
place up." The fifties was kind of the ultimate in garden
geometry and technology, force and chemicals over nature, this
whole thing. I imagine that there was a lot about this that was
frightening to the Blakes, and frightening to the department,
about how those two forces were going to interconnect. It would
be the standard difference that you always get of the older
people wanting to preserve their tradition and the younger energy
coming through. I think especially at that time there must have
been a real conflict — especially on an emotional level, not even
so much on a political or physical level, but those realms would
have to have been a reactive part of the process, too.
You are just assuming that — and I think correctly so — but there's
no correspondence back and forth, or promises — ?
It's true that it is an assumption, but it's based on a lot of
conversations that I've had with people in the garden. The
people that have come out to the garden, people that have known
the Blakes, and explained to me about what their process was,
stories I've heard about the Blakes, a lot of what Walter has
told me, and the kind of conflicts that he had in that
intervening time.
362
Haymaker: Walter was in something of an unenviable position, right in the
middle of all that muddle, and he really was the one guy that
kind of had to carry everything through and got the shooting on
all sides. I think you really have to give him a lot of credit
for, one, being able to take on all that stuff, and two (Gerrie
says something about this in the preface to her Long-range Plan)
the fact that he really did have a lot of loyalty for the
Blakes. He really made a strong attempt to try to understand
what it was they had done here, try to understand whatever it was
that was their love of the garden, and to be a kind of a guardian
for that interest even after they left. Walter did learn a great
deal of plant material, and he tried to learn as much as he could
about how the plant material was taken care of traditionally by
the Blakes. But he also was very dogged in his determination
about not letting people just come along and tear something down
for the hell of it.
There was a heck of a lot of that going on in large "older"
estates. It would have been real easy for the University to come
in and say, "We are going to renew this garden; we're going to
modernize it and update, and make it a nice, current place."
Walter was real important in helping the Blake interest — whatever
you want to say the Blake interest was — say, "No, wait a minute,
you've got to look at the individual plants and plantings and
have some real respect, historical and otherwise, for the fact
that this is here and has in its presence become a sense of
history. "
Riess : So the first person who came in from the department really was
Gerry Scott, was it not?
Haymaker: To do a comprehensive design plan for the garden, yes. Mai and
Bob Raabe preceded her as directors.
363
Restoration of the Garden
Understanding the Designers' Motivation
Haymaker: A modern trend of '50s landscape design was to "clear and
conquer," to do this simplification — if you want to call it
that — opening it up, broadening out the lines, making everything
more open, incredibly, shudderingly homogenous in the plantings
and in the esthetic of what you would look at. You look back at
that now and it was this agricultural point of view, where you
have monoculture, and the beauty of it is looking over the vast
fields of crops or whatever it is. But it's impossible to
maintain that, it's impossible to maintain a half an acre of
Hypericum and have it look all perfect at the same time.
It's way too artificial and whenever it does get prone to
all the things it's going to get prone to it sticks out badly.
For one thing, you will look at that planting and a blight will
show up immediately because it will be different from the other
things. For another thing, if an insect or an imbalance gets in
there, it runs in there in a big way, and that was this very
delicate balance that people were always trying to do with a lot
of manpower and a lot of chemicals, to keep that balance and this
control over the landscape. We've given up on that, because it
just hasn't worked, it's too costly.
Riess : When we opened this interview, you said you were trying to — I
don't know what your word was — renovate or recreate the garden
that was here at some point in time.
Haymaker: There are certain parts of the garden that we've tried to
restore.
Riess: What point are you going back to in garden time for this place?
Haymaker: I think I'm going back to a state of mind more than I'm going
back to a particular point of time, because you can't ever go
exactly back to what it was. It was a time and a period in
364
Haymaker: history that because of their means, and because of this
eclecticism that was so prevalent at the time and all this, that
you wouldn't want to and you couldn't recreate that. There's a
different resource and a different mind set.
What I want to do is understand what their motivation was to
make a certain effect, and how they were able to in my opinion
really understand what made the lay of this land so unique and so
beautiful. And how they worked with it in what I consider to be
a feminine style of design, and unusual at that time, because
most of the gardens were done by men. They nurtured the on-going
processes in this garden and promoted natural features and
resources in a unifying and graceful manner. The residential
structure was long and a bulky mass to try to coordinate with the
site, but the two were reconciled by garden structures and
plantings allied to the building, as well as away from it.
Compare this garden to one like Filoli, which is a fairly well-
known and popular garden from the same period, and that was
designed by a male architect [Bruce Porter]. It's a completely
different statement of process and desired effect.
Unusual Features of the Garden
Haymaker: The reason that this garden is so unusual and so lovable is that
it does things like take the two natural stream systems that are
going through the garden and allow them to do that in a
harmonious and gracious kind of manner. It allows them to be the
north and the south boundaries of the garden, the natural
boundaries, but enables you to understand why they are good
natural boundaries, in making them that. In another instance,
the formal garden, which is the most contrived part of the
garden — also in many respects one of the most interesting or
memorable — has certain cliches that work really well, and the
whole reason this was designed here was that drained the spring
system of all the water coming down the hill. It put them in a
collecting basin [pointing to map], made them go in this
picturesque overflow, go across underneath the roadway out into
the grotto, drip down the back of the grotto into the formal
pool — this being the main garden feature, the formal pool — then
going into an overflow off the formal pool into a side garden,
and then back down into the stream system here. Very, very
simple way of dealing with excess water, making it into the
garden feature.
365
Mabel Symmes' Vision
Riess : I wonder whether Mabel brought Harry Shepherd, or any of the
other department people out here. Who did she have holding her
hand — did she need anyone holding her hand?
Haymaker: That is a really good question. I think she was a real bright
woman. I think that she probably worked a lot by herself.
People will say things like, "Well, what did Mabel Symmes do,
anyway?" or, "Was she really a landscape architect, what were
her exact qualifications?" This is coming from people in the
department. I don't think she promoted herself at all, I think
she had enough means through the family and through colleagues to
get work to do certain things as a designer within the region,
and to stay busy and do this field of work. I think a lot of
it — (her low profile) — was probably because she was a woman, but
I think part of it also was that she didn't really have to
promote herself; she chose to kind of go about a quiet way of
designing. Blake Garden would have been a major interest.
Riess: But this shows a lot of sureness and bigness, what she did here.
Haymaker: It does, not only in the fact that she could create this here,
the formal garden — which has aged very, very well, and which was
built with amazing precision. Mr. Blake made his money in the
rock quarry business, so of course he had the resource of the
rock, etc., but she was able to get the Italian stone masons to
lay the schemes into the land in a way that was technically very
expert. I can't know if that was she being an overseer and
paying attention to those details or if that was the kind of
quality old world workmanship that was still available then in
the masonry line. The fact was that the structures were well
designed and executed, and that the Blakes obviously had enough
money and vision to realize an extremely good job on that work.
It was the earliest part of the garden. If you look at the old,
old pictures, you see the grotto coming up out of nothing into
the hillside. They were smart enough to realize that that was
where you needed to start, and that they should start with the
hardest part and put the rest of the garden around it.
She also did things — this is the sort of the flip-flop of
her design ability: she was able to create this f ormalistic
effect exceedingly well, but then you watch what she did down
into the canyon area, and you see how she has this whole
naturalistic system down in through here. Right now there's a
reflecting pond up here, and then little tiny waterfalls, and
then two collecting ponds. Then it comes down and back into the
stream system.
366
Haymaker: But she does the same thing with the water down here in the
woodland situation as she does with the water here in the
Italianate garden. Both work really well in very different ways,
and both look great still. If you could say there's two sections
of the garden that you really must preserve in their intended
way, it would be the formal garden and the redwood canyons.
These sections over here [pointing to map: Bog Garden. West
Section. Australia Hollow, Cut Flower Garden] are more
expendable. I think a lot because they weren't as thoroughly
executed to begin with, whereas these two were, and I'm sure
these were the favorite parts of the garden. Both were real
sheltered parts of the garden, This was sheltered sunny [Formal
Garden] and this was sheltered shady [Redwood Canyon].
History and Precedent
Riess: As you've studied the little paths, and perhaps unearthed
statuary and benches back there, you can tell then how they
walked through it and what they were heading for? Do you feel
that it was a garden for the three of them? Who was it for?
Haymaker: I think it was for the three of them, but I think it was for
something that was beyond them, too. You can't say that it was
to impress their friends really, but I think it was for something
higher that they really did believe in, and who knows what that
was. I have no idea what their philosophy of life was or
anything, I don't know what their world view consisted of, but a
person can understand something through the richness of the lore
that we have in the garden, even through the kind of things that
exist, the little fertility goddess that's here behind the house
kind of protecting things and being rich and simple, something
that you find yourself as a garden inhabitant coming upon one
day.
You come upon these things, and they're not ordinary things,
they're like buried treasure. You come upon them and you say,
I've got to know what that is, and you keep asking somebody about
them until they tell you the story of the fertility goddess, or
they'll tell you the story of Kuan Yin. or they'll tell you how .
the little pool system got developed down in the garden. And
then you as an on-going part of history begin to uncover how it
was and how it could or will be unveiled now and in the future.
That's part of being a good designer, originally or in
restoration, to understand what is integral, and what makes it
special or magical or whatever you want to call it. Enjoying
that, but enjoying that in a style that is appropriate to its
original intent.
367
Riess : Have you had people other than Walter walking through the gardens
who were Blake contemporaries or reasonably so, and who have been
informants for you?
Haymaker: Longtime neighbors in this area have supplied some data. Very
occasionally we have had visitors to the garden who have known
the Blakes and will relate a story or two. Most of what I've
learned has come from Walter of from various landscape architects
and horticulturists, who either had met the Blakes, were
affiliated with the department, or know the garden. For
instance, recollections of a person like Marshall Olbrich, who is
the owner of the Western Hills Nursery up in Occidental, and who
knew about the Blakes from the Cal Hort Society, and who knows
and has a vast appreciation of gardens in general. He can make
comments as a man in his sixties and master in his field about
observations that he has had here, or ask me questions about
what's still happening here. Michael Laurie of UCB has been a
very important long-term link between Blake Garden and the
department, and he was involved w ithGerrie1 s master plan. Then
of course Gerrie and Mai.
Riess: You mentioned Western Hills Nursery; how about other nurserymen,
suppliers, contracters and so on? In gathering history, have you
had any contact with people she was ordering materials from?
Haymaker: No. You have to understand that she wasn't ordering from Western
Hills. She was involved in Cal Hort, and all these people that
had nurseries or were growing interesting things were involved in
Cal Hort and that's what their connections are. They knew her,
or of her, and they admired or respected her, and they loved the
garden and its unusual plants. They remember either coming to
the garden in their very early years — like in their twenties or
thirties — or hearing lore in the early days of Cal Hort. The
active growers now are much younger, in their twenties or
thirties. They could certainly supply the kind of material
needed to restore it, if that is to happen.
Even though the focus of the formal garden is Italianate,
the detailing is Asian, and that comes from the fact that both
Mrs. Blake and Miss Symmes were great collectors of Chinese art
at the time, and they got all these artifacts — they had scrolls
and screens and everything else — for the inside of their house.
There was a Chinese theme in the detailing that you see in the
tile and in the statuary in the garden. Then what evolved either
by chance or by particular intent was that the plant material in
the inner formal garden is largely Chinese. There's the deutzias
and the rhododendrons and the azaleas and this exotic semi-
tropical feeling that also blends extremely well with the
detailing of the statuary.
368
Riess : They could have gotten a lot of that material from people like
Toichi Domoto, in Hayward?
Haymaker: I would think so, nurserymen who were doing the cutting edge work
in horticulture with those cultivar forms.
Mediterranean- Style Planting
Riess: There are references to the garden looking like the Villa
Tuscalana.
Haymaker: That comes from Gerry Scott's reference, and Gerry Scott lived in
Italy for a number of years and visited countless villas there,
and knows the Italianate garden style probably better than
anybody in the region. So she was able to see that connection
and refer to it as such — I don't know if Mabel Symmes had been to
that particular garden or not, though I understand she traveled,
but she was able to make the grotto and stairway in an Italian
design. This is an Italian garden, but it is a specific style.
Grottos were very popular in the twenties, and it could be she
just saw a picture in a book that she liked, or combined features
from memory.
Riess: Sure, so there was published material, at least about Italian
gardens.
Haymaker: Yes. Italian gardens because they were also Mediterranean
gardens of a similar aspect to the California garden.
Riess: Was there any thinking about the whole idea of native plants, and
growing natives in drought areas at that time?
Haymaker: There was a tremendous amount of thinking about growing plants in
general in the drought areas, but it wasn't so specifically or
carefully on natives as it is now. As our native population of
plants is dwindling and becoming more precious decade by decade,
we're trying to do much more with that. The native thrust — I
know that there were some insurgencies that way in California as
early as the twenties, led by Californian nurseries and authors
like Lester Rowntree. But I think their (Anita and Mabel's)
particular interest was in what we're now calling appropriate
horticulture, in Mediterranean-style plantings. Even that's sort
of a poor term; you'd want to get more specific and call it
California style or something like that in this day and age.
What you're wanting to do is not get exactly a xerophytic kind of
plant, like a desert plant, but you would want to get a plant
that adapts extremely well and thrives under this particular
369
Haymaker: climate condition. Mediterranean or California, or San Francisco
East Bay, and looks really good, will naturalize or evolve on
this kind of a site.
Riess : If the house and the gardens weren't here, is this a lush
wildflower area, do you think, come spring — naturally?
Haymaker: I think that there would be fertile areas certainly in spring — we
have two or three naturally occurring spring areas — you would get
these meadow effects, and the vernal pools of water-loving and
then drought-tolerant kinds of plants. But a great deal of the
garden faces towards the south and towards the west, and those
kinds of areas dry off pretty easy and fast as far as wildflowers
go and spring progresses. They would get burned over
occasionally, whereas your draws, the very bottom of the southern
canyon and certainly the greater part of the northern canyon,
would be your woodland kind of plants. So that you'd get a lot
of wildflowers, but they'd be shrub or tree wildflowers rather
than meadow or bank or grassland types that you would get maybe
up on the hill. They really did try to work with the smaller,
lower-growing plants in a naturalistic way, but I think more
naturalistic rather than native.
Riess: When you refer to a kind of feminine garden, it sounds like
you've meant sort of lower, hugging the terrain,
Haymaker: Well, yes, that was one of the styles within which they worked,
but I also mean nurturing in the sense that they really chose to
work within this body that was this piece of land here, and
within this very unique topography. They promoted it rather than
changed it.
The Edwin Blake Garden
Riess: What are the connections between the Edwin Blake garden and the
Anson Blake garden? The rose garden is the only real connection
from a design point of view between the two.
Haymaker: Yes. This part of the garden is cut off now by the monastery
wall. There's a little bridge here, and they used to have dinner
at each other's homes on Saturday nights, one week here and the
next week there. They would be full formal-dress dinners and
they would go in their carriage through the garden here — I'm sure
it was a grand procession — and dine here one week, and then come
back here the next week.
370
Haymaker: I don't think that Edwin really had this strong garden interest.
I think that he was perfectly happy to do the little entrance
garden here. But even if you're looking at this old, old plan
you can see that these here are very wide, broad areas, and would
have been much more of the native kind of plantings that you were
alluding to earlier, where you had what they were calling the
ceanothus woods and probably oaks, and ninebark and all the rest
of that kind of woodland stuff that would just be in here
naturally. I assume that they pretty much preserved that.
Riess : So what she did was create paths.
Haymaker: That kind of just went through it via the topography. Whereas
you can see even to begin that there's much more intricacy to all
the little things going on here, in the Anson Blake garden.
Riess: How did you know that they went back and forth by carriage?
Haymaker: Walter told me that, and I'm sure the Blakes told him that.
There's this little bridge here, and that's how I came to ask
him, because I uncovered the bridge one time. "What's this
bridge for? It's the bridge to nowhere." He said. ''Oh, no, this
is what we did here."
There's another really interesting thing that's on record
which is this article by Mabel Symmes.* It doesn't talk about
their dinners there, but she talks about the spring walk, which
was this walk right here along the way.
*"Adelante," by Mabel Symmes, California Horticultural Society
Journal. See Appendices, CC.
371
The Garden Today
Riess: Do you think thatGerrie Scott's work in 1962 obscured the
original garden?
Haymaker: No, not at all. I think Gerrie was and is the most sensitive per
son who has dealt with this garden since the Blake s. I consider
that this garden has had only two designers really: one was Miss
Symmes. a landscape architect, and the other was Mrs. Scott, a
landscape architect. The big question is who is going to take on
this third realm of what's happening now. It's high time that
something did happen, and you need a wide-ranging ability to deal
with the land, the garden design, the horticulture. You need
somebody who can deal with the historical perspective, you need
somebody that can deal with the landscape-architectural,
constructive points of view, and you need somebody that knows
horticulture up and down, that can really take all the older
plantings that are here ?-d say. This part is great; this part
isn't great."
It's a critical kin of question to ask. because it's past
time for this stuff to be done, and you know there's new
management out here. The garden at its best traditionally has
been guided by someone who can see the clear vision of the
garden, someone who is trained in landscape architecture and who
understands what is important and why, and can keep that — not
only just preserved, but as you have to have in a garden, healthy
and on-going. And keep the structural things: which structural
things are important? And how do you support the structural
things by the lines of the design that you put in and the
horticulture that accompanies those? Also we have quite a few
aging garden structures, like the formal pool and the old
magnolia trees that border it, that are in very bad decline. We have
the shelter belt plantings down here that are senescent and need
replacing. This requires a great deal of sensitivity and phased
design work, phased renovation.
Riess: What is the situation now? It's just on hold?
372
Haymaker: I guess you would say that we have someone to take over Walter's
place but we don't have anybody to take the place of the Symmes-
Scott kind of insight, and that's a really strong need now. It's
the need that's going to make or break the garden's success in
the future.
Something has to happen with the influx of concern that
we're getting in the garden, particularly from the President's
Office, and if you're going to have an increased budget, and an
increased awareness of the garden, and a lot of money pumped into
it, you have to have a sophisticated outlook and a professional
outlook of how that is going to be spent. Otherwise you're going
to get the money spent, but you're not going to get it spent
effectively or artistically — artistically isn't the right word.
You're going to get the money spent and that's all you're going
to get.
Riess : It can be spent and the whole thing can be gradually running
downhill all the time it's being spent.
Haymaker: If it's spent without the right perspective being placed on the
focus of how it's going to be spent, then you can do irreparable
damage very quickly. If they decided in five years to hire a
landscape architect, the landscape architect could come in and be
dealing with literally the ruins of a garden rather than with the
potential of a garden.
Riess: I asked you earlier to what period you were trying to restore the
garden, and I know what you said to that, but just for fun, do
you think that there was a peak in this garden?
Haymaker: I think there were two peaks. There was a peak which was almost
at the very beginning, which was this wonderful enthusiasm that
they had. and imagination and resource, of putting the structure
down into the garden. You might call it the Italianate crafted
style. There was also the horticultural peak which was when they
really had this massive collection here, which was probably in
the thirties before the full effects of the Depression and the
beginning effects of World War II began to really take their
toll. So what you would see as an effective restoration point
would be the crafted style of the twenties and following in the
style of this California kind of garden, but restoring the formal
garden and the redwood canyon to their potential. Then carrying
on probably a more contemporary horticultural and design style in
these western and southern slopes that still need an incredible
lot of — not even renewal — just basic working out and planting
out. and maturation.
Riess: All of this could work with the teaching function for people in
the landscape department?
373
Haymaker: Certainly. The key thing here, of course, is that you have to
have a landscape architect who knows what they're doing, is
sensitive to this site, and horticulturally expert, to oversee
that. Then you can take the physical resources and promote all
the incredible professional resources of both the students and
the staff here, and the ability to spend money for tree work or
whatever you need. You can plan to coordinate them so that they
all fit together into one grand flowing picture instead of
conflicting.
Transcriber: Johanna Wolgast
Final Typist: Elizabeth Eshleman
374
APPENDICES
A. "Notes on the Blakes in England and in America," by Igor 377
Roberts Blake, June 1971.
B. "A San Francisco Boyhood, 1874-1884," by Anson Stiles Blake, 404
California Historical Society Quarterly.
C. "Berkeley in Retrospect" [partial], by Anson Stiles Blake. 418
D. Letter from Frank J. Symmes to Anson Blake regarding marriage 427
to Anita Symmes, December 1, 1890.
E. Blake Papers in The Bancroft Library, Key to Arrangement. 430
F. Anson Stiles Blake Papers in the California Historical 438
Society Library.
G. Anson Blake, LL . D . Citation. 445
H. Anson Stiles Blake, biographical data from various sources. 446
I. "Grand Old Man of Stiles Hall." 447
J. What is This Place. An Informal History of 100 Years of 448
Stiles Hall, by Frances Linsley, 1984. [excerpts]
K. Notes on the Fortnightly Clubs; Constitution, San Francisco 451
Fortnightly Club.
L. Two letters from Frances Helmke to Suzanne Riess regarding 456
the Blakes and the Fortnightly Club, 1987.
M. Letter from Anita Blake to Anson Blake from New York, April 459
18, 1909.
N. Letter from Anita Blake to Anson Blake from Las Posadas, 463
Howell Mountain, St. Helena, California, July 15, 1913.
0. [discussion of] Las Posadas, from Woodbridge Metcalf, 471
Extension Forester. 1926-1956, Regional Oral History Office,
1969.
P. Diary of Anita Blake, December 7, 1941 to December 29, 1941. 473
Q. Letter from Ichiro Shibata to Anita Blake, December 15, 1942. 485
375
R. Letter from Setsu Tsuchiya to Anita Blake, May 29, 1944. 490
S. A history of the Blake and Carmelite Monastery property, by 492
Anita Blake.
T. Letters from Agnes of Jesus, Prioress of the Carmelite
Monastery, to Mrs. Blake, July 10 and November 3, 1950.
U. A chronology of the gift of Blak.e Estate, from the memoranda 498
of President Robert Gordon Sproul, 1957.
V. Deed of Gift of the Blake Estate, December 4, 1957. 501
W. Letter from Igor Blake to Charles Hitch regarding the estate, 504
October 21, 1973.
X. "In Memoriam, " Anson Stiles Blake, Anita D. Symmes Blake, and 507
Mabel Symmes, by Gladys Wickson, California Historical
Society Quarterly, June 1963.
Y. "$1,000,000 Pad, Where Charley Crashes," Berkeley Barb. June 511
13, 1969.
Z. "A Peek Inside Hitch's Hideaway," San Francisco Chronicle, 513
October 30, 1969.
AA. "A Look at Hitch Home," Oakland Tribune. November 10, 1969. 514
BB. Comments prepared by Norma Wilier for memorial service for 515
Nancy Hitch, February 8, 1987.
CC. "Adalante," by Mabel Symmes, Journal of the California 518
Horticultural Society. Uol. VI, 1945.
DD. "{Catherine Davies Jones, 1860-1943," by Mabel Symmes, 522
Madrono. April 1946.
EE. "Editor's Page," Journal of the California Horticultural 524
Society, October 1949.
FF. Letter from Cora Brandt, editor of the Journal of the 525
California Horticultural Society to Mrs. Blake.
GG. "Memories of Henri Correvon," by A. D. S. Blake, Journal of 526
the California Horticultural Society, July 1952.
HH. "Incredible, Unforgettable James West, Plantsman (1886-1939), 529
Journal of the California Horticultural Society, July 1967.
II. Letter from James West to Mabel Symmes, June 1923 (?). 535
-J. "Bulletin" of the California Horticultural Society, August 539
1950.
576
KK . "Bulletin" of the California Horticultural Society, August 540
1957.
LL . List of the plant material shown and discussed at the regular 541
meetings of the California Horticultural Society by Mrs.
Anson S. Blake, Journal of the California Horticultural
Society. April 1956.
MM. "Adalante," news from the Blake Garden. 545
NN. "Preliminary Long-Range Development Plan for the Blake 547
Estate," by Geraldine Knight Scott, November 1964. [excerpts]
00. The President's House and Blake Garden [brochure]. 568
PP. Letter from Geraldine Knight Scott to the Department of 569
Landscape Architecture, University of California, regarding
the profession of landscape architecture, March 9, 1972.
QQ . "Blake Garden," by Linda Haymaker, Pacific Hort iculture , 572
Spring 1987.
377
Notes on the Blakes in England
and in America *
Igor Robert Blake
June, 1971
Partial.
378
Table of Contents
i. Illustrations^
Blake House. Bridgewater, England
Blake House. Dorchester, Massachusetts
Pierpont House. New Haven, Connecticut
Eli Whitney Blake House. New Haven, Connecticut
Waters House. Millbury, Massachusetts
Anson Gale Stiles House. San Francisco, California
ii. Notes on the Blakes in England and in Anerica
iii. Appendix
Eli Whitney Blake, Scientist and Inventor by Henry T. Blake.
Account of the Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the
wedding of John Pierpont and Sarah Beers, December 29, 1867.
The People who have lived in the Faculty Club (Pierpont House,
New Haven) , by Josephine Foster.
Tarrying in Nicaragua - Pleasures and Perils of the California
Trip in 1849.
Letter of Charles T. Blake, 1850, published in Quarterly of The
Society of California Pioneers. Vol. VII, No. 1, March 1930.
Letter of Charles T. Blake, 1860-1863, published in the
California Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. XVI, No. 1, March,
1937.
Letter of Charles T. Blake, 1860-1863, published in the California
Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. XVI, No. 2, June, 1937..
Gun Making in Sutton & Millbury by Asa H. Waters. Reprint from
The History of Sutton (Massachusetts) 1878.
379
Thacher School Semicentennial Publications .
A Minute on the Life of Robert Pierpont Blake published in
the Dumbarton Oaks Papers, No. 8, 1954.
A Minute on the Life of Robert Pierpont Blake published in
the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 14, No. 1 and
2, June, 1951.
* A San Francisco Boyhood 1874-1884 by Anson S. Blake -
Reprint fron California Historical Society Quarterly.
Biographical Notice of William Phipps Blake' in Transactions
of the American Institute of Mining Engineers.
* In Memoriam. An article on Anson Stiles Blake, Anita D. Symmes
Blake, and Mabel Symmes, by Gladys C. Wickson. California
Historical Society' Quarterly , Vol. 42, No. 2, June 1963.
Geneological Charts - The Blake Family in America.
*
Both follow in Appendices
380
Blake House, Bridgewater, England
Blake House, Dorchester, Massachusetts
381
Pierpont House, New Haven, Connecticut
Eli Whitney Blake House, New Haven, Connecticut
382
Waters House, Milbury, Massachusetts
Anson Gale Stiles' House, San Francisco, California
NOTES ON THE BLAKES IN ENGLAND
AND IN AMERICA
William Blake, born in 1594 in Pitminster, Somerset,
England, came to Ar.erica some time between 1630 and 1636 and
settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts. His move to America
from England seems to have paralleled the republican leanings
of his cousin, Admiral Robert Blake, noted below, who allied
himself with the Commonwealth. William was the son of
William Blake, grandson of John Blake and the great-grandson
X
of Humphrey Blake. In 1555 Humphrey Blake took over the
estate of Tuxwell in Spaxton Parish near Bishop Lydeard,
Somerset and died in 1558.
John Blake's grandnephew was Admiral Robert Blake who
was born in 1598 and entered Wadham College, Oxford in 1615.
He was elected member of Parliament from Bridgev/ater in 1640,
the Short Parliament, and again in 1646, and was appointed
General at Sea in 1649. He was again elected member of
Parliament from Bridgewater in 1654 in the time of Cromwell.
His major contribution to the English Navy was to reorganize
the admiralty, laying the foundations of modern naval science.
His development of the techniques of attacking land fortifi
cations by fast maneuvering of his ships before the inflexible
land cannon could hit his ships, was a naval innovation.
Admiral Robert Blake died in 1657.
Admiral Robert Blake (one of 15 children) was the son of
Humphrey Blake, Lord of the Manor of Planefield in the Parish
Over Stowey, and merchant in Bridgewater, and the grandson of
Robert. Robert Blake had been elected mayor of Bridgewater in
The Blakes
384
1574, 1579 and 1537, and in addition, he had represented the
Borough in Parliament in 1584, 1586 and 1588.
A picture of the town residence in Bridgewater where
Robert Blake was born, is included in the Illustrations. It
is a Tudor building of two stories, strongly built of blue
lias stone. The interior has some fine oak beams, roughly
hewn, and the Tudor Rose is represented in the plaster work
of the ceilings. The house is now preserved by the Bridgewater
Corporation as a museum.
William Blake (who came to America) was baptized in
Pitminster, England, July 10, 1594, and was married there on
September 23, 1617 to the v/idow Agnes Band (Bond) who was
apparently born Agnes Thorne.
There was a reference to William Blake's house in 1652
in the town records of Dorchester, Mass, as a survey reference
and the Blake house is now a museum. William Blake served
as Selectman from 1645 to 1647 and again in 1671. In 1656
he was elected as town clerk and also Clerk of the Writts to
Suffolk County. In his will, he gave a public bequest for the
preparation of a burial ground.
His youngest son, Edward Blake, born 1625 in Pitminster,
England, was a Cooper in Dorchester and served as Selectman
in 1672, and settled in Millton where he, with his brother
William Blake, was one of the founders -cf the church in 1678
with Reverend Peter Thacher. His son, Jonathan, born in
1672, married Elizabeth Candige in 1698/9 and moved to
Wrentham, Mass.
The Slakes
385
The Blake fanily continued living in Wrentham, Mass..
Jonathan's grandson, Ebenezer Blake, served in the French
and Indian Wars. Elihu Blake, son of Ebenezer, married
Elizabeth Whitney, sister of Eli Whitney the inventor, and
their son, Eli Whitney Blake, was born in Westboro, Mass.
in 1795. Eli graduated from Yale in 1816 and entered a law
school in Lichfield, Conn, conducted by Judge Gould. He
left law school in his second year to assist his uncle,
Eli Whitney, in the work of enlarging his anas manufactory
at Whitneyville, and in the general conduct of his business.
He was also a member of the National Guard and was a lieutenant
in command of 20 men to protect the medical college during the
medical college riot of January, 1824. On July 5, 1822,
Eli Whitney Blake married Eliza Maria O'Brien. Eli Whitney
died in 1825 and the Whitney Works were continued to 1835 by
Eli Whitney Blake and his brother Philos.
In that year, John Blake joined his brothers and the
firm of Blake Brothers Company was started in Westville, near
New Haven, Conn., for the making of door locks, latches and
other articles. Eli Whitney Blake invented the mortise lock.
In 1832 Eli Whitney Blake bought the house next to his
mother-in-law's house (The Pierpont House) on the New Haven
Green, which was then numbered 77 Elm Street, for $4500. This
house, in wnich he lived until 1886, L~ now the Graduate Club
of Yale University and one of his portraits hangs in the
entrance way. 77 Elm faces the New Haven Green, the town
common, on which was formerly located the State Capitol buildint
The Slakes
386
when New Haven served for a short period of time as the Capitol
of Connecticut. The house was opposite the Capitol building
and on each Fourth of July the Sargent at Arms requested that
the windows of Eli Whitney Blake's house be opened least the
glass be broken by the concussion of the cannons fired in
celebration.
Eli Whitney Blake's writings in the Journal of Science
and publications on aerodynamics were recognized when Yale
awarded him the LL.D. degree in 1876 for his contributions to
science. His major invention was the Blake rock crusher, the
first machine of this kind. It has had a profound influence
on the mining and rock crushing business. An account of
Eli Whitney Blake's life is included in the Appendices.
In 1851 Eli Whitney Blake was appointed by the town of
New Haven as one of a committee to construct two miles of
macadam road on Whalley Avenue, one of the principal avenues
of the city. No other work of this type had been done in
the neighborhood and at that time there were probably less
than a dozen miles of macadam road in the New England states.
According to Eli Whitney Blake's patent statement, it was
calculated that it took two days labor of one man to produce
one cubic yard of road metal (road base) . For seven years
he thought and worked on the subject, and concluded that he
should construct an apparatus that should act at the same time
on a considerable number of stones of different sizes and shapes
from which the fragments would be reduced to the desired size
rapidly and automatically. He conceived the idea of a pair of
387
upright jaws converging downwards with the opening at the top
to be large enough to receive the stone, and the space at the
bottom sufficiently snail to permit passage only of those
fragments broken to the required size. The entire machine
was worked out on paper before it was constructed. This was
a parallel to Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin where
he devised a new mode for the separation of cotton fibre and
seed and contrived the machine to do it. In both cases, the
resulting machine was so simple and perfect for the purpose
and both were the only devices that have been used over a
long period of time without being materially changed.
As mentioned earlier, Eli Whitney Blake married Eliza
Maria O'Brien in 1822. Their six sons attended Yale, graduating
with honors. Eliza Maria O'Brien Blake was once asked by
Harriet Beecher Stowe to contribute to a symposium on the best
way to bring up children and she wrote that her experience of
ten children taught her that there was no general rule; each
child was a case by itself", and answering a request for a
guiding "maxim", she replied, "It might be summed up into what
not to see".
Eliza Maria O'Brien was born in 1799 in New Haven, Conn,
and died in 1876. She was the daughter of Mary Pierpont O'Brien
born in 1776. Mary Pierpont O'Brien was descended from the
Reverend James Pierpont who was given § grant of land in 1685
when he came to be pastor of the church in New Haven. This
lot was not built upon until his grandson built a house in 1767.
Reverend Pierpont 's third wife was Mary Hooker, daughter of
The Blakes- (
388
The Reverend Sanuel Hooker, one of the founders of Yale
University. John Pierpont married Sarah Beers, December 29,
1767 and moved into the house (which had just been completed
but never occupied) , on their wedding night. This house
stayed in the family until 1900 and the reminiscences on
life there by Miss Foster (one of her descendents) , and the
account of the Centennial Celebration in 1867, is included
in the Appendices.
Edward J. O'Brien, father of Eliza, married Mary Pierpont
in 1796. His grandfather had been a follower of James II of
England and had followed him into exile in France. He first
went to Maine when it was still in French hands and later
moved to New Haven where he became a publisher and assisted
Noah Webster with his dictionary. O'Brien also published a
pocket dictionary of his own. After Edward O'Brien's death in
1799, his widow married Eleazer Foster and continued to live
in the Pierpont House until her death in 1852. This is
another family house which is serving the Yale University as
its Faculty Club, having been preserved as an outstanding
piece of colonial architecture. The desk of the Reverend
James Pierpont which was for many years at Anson Blake's house,
was given by Anita Day Symraes Blake to her nephew, Igor Robert
Blake.
Charles Thompson Blake, eldest son of Eli Whitney Blake
and Eliza O'Brien Blake, was born October 19, 1826 in New Haven,
Conn.. He was named for the uncle of his great-grandmother,
Charles Thompson, Secretary to the Continental Congress.
The Slakes
389
Charles graduated from Yale in 1847. He had completed one
year of law school when news of the gold discoveries in
California reached the Atlantic Seaboard and he and his Yale
classmates, Edwin Tyler and Roger Baldwin, Jr., sailed from
New York early in January, 1849 for Nicaragua. Here they
were delayed for several months by revolution and by the
impossibility of securing a vessel on the Pacific side to
continue their journey to California. They, at last succeeded
in chartering the brig "Laura Ann" and arrived fifty-seven
days later in San Francisco on October 5, 1849. The account
of this trip, based on the letters of Charles T. Blake's
classmate at Yale (Roger Sherman Baldwin, Jr.) was published
in the "Century Magazine", October, 1891, and is included in
the Appendices. The father of Roger Sherman Baldwin, Jr. was
Governor of Connecticut and later United States Senator from
Connecticut. The other Yale classmates of Charles T. Blake
who remained closely associated in California, were
Charles T. H. Palmer and George Gideon Webster.
Charles T. Blake and his Yale classmates went (after their
arrival) to Sacramento and then to Georgetown where they spent
the summer of 1850 in the mines, having only indifferent
success. In the winter they moved to Nevada City where they
had a difficult time because of the very heavy winter. By
midsummer 1852, the party had moved to* the vicinity of Michigan
Bluff where Charles T. Blake was the first Wells Fargo agent.
The next decade was spent in this area. As a means of working
their claims, a ditch was built bringing water onto the top
of the bluff. The next vear all classmates were members of
The B lakes 8.
390
the El Dorado Ditch Company which continued to operate after
the placers of the district had been worked out. In 1856
Edwin Tyler took over as Wells Fargo agent fron Charles T.
Blake at Michigan Bluff, and Blake went to Yankee Jins as
Wells Fargo agent where he ran an assay office also.
In 1863 he went to Virginia City, Nevada to relieve his
friend, Roger Sherman Day who was Wells Fargo agent there.
While at Virginia City he made the assay of the first bonanza
ore taken from the Yellow Jacket mine. On leaving Virginia City
he was sent by Wells Fargo and Company to Idaho to open service
to the new mining camps near Idaho City. At the conclusion of
this undertaking by Wells Fargo, in the sane year he moved to
Boise and started his own stage line connecting with the overland
stage route from Sacramento to the Coast and running a pony
express through indian territory.
The letters of Charles Thompson Blake were published in
the Quarterly of The Society of California Pioneers, Vol. VII,
No. 1, March, 1930 and The California Historical Society
Quarterly, Vol. XVI, No. 1, March, 1937 and No. 2, June, 1937;
these are included in the Appendices. In October, 1868, Charles
T. Blake married Harriet Waters Stiles. The following year was
spent visiting families and friends in the East and the
C. T. Blakes returned to San Francisco over the newly constructed
Central Pacific Railroad, and then returned by train and stage
to Boise City.
Harriet Waters Stiles Blake, wife of Charles Thompson Blake,
was born November 24, 1840 in Millbury, Mass., and came with
her father, Anson Gale Stiles and her mother, Ann Jane Waters Stile
The Blakes
391
to California in the 1850 's. She was married to Charles
Thompson Blake in 1868.
Anson Gales Stiles was born in Amsterdam, New York in 1809
and moved, when he was a young man, to Millbury, Mass.. Then
in 1836 he married Ann Jane Waters of Millbury and remained
there 16 years, having two children, only one of whom survived.
In March, 1852, he came to California and' went to the mines
and then to Sacramento. Later, he built his house on Rincon
Hill in San Francisco and lived there until his death in 1876.
He returned to Millbury on his fortieth anniversary to have a
reception at the home of his brother-in-law, Samuel Davenport
Torrey, grandfather of William Howard Taft.
Ann Jane Waters was the daughter of Asa Waters, Jr. of
Millbury, Mass., who had inherited his family's munitions work
described in the appendix. The Waters' house still stands in
/
Millbury and is owned by the Roman Catholic Church. Asa Waters,
Jr. was the grandson of Colonel Jonathan Hollman who was born
in 1732 and died in 1814. Jonathan Hollman was sworn in at-
Worcester, Mass., December 29, 1758, with a detachment of
Captain Solomon Hollman's company from Sutton, Mass.. Some of
the ironstone china that still remains in Blake House at the
University of California, was owned by the Waters family;
Colonel Hollman's grandfather clock which stood in the hallway
to the dining room of Blake House, also belonged to the Waters
family and is now in the possession of Igor Robert Blake.
In the summer of 1870, Harriet W. S. Blake returned from
Boise to San Francisco to have her first child, Anson Stiles
Blake, at her parent's home on Rincon Hill, August 6, 1870.
The Blakes 10
She returned to Boise City and the Blakes remained there until
1872 when the Charles T. Blakes returned to San Francisco and
lived with the Anscn G. Stileses on Rincon Hill. C. T. Blake
went into the paving business with C. T. H. Palmer, his Yale
classmate, and they formed the Oakland Paving Company which
operated the quarry at 50th and Broadway in Oakland.
Charles T. Blake and his classmates were agents for his father,
Eli Whitney Blake in the sale of his rockcrusher for roadwork
and mining work. These efforts took him to Washington Territory
and to Victoria.
The Blake's three other children who lived to maturity,
were born in the Stiles house on Rincon Hill. Eliza Seely Blake,
U.C. '95, married Sherman Day Thacher June 24, 1896, who founded
the Thacher School in Ojai, California. An account of the
early events at the Thacher School is included in the appendices.
Sherman Thacher and His School, by Henry McKim Makepeace, an
account of Sherman Thacher 's life was published in 1941 by the
Yale Press. Edwin Tyler Blake, U.C. '96, mining engineer, was
associated with Anson in the family quarry business.
Robert Pierpont Blake, U.C. '08 and LL.D. '34, was Professor of
History at Harvard and Director of Widener Library; summaries
of his life are included in the appendices: Dumbarton Oaks
Papers *8, 1954; Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. Vol. 14,
No. 1 & 2, June, 1951. *?
In 1887, the Charles Thompson Blakes and Mrs. A. G. Stiles
moved to Berkeley, renting a large house on Bancroft Way.
Anson S. Blake's recollections of his boyhood were published
in the California Historical Quarterly and are included in the
The Slakes 393 11
appendices. When Anson Stiles Blake entered the University
of California in the fall of 1887, the enrollment was 250
students. He najored in history and graduated -in 1891.
Three years later he married another U.C. graduate, Anita Day
Syrrunes , a <j)BK in the class of '94. Shortly after their
narriage they built their first home and planted their first
garden in a portion of the Piedmont Avenue property which
had been given to them by Anson S. Blake's mother. Mrs. Charles
T. Blake built a house for herself next to the Anson S. Blakes
around the turn of the century after the death of her husband
and her mother, Mrs. A. G. Stiles. A third family house was
built on the Piedmont Avenue property when Edwin Tyler Blake
was married. The Piedmont Avenue property had been purchased
by Anson Gale Stiles from the Trustees of the University of
California as they felt that the University would not expand
east of Piedmont Avenue. Anson Gale Stiles later gave the
Piedmont Arenue property to his daughter, Harriet W. S. Blake
for a home in the country, later to become Memorial Stadium site.
In 1891 Ann Jane Waters Stiles (Mrs. Anson Gale Stiles),
organized the "Trustees of Stiles Hall" and gave the principal
donation for the construction of Stiles Hall to house the
University Y and the building was dedicated to religous and
social uses of the University students. Anson Stiles Blake
was elected to the Stiles Hall board in 1900 and elected
chairman in 1902. He retired as Chairman of the Stiles Hall
Board after 50 years of service and was honored by a concurrent
resolution from the State of California legislature citing him
The Slakes 12
394
as the "Grand Old Man of Stiles Hall". In 1958 Anson Stiles
Blake was honored by the University of California with an
LL.D. degree in recognition of his service to Stiles Hall,
The University, and for his work as a preserver of California
history. Anson Blake's award of the LL.D. degree followed
almost a quarter of a century after his youngest brother,
Robert Pierpont Blake, was av/arded an LL.D. degree in
recognition of his scholarship. The third member of the Blake
family to receive an LL.D. degree from the University of
California, was William Phipps Blake in 1910 (a cousin of
Charles T. Blake) . He v/as Professor of Minerology and Geology
in the College of California, 1864 and then was Professor of
Geology and Mining and Director of the School of Mines at
the University of Arizona, Tuscon. The Biographical Notice
of William Phipps Blake by Rossiter W. Raymond, published in
the Transaction of the American Institute of. Mining Engineers,
is included in the appendices .
The Anson Slakes had a long time interest in conservation
and a desire to have a large garden. Anson S. Blake. purchased
forty acres in Orinda and also had a ranch in St. Helena. When
in 1922, the University of California purchased the three houses
on Piedmont Avenue from the Blakes for the purpose of building
the Memorial Stadium, An«on and Edwin Blake decided to build on
the 60 acres in Kensington, which, as a gift from their mother,
had been divided equally among the four children.
Edwin Blake's house was planned with a separate wing for
his mother to occupy for her remaining years. This house was
The Blakes- 13
395
later sold to the Carmelite Order and . now serves as a monastery.
Anson, being the eldest son, was given the first choice of
locating his house on the property and its placement was care
fully considered to provide a windbreak for an extensive garden
area. Construction began in 1922. The architectural plan by
Walter Bliss is in the Mediterranean style for which he was
noted. The basic garden plan laid out by Mabel Symmes , U.C.
'96, sister of Anita D. S. Blake, who had returned to the
University to study landscape architecture shortly after the
department was established in 1914. Mable Symmes made her
home with the Anson Blakes after the house was completed and
devoted her life to working in the garden. Gladys C. Wickson's
account published in the California Historical Society Quarterly,
Vol. 42, #2, June, 1963, is included in the appendices.
Following the interest in conservation and their earlier
gift to the State of California of the St. Helena property
on Howell Mountain, Anson and Anita Blake deeded their house
and gardens to the University of California in 1957, retaining
a lifetime right to reside in the house. The deed stipulated
that the gardens be developed for teaching and research in
landscape architecture, and the house be used for appropriate
University purposes. The extensive restoration, remodeling
and additions to Blake House would have been a joy for Anson
and Anita Blake to behold, and to know 'that their house is now
the official residence of the President of the University of
California. The thoughtful care of Nancy and Charles Hitch in
The Slakes 14
396
the restoration and reconstruction of Blake House has insured
that it will join the long line of Blake family residences in
England and the United States of Anerica which have been
preserved as historical monuments.
One third of the furniture remaining in Blake House was
collected by Anson and Anita Blake, one third was purchased
by the University, and one third is the Hitch family furniture.
The Hitch collection of early French oak furniture blends well
with the Blakes oak furniture of the same era.
Anson S. Blake took his business training in banking.
He became cashier at the Central Bank and engaged in various
enterprises on the side. After the death of his father,
Charles Thompson Blake in 1897, Anson became active in the
quarry business while still maintaining his position at the
Central Bank.
During the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906,
the Oakland Paving Company had on hand, a railroad car of
dynamite, and was asked to make this powder available to the
firefighters in San Francisco. It was used to blow up the
houses along Van Ness Avenue and thus contain the fire.
Anson Blake, with two teamsters and two wagonloads of dynamite,
crossed the San Francisco Bay by a special ferry put into action
for that purpose by Southern Pacific. He conducted his two
teamsters and their wagonloads of dynazrite to the Assistant
Fire Marshal. He then returned, bringing his parents-in-law,
the Frank Jamieson Symeses, back to the safety of Berkeley.
Later, after the fire, when the vaults of the San Francisco
The Slakes 15.
banks could be opened, Anson S. Blake supervised the group of
bank representatives who were members of the Oakland Clearing
House, to take the contents of the San Francisco vaults to
Oakland. The Oakland Clearing House served San Francisco
until the San Francisco banks were rebuilt and reopened.
Sometime after the fire, Anson S. Balke resigned as cashier
of Central Bank to devote himself to family interests. He
foresaw that the gradual growth of San Francisco and Oakland
would eventually close out the quarries that existed in those
areas because of zoning pressures due to the dusty, noisy
nature of the quarrying business.
Blake and Bilger Company was organized in 1914 as an
affiliate to the Oakland Paving Company. In 1906 the
San Pablo Quarry Company was incorporated and the 300 acres
of land were acquired in Richmond, north of the Standard Oil
Company refinery on the Portrero of San Pablo at Castro Point.
It was planned to ship the output of this quarry in a self-
unloading barge to San Francisco where at the end of Third
Street, the Company had rock bunkers. It was at this time
•
that Edwin Tyler Blake, Anson 's younger brother, returned
from the gold mines at Hornitos, Mariposa County, California,
bringing with him the skilled crews of Welsh miners who built
the quarry plant at Richmond. This plant, designed by Edwin
t. '
Blake, was a remarkable engineering feat and it was operated
from 1906 to the time the family sold it in 1963 under a
corporate reorganization, to Standard Oil Company of California.
The Slakes 16
398
There was intrabay and river commerce at that tine, and rock
was shipped by barge to San Francisco and other bay and river
points. The San Pablo barge was a 700 ton barge with hoppers
which fed a conveyor belt. The belt in turn, fed a bucket
elevator and thus the rock could be unloaded into the bunkers
in San Francisco, as well as used for balast rock for ships
coming to San Francisco.
In 1914 there was a corporate reorganization whereby
Mrs. Charles T. Blake, Anson S. Blake, Edwin Tyler Blake,
Robert Pierpont Blake and Eliza Seely Blake Thacher
(Mrs. Shernan Day Thacher), bought out the interest of
F. W. Bilger in the Blake and Bilger Company, and the name
of the firm was changed to Blake Brothers Company, reminiscent
of Eli Whitney Blake's firm in the nineteenth century in
New Haven. The Blake family traded most of their holdings
with Bilger in the Oakland Paving Company for the ownership
of the San Pablo quarry in Richmond.
The quarry business did very well from 1906 until 1916
when there was quite a recession in California during World
War I. The State output was primarily agricultural to support
the war effort. Anson Blake once remarked that it would have
been better to have closed down the plant and paid the real
estate taxes rather than endeavoring to run it during the
World War I years. There was a construction boom in the
twenties and Edwin Blake, returning from the U. S. Army Corps
of Engineers, made extensive additions to the plant, and the
first asphalt concrete plant was built.
The Blakes 399 17
In 1911 the Castro Point Railway and Terminal Company
had been established as a subsidiary of Blake and Bilger
Company. The Castro Point Railway and Terminal Company joined
its tracks with the San Francisco-Oakland Terminal Railway
which operated a trolley service connecting with the San Rafael
Ferry. From 1915 until 1923 a portion of the Castro Point
Railway and Terminal Company wharf was leased to the Richmond-
San Rafael Ferry and Transportation Company. The Castro
Point Railway and Terminal Company wharf was a busy place in
this tine, with the cars and passengers for the ferry and
rock shipments of the quarry. In 1925 the ferry built its
xXs
own wharf at Castro Point. Rock shipments were made through
the East Bay over the trolley tracks and continued to be made
until 1925 when the tracks of the Castro Point Railway and
Terminal Company pushed north and joined those of the Richmond
Belt Railway which had direct connection v/ith the Santa Fe and
Southern Pacific lines. In the depression years of the 1930 's
business was slow for the quarry until the Golden Gate Bridge,
the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge and Treasure Island
were built.
Anson Blake's interest in history and conservation have
been mentioned before. The initial design of the Golden Gate
Bridge called for the destruction of Fort Point which was
built after the plan of Fort Sumpter. Anson S. Blake led the
citizens group who pointed out to the bridge designer, the
importance of Fort Point and the possibility of moving the
The Slakes 18.
400
footings of the bridge to a better location which would
preserve Fort Point.
When Blake Brothers Company was in the construction as
well as the quarry business, they had put in streets and
sewers for a Rockridge Land Company development. The
Rockridge Land Company went bankrupt and in order to protect
their liens for the sewers and roads and improvements, Blake
Brothers Company completed the job and brought it to a
successful financial conclusion.
Anson Blake did engage in a few ventures of his own, one
of which was to develop the area in El Cerrito near Blake
Street which is named for him. (The Blake Street in Berkeley
was named for a farmer by the name of Blake, who was one of
the original settlers of Berkeley, but no relation to the
Eli Whitney Blake families.) Anson S. Blake was also involved
in a real estate venture for the redevelopment of Berkeley
after the Berkeley fire in 1927. Another one of his personal
ventures was to serve as receiver for Scofield Construction
Company which, around 1908, under his direction, completed the
Mare Island Drydocks. With the proceeds of this he bought and
presented to his wife, Anita, their ranch property in St. Helena,
For many years they spent vacations and weekends at St. Helena.
Mrs. Blake frequently rode her horse, taking the ferry across
the bay and riding on to St. Helena where Anson Blake would
join her for the weekend.
After they had the garden in Kensington, the Blakes gave
the St. Helena property to the State and, foreseeing the need
The Blakes. 19.
401
for conservation, they hoped that the natural planting would
be preserved. The State of California at that time applied
the terns conservation and recreation synonymously and the
original intent, unfortunately, was partially lost by allowing
camping on the property. This, in Mrs. Blake's opinion,
altered its pristine nature.
Anson Blake served as NRA (National Recovery Act) chairman
for the industry, and chaired the committee for prices which
was established under the laws at that time. He also
negotiated, as a member of the Rock", Sand and Gravel Producers
-
Association of Northern California, the fundamental construction
contract which continues on into the present time. Under this
contract, the quarry industry pays construction rates when they
engage in new construction, but maintenance rates while they
operate their fixed plants. This concept is of vital importance
and the University now finds itself working toward this plan,
which was pioneered in the thirties .
Anson Blake chaired the Berkeley Committee to Welcome
William Howard Taft, his cousin, upon his trip to Berkeley in
1909. It is interesting to note that transportation to
Oakland was arranged by streetcar. President Taft and his
party stopped to have coffee at the Anson Blakes (who were
then still on Piedmont Avenue), as Mrs. Charles Thompson Blake
whose house was next to theirs, was irv Europe and not able to
receive her cousin.
Anson Blake's interest as an historian is evidenced by
the fact that he served as both President of the California
The Blakes 402 20
Historical Society and President of The Society of California
Pioneers. In the thirties and into the war period, he worked
in both Societies which, for sake of economy, shared a
common building. Later he observed with great pleasure, the
magnificent new quarters which were acquired and furbished
by both The Society of California Pioneers and the California
Historical Society, attending the dedication of both buildings.
It is interesting to note that in the dark days of the
depression, he managed both the Societies with one full tine
employee who was half time on the payroll of each group. They
still managed to publish a journal as well as collect and save
Californiana for the future when there would be more funds to
work with it.
Anson Blake had an appealing combination of conservatism
and forward thinking. He supported the open platform of Stiles
Hall where he served as Chairman of the Board for 50 years.
On the other hand, he opposed and lead the Berkeley opposition
to the Women's Sufferage Act in 1919, collecting money from
Charles Lee Tilden and others to run advertisements in an
effort to defeat the 19th Amendment. Mrs. Blake thoroughly
agreed with Anson Blake's position on women's sufferage but
never fully agreed with his support of Stiles Hall. Mrs. Blake
had strong feelings as a naturalist and conservationist.
The Bi
i
403
The family is fortunate in having extensive historical
records published, some of which are noted here.
1. The life of Admiral Robert Blake is described in two books:
a. Blake , General at Sea, by C. D. Curtis, published in
Taunton, England in 1934 by Barnicot and Pearce, The
Wessex Press;
b. Robert Blake, Admiral and General at Sea, by Hepworth
Dixon, London, 1852, by Chapnan and Hall, Piccadilly.
2. The Hollmans in America, by David Emerby Holdan, published
by Graf tin Press, New York in 1909.
3. Increase Blake, His Ancestors and Descendants, compiled
by Francis E. Blake, published in Boston in 1898 .
4. Blake Family, a geological history of William Blake of
Dorchester, and his descendants, by Samuel Blake, published
by Ebenezer Clapp, Jr., Boston, Mass., 1857.
5. The Slakes of 77 Elm Street, a sketch by Alida Blake Hazard
privately published by the Quincy Press, New Haven, Conn.,
in the early 1920 's.
6. The Stiles Family in America, by -Mrs. Mary Stiles (Paul)
Guild, published" by Joel Munsell's Sons, Albany, New York,
1892.
June, 1971 Igor Robert Blake
404
A San Francisco Boyhood
1874-1884
I WAS BORX in San Francisco and propose to offer you some of my
youthful recollections of scenes and events in that nascent metropolis.
My home during those years was my Grandfather's home on the crest
of Rincon Hill at its westerly end. The house faced north on a little
street then called Vernon Place but now known as Dow Place. The
outlook was over the large grounds of General Halleck's house which
fronted on Folsom Street opposite the Talbot, Pope and Latham
Houses. At the rear of our house was the large place of Mayor Selby
and next to it the former home of Pedar Sather, which was then a board
ing house, perched on the cliff above Second Street cut, which had only
recently been put through Rincon Hill. This was "the banker's ruined
castle" noted by Robert Louis Stevenson as the place where he visited
Charles Warren Stoddard, who boarded there.
Rincon Hill in those days was an island of Victorian respectability
surrounded by an area of flat land then universally known as Tar Flat.
I have looked for the name in Professor Gudde's California Place Names
to ascertain its origin, but his only reference to Tar is "see asphalt."
There were no asphalt streets in those days. Such streets as were paved
were surfaced with plank or cobbles except for a few heavily travelled
stretches which were surfaced with basalt or granite paving blocks. Tar
Flat had a number of industrial establishments scattered over it but it
was essentially a residence district of wooden houses. I have a picture
dated 1872 taken from the roof of my Grandfather's house showing
only two structures projecting above the general level, the shot tower
in Tar Flat and the Masonic Temple at Post and Montgomery streets
where the Crocker Bank now stands. My first recollection of interest
in this scene was when I observed the vast walls of the old Palace
Hotel rising story after story above the expanse of wooden houses. This
I saw, but I did not realize that beyond my line of vision, the business
district on California, Pine and Montgomery streets was being meta
morphosed as a result of the flood of money coming, in one form or
another, from the Comstock lode.
215
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2 1 6 California Historical Society Quarterly
My next contact with the outside world which has left a vivid mental
picture was September 9, 1874, when I was four years old. The occasion
was the twenty-fourth anniversary of the admission of the State to the
Union. It was celebrated by the Society of California Pioneers by an
excursion on the Bay. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company had
donated the use of their big paddle wheel steamer "Great Republic"
for the occasion. My Father, who was a member of the Society, took
me along. The steamer was of the pattern of the Pacific Mail Fleet.
The whole stern end was occupied by a deck house consisting of a
double row of staterooms on each side. The outer ones opened on a
rather narrow passage with a netting extending from the outer edge of
the boat to a heavy guard rail about five feet above deck level; the inner
row opened into a long and rather narrow room, the full length of the
deck house. This was the passengers' dining room. When we went
aboard we made a quick inspection of the ship and as we came to the
stern we had a view of the dining saloon already set for lunch. I was
astonished to observe that there were a great many more bottles than
dishes on the long table. If I had ever learned to sketch, I could repro
duce that scene for you with great accuracy. We were summoned to
lunch shortly after we got under way. Following the habit which had
already been set for the day by the Society of California Pioneers, food
was abundant; wine and liquor flowed even more freely and the meal
was capped by a torrent of oratory. All of this kept us within for quite
a time. As the company spilled out onto the deck in the most convivial
good humor, it was discovered that the Captain was heading the ship
out through the Golden Gate. It took only a short time for the rough
water outside to reduce the exhilaration of most of the passengers to the
depths of misery, my Father among the others. I can remember his
standing me against the deck house and saying "Don't you move,"
while he dashed for the railing. We were just abaft the paddle wheel
house. From where I stood I could look down on the great oaken knee
that held the support of the outboard bearing of the paddle wheel and
ahead of it the green sea water as we rolled toward it and away from it
and the red paddles of the wheel churned it into white foam. And that
was the last recollection I have of the day's events.
For the year 1875, 1 have few recollections of the City and its life
largely because of two long sessions with infantile diseases with a longer
interval between illness when I was laid up by a broken hip. I was one of
the early cases in San Francisco where a cast was used. That cast, I
406
A San Francisco Boyhood 2 1 7
remember very vividly. It was a ponderous affair. I was stretched out
and the leg wrapped from the ball of the foot to my hip in two layers
of old woolen blanket. The wet plaster was then applied to the blanket
in successive layers for the whole distance and was then held in place
by old sheeting sewed firmly over it. When it was done, it was too
heavy for me to stir and I had to be lifted by someone whenever I
moved position in bed. I had to wear it for six weeks and for every
minute of that rime, my flesh, that was in contact with the old blanket,
itched to an unbelievable degree. When I finally recovered from my
second illness of the year, the family was glad to get rid of me and sent
me to school. It was a private school, kept by Miss Cheever, the sister of
H. C. Cheever. She kept house for him and also kept boarders. One of
these was Alfred Robinson who wrote "Life in California" which was
published in London in 1 846. The second story of the Cheever stable
was refitted for a school room. Here I met Albert and May Hooper,
Daisy and Don Merrill, Sadie and Louis McLane, Porter Garnett,
Evelyn Norwood, and Bessie, Leslie and Charley Tilden.
These contacts immediately stirred a sense of community life and
intense curiosity as to how the other fellow lived. The first thing my
plunge into education brought me was a wild delight over uninhibited
license to frequent the public streets, for I had to walk to school along
Harrison Street over the Second Street Bridge to Essex Street where the
school was located.
This brings me to the year 1876 when I really began to participate
in the life of the City and my memories are many. The first vivid one is
attendine, on Washington's Birthday, the unveiling of the huge plaster
bust of Washington which stood in Woodward's Gardens near the
entrance gate and to the right of it as you entered. That day was the first
that I remember of a long series of visits to the Children's Paradise of
our generation. Even the journey out Mission Street in the little balloon
horse car was a thrilling adventure. The car needed no turn table. At
the end of the line the driver lifted a pin, drove his horses around the
car, put the pin in an appropriate place and was prepared to drive home.
Of Woodward's Gardens, I can note that it was a well-considered
pleasure park for there were attractions for all ages. Years later I first
heard Pinafore and the Pirates of Penzance there. That spring I remem
ber a number of drives with my Grandfather in his two-horse buggy
through the Panhandle of the Park. At that time, it was the only part of
Golden Gate Park that was in use. The rest was only drifting sandhills
407
2 1 8 California Historical Society Quarterly
and there were no streets laid out or houses in existence beyond the
western limit of the Panhandle. A couple of years later John McLaren
had reclaimed the sand wastes with the Sudan Grass and bush lupine
planting which stabilized the surface sufficiently to allow planting of
trees and pushing roads toward the ocean. I also remember driving with
my Grandfather out the old Geary Street road to the Cliff House to
see the sea lions and then a rapid trot down the beach to Mussel Rock.
It was Centennial Year. In common with the rest of the United States,
San Francisco had a series of celebrations centering around July 4th.
One of these I remember very well. On July }rd, there was a parade
of naval vessels. My Father took me up to the open hillside that is now
the Western Addition. After the ships had steamed past us toward the
sea and returned, several dropped anchor below us and began shooting
at a target anchored below the Marin Hills opposite. The ships were
armed with the big Parrott cast iron guns and we could see the big
round solid shot go richocheting across the water. It is my recollection
that no hits on the target were scored. I have a picture of the crowd on
the hillside of which we were a part and an enlargement of it was
shown in the exhibit of Presidio pictures last year at the Crocker- Anglo
National Bank.
Shortly after this, my Grandfather, who had gone east with his wife,
died there. My Mother decided to go east to bring her Mother home.
She took me on the trip so I was away rill about mid-September for we
made several visits to relatives and spent a week at the Philadelphia
Exposition. After my return, I joined my contemporaries, aligned to
the party of their choice in the Presidential campaign then under way.
I made my debut in politics by joining the crowd that shouted for
Hayes and Wheeler. We were vociferous to the end. But I can remem
ber no further interest in politics until the campaign for the adoption
of the new state constitution. Following my elders, I was violently op
posed to adoption. As far as I can remember, all my schoolmates were
too. I remember our delighted celebration when San Francisco's vote
against adoption was announced notwithstanding support of the Work-
ingman's Party for the new constitution. In a few days, the country's
returns reduced us to despair. My regret over the outcome has con
tinued to this day.
But this is getting ahead of my calendar. As I have said, 1876 brought
me freedom to roam the streets. It was toward the end of the era of
wildest speculation on the Comstock. There was hardly an individual
408
A San Francisco Boyhood z 19
who was not gambling. The market was stimulated by legitimate and
illegitimate pressures. The Consolidated California and Virginia Mine
was paying a million dollars a month in dividends. There were a dozen
more mines that had, or had had bonanza ores. The lode was only
partially explored. Why should there not be more? During Stock Board
hours, hardly anyone on the street walked; the rest ran. If they checked
themselves to greet a friend, hands were plunged deep in trousers
pockets and the universal salutation was "How's Stocks?" Perhaps an
answer was awaited, but a faster gait to make up for the lost interval
was usual. My boyhood friends and I delighted to visit this area of
supercharged atmosphere to participate in its thrills and we adopted the
salutation as soon as we acquired trouser pockets.
Almost as thrilling as Pine Street were San Francisco wharves. In
the '705 only the Pacific Mail dock had a shed and gates. All the others
were open planked structures with berths for ships on each side. You
could wander at will among the piles of cargo that had been unloaded
and sometimes sneak aboard a vessel, if no ship's officer was around, for
the sailors were almost always friendly. We learned early that the repair
crews of the port treated their jobs informally. Missing deck planks
were not always replaced. If you held your chin too high a step might
land you in the bay. Two types of ships produced the most interesting
cargoes, the sugar boats from Hawaii and the traders to the South Seas
and the East Indies. All of these were windjammers.
Sugar refining had not developed to the present stage of perfection.
The molasses came in little wooden barrels. In those days molasses was
not the doctored residuum that you now buy in bottles. It was a syrupy
fluid that embraced a concentration of all the delights that you obtained
in chewing the pith of the sugar cane. When a sling load of these barrels
was dropped too hard on the wharf, the barrels sometimes sprung at
the seams. With the aid of a straw from a nearby bale of hay, you could
fill yourself with the sweet-sour nectar to the limit of your capacity.
No child of today who buys a coca-cola, ice cream soda or banana split
has a treat comparable with our free ride at the public's expense.
The South Seas and East Indies trading schooners have disappeared
from San Francisco Bay as completely as has the San Francisco scow
schooner which was the pioneer means of transportation to all the
shallow water landings about the Bay. In my youth, hundreds of these
craft dotted the bay but their cargoes did not hold any interest for us.
The traders, however, offered eye-opening glimpses of how the inhabi-
409
22o Calif ornia Historical Society Quarterly
rants of these remote regions lived and what they had to work with.
The crews were largely Hawaiians, South Sea Islanders and Lascars.
They in turn were equally interested in how the uncivilized inhabitants
of California, represented by ourselves, lived and behaved. This mutual
interest enabled us to examine the curiosities in the cargoes and taste
the edible portions and view the menageries of live pets that many
sailors had. Sinbad the Sailor had nothing on us in this field of explora
tion and adventure.
In order to give you something of a background of our life in San
Francisco during 1877, 1 will quote from John S. Hittell's summary of
that year's events in his History of San Francisco:
"A great depression of business, resulting from a severe drought, and a
fear that the rich deposit of ore in the Consolidated Virginia and Cali
fornia mines would soon be exhausted, the organization of the work-
ingman's political party, were among the most notable events of 1877.
The scantiness of the rainfall of 1876-77, the amount being less than
ten inches at San Francisco, and less than that of any other season
within a quarter of a century, caused a general failure of the grain crop,
a large mortality in the herds of cattle, and a serious decline in the yield
of the placer mines. The direct pecuniary loss to the state by the
drought was estimated at twenty million dollars. The southern part of
the state was especially depressed, notwithstanding the completion of
the railroad connection between San Francisco and Los Angeles in
September, 1876, and the extension of the road to the Colorado River
in the April following "
When we remember that the eastern United States had been in a
depression since 1873, the suddenness of its advent in San Francisco is
more understandable. In any event, Pine Street and vicinity, even with
its new Mining Exchange, lost its interest for us, when its excitement
dropped. Although there were sporadic short revivals for several years
we had become sophisticated and did not respond as of yore.
As a substitute for walks to Pine Street, we began to explore the
outlying edges of San Francisco. A favorite excursion was an all-day
trip. We took the Mission Street horsecar to what was then known as
Bernal Heights. This was the first abrupt rise of ground below Twin
Peaks. There were only one or two streets along this slope above
Mission Street. Beyond that, there was the unfenced grassy slope that
stretched to the peaks. In the spring, the grass was dotted with innumer
able wild flowers. There are left only a few spots in Marin County
410
A San Francisco Boyhood 2 2 1
where you can see a comparable display to those we thoughtlessly
crampled underfoot. The climb to the summit was quite a walk but
the unrestricted view was rewarding as it is today. But its composition
was very different. To the west you now look down on almost solid
city. In our day, the Valley was almost unoccupied. The Alms House
lay almost exactly below us and the rest of the Valley held perhaps a
half dozen houses. We usually went down to the Alms House tearing
pell mell over the flower-strewn grass. When we went as far as this it
was an all day excursion and we ate our lunch near the Alms House
where we could get water. The return trip was often made by an
alternate route.
This year was the beginning of the Dennis Kearney, Dr. O'Donnell,
"The Chinese Must Go" era which persisted for several years. It may
be said that the impact came in July 1877. The economic conditions
indicated in the above quotations produced a large body of unemployed
who were restless and worried and became ready listeners to any
speaker who claimed to champion their cause.
In July, news came of the great labor, socialistic and railroad riots
in the eastern states. There was an immediate reaction in San Francisco
and the first object of attack was the Chinese. A Chinese laundry was
burned and several others sacked on July 2 3rd. The rioters following
this became defiant and threatened to drive out all Asiatics, by fire if
necessary. The San Francisco police force was only about one hundred
and fifty men, entirely inadequate to meet the situation. So on the
following day a public meeting of citizens was called and a protective
association was formed known as the Committee of Safety under the
presidency of William T. Coleman who had headed the Vigilance
Committee of 1856. By nightfall, he had a volunteer organization of
over five thousand members armed for the most part with hickory pick
handles; hence their subsequent tide of "pick handle brigade."
On the night of July 25, after a day of excitement and disturbance,
and several encounters, the rioters determined to make an attack on the
Pacific Mail Steamship Company's docks and steamers at the foot of
Brannan Street where the Chinese immigrants were landed. Threats to
destroy this property had been made before. Great crowds congregated
in the neighborhood and fire was set to several nearby lumber yards.
The disorderly elements were out in large force and attempted to inter
fere with the firemen who soon arrived with their engines; but, at the
same time with the firemen, came many policemen reinforced by large
411
222 California Historical Society Quarterly
numbers of the pick handle brigade, who at once began to disperse the
crowds. There was a general fight for a couple of hours; in the melee
a number of shots were fired and many stones thrown; a few men were
killed, and a number wounded. The object of the police and committee
was not to kill or maim the rioters but to disperse them. In this they
finally succeeded.
The show of force and organization ended most rioting but it did not
alleviate the situation of the unemployed. The laboring classes were
discontented and hardly knew which way to turn. They only needed
a bold leader to turn them in almost any direction. There was therefore
a magnificent opening for a demagogue. And a demagogue of consider
able boldness and force, and for a while of extraordinary success, soon
appeared. This was Dennis Kearney, an Irish drayman, born in County
Cork and about thirty years of age. He threw himself into the so-called
workingmen's movement, which had already been started and soon took
a prominent part in it. In August he advocated the organization of a new
party soon to be known as the Workingmen's Party of California, but
because it held its principal meetings every Sunday afternoon on the
then vacant lots south of the new city hall, it was usually known as
the Sand Lots party. Here Kearney continued to make incendiary
speeches for many months, denouncing the capitalists, threatening the
Chinese and advocating drastic means if the parry could not attain its
ends by peaceable procedure.
These conditions in public affairs could not be overlooked by an alert
gang of boys from seven to nine years old, accustomed to a life on the
streets and with an inordinate curiosity as to the doings of their elders.
We soon shed all interest in finance and exploration and converged on
the City. It became immediately evident that a considerable group of
us aroused much more attention and suspicion from our elders than a
single small boy loitering about them. Consequently, we all became
amateur sleuths with deadpan faces and wide open ears. Dennis Kearney
was a neighbor of ours on Rincon Hill. He was tailed by one of the
gang when he was on the street near home, as were some of the other
leaders. Meetings where information could be shared became essential
to us as we should have burst if we could not spill our findings. We
were soon meeting with the regularity of a club. The meetings engen
dered so much excitement that they became objects of suspicion from
our elders. We promptly sensed this and soon became a well-organized
underground. A favorite meeting place was the Tildens' unused stable.
412
A San Francisco Boyhood 223
Their house was on Hawthorne Street, the barn at the back of the lot
below the house level, and out of sight from Hawthorne Street. It was
not new to us for it had been useful to us in avoiding police supervision.
Its rear wall was supported by a brick foundation six or eight feet high
which also marked the end of an alley which came up from Third
Street. By lifting a loose plank in the floor of the stable, we could drop
down alongside of this wall. The bricks of that day were often inade
quately fired and when wet were soft enough to crumble if attacked
with a sharp instrument. We opened a hole large enough for a boy to
wriggle through the wall into a vacant lot that fronted on the alley.
Thus it was inconspicuous from the alley, and a little persuading opened
a hole in the board fence of the lot. It was easy to disperse into the
traffic of Third Street which had small relation to the top of the hill.
We did our best to learn where breaches of the peace would occur and
attended many minor outbreaks. But parental authority enveloped us
after nightfall so we missed the major riots. W'e did attend a number of
the Sunday afternoon Sand Lot Meetings and skirted the outer edges
of the crowds listening to the comments of the listeners and becoming
acquainted with the appearance of the speakers.
This turbulent era held our interest well into 1878 when the new con
stitution election added new subjects to lists of the Sand Lot speakers.
By this rime we had become bold enough to shout some vigorous "noes"
to questions put to voice vote. This had to be done from the outer edges
as we had to duck and scatter to avoid reprisals. However, the old topics
had begun to turn stale for us. The new constitution was, as I have
already said, a live issue with us. The election on this issue was held on
May 7, 1879 and as already indicated the vote favored adoption by
about seven per cent majority. It was a live issue for California voters.
Ninety per cent of the registered voters turned out and voted.
My personal grief over this outcome was soon diverted. The family
spent most of the summer and early autumn in the Sierra, first at beauti
ful Summit Soda Springs adjoining the estate of Mrs. Mark Hopkins
and later, after an interesting ride down to Truckee in the caboose of
a freight train, at Tahoe City. On my return to San Francisco, I found
my pals had been on the edge of further political excitement. The
Workingmen's Party had nominated a Baptist preacher, Reverend
Isaac S. Kalloch, for Mayor. The San Francisco Chronicle attacked
Kalloch and published some damaging statements against him. Kalloch.
from his pulpit, answered by attacking the mother of Charles DeYoung
413
224 California Historical Society Quarterly
and Michael DeYounp. Charles DeYoung responded by going down
to Kalloch's study in the Metropolitan Temple on Fifth Street and
shooting him, wounding him seriously. The Campaign Committee of
the Workingmen's Party was skillful in using this assault and at the
election Kalloch was elected by a large majority and inducted into the
office of Mayor. The newspaper continued to assail him and finally
having found and published a particularly damaging statement, the
Mayor's son, also a Baptist minister, surprised Charles DeYoung at the
Chronicle office and killed him. However, this was only a passing
incident. With the defeat of our efforts to prevent the adoption of the
New Constitution and the capture of the City by the enemy, we lost
interest in matters political and turned to such boyish games as were
available to us. New areas for exploration were opened to us by the
extension to the limits of population by the California Street Cable
Railroad in 1878 and the Geary Street Cable Road in 1880 at Fillmore
Street. We could plod over the brush and oak covered sand hills to Lone
Mountain and climb to the great cross on its summit or explore the area
farther north until we met the untamed drifting sand hills, or still
farther north until we came to the lake from which the Spring Valley
Water Company supplied the northern section of the City.
Early in the summer of 1880 my Mother took her three children to
the East to visit our many relatives and become acquainted with New
England. We stayed long enough to have a sample of winter sports
under the guidance of our cousins. Shortly after our return I was
entered in the fourth grade of Lincoln Grammar School on Fifth Street
near Market Street. It was the largest school in the City, housing about
twelve hundred scholars. We were herded into two large planked yards
behind the building where the classes were drawn up in single file and
marched into our class rooms to the beat of a drum. The boy who acted
as drummer and the principal stood on the roof of the shed dividing
the two yards and the principal gave the orders. We were returned to
the yards for noon recess where most of the scholars ate their lunches.
There were a few trash cans about, but most of the surplus food was
tossed out to go down between the planks. The scavenger work down
there was done by a horde of rats. The area was small for such a large
crowd and we were kept under strict supervision to prevent running
or mass movements of any kind. So, we had no sports to make recess
desirable.
The new school, however, greatly enlarged my circle of acquaint-
414
A San Francisco Boyhood 225
ances and added many new friends and they brought me new ideas and
new fields for exploration. One of these became a frequent excursion.
We took the newly finished Union Street Cable Car out to the Presidio
Gate and walked through the Presidio to Fort Point where we paused
to ramble through the untenanted Fort and then we proceeded from
that point on top of the wooden flume of the Spring Valley Water
Company which brought its water from the lake previously mentioned
to the north side of San Francisco. The flume was a box flume about
three feet high and wide. It was decked over, stood on a trestle for
most of its length and on mud sills where it crossed the rocky points
it met. There were also cross fences at intervals with picket tops to
prevent intruders from using it, but any live boy could swing himself
around them. The flume followed the shore line for about two miles
before turning in toward the lake. Near this point was our destination,
Baker's Beach, a beautiful stretch of beach between jutting rocky
points. Above it was a springy meadow with a carpet of the rare Iris
longipetala which civilization has made almost extinct. Beyond the
meadow on the landward side there was a belt of drifting sand a mile
or mile and a half in width. No minion of the law or foreign enemy
could toil through that to descend on us. The ocean was in front of us
and all in sight. It was before the day of motorboats and no sail craft
ventured near the rocky shore. We could see the whole length of the
flume so we could see any approaching party by that route and the
cliffs between us and the Cliff House were sheer to the water's edge.
Strange to say during our many visits only two or three times did any
party approach by way of the flume. We soon acquired a sense of
proprietorship and revelled in our isolation. It enabled us to shed any
unnecessary impedimenta such as bathing suits for there was plenty of
time to dress if we spotted flume walkers.
My previous school experience had been in a small private school
whose scholars were all drawn from a limited area. I was now a small
cog in a large machine which turned at the pace of the mass. My fellow
scholars were drawn from a large area of the City and were of several
races. Having entered in the second half of a school year, I was fortu
nate in getting into a class whose teacher fitted the collar of discipline
to my neck, gently. Not so my contemporaries. I was fair game for a
searching investigation of my past life, my present views, and my
luncheon resources, during recess; they also ganged up in devising
practical jokes or semi-secret assaults to test my mettle. These latter, of
415
226 California Historical Society Quarterly
course, had to be staged when the attention of the supervising official
was turned to other quarters. It was not long before I found interesting
friends and became a member of one of the groups into which such
aggregations of boys split. Among them were several life long friends.
My three years and a half at the Lincoln Grammar School gave me
far more of an education than my previous experience. I had learned
to read and write and had begun to read on my own initiative. I knew
enough arithmetic to get into step with my grade, but it took some
hustling to take the pace of the class and I had to scratch gravel to
follow the intricacies of grammar. But more than the subjects them
selves was the discipline of being prepared in advance in all your sub
jects to the extent that they had been assigned for the day. Our classes
numbered about sixty; an hour was assigned to each subject and we
were called up under no prearranged system. There was little shelter
for anyone who attempted to bluff. You were not called on every day
but if you were you had to be brief, definite and fluent or take a verbal
castigation while the class snickered. And I must say that our teachers
succeeded in arousing a considerable competition among their pupils.
But it was not only in school that I was getting an education. From
my associates I acquired a large fund of small boy lore that was useful
when venturing into unfamiliar portions of the City, or avoiding obser
vation during infractions of rules, or diverting attention from desired
objectives. Also among my friends were constant followers of the
theater. I was not unacquainted with the theater but had only attended
under family guidance. I remember being taken to the opening produc
tion at the Grand Opera House on Mission Street near Third. It was a
spectacle called "Snowflake." I also saw there Joe Jefferson in Rip Van
Winkle and The Rivals, before I ventured out with companions of my
own age. San Francisco, from its earliest days, was known among the
celebrated theatrical people of the world as a city where audiences were
both discriminating and cordial. Most of the world's most distinguished
actors and actresses after 1853 made the month-long journey in both
directions just to play in San Francisco. This reputation still held true
in the '8os and on to the end of the century.
The old California Theater on Bush Street had a spacious top gallery
where for two bits at the Saturday Matinee we could see drama in all
its phases. From that station I saw all of the celebrated Shakespearean
actors of the day and many of the blood curdling melodramas then
current. I saw there at least seventy-five years ago the original company
416
A San Francisco Boyhood 227
that put on "Around the World in 80 Days" which has recently been
revived so successfully. Across the street was the smaller Bush Street
J
Theater where the ruling attraction was Haverly's Minstrel Company
interspersed with many of the tuneful light operas that were so popular
in the last century. Here I heard "The Mikado" at its first appearance
in San Francisco.
We only frequented the theaters on Saturday afternoons for there
was homework to be done at night. On Sunday there was Sunday
School and Church. The other days we walked to school and back
home after a session from nine till three. Life had become much more
of a routine than when I attended the private school and there was
much less free rime to give to the life of the City. I wonder now how
we were able to get so much rime to snoop into City affairs during the
four years at the private school.
Now let us take a backward look at San Francisco during 1876 when
our Rincon Hill crowd first began to study it. It was thirty years since
the American flag was raised and twenty-eight since the treaty ceded
California to the United States. At the rime the flag was raised there
were about thirty houses in the village of Yerba Buena.
In 1876 it was a city of 200,000 inhabitants. It had passed through its
riotous youth although the echoes were still in the air and many of the
early inhabitants were still active figures. It was then in the throes of
its prodigal adolescence lured on by visions of the yet to be uncovered,
ready made treasures of nature at the end of the rainbow. Our gang
when exposed to the atmosphere of this era felt its exhilaration, but it
was not auto-intoxication as it was with our elders, so when the vision
faded and the r^nbow dissolved we did not have the headache that they
did. It was potent and protracted. In retrospect it is easy to recognize
the fact that recovery from the mad speculation was not all that was
involved; it was also a period of fundamental readjustment to changed
conditions not fully realized nor dealt with, while the madness was on.
During the whole decade from 1870 to 1880, San Francisco had more
than a quarter of the sparse population of California. The City could
not be maintained on the scale of living to which it was accustomed by
supplying the wants and handling the products of that limited popula
tion without the equivalent of the Comstock income. Prior to the open
ing of the railroad it had commanded the import trade of the area west
of the Rocky Mountains but now railroads were advancing both to the
north and the south; its field was narrowing. San Francisco met this
417
228 California Historical Society Quarterly
condition by using its brains and its capital in developing the latent
resources of the State. Naturally, the first effort was in the expansion of
agriculture. From the middle fifties the State had a surplus of agricul
tural products for export. Grain was the principal export crop and by
the decade of the '8os was a major element of the economy. The early
farmers naturally turned to it because large acreages could be handled
by the limited population available. The extension of the railroad
through the San Joaquin Valley in the seventies had made available a
vast additional area. During that decade more than two-thirds of the
cultivated land was in grain. The next largest acreage was in wine
grapes. Both of these crops were grown without irrigation. A few bold
spirits had demonstrated that many other products could be grown if
they could be assured of water at the right season. The City joined the
struggling valley towns in financing and building irrigation systems.
The railroad, with its large land grant holdings, cooperated by giving
inducements to immigrants to populate and cultivate intensively the
areas brought under irrigation. The City also plunged into the canning
industry which absorbed the excess products of field and orchard. In
half a century, California became the state with the largest and most
diversified range of agricultural products in the Union.
Meantime, in the late eighties and early nineties a series of disasso
ciated efforts was leading to a momentous event in the history of Cali
fornia's industrial development. In 1895, Livermore's electric generat
ing plant on the American River began transmitting hydro-electric
power of high voltage to Sacramento, generated by the waters carried
by the old Natomas mining canal. Forthwith, the San Francisco owners
of the old mining ditches, which had been finally put out of business
by the Anti-Debris decision, saw a source of revenue in their properties
beside water for irrigation. During this same era, San Franciscans had
finally located and proved up an oil field in the southern San Joaquin
Valley and began refining in a small way in Alameda.
When the late Robert Glass Cleland chose his title "From Wilderness
to Empire" for his short history of California from its discovery by
Europeans to the year 1900, the title was prophetic rather than descrip
tive. In the fifty-seven succeeding years these two industries have
furnished the means for California to become an industrial as well as
an agricultural empire. ANSQN
418
Berkeley in Retrospect t by Anson Blake*
My first picture of Berkeley is a very vivid memory, although
lacking in many details. On Christmas Day 1875 my grandfather
drove my sister, our nurse and me over to the site of my first
house, which was at the north end of the Stadium, He had bought
from the College of California, some years before, a piece of land
on the east side of Piedmont Avenue adjoining the Palmer holdings,
which was subsequently enlarged to include the canyon behind and
an extension to the north. He planned on retiring to build here
a home in the country. The object of our journey was that my
sister and I should each plant a tree on the family domain. We
took the ferry to the foot of Broadway in Oakland, and drove out
Telegraph road. I have no recollection of the scenes on the
journey except the little wooden bridge across Temescal Creek with
the willows overhanging it. But I do remember my impressions at
the journeys end. The Montery pines, cypresses and eucalyptus
trees that my grandfather had planted were young, but thrifty,
and to one of my size were impressive. The Islay hedge, part of
which still stands, enclosed usx and the two great oaks which still
stand at the north of the stadium. The ground had been plowed
and a long handled shovel was in the carriage as well as the trees.
As I was the older, I first undertook the handling of the shovel,
but the job was completed by £epu£y.
After this ceremony my sister and I surveyed our surroundings,
which had been the subject of conversation at the breakfast table
between our parents and grandparents. We were on a hill, j»at as .
w.e were at home on Rincon Hill. But below us under the low rays
of a brilliant winter sun, stretched away a vast emerald green
carpet of grass dotted by few buildings and by more frequent black
green oaks, with the dense growth of bays, oaks and willows on our
*partial text
- 2 - 419
right that marked Strawberry Creel. Far away was the bay we had
crossed, and distant San Francisco. It was very different from
the sea of wooden buildings on which we were accustomed to look
from my grandfather's front windows, and far more lovely. Fearing
that my memory of that scene mirht have been built up by subsequent
impressions, I checked the rainfall of the autumn of 1875 and
found that in November there had been over seven inches of rain,
qnd in December over four. The picture of the campus in 1874 which
hangs in the University Library is confirmation of the outlines.
From then on Berkeley was a reality, and not a word used by grown
folks, and the scope of my known world had been enlarged.
My next visit was a longer one. In 1878 the two Palmer houses
were built. Shortly after the families moved in, my grandmother
and I made a weeks visit. By this time I was much more a free
agent than before, and a vast field of interest opened up. Besides,
I had the companionship and guidance of the Henry Palmer children
in the exploration of my terra incognita. Buildings had begun to
spring up at intervals adjacent to the University. There were a
few other children to visit, there were wonderful secret paths to
follow through''. the tall wild oats and Strawberry Canyon with its
stream and Vegetation was a never ending source of joy. In San
Francisco, livery stables had made me acquainted with houses and
their care, so the stable was just a point of interest. But the
tank house and wind mill furnished a completely new set of phenomena.
True, we had a shot tower in San Francisco which had the same outline,
but the pump, tank and windmill were new mechanical devices that
deserved and got careful study, /it home all that seened necessary
to getting a drink was to turn on a faucet. If you forgot to turn
it off, what of it? Here if you forgot, everybody shouted at you
_ 3 - 420
at once. One windless nornin£ when we had a drought the consequences
were borne in on me.
It was on this visit that I first began to be conscious that
the University of California was a feature of Berkeley, The late
Miss "ilicent Shinn was then in attendance at the University and
visited the Palmers while we were there. She talked at great
length over its £f fairs and problems, and had such an Interested
and responsive audience that I became sure the place was of
importance.
Prom this time on I was frequently in Berkeley. In 1883 I
had my first direct contact with the University. I again visited
the Palmers and attended Class Day and Commencement exercises.
The only speaker who left an individual impression was the late
Abraham Ruef. I remember his ease and assurance as he spoke. I
also remember that in the distribution of gifts, the Dispensator
handed him a revolver as the Class conception of the tool that
would be most useful for his start in life. It was all intensely
interesting.
In September 1887 I came to Berkeley to enter the University,
and a month later the family moved over, having in mind a trial
year. The Henry Palmer house was chosen as our abode, and continued
to be the family residence until after my fathers death in 1897.
We found Berkeley a scattered and quite primitive community. There
was a little center of population at Korth Berkeley, the end of the
railroad, a sparse fringe of buildings on the west and south sides
of the University grounds, and a somewhat larger center of population
in West Berkeley. North of the University was a dairy ranch.
Between the University and West Berkeley lay a few scattered farm
houses and the lonely Town Hall half way down University Avenue at
- 4 - 421
Sacramento Street.
TThen v/e arrived, Dvright V7ay was being paved from Shattuck Ave.
to Piedmont Ave., the first such improvement in the town. There
were rather more houses on Dwight Way than on any other street.
The back fences of those on the south side marked the extreme
limit of civilization. The puqapkin and barley fields came right
up to them. Between this line and Temescal were farm houses , an
occasional road house, and a few country homes like the Garber,
Deane, Ballard and Ainsworth places and Pagoda Hill lying east of
College Avenue.
The other streets of the town and all of the roads to Oakland
were muddy ruts in winter and deep with dust by autumn. All of
the roads to Oakland had somewhere in their course almost bottomless
sink holes. San Pablo Avenue, being the main line of approach to
Oakland for heavy traffic, was the safest to use for numerous layers
of cobblestones and creek gravel had been dumped in the softest
places, making the ride over it much like one over the old corduroy
road. In the part of Berkeley between the University grounds and
Dwight Way, sdwwrs had recently been installed, which added to the
perils of winter traffic as no effort had been made to consolidate
the fill over the pipes. However, few of the inhabitants sported
horses and carriages. Those who did not, bore the misfortunes of
their neighbors bravely.
As a large part of the population journeyed afoot, provision
was made for them on most of the streets by putting down wooden
sidewalks. There seemed to have been two schools of thought as
to the way to build them. On some streets they consisted of three
twelve inch planks laid side by side and nailed dovm to an occasional
• 5 " 422
cross piece sunk in the ground. In other places sills were laid in
the ground with cross pieces of one by six boards nailed to them
chicken ladder fashion. Both had their disadvantages. The long
planks, subjected to the alternate wet and dry seasons, warped and
pulled up the spikes. It was very easy to stub your toe as you
walked, either on the protruding spikes or the ends of the planks.
In the other instance the boards were fragile enough so that wanflering
cows frequently broke them and individual boards were easy to pry
loose for any tempCBary use. Both forms saved an enormous amount
of toil for students who needed bonfires.
Of course, nocturnal journeys were much more hazardous than
daylight trips, as there was no street lighting, and every house
was provided with a number of little kerosene lanterns which could
be carried in the hand or on the handle of a cane to spot the
dangers of navigation when the family went out at night. It was
during our firwt Spring in Berkeley that the first public street
lighting was put into operation. It consisted of four steel masts
about one hundred feet high scattered about the town on each of
which were four arc lights. It was enough illumination to show
where the streets were, but not for finding nails or displaced
planks. There was •»*• gas in if&rrff'uoas or publio building*, and
kerosene lamps were universal.
As there were no crosswalks across streets between the side
walks, it was necessary to wade the mud or the dust at the most
favorable place. In sunnier at every front door there hung a featheB
duster. This was both a courtesy to the guest and a reminder not
to track into the house what could be removed by reasonable use of
the instrument.
- 6 - 423
In each center of population there were a couple of grocery
stores, a market or two, and a bakery, but almost no artisans to
do repairs and meet emergencies. If you wanted anything after
the morning call of your grocer or butcher, you sent for it, as
the telephone was unknown in Berkeley houses then and most Berkeley
stores.
In many cases this meant a trip to Oakland, a time consuming
process even if you owned your own horse and buggy. If not, there
was a steam dummy on Telegraph Avenue which towed a car to Temescal
every half hour up to six P. LI. There you made connection with a
house car which jogged into Oakland, total time consumption an
hour or more. At night a horse car came out all of the way at
eleven o§clock. This accomodated those who had gone to church or
a lecture, or had made a decorous call. But for those of us who
had gone to a dance it meant leaving in the early hours of the
party, or walking home. This we did a number of times during my
student days. There was also a half hourly service on the Southern
Pacific to 7/est Oakland and San Francisco. Then we first came over,
our train only ran to Seventh Street, Oakland, where a transfer was
made to the Oakland train for San Francisco, or to East Oakland,
Fruitvale, Fitchburg and Melrose, all little separate communities
now absorbed in Oakland. All the East Oakland students at the
University came out by this means and some that lived in 7/est Oakland.
One class ".ate who came from Kelrose made this journey for four years
spending over three hours each day. During my studenfl days the run
of the Berkeley train was extended to the ferry. The train trip was
made from Shell Hound Park to Dwight Way through hay fields and
pastures v/ith very few signs of habitation. One one side of Adeline
- 7 - 424
Street there was a straggling roadway. At Shattuck Avenue there
were indications of one on each side of the track to Charming 77ay,
where the easterly side was interrupted by a pumpkin field. At
Allston Way the track crossed Strawberry Creek on a wooden trestle
which was shaded by a giant oak. At Berkeley there were a few store
buildings, the station, and the recently finished Ofld Fellows Hall.
On the west side of Shattuck were the Barker house at Dwight Way
and the Morse house at Bancroft and next the Shattuck house and
grounds extending to Strawberry Creek, A few houses west of
Shattuck on Charming and Bancroft Ways and Durant Avenue marked
the westerly extension of East Berkeley,
In 1884 the Alameda Water Company was incorporated to supply
Berkeley with water and a reservoir in North Berkeley at the site
of the Euclid Avenue reservoir was built. This company took orer
the old Water Company in West Berkeley and began extending its
mains. They had not reached the Palmer houses when we arrived for
during the first winter there was very cold weather and our pipes
up Strawberry Canyon froze and burst in more than twenty places,
Notwithstanding such handicaps to the housekeeper as I have
enumerated, our years trial of Berkeley life resulted in no rote
to return to San Francisco, We found here such a cordial, interesting
and companiahable community that we found ourselves part of it
almost at once. We, of course, had many old friends here, but had
we been entire strangers, it would have delayed our amalgamation
very little. Tennis courts at various homes made centers of social
life for the younger element. There were long walks to be taken to
interesting objectives like the Fish Ranch House, Grizzly Peak, or
Boswell's Ranch, ?/e also had occasional picnics to more distant
points like Point Ysabel, when the yellow violets were in bloom,
. 8 -
Redwood Canyon, or Orinda. There were occasional dances at the
Deaf and Dumb Institution, and various public functions at the
University.
Our elders had the Berkeley Choral Society and the Longfellow
Memorial Association to attend as well as the activities of the
various churches. Besides these community interests, there was
a very genuine social intercourse that was quite inclusive.
This community into v/hich we had come had, at that time, an
estimated population of twenty-five hundred. It is difficult to
guage the early population of Berkeley, The United States Census
of 1870 and the Census of 1880 took no cognizance of the Town of
Berkeley. It was non-existent in the first, but was incorporated
before the second. The population was lumped in each case with that
of Oakland Township. '.Ye know that in 1876 there were 158 votes cast
at the Presidential election in November in the whole of Berkeley.
The Centennial Year Book of Alameda County says that West Berkeley
had grown into quite a settlement in the p. st three years. East
Berkeley really began to grow the following year and North Berkeley
at about 1882,
I, personally, had plunged into the University life before the
family arrived and was deep in class room work, class politics,
rushes and investigations of the new phases of existence that
surrounded me. So far as numbers went the institution was not much
larger than the San Francisco High School that I had left. There
were more teachers, but not many more students. I dug out the Blue
and Gold of '89 which enumerated all of the Academic Senate and
classes of my freshman year and found that there were forty seven
members of the faculty and administrative officers, six graduate
. 9 . 426
students and two hundred and ninety three undergraduates in Berkeley
that memorable year. There were more professors attached to the
professional colleges in San Francisco, than there were here. It
v/ill be seen that small as the town was, the University represented
a smaller proportion of the population than it now does. Naturally
we soon knew all of our classmates, and in quick sequence all of the
faculty and upper classmen who did not make an effort to stay aloof.
North and. South Halls, the Bacon Library, the old engineering
^A**. t+*J fc&Ze.
building, and the Harmon Gymnasium in its original form/ were the
college buildings then in existence. They stood at the upper edge
of a dreary slope. There had been some terraces to the west of
North and South Halls which had just been reduced to a continuous
slope and no planting had taken place as water was not available
till later. At the lower edge of this slope was the cinder track
(real cinders) and just above it the composite football field and
baseball 'diamond. During the time I was in college the wooden
Agriculture Building on the bank of the creek,where Eshelman Hall
now stands, was built. This subsequently burned down.
Here we worked, played and lived together, quite apart from
the great world, with only occasional excursions into it. As I
look back, I can realize that our class came onto the campus Just
at the end of a pfconeer epoch. By the time we graduated the
influences that created the new order were at work, although then,
we were quite unconscious of the part they were playing. Physical
isolation was only one aspect of a more profound, if less obvious
isolation of our institution. This does not imply that the
University stood alone in this community as a collegiate institution.
There was the University of the Pacific, then at San Jose, which
427
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Key to Arrangement
430
Blake Papers in The Bancroft Library
Boxes 1-2
Boxes 2-U
Carton 1
Letters written by Anita Blake, Ib8l-1962 and n.d.
Originals, arranged chronologically, written mainly to her .
husband, relating to family activities. Letters, 1911-1920
and n.d., were written facm their ranch on Howell Mountain
near 3t. Helena (Napa County).
Letters written to Anita Slake
Arranged alphabetically by name of person or organization
preceded by a. miscellany of unlisted letters. A few are
written to Anson Blake and others. A partial list of
correspondents fellows the key to arrangement.
Congratulatory letters re marriage of Anita Symines and Anson
Blake, May IT, 169U. Unarranged
Miscellaneous family correspondence, primarily from unidenti
fied relatives. Unarranged
Manuscript of article about Henry Correvon by Anita Blake
Diary kept by Anita Blake, Dec. 7-29, 191*!
Personalia - Anita Blake
Membership cards; award from Berkeley Floral Society, 1898;
Poems written about her
Miscellany - Anita Blake
Certificate of cattle brand registration, results of a
phrenologist examination, records of summer session courses
taken, 1917, etc.
Personalia - Anson Blake
Membership card, resolution by Society of California Pioneers
upon his death, etc.
Notebook kept by Edwin T. Blake, [brother] 1903-1905. Notes
re engineering projects in Mariposa and Calaveras counties
(Calif.); notes re paving contracts in Oakland, Berkeley and
Alameda
Diary kept by Edwin T. Blake, 1917-1919. Written while serving
in the engineer corps in France. A few entries are dated
1920-1927.
Diary kept by Charles H. Richardson, Feb. - Apr., 1853. Written
while in Boston, Kingston and Cape Cod. Includes also:
poetry and letter (copy) to C. H. Richardson, Oct. 2, 1855.
Many pages torn out .
Genealogy
Sycmes, Stiles and Blake families
Invoices, receipts, etc.
Many are for purchase of plants for the 31ake garden
Photographs
Relatives and unidentified
Invitations, announcements, etc.
Address books
See also address book in portfolio
431
Miscellany
Typescript of a play written by a relative, miscellaneous dat;
about gardens, plants, etc., several items written in Welsh.
Clippings
Relating to the Blake »nd Synmes families (2 folders) and
California history (5 folders)
Portfolio Manuscripts (typescripts) of articles Cby Anson Blake?]
Arranged alphabetically
Davii Douglas, A Pioneer Botanist in Action
Edward Fitzgerald Beale, A Pioneer in the th of Empire
The Great Frontier
The Land on Which You Live
Salt Water Barriers For San Francisco Bay
The Water Problem in California
Address book kept by Anita Blake, 1898-
See also Carton 1
432
Partial List of Correspondents (Letters are written to Mrs. Blake unless indicated
otherwise)
Altrocchi, Julia (Cooley), 1893-1972
1* letters, 1939-1959 & n.d.
American Friends of Vietnam
Letter, Oct. 2, 1959. Written by John W. 0' Daniel, Chairman
American Humane Association
Letter (copy), Nov. 10, 196l. Written to the City Council of Palo Alto, Calif.
Arboretum Foundation
5 letters, 19^0-1962
Bartlett, Louis, l3?2-1960
Letter, Aug. 19, 1959
Biggs, Donald C
See California Historical Society
Blake, Charles Thompson, 1026-1897
6 letters, 1875-1897 & n.d. Written mainly to Anson Blake and others. Letter,
Aug. 8, 1875, contains account of journey from San Francisco to Lake County.
Blake, Edwin Tyler, 1875-19^8
3 letters, l8ti6 & n.d. Written to Anson Blake
Blake, Harriet Waters (Stiles), 18UO-
7 letters, Ib87 & n.d. Written mainly to Anson Blake.
Blake, Robert Pierpont, 1886-1950
Letter, Apr. 16, 1909
Bracelin, Nina Floy
2 letters, 1959-1962
Bray, Absalom Francis, 1889-
Letter, Aug. 21, 1959
California. Legislature. Senate
See Miller, George
California. University. Agricultural Extension Service
2 letters, 1916
California. University. College of Agriculture. Division of Agricultural Education
3 letters, 191^-1913
California. University, Berkeley. Robert H. Lowie Museum of Anthropology
Letter, May 3, 196l
433
California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco
5 letters, 193^-1959 & n.d. Letter, Feb. 28, 193^. Written by Alice Eastwood.
Letters, July 11, 19^ & Sept. 2U , 1959- Written by R. C. Miller, Director
California Historical Society
U letters, 1959-1962. Written mainly by Donald C. Biggs, Director
California Horticultural Society
7 letters, 19^-1959 i n.d.
California Palace of the Legion of Honor
Letter, Oct. 12, 1959
Carmelite Monastery, Berkeley, Calif.
7 letters, 1950-1962
Chaney, Ralph Works, lc9C-
2 letters, 1959-1962. Included also: 3 letters, 1959-1961, from Mrs. Chaney
Colman, Jesse C
Letter, Nov. 20, 1961. Written while member of a sponsoring committee
to help finance lobbying activities of Harry and Ruth Kingman
Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco
See Meyer, Theodore Robert
Cornelius Fidelis, Brother, 1577-1962
2 letters,
Correvon, Henry, 185^-1939
12. letters, 1926-1938
Day, Clive
23 letters, 1897-1901 & n.d.
Deane, Ruthven, 1851-1931*
Letter, May 3, 1910
Drury, Newton Bishop, 1389-
See Save-The-Redwoods League
Eartwod, Alice, 1S59-1953
See California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco
Engineers' Club. San Francisco
Letter, Aug. 19, 1959
Fischer, Martin Henry, 1879-
Letter, June 28, 1922
434
Giffin, Helen (Smith), 1393-
Letter, Aug. 21, 1959
Goodspeed, Thomas Harper, Id87-19o6
2 letters, 191*!
Grant, Charles H
34 letters, 1917-1962 & n.d. Written mainly from France during World War I
Grosvenor, Gilbert Hovey, 1375-
Letter, Oct. 23, 1911*. Written to Anson Blake
Harvard University. Arnold Arboretum
5 letters, 1927-1955 & n.d. Written mainly by Elmer D. Merrill and Richard
A. Howard
Howard, Richard Alder., 1917-
See Harvard University. Arnold Arboretum
Huggins, Dorothy Harriet
Letter, CNov. 2k, 19593
Hutchinson, James Sather, l868?-1959
Letter, Nov. 20, 19^6. Written to Anson Blake
Hyde, Charles Gilman, 187U-
See Young Men's Christian Associations. California. University. Berkeley
Jepson, Willis Linn, 1867-19^6
5 letters, 1926-19^1
Kerr, Catherine (Spaulding) CMrs. Clark Kerr3
Letter, Aug. 23, 1959
Kingman, Harry Lees, 1892-
3 letters, 1959-1960. See also Colman, Jesse C
Kingman, Ruth (Winning), 1900-
See Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play
League of vomen Voters of Richmond (California)
Letter ? 22, 1961
Lessing, Ferdinand Diedrich, 1882-1961
Letter, Dec. 29, 19^5 - Included also: 2 letters, 1959-1962, written by Mrs
Lessing
Livermore, Caroline (Sealy), 1883-
Letter, Aug. 28, 1959
Lyman, William Whittingham, 1885-
Letter, Oct. 12, 1959
435
McDuffie, Jean (Howard), 1330-1955
Letter, May 12, 1951
McMillan, Elsie Walford (Blumer)
Letter, Aug. 25, 1959
Merriam, John Campbell, l6o9-191O
See Save-The-Redwoods League
Merrill, Elmer Drew, 1876-1956
See Harvard University. Arnold Arboretum
Meyer, Theodore Robert, 19C2-1973
Letter, Aug. 20, 1959- Written while Secretary, Commonwealth Club of California
Miller, George,
Letter, ,Sept. 20, 19bl. Written while serving in the California Senate
Miller, Robert Cunningham, 1099-
See California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco
Mills College, Oakland
See White, Lynn Townsend
Moffitt, James Kennedy, l866?-1955
Letter, May lU , 19^0
Moses, Mary Edith (Briggs) [Mrs. Bernard MosesD
Letter, Aug. 30, 1902. Transmits sketch of experiences in Manila. (19 p.)
Napa County (Calif. ) Farm Bureau
Letter, May lo, 1916
Napa County (Calif. ) Farm Bureau Fair
5 letters, 1916
0 'Daniel, John Wilson, 1891*-
See American Friends of Vietnam
Olnev, Mary McLean, lbT3-1965
2 Letters, 1959-1962
Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play
Letter, n.d. Written to Anson Blake by Ruth W. Kingman, Executive Secretary
Parratt , Edna (Martin)
3 letters, 1959-1962 & n.d.
Parsons, Edward Lambe, 1668-
Letter, CAug. 2U, 1959]
436
Phelps, Ralph L , l3ttO-195T
Letter, Jan. 28, 1933
Richardson, Maud (Wilkinson)
Letter, C19313. Written to Mabel Symmes
Save-The-Redwocds League
3 letters, 19^2-1961. Letter, Feb. 20, 19^2, written by John C. Merriam,
president. Letter, Feb. 27, 19fcl, written by Newton B. Drury, Secretary.
Seaborg, Glenn Theodore, 1912-
Letter, Sept. 1, 1959
Skinner, Cornelia Otis
Letter, [Feb. 8, 19501
Society of California Fior.eers
Letter, Aug. 19, 1959
Sproul, Ida (Wittchen), 1891-
2 letters, 1959-1960
Stiles, Ann Jane (Waters), l8l3-l89T
7 letters, I8ti2-l886 & n.d. Written mainly to Anson Blake.
Stratton, George Malcolm, 1365-1957
Note, n.d. Included also: 2 letters, n.d., by Mrs. Stratton
Strybing Arboretum Society of Golden Gate Park
3 letters, 1957-1962
Symraes, Frank Jameson, 18^7-1916
1* letters, 1890-1910. Letter, Dec. 1, 1890, written to Anson Blake. Included
also: 2 letters, n.d., written by Mrs. Symmes
Sycmes, Harold Shakspear, 1877-1910
16 letters, 189U-1909 & n.d. Postcard, Aug. 6, 1909, written to Anson Blake
Symmes, Mabel, 1875-1962
2 Letters, 1895 & n.d. Written to Anson Blake
Taft, Charles Phelps, 1897-
3 letters, 1959-1962
Taft, William Howard, Ib57-1930
Letter, June 21, 1905. Written to Hattie W. Blake. Included also: letter,
June 17, 1909, from Mrs. Taft, written by her secretary.
Thacher, Anson Stiles, 1905-
2 letters, 1959-1962. Included also: letter, Apr. Ic, I960, written by Mrs.
Thacher
437
Thacher, Eliza Seeley (Blake), 1872-
11 letters, It)86-l897 & n.d. Written mainly to Anson Blake.
Thacher, Sherman Day, 1861-1931
Letter, Sept. 27, 1895
Thoraas , Harold Earl, 1900-
3 letters, 1938-19M
Towle, Katherine Amelia, 1698-
2 letters, 1959-1962
U. S. Bureau of Plant Industry
Letter, Apr. 9, 1938
Wheelan, Albertine (Randall)
Letter, Nov. 13, 1905
WheiBler, Amey (Webb) CMrs. Benjamin Ide Wheeler]
Postcard, n.d.
White, Lynn Townsend, 1907-
Letter, June 12, 1951. Written while President, Mills College
Young Men's Christian Associations. Berkeley, Calif.
Letter, Aug. 2k, 1959
Young Men's Christian Associations. California. University. Berkeley
7 letters, 1959-1961. Letter, Aug. 19, 1959, written by Charles G. Hyde.
438 Mds 203. 204
Blake Papers in the California Historical Society
Blake, Anson Stiles, 1370-1959
Business records, 1897-1938. 1-g- ft. 4 boxes.
Samples of quarry company records including minutes of
the Board of Directors, copybooks, ledgers, cash books, stock
certificates, and invoices.
Nets hew
Gift of Mr. Igor R. Blake, -Son of Anson S. Blake, March 1972,
Ace. no. 23.
Added entries: Blake, Edwin T.
Bilger, P. W.
Symme s , Whi tman
Blake & Bilger Co.
The Blake Bros. Go.
Interior Land Co.
La Jota Rancho, Napa
H. Peterson & Co., Inc.
San Francisco Quarries Co.
San Pablo Quarry Co.
Venice Island Co.
Business
1897-1938
San Pablo Water Co.
Quarries and quarrying
Yount, George C., -1865 see Vol. 9
439
Anson S. Blake Business Papers
Box 1
Volume 1 Stock Journal and Ledger of the San Pablo Quarry Co
1906-1914
Castro Point, Contra Costa County
By-Law» of the corn-cany included
Volume 2 Copybook of Blake and Bilger Co.
Sept. 1906 - Jan. 1907
Central Bank Bldg, Oakland
Volume 3 Copybook of Edwin T. Blake
June 19. •* - March 1908
Central Bank Bldg., Oakland
Volume 4 Minutes of the Board of Directors, Venice Island Co.
May 1906 - Oct. 1913
Balboa Bldg., San Francisco
Some minutes of the stockholders' meetings and some
correspondence included
Box 2
Volume 5 Account Ledger of Blake and Bilger Co.
Nov. 1908 - Oct. 1909
Volume 6 Account Ledger of Blake Co.
Oct. 1897 - 1914
Volume 7 Cash Book of H. Peterson & Co., Inc.
19 12 -May 1914
Box 3
Volume 8 Cash BooJf of San Francisco Quarries Co,
Nov. 1908 - March 1909
Volume 9 Title Abstract of La Jota Rancho, Napa
Folder 1 Continuation of Abstract of La Jota Rancho from 1886
Volume 10 Stock Certificates for Interior Land Co.
Nov. 1910 - March 1936
440
Anson 3. Blake Business Pacers
Polder 2 Appraisal Invoice of The Blake Bros. Co., 1921
Folder 2 Pictures of the quarries
Box 4 and 5
Invoices, San Pablo Quarry Co., 1907-09
Box 5 continued
Polder 4 San Pablo Water Comoany and others
5 Blake and Bilger Co. — Miscellaneous records, 1910-12
6 Blake Bros. Co. — Financial records, 1916-17
7 TLS, George Fletcher to Anson Blake, Feb. 20, 1913
Blake, Anson Stiles (1870-1059) 441 MS 204
Papers, 1882-1959 1 ft.
Biography
Anson Stiles Blake was born in San Francisco on August 6, 1870.
He was the son of Harriet Stiles Blake and Charles Thompson Blake.
His father, C.T. Blake was an early pioneer to San Francisco, arriving
in 1849 from New Kaven, Connecticut after a difficult voyage through
Central America. Anson Blake attended Lincoln Grammar School and Boy's
High School in San Francisco before moving with his family to Berkeley
where he attended the University. Upon graduation in 1891 Blake went
to work for the Bay Rock Company in Oakland, moving two years later to
the Oakland Paving Company a macadamizing outfit run by his father and
his father's associate C.T.H. Palmer. In 1899 he became president of
that company. In 1894 he married Anita Day Symmes , a recent U.C. gradu
ate.
Blake's interest in such businesses arose from his father's and
grandfather's own mining and mine-equipment backgrounds. (His grandfathe
patented the Blake Rock Crusher in 1858.) In 1904 he helped to form the
San Pablo Quarry Company which supplied materials to the city of San
Francisco for its rebuilding after the earthquake. In 1914 the company,
which later became Blake Brother's in Richmond, was created and this
business was in Blake's control until 1954. Rock from this company
helped to keep islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin from flooding 'in
addition to supplying the bayside rock edges of Treasure Island for the
1939 Fair there.
Throughout his life, however, Blake's interests diversified far
beyond those of the quarrying concern. He took an interest while still
at Berkeley in the University YMCA - Stiles Hall - (donated by his grand
mother,) and helped to support it throughout his life. He was a member of
many clubs including the Berkeley City Club, the Claremont Country Club
the Athenian Club and others. He wrote prolifically on a wide variety of
subjects and was a frequent speech-giver. Speech topics covered su-ch su
jects as, "Racial Contrasts on the Southwestern Frontier," to the effect
Prohibition on California grape growers. Usually, though, they dealt
with history. He was president of both the Society of Calif. Pioneers
and the Calif. Historical Society, the latter from 1945-48. He was on
the Board of Trustees of CHS from 1924-1959 and was made a fellow in 1958
He did extensive research on his father, concentrating on the years Charl
Blake spent mining in the Sierras during the Gold Rush. Among Anson Blak
papers are letters written by his father's traveling and business
partners describing their trip to California and the Gold Rush.
In 1953 the California State Legislature bestowed upon him the title
of "Grand Old Man of Stiles Hall" in honor of his 50 years of service.
In 1958 he was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree by the Universit
He died on August 17, 1959, eleven days after his 89th birthday.
Scope and Content
The papers of Anson Blake cover a wide variety of subjects. Most
are the text of speeches he gave to various organizations around.
Blake, Anson Stiles (1870-1959) 442 MS204
the Bay Area and cany cover both contemporary California issues and facets
of California history. There are also a few folders containing per
sonal papers relating to his participation in the Society of California
Pioneers and the California Historical Society . Some of the more interes
ting papers include Blake's early reminiscences of Berkeley and an
insightful history of the early years of the University.
Blake's papers also include seme materials on three associates
of C.T. Blake, Anson Brake's father; Roger SherraanBaldwin , Charles T.H.
Palmer and Caspar I "Hopkins ;•
In cases where papers had no titles the folders have been labeled
according to what the articles seem to be about.
Box 1 contains correspondence, primarily and Box 2 contains
texts of speeches or papers by Blake.
See also: Blake papers, MS203
Arrangement^
Box 1
Folder:
1 Correspondence, receipts, notes and memorabilia of ASB
2 Correspondence, California Historical Society
3 Society of California Pioneers - misc.
U Centennial Celebrations Committee Report (and papers on same)
5 Autobiography of C.T. Hopkins (pt.l)
6 Autibiography of C.T. Hopkins (pt.2)
7 Notes from Newspapers about C.T. Blake
8 Berkeley - In Retrospect
9 (Berkeley) - The Land on Which We Live
10 Calif. Historical Society , (History of) The Early Years
11 California in the Civil War
12 (Calif.) Water and Reclamation
13 Codes and Code Making
14 Collective Bargaining in Practice
15 The Companion "Histories of California"
16 David Douglas - Pioneer Botanist in Action
Blake, Ar.son Stiles (1S7C-1959)
443
Box "I (continued)
Folders :
17 EBMUD: background and formation of
18 The First Emigrant Train to California
The rirst Steamship Pioneers to California
The Hudson's Bay Company in San Francisco
The Initiative Incubates Ham and Eggs
Kensington (The Carmelite Monastery and Blake property there
The Labor Situation in the Industrial Community
Life at Sutter's Fort
Life in the Mines (1850-52)
The Problems of a Rural Population
Prohibition and the Grape Growers
Racial Contrasts on the Southwestern Frontier
Rights of (labor) Minorities in the Present Labor Situation
Sacramento-San Joaquin Valleys - early views of California.
Also - conservation of natural resources.
San Francisco, 1846-48
Two Early Paintings of San Francisco Bay
The U.S. Reclamation Service
Wartime and governmental expenditures
Working for Wells Fargo
31
32
33
34
35
Added Entries
(Box and folder locations follow)
Agriculture — California (2:26)
.American Federation of Labor (1:14)
Art — San Francisco Bay (2:31)
Berkeley, California, 1875-1900(1:3)
Berkeley, California — Transporation — Railroads (1:9)
Berkeley, California University (1:8)
Bidwell, John (1:17)
Blake, Charles T. (1:7, 2:25, 2:35)
Botany (1: 16)
California — Description, Geography
California — Exploring, Expeditions (1:17, 1:18)
California — Emigration (1:17 1:18)
California Historical Society (1:~2)
Calif ornia--History, 1861-65 '1:11)
California — Politics and Government, 1849-1879 (2:21)
California, University, Berkeley, 1897-1900 (1:8)
Calif ornia--Water and Reclamation
Blake, Ar.son Stiles (1S70-1959)
444
Added Entries (continued)
Chapman, Charles E. (1:15)
Cleland, Robert G. (1:15)
Collective Bargaining (1:14, 2:21)
Congress of Industrial Organizations (1:14)
Conservation (2:30)
East Bay Municipal Utility District — History (1:17)
Hopkins, Casper T. Q.:5 )
Hudson's Bay Company — San Francisco, 1841 (2:20)
Kensington, California (2:22)
Labor — California (2:29)
Labor Disputes (2:21, 2:34)
Mines and Mining (2:25)-
Palmer, Charles T. , 1850-1852 (2 :24 ,-_2 : 35)
Prohibition — California -:(2:27)
Race Relations (2:28)
San Francisco Bay (2:31, 2:32)
San Francisco — Social Life and Customs, 1846-1848 (2:31)
San Francisco — Politics and Government, 1846-1848 (2:31)
Society of California Pioneers (1:3)
Street-cars — Berkeley, California (1:9)
Sutter, John A. (2:24) '
Sutter's Fort (2:24)
Trade-Unions (2:23, 2:29)
Wine and Winemaking (2:27)
445
Anson S. Blake, on the occasion of receiving an honorary doctor of laws degree from the Univer
sity of California at Berkeley, September 26, 1958. Dr. Blake is standing between Mrs. Clara
Hellman Heller and President Emeritus Sproul. Courtesy University of California.
The citation reads: A senior alumnus of the University of California, a graduate in the class of
1891, a beloved member of Stiles Hall for seventy -one years. Chairman of its governing board for
half a century, and now Honorary Life Chairman, faithful and generous fnend of the University,
knowing collector of texts on California's past and a beneficent influence on her present, revered
by generations of student leaders for your inspiring faith and confidence in them.
446
ANSON STILES BLAKE
Biographical Data (from various sources)
President, Blake Bros. Company, construction materials, Richmond
Past-president, California Historical Society (also served as director
and secretary-treasurer); past-president, Society of California Pioneers ;
director, California Academy of Sciences; director, California Botany
Society; member of California Centennials Commission
Chairman, Class Secretaries' Association of California Alumni Association;
member of California Senior Alumni Association
Member of University YMCA for 6h years, serving 50 as chairman of Stiles
Hall Advisory Board; inotrju-ental in fund-raising arive for new TMCA
building (Stiles Hall named after his grandfather, Anson Stiles)
A.B., University of California, 1891; manager of U.C. baseball team in
1891, associate editor of The Occident in the fall of 1890, director of
U.C. Tennis Club, member of Classical Club, quarterback of Class of '91
football team, historian of Class of '91, member of Delta Kappa Epsilon
fraternity
83 years old, born in San Francisco on August 6, 1870
Excerpt from Recommendation of Committee on Honorary Degrees
Northern Section - January 28, 1953
u ... He is a -successful businessman; a student of California and
Pacific Coast history, a member of western scientific societies,
especially in horticulture; a public-spirited citizen; a philan
thropist; a friend of students; and a staunch believer in the
importance of character ... (while) his achievements are largely
local and ... he may not be widely known outside of the circle
in which he has been active . . . his life and achievements are an
adequate basis (for an honorary degree)."
447
Legislature Honors Blake As
'Grand Old Man of Stiles'
The stature of any organization
can be seen through the people as
sociated with it over the years.
The late Anson Stiles Blake was
one of those persons. In 1953 when
be retired after serving as chair
man of YMCA Advisory Board for
50 years, the California Legisla-
'ure bestowed on him the title
"Grand Old Man of Stiles Hall" in
a resolution praising him for his
half-century of leadership.
In the fall of 1958 at President
Kerr't inauguration he was award
ed an honorary doctor of laws de
gree by the Regents of the Uni
versity.
Throughout his life he main
tained an active interest in .Call- .
fornia history and has served as
president of the California Histor
ical Society and a. member of the.
Society of California Pioneers.
In 1887 Blake began his long as
sociation with the . University
YMCA as a student member. He
became a member of the advisory
board in 1900 and.. was, its .chair
man in 1902.
Robert ' Gordon Sproul, 'presi
dent emeritus of the University,
has said in tribute to him: "From
the day when you entered the Uni
versity of California, you have
played a full part In tRe life of the •
campus YMCA, standing in the.
shadows while others received
plaudits of the successes that were
largely yours, and meeting difficul
ties and dangers, almost anonym
ously with courage and with casi..
"All of us who have been priv
ileged to serve with you, young
and old alike, gratefully acknowl
edge your leadership and honor
you for what you have done to
build Christian character intc
Stiles Hall and to give meaning to
.he lives of the students to which
ihe Hall was dedicated.
Another of those of stature is
the late Galen M. Fisher, whose
life was also spent in close associ
ation with Stiles Hall.
In 1894-95 he was student presi-:
dent of the University YMCA, and
just before his death in 1955 his .
final draft of "Citadel of Democ
racy" was completed.
Citadel of Democracy" is an
account of the Stiles Hall program '.
in the field of public affairs. It was j
published in 1955 with a forward.,
by University President Clark (
Kerr.
Fisher's special competence for
this study was aided by his service
as Secretary of the Rockefeller
Institute of Social and Religious
Research, a post which he held
from 1921-1934.
. -In the words of President Kerr:*
". ... his own life was one of the;
finest testimonials which can be
adduced in support of his devo
tion to the life of both the mind.
and the spirit The fact that he,
.should wish to give his waning
strength to this study is, in itself,
a tribute both to Stiles Hall and.
the ideals which it has espoused."
448
The following references to Anson Stiles Blake are exerpted from What Is This Place?
An Informal History of 100 Years of Stiles Hall, by Frances Linsley, 1984.
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The Fortnightly Club of San Francisco was organized in 1899 by Mrs. Anson
S. Blake, Miss Alberta Bancroft, Miss Laura Hamilton, Miss Margarita B. May,
Miss Julia George, Miss May Hooper, and Miss Alice M. Rambo.*
* There was also a Fortnightly Club of San Jose, organized in 1899. Its
purpose [1928 constitution] was "systematic study, and a higher culture both
socially and intellectually." Membership was limited to twenty-five.
"Literary exercises shall not .. .continue longer than two hours."
The Fortnightly Club of Berkeley appears to have been a men's group, publish
ing in 1800 and 1881 The Berkeley Quarterly, A Journal of Social Science,
giving "public expression to individual views of the r.eir.bers cf the Club, -ore
particularly on topics pertaining to social science..." by "thoughtful tnen."
Contributions from Bernard Moses, Martin Kellogg, Joseph LeConte, Josiah Royce
etc. [No more published after Vol. II, 1881. In The Bancroft Library, UCB.]
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456
April 6, 1987
Suzanne Riess, Senior Editor
Regional Oral History Office
Room 486 - Library
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720
Dear Suzanne Riess:
Your letter has sent me on a memory search which has been most enjoyable. I
talked with my sister to verify what I had and to get some of her ideas, too.
I think the Fortnightly Club was formed in the 1890 's by a small group of like-
minded ladies - "intellectuals" eager to explore new fields. Their fort
nightly meetings were held in the members' homes, probably at tea time , to
hear book reviews, discussions on various topics, and lectures by the members,
rather than outside speakers. I believe the club started in the 1890's with
members from both sides of the Bay. Mother was an active member until the
family moved to San Jose in 1910. When she returned to Berkeley in 1941 I
think she rejoined what was left of the group, though of that I am not sure.
Perhaps the Town and Gown Club, founded in 1898, filled the social and intel-
leXttual needs of this group of ladies and caused the eventual demise of the
Fortnightly Club. Mother, her Mother Mrs. E. V. Hathaway, my other Grand
mother Mrs. Charles R. Greenleaf, and Mrs. Anson Blake were among the founding
members .
Mother knew Anson Blake's family in the late 1870 's and early 80 's when she
lived in old South Park in San Francisco, at the foot of Rincon Hill where
the Blakes lived. (Dr. Alfred Shumate of San Francisco has made quite a study
of that area and era.") She knew Anita and Mabel Symmes at the Boys High
School, which they attended in order to study Latin and Greek, not offered by
Miss Cheever's School. We knew their younger sister Mrs. Charles (?) Derby
in our San Jose days.
I have happy memories of Anson and Anita Blake and Miss Mabel Symmes during
the time I lived in Berkeley (from 1938 to 1960). My husband and I were
dinner guests at their beautiful home on a number of occasions. My husband
(who was with the Berkeley schools) and Anson Blake shared a love of trees,
and Mr. Blake delighted in showing his Dawn Redwood. Mis"s Symmes was a land
scape gardener and I believe she planned the lovely garden. Anson 's brother
Ned(?) lived in the home next door.
I'm sorry my memory is so faulty about the Fortnightly Club. I'm not sure
which of Mother's many friends belonged to it.
Mother kept up her membership in the College Women's Club, the Town and Gown
Club, and the Daughters of California Pioneers into her 90's. I'm sending
you a copy of Hal Johnson's column in the Berkeley Gazette in 1955, and also
Millie Robbins' column in December 1966 in the S.F. Chronicle which might be
of interest to you. I think Mother was typical of the membership of the
Fortnightly Club.
457
-2-
Since this is the anniversary month of the Great Earthquake, I am enclosing
for your interest a copy of a letter ^fly Father wrote to his brother about
the event. His description of his trip from Berkeley to the Presidio in San
Francisco is rather dramatic. As I am the "earthquake baby", the event has
been of particular interest to me.
I'm grateful to you for prodding my memory about the Blakes and the Fort
nightly Club - they are happy memories.
Best wishes to you in your search.
Sincerely,
r.
Mrs. Guy M. Helmke
140 Sandburg Drive
Sacramento, California 95819
(916) 456-8256
458
140 Sandburg Drive
Sacramento, CA 95819
April 20, 1987
Dear Suzanne Riess:
I've been racking my brains since receiving your letter of the 15th.
My recollection is that Mabel Symmes was a permanent member of the Blake
household; at least, she was there on the few occasions when I visited,
and my sister agrees with me. There was no other company when I was there.
It was a very gracious home, with beautiful furniture, rugs, and Oriental
rugs, as I recall. Likewise, fine crystal, china, and silverware. I'm not
sure how many servants they had — at least a cook, one maid, and a full-
time gardener.
So far as conversation, it must have been of general interest. There was
never a feeling of having to "make" small talk. They and we had a back
ground of general information. My mother was never at a loss for words,
but I don't recall that she hogged the conversation.
Anson Blake was a charming gentleman — gentle in the true sense of the word.
He loved his garden and a walk in the garden with him was delightful and
instructive. They had a fine vegetable garden, too. I particularly
remember the artichoke plants.
You ask about Anita's interest in Oriental art. I think many San Francisco
and East Bay families collected it. Commerce with the Orient was easier
than with the east coast of our own country, at least before the inter
continental railroad; and army families who were in the Orient at the time
of the Boxer Rebellion and the trouble in the Philippines brought back many
pieces.
Please do pass along to the Bancroft Library the letter my father wrote about
the earthquake. I'm glad you found it of interest. I sent a copy to the
California Historical Society in San Francisco.
I wish I could be of more help. It would be interesting to see all that you
come up with. Betty Evans said Elliot enjoyed so much his meeting with you.
Sincerely ,
459
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from Woodbridge Metcalf, Extension Forester, 1926-1956, an oral history
conducted in 1968 by Evelyn B. Fairburn for the Regional Oral History Office
of The Bancroft Library, UCBerkeley, 1969.
Fair: I know from your annual reports that you did have some recreational
areas built by WPA and CCC. I was wondering if you supervised
this work, or helped lay out plans for new fire lines?
WM: We drew up the plans for the camp at Whitaker's Forest in Tulare
County when State Forester, Mr. Pratt, had the state CCC camps
comply with my request thnt they devote some time to the improve
ment of recreational facilities there, and also at Las Posadas in
Napa County. He ;jssiqned the men, and J. R. Brown, who was exten
sion specialist in agricultural engineer! ng, des igned the swimming
pools for both of these places.
The CCC crew built the pools and also some of the cabins and
a cook house, added to the facilities and did fire protection
clean-up along the roads and trails at these forest properties.
The Las Posadas camp is in a state forest, which was given
to the state by Mr. and Mrs. Anson Blake of Berkeley. After
consultation with the Blakes, Merritt Pratt and I went up and
looked at the property with them. It is on Howe I I Mountain, right
adjacent to the Pacific Union College property.
Fair: Yes, I know where that is.
WM: At the Las Posadas camp on Moore Creek, we developed the water
supply and the swimming pool, and the buildings, trails and fire
clean-up. Mendocino had their own camp. Napa, Sonoma, Marin,
A I ameda and Contra Costa Counties all cooperated in the develop
ment of that Las Posadas camp. I know that Contra Costa and Napa
Counties still go to the camp, but I don't know about the others.
Now the State Division of Forestry has a fire protection head
quarters at Las Posadas in the state forest.
Fair: The Blakes gave the Las Posadas land to the state parks system,
but I have heard that there was some type of rub on this and that
the land was not supposed to be developed. Was there some type
of stipulation attached to this gift of property, and did you
have difficulties establishing that camp because of this?
WM: Not as a park. They gave it as a state forest. This was an
interim arrangement. Merritt Pratt and I went to the property
with the Blakes, sat in their old summer cabin there, and talked
about their giving the 880 acres to the state. Mrs. Blake first
of a I I had suggested giving this property to the University. Well,
the University didn't want it particularly, but Mr. Blake was very
anxious that she get rid of it for she was not particularly well
at the time and he felt that it was too much of a problem for her.
(She owned the property.)
She finally drew up the deed and gave it to the state with
a ten-year clause in it that the caretaker could remain there for
472
51
WM: ten years. During that time, there was a provision that the "-H
Club camp could be developed. So It took about ten years to get
all of these details worked out. And It worked out eventually
all right. Mrs. Blake didn't want to have more than 150 people
at any time on the area.
Fair: How did you work around that?
WM: Well, most of the camps were not more than 150. They ran about
that. But there wasn't any particular problem in connection with
it except during that ten years in which the provision about the
caretaker was in effect. The caretaker was not cooperative and
I never knew what kind of information she got from him; her con
tacts were not with me but with the State Forester.
There was some question about the building of the swimming
pool. The caretaker didn't want the swimming pool in the place
where It was put; however, the CCC camp was there and they did
the work on it for the 4-H Club camp, and it worked well. The
4-H Club camp Is still there and still being used.
Fair: During the Depression, the only contact that you had with the
CCC and the WPA was the men that Pratt assigned to your camp?
WM: We had very good cooperation there.
One of the other interesting things that was done under
WPA was the development of the Mendocino Woodlands on Big River
in Mendocino County. This was one of the recreation projects
in the United States. They had a camp under WPA of somewhere
between three and four hundred men from San Francisco up there.
They built most of the roads and they built a lot of very beau
tiful buildings, but the man who drew up the plans for it was a
national parks recreation man, and I couldn't see the theory of
the whole thing from the beginning.
They built these beautiful little cabins with fireplaces,
just a place to sleep, the fireplace and bedrooms, no cooking
facilities, no toilet facilities. There was a unit cookhouse
with a group of cabins here, and then a unit washroom — that sort
of thing.
This was one of twenty-one such areas that were built
throughout the United States. This was the only one in Calif-
fornia. There was one in Oregon. I saw the one that they built
in southeastern Ohio. The people who built them I am sure had
very limited opportunity to know what people want. This one up
here was supposed to be for families. Well, families don't want
to go to a place like that. They never did.
Fair: What did they use it for?
473
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Hotel Shattuck
Room 431
Berkeley 4,
California
May 29,1944
My dear Mrs . Blake :
I cannot tell you how extremely good it
was to see you a.~aln. It was very kind of
you to invite us for tea and we did enjoy
every minute of our visit with you, Mr. Blake,
and your sister Miss Simms. My husband and
I, we sincerely appreciate your kindness and
thought of us.
TTe still talk about your lovely garden
and marvel at the collection of so many un
usual and beautiful varieties of planta in
your garden. It truly is a blessing to have
a garden, such as yours, to wander around in
and forget even for a moment the hectic hustle
and bustle life today.
The pagoda looks like a sacred shrine in
its setting and we can think of no other
appropriate place in your garden than where
you have placed it. To know that you are
pleased with it makes us very happy.
I placed the flowers you gave me in a
vase immediately upon arrival at the hotel
and they are still in good condition. The
Bird of Paradise had one unopened bud which
opened three days ago, and it is certainly a
beautiful sight. The Rhododendron flower
from South Africa fills our room with fragrance
and each time we enter our room we remark how
sweet the odor is. I noticed this morning that
the flower has began to droop and wilt and I am
afraid that I will not have it for long.
As yet, we have not decided when or how
we are going to dispose of our merchandise now
stored in the warehouse. Therefore, we have
been quite busy contacting different business
pe ople .
491
-2-
We have visited Chinatown several times and
we can only say that it is truly a sad sight. One
; of our Chinese friend complained about the fact
that he is now forced to handle Mexican art objects
and does not like it at all. Wholesalers of Chinese
merchandise have stopped selling wholesale and keep-
Ing what Chinese merchandise they have. The price
is sky-high on objects not classed as novelty and
;"| the merchants do not seem at all eager to sell
-~<j them. Times have certainly changed. I believe
Nathan Bent 2 is the only store on Grant Avenue
with fine merchandise.
It is certainly wonderful to he back 'home1.
We have not felt out of place or strange but feel
as if we have returned from a vacation. I don't
believe we ever had the feeling of being settled
in Salt Lake City. We were always homesick for
San Francisco and knowing that we could not re
turn for the duration made us more so. This
opportunity to return to San Francisco for a
short period of time is the most wonderful thing
that has happened to us since evacuation.
Thank you again, Mrs. Blake. My husband
sends his warmest regards and appreciation to
you and to Mr. Blake and to Miss Simms. Will
you kindly tell Miss Simms that I have pressed
the Yerba Buena leaves. I can hardly wait to
present one of the branch to Mrs. Shibata.
Mr. King has asked to be remembered to all
of you and sends his good wishes.
,.:, Oh yes, please give Tiran a loving pat from
me. I will let you know from tine to time how we
are getting along. In the meantime, please take
very good care of yourself.
Gratefully,
(Mrs.) Setsu Tsuchlya
492
HISTORY OF BLAKE AND CARMELITE MONASTERY PROPERTY
The land on which stands the Carmelite Monastery of Th« King in Exile at 68
Rincon Road in the area now called Kensington in Contra Costa County California,
first came into the hands of people of European ancestry in 1823. Francisco Castro
a soldier of Spain whose allegiance was transferred to Mexico on its becoming
independent in 1820, was among the first to apply to the new government for a
grant of land. His petition was granted and he became the owner of the San Pablo
Ranco. When he retired from the army in 1826, he, his wife and children moved
onto the property and continued to occupy it long after the acquisition of Calif
ornia by the United States. Francisco Castro himself died in 1831, leaving his
widow and eleven children. They continued to occupy the land and to operate
it as a unit. In 1851 before her death, the widow deeded her interest to her
daughter, Martina, wife of Juan B. Alvarado, former governor of California.
The petition of the executor of Francisco Castro's estate to the Land Commission
of California was filed in 1852 for confirmation of title. The Commission con
firmed this title in 1855. Confirmation of the District Court followed in 1855.
The first survey was approved in 1864. During this time a number of the heirs
sold portions of their interests. Others borrowed. Purchasers sought specific
holdings and great confusion followed as conflicting interests arose. An attempt to
settle the matter by an amicable agreement failed. Then in 1867 Joseph Emeric
brought a suit in partition and the celebrated case of Emeric vrs Alvarado began
its thirty year life in the courts of California. It was a terrible financial
drain on the owners. A large amount of land went to lawyers for their services.
In this category is the land on which the monastery stands. George Leviston of
San Francisco was the owner of Lot 1 of the San Pablo Rancho, a piece of land
over six hundred acres in extent and representing about two thirds of Kensington.
Leviston could get hardly more than the taxes in the way of rent from the cattle
man who used it as pasture and he sold the property to a group of speculators who
divided their holdings. The holder of the largest individual piece sold it to
the late Frank J. Woodward and associates who planned its future subdivision.
Woodward borrowed money from George P. Baxter on the southerly seventy- two acres,
and on the northerly forty- five acres from Harriet W. Blake. When the United
States entered the First World War, hopes for immediate subdivision were ended
and Woodward surrendered possession of the land to George Baxter and Mrs. Blake.
Mrs. Blake held possession of her forty- five acres taken on her loan to Mr. Woodward
until 1922 when the University of California suddenly asked Mrs. Charles Blake
and her two sons Anson S. Blake and Edwin T. Blake who together occupied a piece
of land on Piedmont Avenue adjoining University property, to surrender their land
to them for the building of the present college stadium and all three of the Blake
families found themselves forced to look for new homes. Wishing to find a site
where they could remain together and also have space for the large gardens for
which they all cared, they finally agreed upon locating upon Mrs. Charles Blake's
unoccupied land in Kensington. It seemed remote then for it was open meadow
land covered with wild flowers and with cattle still using it as pasturage.
There were two small streams running through it, with meadow larks singing on
every side and the wonderful wiew to the west, of the bay, the distant city and
Tainalpais and the hills of Marin County.
493
HISTORY OF BLAKE AND CARMELITE MONASTERY PROPERTY (cent.)
Mrs. Blake combined her home with that of the Edwin Blakos and the Anson Blakes
built on the land adjoining. The acreage to the west was divided by Mr. Blake
between two other children, Mrs Lherraan T. Thacher and Robert P. Blake, neither
of whom was ever able to occupy their share of the property. The Edwin Blakes
held possession of their portion until the death of Edwin T. Blake when the
estate was sold and the home and three acres of the garden were purchased by
the present owners. The Carmelite Monastery of Christ in Exile.
The Anson Blakes, still making their home on the adjoining land have been happy
in their new neighbors, and in the thought of the preservation of the garden
within the cloisters and the peace which has become their nearest neighbor.
Anita D.L. Blake
Berkeley
April 7th, 1956
494
Carmelite .{•finna stern
Clara, Calif.
Pax Christ i! July 10, 1950.
Dear Mrs. Blake,
For many weeks I have looked forward to writing to
you personally concerning our adjoining property, but recently
the desire has, through circumstances, become a need.
We have been most interested, since acquiring the
place, in discussing and planning the many and various details
of the little monastery- to-be , and I wholly neglected any minute
investigation of the garden lines and its exact contours. I am
afraid my notion of it has been vague — too vague, in a sense —
saying which I admit to you, dear Mrs. Blake, what a poor busi
ness-woman I am. I should certainly have gone over all the boundary
line with you before we actually made the purchase of the land,
and in that way would have been wholly aware of its irregularities,
which I am sure you will understand, make the erection of a wall
very difficult and expensive. Tflien I awoke to these facts some
time ago, I asked Mr. Jones, our very honest and efficient Con
tractor, to speaJc to you and Mr. Blake, and to demonstrate for
you on the ground just what we wished and hoped to accomplish.
He was to propose to you to cede a strip of land that would allow
the wall to be built solidly, and at the same time as gracefully
as possible, for we wish for your sakes, as well as ours, to make
the wall a thing of beauty.
As you no doubt know, we are obliged, being Cloistered
Nuns, to have such a monastic wall enclosing our property. We
have indeed been charmed by the loveliness of the outlay of the
gardens and the glorious trees, and would not for the world wish
that any one of them would be in the least injured, as might happen
in digging for a wall where it is important to anchor foundations
deep enough to withstand storms and time. For this reason, a con
siderable strip of land should be allowed; it would also be requir
ed to give the growth room for air and expansion. All this I hoped
Mr. Jones would convey to you, dear Mrs. Blake, plus the technical
part of the work, which might be of interest to you, and for which
I depend on him. Howevar, he has coma down to tell me that you do
not wish to part but with the very minimum of land, and in very
irregular measure.
This message places us in a most difficult position,
as I think you will understand, and is most distressing to me, for
it is essentially due to my lack of foresight months ago. Had I
understood at the time of the purchase that there would not be a
suitable strip of land to accommodate our wall at the end of the
495
property line, I would not have been willing to let the deal go
through, much as I was pleased with the site, for a wall is essen
tial to us.
I can therefore only appeal personally to your kind
ness and understanding, and ask you to reconsider the matter. It
has meant very much to us, dear LIrs. Blake, to know that you and
Mr. Blake were to be our nearest neighbors, and to be aware, as
we have been, through my brother's conversation with your husband,
and through Professor Olivier! (our mutual friend) that you are
not unsympathetic with our way of life and monastic customs. We
look forward to meeting you when the building is completed and
repairs finished at the little Carmel-bo-be. It may interest you
to know that we are dedicating it to "Christ, the Exiled King",
as Our Lord Gtod is little wanted in Kis own world today. It is
to be a place of prayer aid reparation — a little spot of spiritual
rest and peace.
Personally, I am not going to Berkeley; there will be
a group of younger Sisters there. I am only trying to arrange
and complete things for them, as, being long years in Religion,
I cannot expect too many more days! Do not think that I do not
understand your viewpoint of wishing to keep your present property
intact, just as it is, dear Mrs. Blake. I not only understand,
but sympathise with you, as I know from experience how dear and
sacred old surroundings can become, and as we advance in life we
become the more attached to them] That is natural; they seem
like part of ourselves. But, notwithstanding this knowledge and
conviction, I come to ask you to do what your heart already refuses!
I would not venture such a thing, be assured, were it personal,
or even for my Religious Sisters, for I am deeply conscious that
such vjould be an imposition, but in this instance I think I can
say that my request is in the Ifeme of Our Exiled King — He Who is
seeking a home at present, and will come before too long to dwell
near you on an Altar Throne. If you find that you can cooperate
with us, He Elms elf will reward you here and hereafter, with
abundant blessings of peace, and with the secret joy that must
come to one who has actually shared their own home with Him, Christ
Our Lord. I will pray to Him to let you feel even now, a little
of what such a blessing means.
With every good wish and greeting, -believe me., dear
Mrs. Blake,
Very sincerely yours,
Mr"
I have asked one of our Sisters to type this letter to you,
as my hurried long hand is not very decipherable. G-od bless you!
496
*
3. JR. 3. «.
Carmelite
jSnuta Clara, California
November 3, 1950.
Pax Christ! !
Dear Mrs. Blake,
It is several months since your letter, in reply to
mine, reached me. It seemed conclusive, so I did not write again.
I know that you must realize that I was very disap
pointed that the most beautiful part of the Berkeley acreage
was not to be offered to our "Exiled King", as a portion of
the gift of love and reparation we hope to make His in this
new little Carmel. I refer to the winding creek-bed and sur
rounding trees and foliage. I know that proprietorship to it
is yours under every title and human right, dear Mrs. Blake,
and that you delight to hold it, and dream of how you may
further beautify it. It is all very comprehensive to me in
a human way, and I sympathetically understand from that view
point.
But there is also another way to regard these ter
restrial things. They cannot always be ours, just as there was
a time when we did not possess them. Our Holy Mother, Saint
Teresa, warns us (Carmelites) "All things pass away — God alone
suf f icieth. " Happily, we know that before they pass — while
they are still ours — we niay have the advantage of exchanging
then for value that does not pass: that which is eternal, by
offering them in sacrifice to God, V/ho alone "sufficieth" to
each of us, His creatures, for He made us, and for Himself.
Has this occurred to you, dear Mrs. Blake? Needless to say,
the clarity with which such divine wisdom has stood forth to
most of us "YJQO have left all to follow Him", has been light
to our steps through the shadows of this earthly life, where
we are now exiles. I know that you are not a Catholic, or, I
should say, a Carmelite, and therefore it may be presumption
on my part to speak to you in our own language, which contains
so much hidden beauty. But I feel that you have an intuitive
knowledge of our Faith, and will understand the only way I
an able to express myself.' Truth is one.'
Very slow progress has been made on our little Monas
tery in recent months and weeks. The wall of enclosure has
called off from the work on the house, so we have to wait
patiently the completion of the many details.
497
As you will have noted, no doubt, we are erecting
only part of the wall — the most important part — as the expense
is very great, and are filling in the balance with wood for
the present. Of course this necessary expediency throws open
a wide door in my confident hope that perhaps in time the por
tion of the acreage including the trees and creek might be
permanently enclosed - God willing.' I firmly believe that the
only way to preserve them for posterity would be absorption
into an enclosure such as ours, for, judging by the building
which has taken place on all sides in the last year, the day
will come when those who do not feel as think as you and we do,
will take down the trees and fill in the gulch by -the huge
tractors which are laying low and filling up land on all sides,
to accommodate the mushroom growth, of small homes. It is too
sad a picture to ponderj
One other thought came to me regarding the charmed
wooded portion we have been discussing, and I submit it to you.
Would you consider allowing our Nuns to take over the formal
ownership of the creek-bed and tree line by deed in the near
future, were we to allow it to remain as it now lies, apparent
ly in your possession? - that is, allowing the purchased land
to be simply staked and wired to prevent any trouble in future?
Will you think of, and pray about, this, dear Mrs. Blake? -
reflecting that He — not the Nuns — Whom you would accommodate,
is only an "Exile" in this poor world, but that everlastingly
He is the Eternal Zing of Glory. How much His smile: His
"'.'.'ell done", will mean to us each, forever.' Life takes a new
aspect when we look forward to it , I assure you.'
With every good wish to you and Mr. Blake, I remain,
Sincerely yours in Christ Our Lord,
498
A Chronology of the Gift of Blake Estate to the University;
President Robert Gordon Sproul kept memos of conversations held
in person and on the telephone. In the 1957 record there are
five entries related to the Blake Estate, as follows:
(1) Chancellor Kerr, Berkeley, June 14, 1957
Anson Blake property
Referring to Professor Vaughan's letter of May 17, 1957,
concerning Mrs. Blake's desire to give her property at 71 Rincon
Road to the University for use by the Department of Landscape
Architecture, I asked him as to his wishes. He said that he
would like very much to have the property and especially the
garden which is of fine quality. He asked me whether I wished to
handle further negotiations or wished him to do it. I said that
I thought it would be well to leave them to Professsor Vaughan
with an assist from either of us if he feels he needs it and
calls upon us. Chancellor Kerr told me also that the Campus
Planning Committee has studied this possible acquisition and a
report will be coming to me soon.
(2) Chancellor Kerr, Berkeley, October 7, 1957
Blake property
He told me that he joined heartily in the recommendation of
Vice President Wellman and Professor Vaughan that this property
be secured. I told him that I was strongly in favor of acquiring
the land, but that I did not see why we wished to agree to
maintain the house in perpetuity. He said he thought it could be
used to advantage for little conferences and perhaps for a little
research institute, but I pointed out that no doubt there would
have to be a good deal of remodelling in order that this might
happen, and that this would be very expensive. I suggested,
therefore, and he did not demur, that we recommend to The Regents
that the gift be accepted, that the house be maintained during
the life of Mr. and Mrs. Blake, but that no commitment be made as
to its use hereafter.
(3) Robert Underbill, Berkeley, October 15, 1957 [telephone]
I asked him if he could get a rough estimate of the value of
the Blake property, which has been offered to the University as a
garden for the Department of Landscape Architecture, in time for
the October Regents meeting. He said that this would be
difficult if not impossible, especially as Mr. Hartsook is in
southern California at the present time. He told me that he
would try, however, and report to me as soon as possible.
499
(4) Vice President Harry Wellman, Berkeley, November 7, 1957
Blake property gift
He is working on this with Vernon Smith and expects to
present a form of gift to the Blakes in the near future. I told
him that I hoped that this would be worked out on a basis which
would enable us, after the Blakes are through with the property,
or in any event after 20 years to remove or destroy the house on
the land if this seems to us wise. He thought that this would
not be impossible and agreed to work with the Blakes toward this
end .
(5) Vice President Harry Wellman, Berkeley, December 2, 1957
[telephone ]
Talked to me about the Blake property concerning which he
has been conferring with the Blakes, with Mr. Vernon Smith, and
finally with General Counsel Cunningham. He said that the time
had now come, it seemed to him, when the General Counsel and the
Blakes should get together on the drawing of a legal document
which could be presented to the Regents at their December
meeting. He read me certain paragraphs from a proposed document,
in which The Regents are given the privilege of renting, selling
or using the house during the first twenty years as may seem to
them best. He pointed out that "selling" the house would seem to
give The Regents by inference authority to destroy it if they
cannot otherwise dispose of it. He reported that Mr. Vernon
Smith is of a similar opinion. I said that, in these
circumstances, I would suggest that the meeting of the Blakes and
the General Counsel be arranged and that all necessary steps be
taken to get Regents' action at the December meeting. He will
proceed accordingly.
The outcome of all this:
On December 4, 1957, the Blakes signed the Deed of Gift of
the Blake Estate.
On December 9, 1957, Professor H. L. Vaughan of the
Department of Landscape Architecture wrote a letter of thanks to
the Blakes. Among other things he said, "It is my understanding
that you do not want any publicity about the gift."
The gift was a matter of record in the Committee of Finances
recommendations to The Board of Regents meeting in Los Angeles on
December 13, 1957.
On December 12, 1957, President Sproul wrote the following
letter to Mr. and Mrs. Blake:
500
Mr. and Mrs. Anson Blake
70 Rincon Road
Berkeley, California
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Blake:
Now that the legal documents relating to your thoughtful and
generous gift of your home property, subject to lifetime use,
have been gotten out of the way, I would like to depart from the
official and express to both of you my deep personal appreciation
of your action.
The consistent and sympathetic interest which you have shown
in all things pertaining to the University of California, and
particularly to it.; students, not to mention your broader
interest in every matter of real importance to this east shore
metropolitan community, scarcely needs elaborating by me, but I
can't help feeling thankful for alumni of the University such as
the Blakes.
We are not concerned with the monetary value of the gift,
though that is considerable, but we are keenly aware of the fact
that there is no other property in this area which could even
distantly approach yours as an outdoor teaching laboratory in
landscape architecture and related subject.;. What you are
giving, as I see it, is not just a piece of land, but a part of
the life and the home building wisdom of Mr. and Mrs. Anson
Blake. For that I find words of thanks distressingly inadequate,
but for what they are worth I would like to offer them to you
from my heart.
Sincerely yours,
Robert G. Sproul
501
DEED OF GIFT
TO THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
For many years we have made the gardens at our home proper
ty in Kensington available to the Department of Landscape
Architecture on the Berkeley Campus of the University of
California for instructional and research purposes. We have
been informed that this permissive use has contributed
substantially to the enrichment of the courses offered by
the Department and to the opportunities for fruitful re
search. To make this arrangement permanent and to assure
the continued maintenance of the property for those and
allied purposes we now desire to transfer it to the Regents,
subject to our right to its use and occupancy during our life
times. We have therefore contemporaneously herewith by deeds
granted to you that certain real property located in Kensing
ton, County of Contra Costa, State of California, described
generally as 70 Rincon Road, the same being more particularly
described in those deeds and herein referred to as the "trust
property."
The said trust property Is conveyed to the Regents of
the University of California (herein referred to simply as
"The Regents") In trust, and we expressly declare this
trust to be irrevocable, for the following uses and purposes
and subject to the following conditions:
To hold, manage, control, sell, rent, exchange, hypothe
cate, invest, reinvest said trust property or the proceeds
thereof, and to mingle the same and the proceeds thereof
with its own or other funds, but only for the purpose of
investment or reinvestment, and otherwise to deal with said
trust property and the proceeds thereof, in whole or in part,
all as The Regents may deem fit and proper and consistent with
502
the provisions of this trust, provided however, that The
Regents shall not sell or convey the said trust property
for a period of twenty years from the date hereof but shall
hold the same for the purposes hereinafter stated. In fix
ing a period during which the trust property shall be held
by the Regents, it is not our intention to suggest that at
the end of such time the property should be sold; it is in
fact our belief and expectation that the trust property will
continue for many years beyond that time to serve the pur
poses for which it is given. We recognize, however, that
conditions change in the course of time and that we cannot
now forsee all of the contingencies which may arise; in
order to make our basic purposes more effective and respon
sive to such possible changes, we place only a twenty year
limitation and have confidence that our intentions will be
followed with fidelity and that the property will continue
to be a significant part of the facilities of the University
of Cal i fornia.
To use the said trust property for instruction and re
search in the Department of Landscape Architecture (and any
department successor thereto) on the Berkeley Campus of the
University of California and for similar purposes by other
departments, preference being given to instructional and
research needs in the Department of Landscape Architecture;
provided however, that we, and the survivor of us, shall
have the right during out lifetimes to reside at the trust
property and to the use and occupancy of our house thereon
free of rent and other charges therefor.
Certain of the trust property is not, and possibly may
not be, developed in ways appropriate for the instructional
and research purposes which are the primary reasons for the
establishment of this trust. This land is a strip approximately
110 feet in width parallel to Highgate Road. During such time
as this land, in the discretion of The Regents, is not needed
70
503
for those primary purposes it may be used for other University
purposes such as, but not limited to, buildings, experimental
plots and similar purposes, but not for a general recreational
area.
Should The Regents determine that our house, after we
have ceased to occupy the same, is not needed as part of or
as an adjunct to the primary purposes of this trust, The
Regents may use the same or any other structure which at their
discretion they may erect in its place, for or in support of
other University purposes, including but not limited to use
as a residence or for conferences. Any income derived from
said house by way of sale, rental, or lease, so far as may be
practicable, shall be applied to capital improvements and
maintenance of the trust property.
If, after the expiration of the twenty years hereinabove
limited, The Regents shall determine that the trust property
or a portion thereof is no longer necessary to the basic pur
poses for which we have provided, then in that event the in
come from the proceeds of a sale, or from the trust property,
shall be used for the benefit of the Department of Landscape
Architecture (and any department successor thereto) for the
support of scholarships, fellowships, instruction, and other
University purposes within or on behalf of such department.
The Regents, so far as practicable and consistent with
budgetary limitations and changes in instructional and re
search needs, shall endeavor to maintain the trust property
in a manner substantially equivalent to the care and main
tenance it has received heretofore to the end that it shall
be an effective part of the instructional and research ac
tivities of the University.
It is our purpose to serve the University and its stu
dents, and we desire this trust to be liberally construed to
the end that our purposes may be fully accomplished.
(Signed) Anson S.Blake
Date: December k. 1957 (Signed) Anita D.S. Blake
71
504
IGOR ROBERT BLAKE
«I6S CANYON ROAD
LAFAYETTE, CALIFORNIA 94549
October 21, 1973
Mrs. Charles J. Hitch
70 Rincon Road
Kensington, California 9470/7
Dear Mrs. Hitch,
Pursuant to our conversation regarding the
the Blake family ironstone tableware, I note the following.
In Anita D.S. Blake's last years after the death of Anson
S. Blake I was asked by her to assume increasingly more
responsibilities, such as supervising the preparation of
her income tax returns, access to her safe deposite box,
liason with the executor of Anson S. Blake's estate, and
for advise and help on a variety of matters. Dr. Helen
Christensen attended Aunt Anita during her last illness,
which lasted two months, starting in February 1962. A
nurse was called in and Aunt Anita informed her that I
was to handle matters if she were unable to do so herself.
Dr. Christensen told me that Mrs. Blake kept mentioning
that she wanted to change her will. I arranged to have
the family lawyers see Mrs. Blake and she signed her will
in the month in which she died. Mrs. Blake had intended
to leave the income producing assets of her estate to her
Symmes niece and newphews and grand-niece and grand-nephew
and had previously informed me of this. Anson Blake had
left part of his estate in Trust for Mrs. Blake with my
Thacher cousins and I as remaindermen. The disposition
of the contents of the house she had not thought through
at that time and had hoped to give more thought to. A
few items had been given to my Thacher cousins and to
me prior to her firial illness and many things had been
to the Universities East Asiatic Library . As indicative '
of this process I enclose a copy of an undated List
in Aunt Anita's hand. This verv likely was a "think list"
in preparation for the conference with the attorneys.
Mahogany probably referred to the dining room furniture
which she had purchased with her own funds and had once
promised to her niece and later thought of giving to the
Taft Memorial, snd finally left, to her niece, with the
exception of the lowboy which went to the Colonial Dames.
This is another indication that she was still pondering
her final decisions. China is undesignated on this "list..
In her last evening of consciousness in April 1962 she
505
IGOR ROBERT BLAKE
4IC.5 CANYON ROAD
LAFAYETTE. CALIFORNIA 943*9
-2-
dictated to Dr. Christensen the enclosed list of items.
Basically everyone except the C-_armelites got some of the
items on this list in addition to some items not wanted
by the University. Of the items listed I received six
Sevres cups and saucers and the chocolate pitcher and
half a dozen serving pieces of the Waters blue, white and
gold Blossom ironstone china. Asa Waters was my third
great grandfather who lived in Milbury, Massachusetts.
If thereds any possibility of my acquiring the remainder
of the Waters china I would be most interested to do so.
Had it not been for yours and Mr. Hitch's
accomplishments towards saving Blake House, it might
long since been taken down, as my aunt had feared. It
is most fortunate that the University found such an
appropriate use for the house and we appreciate all the
personal effort which you and Mr. Hitch have put into
preserving, restoring and improving it.
I am impressed with Dr. Sessler and I am
interested in joining his staff.
I deeply appreciate your thoughtful attention
on the matter of the china. Liz, Laura, Robert and I very
much our visit with you, Mr. Hitch and Caroline.
With best wishes, I am,
Yours sincerely,
506
Igor Blako
seta of china. The first ia no doubt ^ovrog, and
second ia probsbly meant for Irani fl?*j\tfj£ stor.o),
which is the Dlckc net of cnin£.\v£re.
Carmellt'os
3mall miniature pointing irtho chest, of St. .'.ntrony
Madonna in hell
Picture in rrch (Carrclitc ieir, ::
George and liolcuo Thacher
ciuroponn china
Anson Thscher - nephew
Cooloy china in bureo» vj-atairs
Jim Anderson - to huve television
Taft's Memorial
Bolton china set
Mahortony cheat in room above
4 old chairat
2 Colonial in dining r^on
S, Popple"'1-! !*-.(?
Rugs »• his choice
Anne» Carol's daughter
Family set of old Puff china
Ori/ontal pearls v,il:h round diainond clasp
"-hitman Sy-miea
Phonograph
507
California Historical Society Quarterly
Vol. 42, no. 2. June 1963
In Mtmoriam
STILES BLAKE, ANITA D. SYMMES BLAKE, and MABEL SYMMES
According to the San Francisco Evening Bulletin, the wedding on May 17,
1894, of Anita Day Symmes and Anson Stiles Blake at the First Unitarian Church
of San Francisco, the Reverend Horatio Stebbins officiating, was of more than
ordinary interest, the relatives of the contracting parties being "prominently
known in society, mercantile and literary circles and they are both*epresentative
pioneer families."
White marguerites and snowballs were knotted to the portals of the pewstalls
along the central aisle of the church, down which the bridal procession passed,
Miss Mabel Symmes being her sister's maid of honor.
At the wedding reception in the Symmes' residence on Rincon Hill, precious
stones, typical of that affluent period, were much in evidence. "The groom's
present," said the Bulletin, "was of diamonds and sapphires. Each of the brides
maids received a pink enameled wreath set with pearls. The ushers as souvenirs
had four-leaf clover pins, in the center of which a diamond dewdrop was set."
The affluence of the Frank J. Symmes family was attributable to his father-in-
law's thriving electric-fixtures business, viz., Thomas Day & Company (incor-
ported 1886), of which Mr. Symmes was president.
In the East Bay region, the groom's family had also been financially successful,
in this case through real estate operations and street paving -to such an extent
that in 1891 Mrs. Ann J. Stiles, Anson Blake's maternal grandmother, organized a
corporation, Trustees of Stiles Hall, under whose supervision the hall, dedicated
to the religious and social uses of university students without distinction of
creed, was built as a.memorial to her husband, Anson Gale Stiles (former member
of the board of trustees of the College of California).
In 1895, another Stiles-Blake real estate transaction involved 3.34 acres lying
in the valley of Strawberry Creek (part of the present California Memorial
Stadium). By a deed dated December 6 of that year, the University of California
acquired the land from-Mrs. Ann J. Stiles for $3,800 as a future reservoir site.
Meanwhile, on the western border of Strawberry Creek facing on Piedmont
Avenue north of Bancroft Way, Anson, his mother Mrs. Charles T Blake, and
his brother Edwin built handsome residences with connecting gardens and a small
stable for Anita's riding-horse Dewey. On March 20, 1922, this property was
deeded to the university, the former owners moving to the Kensington area of
Berkeley in Contra Costa County. Finally, by a deed dated December 4, 1957,
Anson and Anita gave their part of the Kensington property, amounting to ten
and one-half acres, to the university, the Edwin Blake portion having been
already purchased by Noel Sullivan for a Carmelite Monastery.
The importance of Anson's and Anita's gift to the university has been
described by Professor H. L. Vaughan, chairman of the department of landscape
architecture: "Of the physical features essential to teaching and research in
177
508
1 7 8 California Historical Society Quarterly
Landscape Architecture -laboratories, libraries, classrooms, plant collections,
and well-designed garden space -the last two are the most difficult to obtain and
keep. The Blake Garden provides them in incomparable fashion."
As to Anson's personal career: after graduation, he went into the contracting
industry in which his father, Charles T. Blake, was engaged, specifically in
furnishing materials connected with street work. By 1913 his brothers had joined
him in forming Blake Brothers, with a quarry and office in Oakland, California.
The company is now known as Blake Brothers Company, Crushed Rock and Rip
Rap, Asphaltic Mixes, in Richmond, California, of which his nephew Igor, son of
Robert Blake, is officer and director.
The first official connection Anson (University of California, 1891; died
August 17, 1959, at the age of eighty-nine) had with the University Y.M.C.A.
was on March 27, 1889, when he became a student member. By 1900 he was a
member of the advisory board, and, in 1902, the board's chairman. At the ground
breaking ceremony (February 20, 1950) for the new building at Bancroft Way
and Dana Street, Mr. Robert Gordon Sproul, then president of the university,
complimented him for having, during all that time, met "difficulties and dangers,
almost anonymously with courage and with cash."
Praise came from another direction in 1953, namely, in a concurrent resolution
of the legislature designating him "The Grand Old Man of Sales Hall."
On September 29, 1958, a culminating event occurred when, at the inaugura
tion of President Clark Kerr, his Alma Mater granted him an LL.D. degree,
paying tribute to his having been "revered by generations of student leaders for
your inspiring faith and confidence in them." In addition to such expressions of
admiration were those from booklovers and from fellow-members of the Cali
fornia Historical Society and the Society of California Pioneers, in both of which
he had held high office.
Anita (University of California, A.B., 1894; died April 25, 1962, at the age of
ninety), as well as her sister Mabel, were members of the Kappa Alpha Theta
Fraternity. Scholastically, Anita received what she called a most happy surprise
when, subsequent to its establishment at the University of California in 1898, the
Phi Beta Kappa honor society chose her as one of the few earlier graduates
admitted to its membership.
A year after her marriage, Anita was one of the seven "organizers" of the
Fortnightly Club of San Francisco. Twenty years was the minimum age limit
and the membership was limited to sixty in addition to honorary members. The
"objects" of the Fortnightly Club were "mutual sympathy and counsel in all
further development," and were to be carried out "under the direction of sec
tions." Included were such studies as French, English, history of religions, music,
and art. One program, two years after the founding of the club, was to be devoted
to a debate: "Resolved that study and society are compatible." Apparently
the affirmative won, because the club continued its existence for some decades,
Anita and her co-organizers bearing witness to a thoroughly flourishing
"compatibility."
509
News of the Society 1 79
During the early years of the Fortnightly Club's existence, a sincere interest
in Oriental art arose, induced by the creation, in 1895, of a department of
Oriental languages and literature at the University of California. Money to
finance such a department had been supplied in the will of the Hon. Edward
Tompkins (d. 1872) who was one of the university's first regents; but the com
plexity of the will's provisions had delayed settlement, and it was not until 1895
that the first professorship in Oriental languages and literature was established.
Along with several wives of faculty members, Anita was attracted by the beauty
of Chinese porcelains, paintings, and furniture -an attraction which was stimu
lated by the possibility of obtaining them in the shops of San Francisco. Thus it
was that her collection attracted the attention of connoisseurs, and her wisdom
in leaving it in her will to the East Asiatic Library at the university (Dr. Elizabeth
Huff, librarian) was hailed with the greatest enthusiasm.
Miss Mabel Symmes (University of California, 1896; died, Berkeley, February
i, 1962, at the age of eighty-seven) joined her sister in her love of plants, but she
directed her energies toward what might be called their becomingness to a given
piece of land under given climatic and exposure conditions. In this demanding
profession of landscape architecture she built a name for herself in the San Fran
cisco Bay area. Her work in Kensington was made easier by the beauty of the
Blake residence, designed by John B. Faville of the San Francisco architectural
firm of Bliss & Faville.
In recent years, Mabel had been working over the papers left by Miss Kath-
erine Davies Jones ( 1860-1943), university botanist and ecologist, whose printed
reports on ninety different varieties of climbing plants were published in the
National Horticultural Magazine, 1936, 1937, and 1938. Miss Symmes' own
account of Miss Jones' work had appeared in Madrono, VIII (April, 1946); but
much remained to be done on the subject, and the notes she took during the
process she donated in her will to the Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park,
San Francisco.
After the Blake-Symmes move to Kensington, Anita and Mabel began their
almost forty years of plant-propagation and landscaping. The list of Anita's
contributions to horticulture contains such far-flung species as Ilex paraguariensis,
Pistacia Chinensis, Acacia pubescent or "Hairy Wattle" from Australia, Orman-
thus illicifotius, and many others. For these she received "awards" from the Cali
fornia Horticultural Society which published her descriptive text in each case in
their Journal. To quote a professional authority, Mrs. Mai K. Arbegast, assistant
professor of landscape architecture at the university:
From her early years, Mrs. Blake's interest in plants led her not only to support horti
cultural societies and botanic gardens financially but also to present to them the unusual
specimens she herself had grown. The result has been that rare plants from her collection
are now to be found in botanic gardens and herbaria all over the world. I learned much
from her and am deeply grateful for having known her as a person.
Though a close second to Anita in her pursuit of plant lore, Mabel made room
in her busy days for financial matters, and, as a stockholder in a bay area bank,
510
1 80 California Historical Society Quarterly
attended annual meetings regularly. She also attended reunions of her college
class and joined with them in processions at various university celebrations.
It is pleasant to record a tribute that was paid to Anita and Mabel by their
neighbor, the Reverend Mother of the Carmelite Monastery in Kensington. To
show her appreciation of the broad Christian principles manifested in their daily
lives, she sought for them a Papal Blessing. According to custom this is only
bestowed in Rome, but exception was made in their cases because of their age
and delicate health. The Blessing was doubly welcome, Anita said in her letter to
the Reverend Mother, because it arrived on her first wedding-anniversary subse-
quent to her husband's death.
511
From Berkeley Barb, June 13, 1969
512
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Thure.,Oct. 30, 1969 * R jati Jranriscn <D)roniclr
«ninuiui\yHO'S WHO roiHiroiniimmrauniuiiimiiiintiniira:
A Peek Inside
Hitch's Hideaway
"THERE'S BEEN so much mystery about the
house, it's healthy to clear it up."
Travis Cross, a member of UC President
Charles J. Hitch's staff, is delighted that the home
of the head of the nine university campuses is
going to be on an East Bay house tour November
7, sponsored by the campus YWCA.
The house made headlines last June when the
University admitted it spent $458,500 refurbishing
it for the Hitches, who moved In last March.
Yesterday, on a tour arranged by Mr. Cross.
who is a former aide of Senator Mark Hatfield of
Oregon, Mrs. Hitch showed me through the house.
which is set in ten acres on Rincon road in Ken
sington, nearly four miles north of the campus.
In gaining a handsome Italian-style home de
signed in 1925 by architect Walter Bliss, the
Hitches lost a great deal of privacy.
The house is located in Blake Experimental
Gardens, named for the late Mr. and Mrs. Anson
Blake, who willed the house and property to the
University in 1957.
The extensive gardens, which include a red
wood grove the Stakes started from burls, are used
as an outdoor laboratory by UC's Department of
Landscape Architecture.
Students were swarming over the property
yesterday, inspecting plants and trees. They are
everyday visitors, said Mrs. Hitch, adding that gav-
den clubs and other groups are free at any time 10
make arrangements to see the grounds.
Sometimes, for privacy, chains are put across
pathways leading to the windows of the house. A
wire fence — a dirty word In Berkeley — wns
started around the garden Immediately surround
ing the house, but the project was abandoned.
"The work was stopped because it wasn't at
tractive or desirable." said Mr. Cross.
The fence remains, with some stakes minus
wire, because, Mrs. Hitch explained, "it costs too
much to tear down."
On the delicate subject of fin?nces. Mrs. Hiich
said the house and grounds were n'urtilhM for
them entirely with private 3\tls.
The Hitches (he was formerly UC senior vice
president) remained in a small home in Berkeley
during the year and a half it took to get the man
sion ready.
On the exterior, double gates, electrically op
erated, were added and near them, a new parking
area.
There's a telephone at the gates and another
at the front door. The gates are locked at night
once Mrs. Hitch and her daughter Caroline, who >
not quite 10, had to climb over them. For addvd
security the house and grounds are lighted at
niprht.
"I feel safe here," said the president's wife.
"We're so far from the campus. But I did worry a
lot last summer about Esther," she added, refer
ring to Mrs. Roger Heynes, the chancellor's wife,
who lives in University House on the campus.
Expensive structural repairs were necessary,
as the house, which was built in the mid-20s, has
sunk four inches.
'The foundations had to be jacked up," said
Mi's. Hitch, "there was a lot of rewiring and a fire
alarm system was installed."
It was necessary to add a gallery to connect the
huge living room with the dining room and kitchen
wing to provide circulation of guests and sen-ants
All of the drapes had to be replaced and a ne\v
watl-to-wall beige rug purchased for the living
room.
"The furniture is about one-third ours, one-
third Blake and one-third new."
San Francisco decorator Tony Hail was com
missioned to do the interior.
"We got along quite well. Sometimes, my
suggestions were vetoed," Mrs. Hitch said with a
smile, "but some were accepted. It's difficult to
find a decorator who knows antiques and also un
derstands how to make a house work for large and
small groups."
• So far, the entertaining has consisted of work
ing sessions — "stag parties" in her words —
small dinners and receptions.
Tomoirow, there'll be a dinner for 50 cele
brating the inauguration of Dr. Philip Lee as
chancellor of UC Medical School.
Budding landscape
architects may be all
over the gardens, but.
"unfortunately, we
d o n 't entertain stu
dents in the house as
much as we'd like."
The tour is the first
time the house
(ground floor only)
will be open to the
public.
Being the wife of a
man who heads the
State's university sys
tem is/ Mrs. Hitch
said, "fascinating, but
it keeps me very
busy."
She has a secretary,
a couple for the kitch
en and a housekeeper.
Window washing and
such are done by Uni
versity maintenance
crews.
The Hitches find
their only real priva
cy in a large second floor titling room-bedroom. II
it Impossible not to be constantly reminded thai
the house belongs to the University.
And, as far as Walter Vodden, who has charge
of the botanical gardens is concerned, the impor
tant thing about the whole set-up is the chance it
gives students to study plants and the opportunity
it affords the landscape architecture department.
"If you don't mind my saying so," said he as
Mrs. Hitch smiled, "the Hitches are incidental."
WALTER VOODEN
Gardens come fint
514
A Look at Hitch Home
By JAN SILVERMAN
Tribum Stiff Writer
It has to be one of the most
beautiful goldfish bowls in the
world.
The home University of
California President and Mrs.
Charles Hitch, set on a Berke
ley hillside and surrounded by
10 acres of garden, Invites
cliches.
"It's a beautiful place to
visit, but I wouldn't want to
live here," said one lady to
her companion. They were
part at the crowd who
thronged the home Friday,
when it was a featured part of
the U.C. YWCA Fall Festival
of Houses.
The lady who actually does
live there, Mrs. Hitch, took
the afternoon off to meet a
friend for lunch. She phoned
home around three to see If
<**> coast were dear.
« wasn't, she was Informed
by Nancy Funston, who calls
herself "Mrs. Hitch's secre
tary's assistant," the charm-
"ig young woman who showed
us through the Italian styled
home.
The house was the center of
a considerable controversy
earlier this year when the
J-C. regents spent HH,500 to
remodel It for the Hitches.
Some felt that this was an ex
travagant expenditure, espe
cially In these days when the
University Is so strapped for
funds.
Defenders of the project
counter that -no tax monies
were used, but only private
Anthony Hail decorated
th« Httch horn*
donations given to the univer
sity to be used as the regents
saw fit.
The house Is strongly tied to
the University since it is sur
rounded by the 10-acre Blake
Experimental Gardens. The
gardens were grown from a
bare hillside when in 192J Mr.
and Mrs. Anson Blake pur
chased the site and had archi
tect Walter Bliss design a
house in 1925 "as a windbreak
for Mrs. Blake's famous gar
dens."
It was a beautiful wind
break, but over the years
some of the earth had slipped
beneath its foundation and ex
tensive renovation was neces
sary to get the house back on
an even keel. This accounted
for much of the expenditure.
The other major change
was a gallery added to the
rear of the house to provide
an easy flow of large crowds
between downstairs rooms.
The handsome addition also
serves as a place to display
CThel
Million
,. ,-.
Tour
paintings from Uie art depart
ments of the numerous U.C.
campuses.
Furnishings in the house are
a combination of pieces owned
by the Blakes, the Hitches and
new pieces which Mrs. Hitch
selected with the help of An
thony Hail, the San Francisco
decorator who helped her tie
all of the furnishings together.
The first floor of the house
Is entered past parking lots
secluded in the gardens and a
lovely oblong reflecting pond
One enters a large foyer with
a small cluttered office behind
a dosed door. The rest of the
boose Is elegant and formal,
aave the hug* modern kitch
en, reminiscent of t small res
taurant.
. Tn« living room with Ka
, carved celling looks to one
side over a bay panorama, to
the other onto the pond and
garden. Cemfortable u p h o 1-
ttered pieces blend with very
old c*md pieces. t
Unstlin, where tie guests
on the YWCA tour were not
Mn. CturJM Hitch add
ed own P<*CM . .
permitted, an thr«i huge
b e d r 9,0 m i. The Hitches Is
bright tnd ttry, Urgi win
dows looking over the bay.
Most of to* furniture Is their
own.
Daughter Caroline, almost
10, has a typical little girl's
room, her dolls and books on
shelves along one wall.
Lucky Is the guest who Is
entertained by the Hitches.
Their guest room houses the
commodious 'bed used tn the
White House by William How
ard Taft. Its canopy and
spread are of a colorful early
American fabric.
The entire second floor and
the graceful curved stairway
leading up to It are carpeted
In an unusual off-while carpet
of thick cording. The neutral
color makes i perfect back
ground for the long, narrow
oriental rug at the lop of the
stairs.
515
Norma Wilier*
February 8, 1987
As an architect for the Berkeley campus, I was assigned to manage the
remodeling of Blake House. My first impression of the house was that it was a
disaster. The west side of the building had settled about six inches below the east
side in some areas, the walls and ceilings were cracked, floors were warped, and
there was abundant other evidence of long neglect.
Nancy and Charlie saw something different. They saw beautiful panoramas
of the bay from virtually every room, rooms spacious enough to entertain large
gatherings of people, an approach to the house through lovely gardens and a
gorgous lily pond at the house entrance.
At one of our first meetings to develop a program for the remodeling, Nancy
invited me and Ron and Myra Brocc-hini, who were the executive architects for
the project, to lunch at the Hitches house on Hilldale. Nancy was a person who
liked to make things with her hands. She was a painter and a potter. And, as an
artist, she was able to show rather than tell what she had in mind for the house.
That day, she had prepared a poached salmon for lunch and presented it on a
buffet table on a pewter platter surrounded by salad and rolls and other mouth
watering goodies. The display of food was a beautiful and appetizing composition
in color and texture. The table was elegantly set with pewter service plates.
Every combination was just right. Not overdone, not boring, certainly, but just
right. We talked at length about the program for the house, but she spoke
eloquently by example of how she expected to entertain.
Nancy took advantage of the expertise of others who had been in her
position and who had experience with large-scale entertaining. She talked to Mrs.
Clark Kerr, to whom she gave credit for suggesting the addition of the gallery
along the west side of the house to improve the traffic flow. Mrs. Chandler, who
Comments prepared for Memorial Service for Nancy Hitch.
516
- 2-
was then a regent, toured the house and offered advice. Maggie Johnston, who
had arranged dinners and parties for special university events, was brought in to
consult.
Nancy knew of Tony Hail from some of her advisors and she and I went to
his house in San Francisco to interview him. We were both impressed with its
ambience and Tony joined the team as a decorator.
Nancy had a very deep apprciation for the University of Califonia and its
importance on all levels of society. She wanted the house to be a symbol of quiet
elegance that would underscore the impression of excellence of the University to
its visitors. She also wanted to impart a comfortable and welcoming feeling. She
wanted the house to be a home for her family and took special delight in planning
her daughter Caroline's room.
The rooms in the house are huge and seemed to swallow without a trace all
the furniture left by the Blakes The Hitches have lovely antiques which they
brought into the house with them and which combined beautifully with the
furniture that was the Blakes. Jean McNeill, who became Nancy's secretary after
the Hitches moved into the house, told me that when she went for her interview
she was surprised to learn that the house was newly occupied. It impressed her as
having a warm, lived-in quality.
Working with Nancy was a special treat for me. As an architect for the
University, my job often included handling disputes rather than the more graceful
aspects of personal contact. After the house was finished Nancy would call me to
come and discuss things that needed correcting or changing. She always
welcomed me into the lanai with coffee or tea and cookies and a little chat before
we got down to business.
She took special delight in maintaining a constantly changing exhibit of
paintings of artists on the faculty from the campuses.
517
- 3-
In additon to restoring the house to its original character, the program, as
outlined by Nancy, included finishing of the basement, the gallery and a wing for
live-in staff, and remodeling the kitchen to provide a separate area for caterers.
Nancy and I became very good friends as the years went by. The memories
of those years have been supplanted by more recent ones but I will never think of
Blake House without thinking of Nancy, though I think of Nancy often without
thinking of Blake House.
518
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524
JOURNAL of the
CALIFORNIA HORTICULTURAL
SOCIETY
Volume X OCTOBER, 19-49 No. 4
EDITOR'S PAGE
Rather more than usual, this issue has been dependent on those who have
previously contributed articles. The one new writer is Mrs. Anson Blake,
whose paper on Tulip species, based on her personal experience, we are
proud to have appear in our passes. That her large garden on t:. outskirts
of Berkeley has only been open to very close personal friends or by in
vitation is wholly understandable, as she has had to conserve her limited
time and strength, but her contributions to our monthly exhibits have been
evidence of her character as an adventurous gardener. She has been re
sponsible for the first introduction many of our members have had to many
plants, especially shrubs and bulbs. Her paper is particularly welcome.
W. Quinn Buck is an assistant in the Division of Ornamental Horti
culture at U. C. L. A. His development of a tetraploid hemerocallis may
well mark an era in the breeding of daylilies, hardy herbaceous perennials
of great value where summers are hot or winters are cold.
Ten years ago, when President of the California Horticultural Society,
the Editor recommended the experimental beginning of a quarterly Journal
and found himself made responsible for the job. He knew this would be
a difficult task, but it has on the whole been a pleasant one and certainly
rewarding. He wants to take this opportunity to thank that fine group of
gardeners, amateurs and professionals, who have made the Journal what it
is. Now he feels that the burden of editorship should pass to someone else,
younger, with different contacts and new ideas. His personal preference
has always been for writing rather than editing and he hopes to become
a fairly regular contributor to the Journal's pages. He wishes to devote
his now limited energy to gardening and iris breeding, and to have time
for some further writing he has in mind. Though he has no sundial in his
garden, he realizes that its familiar message, "It is later than you think",
applies to us all.
To all contributors, to the Associate Editor, and to his wife, who has un
officially carried much of the load of work inseparable from his task, he
takes this last opportunity to express his thanks and appreciation. For the
temporary Editor, Miss Cora R. Brandt, he asks your every help. Having
been closely associated with her professionally and in the Society for half
his long lifetime, he has every confidence in her ability to take full respon
sibility for the Journal, but on the active participation of our members and
other contributors she too must be as -dependent as the retiring Editor has
been.
Sydney B. Mitchell.
Copyright, 1949, California Horticultural Society
525
CALIFORNIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
300 MONTGOMERY ST.. SAN FRANCISCO 4. CAUFORNIA
June 10, 1952
Mrs. Anson S. Blake,
70 Rincon Hoad,
Berkeley, California.
Lear Mrs. Blake:
I have been wanting to write you for a couple of weeks,
and have only been prevented by lack of time. But I felt that I
really wanted to tell you again how very much I have appreciated,
your reminiscences of Mr. Correvon, and to add that Mr. Howell,-
who, as you know, is our Botanical editor — and who usually pays
attention only to botanical terms — found himself quite completely
carried away. He not only agrees with me, but says that he should
think every horticultural paper in the country would want to re
print it for it is the valuable kind of personal comment that is so
seldom available.
V<e botn hope that you will be willing to continue this
good work, and perhaps give us a picture in your own words of our
old friend, James West. Mrs. Mitchell tells me tnat she is more
than willing to again act in the capacity of amanuensis. I haven't
forgotten eitner, tnat you had in mind a paper on poisonous plants,
but we'll' leave the decision as to wnich should come first to you.
I do hope that you are not having too difficult a summer.
Perhaps I'll see you next Monday, as I am sure you will not wish to
miss Mr. Williams' s talk on plants for the rock garden if you are
able to come.
Very sincerely yours,
Editor
CEB/es
526
MEMORIES OF HENRI CORREVON
By A. D. S. BLAKE
Berkeley
It was in 1925 that I first made the acquaintance of Henri Correvon. I
had known him until then only as an authority on Alpine plants, of world
wide reputation, and as the owner of the famous nursery of Floraire in
Switzerland.
At that time we were embarking upon the planting of a new garden
when a friend who had lately returned from a prolonged stay in Switzer
land told me of a very beautiful shrub she had seen growing in the Alps.
She could not tell me its name but said she could draw me a map of exactly
where it grew. The map she drew was quite detailed, mentioning the turns
the path took as it ascended the mountain, passing at one point through an
old cow-barn and entering the shadow of a ravine where the plants grew
taller than in the open and were in places higher than one's head. Her
enthusiasm fired my own, and I decided to write to Dr. Correvon for fur
ther information. The promptness of his reply was characteristic of him.
He wrote, "It is our mezereon. I am sending you seeds. Soak them in hydro
chloric acid for a night before planting." The seeds germinated and passed
their infancy successfully, though they never reached maturity, but a cor
respondence had begun for me with Dr. Correvon, full of pleasure and
profit.
I gradually learned more of Floraire and of the man who founded it.
From his boyhood Henri Correvon had been a passionate lover of flowers,
especially those of the Swiss mountains around him. In 1876 he took over
the nursery garden of his grandfather in Canton Vaud and embarked upon
horticulture as a career. He had studied horticulture in Geneva, Zurich,
Frankfort, Erfurt and Paris, and was well prepared. Later he moved to
Geneva and established Floraire on an old vineyard of five acres, for the
propagation and acclimatization of Alpine plants from seed. He had seen
the havoc being wrought by heedless people among the rarer plants in the
Alps and had already founded a society for their protection and preserva
tion. It continued to be a mission with him as long as he lived. He became
a prolific writer as well as a gardener. Twenty-seven books on horticul
tural subjects stand as his accomplishment. His memory was infallible.
Over 25,000 species were grown at Floraire. He became the world's greatest
authority on Alpine plants, but there was no plant that was not of intense
interest to him. He was in touch with universities and botanical gardens of
all countries, and students and visitors came to him constantly for infor
mation and consultation. He lived, breathed and had his being in growing
things, and there was only one passport to his regard, — that a person to
some extent should share his interest. A story was published in the London
Times of the visit to him of Sir Austen Chamberlain while he was in Ge
neva as Great Britain's delegate to the League of Nations. Sir Austen
wrote, "It was too early for flowers but a gardener loves to see plants grow
ing only one ft^r"-^ less than to see them blossoming. Whilst walking
89
The Journal of the California Horticultural Society,
July 1952, Vol. XIII, No. 3.
527
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529
California Horticultural Society Journal
vol. 28 (3). July 1967.
INCREDIBLE, UNFORGETTABLE JAMES WEST,
PLANTS MAN
On a crisp, sunny Fall day in 1932,
a man who called himself "James
West" steered his dilapidated Chev
rolet roadster up the winding gravel
road between the University of Cali
fornia Memorial Stadium in Berke
ley and the Botanical Garden at the
head of Strawberry Canyon. The
small, deeply tanned man at the
wheel squinted through gold-rimmed
glasses that were always slightly as
kew on his face. "West" had been
employed by Dr. T. Harper Good-
speed, Director of the Botanical Gar
den, to help plant the cactus and
succulent garden.
In 1938, Dr. T. Harper Goods peed
attended an International Horticul
tural Congress in Berlin. Near the
front of the auditorium in which
general sessions were being held, in
a section reserved for "VIP's", he
recognized a familiar face. He went
forward to greet Egon Victor Moritz
Karl Maria, Prinz von Ratibor und
Corvey, Prinz zu Hohenlohe-Schill-
ingsfiirst. The German Prince offer
ed Dr. Goodspeed the use of his
Mercedes-Benz limousine during his
stay in Berlin. The German Prince
was also the man known as "James
West."
**#•»**
Few facts can be found concerning
the mysterious James West, but these
few are indeed fascinating. The
dearth of information about him
would seem surprising, for there are
many persons in the Ray Area who
remember him, some who worked
with him and a fesv who considered
him a friend. West was, it seems, a
man who simply did not talk about
himself, and. reciprocally, never
asked personal questions.
Imogen Cunningham, the distin
guished photographer, horticulturist
(1886- 1939)
by Jack Napton
and connoisseur of the San Francisco
scene, who was his close friend, says:
"West wasn't a liberal in the crusad
ing or political sense, but he never,
never questioned another person's
looks, speech, ideas — anything about
them. He didn't necessarily like
everyone he knew, but he never said
anything unpleasant about anyone."
He was one of the founding mem
bers of the California Horticultural
Society. Some of our members re
member that he attended the meet
ing held at the home of Mrs. Cabot
Brown following the "Great Freeze"
of 1932. It was at this meeting that
the original concept of the Society
came into being.
West was one of the creators of
the University of California Botani
cal Garden. He was landscape-de
signer, as well as procurer and in
staller of material. He located plants
to be used, supervised the grading,
found and moved in large rocks,
staked out paths, and finally, upon
completion, placed names on the
plants.
Because of his marked propensity
for self-effacement, he has remained
to this day a man of considerable
mystery and a paradox. A brilliant
eccentric, his horticultural and bo
tanical knowledge were both volu
minous and precise. He was a man of
small stature and slight build, but he
possessed phenomenal physical stam
ina. Of noble German birth, West
spoke English beautifully, without a
trace of accent. A man of Thorcau-
like taste and style in his personal
life, he had constant and easy access
to his family's considerable means in
Europe, through a San Francisco
attorney who handled his affairs.
West was indeed a notable personal
ity in the rather special world of
succulent plant enthusiasts — a group
180
530
not without considerable color of it-.
own.
Imogen says, "One of the most
remarkable things about him is that
he had no German accent. This is
probably the reason his aristocratic
background remained unknown for
so long. I'm sure he had a British
tutor as a child. His English was not
only impeccable, but at times almost
poetic."
"Rut West," she continues. "I will
never forget. I knew him so well. We
kept a special bed made up for him
in our home. You never knew when
he might show up. He would wander
in at ten o'clock at night, talk plants
until 3:00 a.m., then get in bed and
chain-smoke. My husband wasn't
jealous of West, but he wasn't fond
of him. He would say: 'West — smoke,
smoke, smoke; talk, talk, talk.'
"I first met him when my husband
was teaching at Mills College, in the
late 1920's or early 30's. It was West
w-ho introduced me to the California
Horticultural Society. Oh, I had
taken some plant pictures before
then, but I didn't really know any
thing about the material. I called all
succulents 'cactus,' and that sort of
thing."
Imogen remembers that West
made many lectures before plant
groups in the East Bay Area in the
early 1930's. She and a friend, now
dead, became close friends with him
and the trio made field trips and
excursions together to see and photo
graph unusual plants and gardens.
Many of the photographs made by
West can be found in issues of the
Cactus and Succulent Society Journal
of this period, accompanied by his
crisp, precise botanical descriptions
of the material pictured.
Although records show West as
having a San Rafael boarding-house
as an address in these days. Imogen
says he lived in a tent in the yard
behind the house.
This unpublished portrait of the late
James West, by an unknown photographer,
was probably made in the I 930's in the
San Francisco Bav Area. Original from the
collection of Robert Foster of Whittier,
California.
"He convinced the landlady he
would be more comfortable in. his
own small tent. I was never inside it
— nor anyone else that I know of — -
and don't know if it even had a
board floor. He would barely open
the flap when he went in and out,
and no one was invited inside. He
did have a bare electric light,
though."
None of those who knew West
seem to have had any precise knowl
edge of when or how he came to the
United States or California. He told
Imogen he had come here from Can
ada, but she is uncertain how long
he was there:
"James West must have been in
his 40's when I knew him." she says.
"His hair was greying around the
temples. But, honestly. I don't be
lieve anyone ever knew how old he
(Continued on Page 184)
181
531
184
CALIFORNIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY JOURNAL
was or when he had left the Conti
nent. As I said, he just didn't talk
about himself.
"Dr. Goodspeed asked him to go
on the University of California Peru
vian Expedition because of his fan
tastic physical stamina, for much
of the work was planned for eleva
tions of 8.000 to 10,000 ft. Good-
speed had seen West work for ten to
twelve hours in the boiling hot sun
at the Botanical Garden and became
convinced that he would be an asset."
In his Plant Hunters of the Andes,
1941 , Goodspeed said of West :
"Prince Egon, or James West, as
he was known to a large circle of
acquaintances in California, was a
most valuable member of the party.
The breadth of his botanical interests
and knowledge, and. in particular,
his wide contacts with ornamental
horticulture in California and else
where, provided him with the proper
background for the type of collection
that was assigned to him. His linguis
tic accomplishments were of service
on many occasions when one lan
guage avenue after another had to
be explored before a common one
could be found. He continued to
travel and collect for me in Peru,
Bolivia, and Argentina, long after
Florence and I had to return to Cali
fornia earlv in 1936, and he remain
ed in South America for some time
after he ended his connection with
the first expedition. Unfortunately
he was unable to be with us during
the second expedition to the Andes
in 1938-1939."
As to the "linguistic accomplish
ments" referred to above by Good-
speed, Victor Reiter and "Jock" Bry-
don. (now Director of the Strvbing
Arboretum . both of whom knew
West, believe he was very much at
home in at Ir.T-t five languages, and
perhaps more. The author recently
had occasion to cite an early philo
logical discussion of West's in an
article on AV/it'ivn'a in the Cactus
and Succulent Journal. Reference
was made to a piece of West's ( on-
rerning the pronunciation of Eche-
ueria, which he wrote in 1935. Schol
arly and informative, it traced the
name into the exotic Basque lan
guage.
Jock Brydon remembers West from
his days at the University of Califor
nia Botanical Garden. He worked
there with West and remembers him,
". . . working with a fury in his
BVD's and open sandals, in the boil
ing hot sun of rock-strewn Straw
berry Canyon, oblivious to the world
around him."
Jock continues, "One thing about
James West I will always remember:
he was truly a gentleman — a genteel
person in the best sense of the word.
No matter how eccentric his dress or
mode of living, West had that inde
finable quality that comes from good
breeding and extreme sophistication.
I never heard him raise his voice. He
never indulged in arguments with
anyone."
Victor Reiter agrees on the "lib
eral" or permissive nature of West.
"Of course," Victor says, "Eric Wal-
ther told people quite frankly he had
left Germany because he was too
'liberal' to be comfortable there. I
suspect something similar in the case
of West, but the guy just never talked
about himself, and vou didn't know."
''By the way," Victor adds, "West
was an accomplished botanical
draftsman. Few people knew it. He
once brought me a set of drawings
he had done of Pachy phylum ovi-
fcrum that were so beautiful they
should have been framed.
"On West's assumed name I can
give you an insight. I once asked him
whv he chose the name 'James West,'
and he replied: 'Well, I took 'James'
just because I liked it. and 'West' be
cause I had settled in the American
West.' "
Both Victor Reiter and West's
fellow-countryman. Eric Walther.
knew his true identity, but respected
his feelings and did not divulge the
532
INCREDIBLE, UNFORGETTABLE JAMES WEST,
PLANTSMAN
185
knowledge they had of him. "I don't
think the anonymity bit was anything
sinister or complicated," says Victor.
"He saw the U. S. as an egalitarian
country and just felt 'When in Rome
» »>
What happened to James West
after he left the Bay Area?
He accompanied Dr. Goodspeed
and the University of California First
Expedition to the Andes in 1936,
but, except for the almost accidental
meeting with Goodspeed in Berlin
in 1938, he was never again seen
alive by anyone who had known him
in the Bay Area.
Two sources provide the only in
formation to fill the gap from James
West's departure from the Bay Area
to his death by drowning in Germany
in the late summer of 1939.
The first is contained in an inter
view with Jerome Landfield of San
Francisco, by Susan Smith of the
San Francisco Examiner in April.
1952. Mr. Landfield was socially
prominent in the Bay Area, having
retired from the U. S. diplomatic
service. His wife, Luba, a Russian
countess, had known Prinz Egon von
Ratibor as a young man in pre-
World War I European court circles.
This picture of James West ap
peared on the front cover of the
Cactus and Succulent Journal of
America in June, 1937, with the
caption: "James West somewhere
in South America." At this time,
he was a member of the University
of California's first expedition to
the Andes. This rare, autographed
print is from the collection of
Robert Foster of Whittier, California.
533
186
CALIFORNIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY JOURNAL
Landfield came into the picture in
1935, when James West needed some
one to assist him in establishing his
identity for passport purposes to se
cure clearance for departure with
the University Expedition to the
Andes.
In Landfield's words:
"He (James West) then told me
the reason for coining to see me and
revealing his identity.
"Professor Goodspeed of the Uni
versity of California, was about to
leave on an expedition to South
America to seek new plants in the
Andes region, and he had asked West
to accompany him. West was eager to
go, but, at the same time, wished to
make sure of his return to the United
States.
"To obtain a return visa he needed
an affidavit from someone who had
known him before and could testify
to the legality ot his presence in this
country. Naturally I was happy to
oblige him, and a few days later
made the necessary affidavit at the
immigration office in Oakland."
For several months he sent post
cards from South America to the
Landfields; but then, suddenly, si
lence.
A year or two later Landfield met
Dr. Goodspeed at the summer en
campment of the Bohemian Club at
Russian River, and immediately
brought up the subject of the strange
disappearance of James West. Good-
speed volunteered that although
West did some valuable work on the
expedition, he was entirely irrespon
sible. He would disappear for several
days and then turn up without ex
planation. Finally he disappeared al
together.
Goodspeed then related the epi
sode at the International Horticul
tural Congress in Berlin, where he
had recognized West sitting in one
of the front rows. \V< he said, wel
comed him warmly if nothing
untoward had happ< d in South
America, and Goodspeed simply
went along with it.
In this interview Landfield men
tioned having been at lunch with
Prinz Egon von Ratibor in 1915 at
the Bohemian Club in San Francisco.
Also in attendance were Mr. and
Mrs. W. H. Crocker. It was shortly
after this early meeting that Prinz
Egon assumed the name of "James
West" but the years from 1916 to
1 929 are obscure. From bits and pieces
of conversation remembered by those
who knew him several facts emerge.
Victor Reiter says West ". . . went to
sea for a time because he told me he
wanted to know how it felt to work
on a ship." Also for a time he work
ed in the lumber country around
Fort Bragg and Eureka.
Landfield says that the Allied na
val blockade of World War I strand
ed the young German prince in
America, and cut off his funds. He
continues, "Driven by necessity he
found work in a lumber camp and
naturally dropped his title and
changed his name."
From lumbering, West seems to
have gone to Arizona. Here he read
botany, studied and worked as a
gardener and landscape-horticultur
ist. It seems natural that cacti and
succulents would become his pri
mary interests while working in this
area. West probably came back to
California from Arizona in 1928 or
1929.
At late as 1947, the death of James
West was still a mystery to his old
friends in this area. In February,
1947, Cora R. Brandt, Secretary of
the California Horticultural Society,
sent the following letter to Scott
Haselton, Editor of the Cactus and
Succulent Journal of America, in
Pasadena:
"Dear Mr. Haselton.
Mr. Eric Walther has asked me to
write you in answer to an inquiry
you had sent him in regard to the
death of our old friend James West.
534
INCREDIBLE, UNFORGETTABLE JAMES WEST.
PLANTSMAN
187
Unfortunately, there is little that I
can tell you beyond what is con
tained in the brief note that appeared
in the July number of our Journal,
which was to the effect that word
had been received of his death very
early in the war (WW-II). The in
formation was obtained by Mrs.
Imogen Partridge (Cunningham),
who was a close friend of his during
his stay in America, and who had
asked Dr. Glenn Hoover, of Mills
College, to make inquiries concerning
his welfare while he was in Germany
for the American Government. Dr.
Hoover reported that he had learned
from the Almanac de Gotha of his
death but was not able to find any
details. Mrs. Partridge has no fur
ther sources of information.
Very truly yours,
Cora R. Brandt."
In 1953, one year after the publi
cation of the material contained in
the Landfield interview, the follow
ing letter was received at the San
Francisco Examiner, by Susan Smith,
from a lady who signed herself:
"Alexandra von Dewitz, nee Grafin
(Countess) Hoyos von Essen-Ruhr."
The stationery was that of the "Brit
ish Center, Essen."
"The newspaper cutting containing
your column of second of April 1952
gave us a big thrill . . . and furnished
us with a further chapter in the life
of our mysterious 'Uncle from Am
erica' who illuminated our childhood
and passed through our life for one
briet summer in 1938.
" 'James West' was the eldest broth
er of my mother, and the story of
how he vanished in America during
the first World War, gave food for
many of the adventure stories of our
childhood.
In the late 1920's(sic) * about the
time of his 50th birthday, he sudden
ly decided to contact his family
again, and I shall never forget my
grandmother's tears of joy at the
receipt of his first letter after fifteen
years.
"He told her he had taken the name
of James West during World War I
and that he was very happy in Cali
fornia. He explained that he would
never be able to live in the old coun
try after the freedom of America."
The Countess Alexandra says she
does not recall the exact date but she
clearly recalls his return to Germany
shortly thereafter — "A small, wiry,
weather-beaten man wearing an In
dian poncho . . ." and constantly
carrying a large calabash goard (sic)
in which he carried yerba mate, suck
ing it through a beautifully carved
bombilla. The Countess says that her
uncle told them about Professor
Goodspeed and the expedition to the
Andes.
She says he suddenly disappeared
again, this time in Germany, but that
postcards arrived frequently from
him from various parts of Europe
and Germany. Then:
"Suddenly," the Countess wrote,
"the postcards quit coming: . . .
there was nothing. He vanished into
thin air. Then, in the late summer,
1939, my mother received a call from
our estates in Silesia from her second
brother's wife, Princess Moritz von
Ratibor. She said Uncle Egon (this
was James West's real name) had
been found dead — drowned in the
river Spree. Later my mother, aunt
and myself attended a quiet little
ceremony in one of Berlin's oldest
cemeteries where we buried him.
"It is a pathetic coincidence that
some in America thought him to be a
German agent, for some in Germany
(Continued on Page 196)
'This chronology is confused. Prinz Epon von Ratibor was born August 31, 1886, and
would have celebrated his 50th birthday in 1936. It was shortly thereafter that he re
turned to Germany from South America.
JAMES WEST, PLANTSMAN
(.Continued from Page 187)
believe that he found his end at the
hands of Nazi thugs who^ believed
him to be an American spy."
The Countess does not refute this
"belief" in the rest of her letter,
which continues:
"Personally, I believe that he came
to the end of his life's adventure in
the spirit in which he had lived.
There is never an end and never a
beginning, only the present moment.
"I want to thank you for still re
membering one who to us was, and
still is, very dear."
535
A Letter from James West to Mabel Symmes, 1923? or 1924?
d
536
537
538
2
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539
CALIFORNIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
MEET HIG- MONEAI EVENING- AUGUST 21,
at the
SAH FRANCISCO C CMMEHC I AL CLUB
California Street
2l"iO P.M.
SUBJECT: WATgR C-AKDZli§
I'aere will probably not be many of UB who can offer specimens of the plants under
discussion at this meeting, tut we can, as always, bring other items of intersst for
display. Do your snarel
NOTES FROM THE SECRETARY'S OFFICE
Remember that $2.50 ($U.25 for a Joint Membership) will cover a membership from now
until the end of the year, — four meetings and two issues of our Journal. If you
have in mind prospective members, now is the time to bring them in.
Cora H. Brandt, Secretary
0£ PREVIOUS MEETING- June 19, 1950
Tho subject of the program was Lilioe . Dr. Albert H. Vollmer discussed the subject
in general, and told why, though among the oldest known flowers, the true lilies aro
still rare in cultivation. Following hie talk he showed many slides of various
lilioj, including new and rare species grown at Boltsville, Maryland, from the Rock
collection, some of Griffith's hybrids, the Buckley auratvui hybrids, and California
lilies in their native habitat. Dr. Noblo Logan exhibited a fine collection of pot-
jTrowr. lilies, and told of his methods of growing thorn. The paper covering his talk
will appear in the October Journal.
IT. Donald Pratt led the discussion of plant material. •
540
BULLETIH of the
CALIPOHNIA aD2SIOTLTUR3 dOCIEST
August 1957
•'2h>3 August meeting viill be hold 'Monday August 19, 1957, 7:30 p»au
in the Ilorrison Auditorium, California Academy of Sciencan,
Go Idea Gate Part:, iian Francisco.
PROGRAil: Dr. Elisabeth UcClinfcock will gi7e a talk entitled*
have a look at, plants aad their fsualllaa"
NOITZS PEOll THE JUN3 ISSPIHG: lira, Aasa?i 3. BiakQ spoke on "Pioneer Gardening is
CvJ-ifornia". Through the years of the California Horticultural Society Mrs. BlaSfll
.--as been a regular contributor to the Plant Material portion of our meetlnga by
bringing opecimens from her Berkeley garden,, and nhanever called upon being ready
to tell something of her experience vii'ih these plants* It was a real pleasure to
have her as speaker of the evening :3ll us how she developed this garden during the
past 30 years. Her garden Ct<a now oe considered to hare reached "maturity11 for tho
specimen a which she planted during the early years have now reached their full dev
elopment, many of them are in fact no» reaaeding themaelvaso
3y -way of introduction Mrs, Blake stated that her present garden was not
her first. When she and Mr. Blake were married in 1894 they- made a home on a piace
of land which had belonged to Ur. Blake's grandmother near where the University of
California cyclatron is now and it was hera that she had her first garden. In 1922
the University asked to have the Blake's property for tha expansion in connection
v;ith the net* stadium* So the Blake* a moved to their present hcxo In north Berkeley*
Following are some of the plants disotiaaed by Mrs, Blaket
L-p.ru a nobillaf the evergreen Suropean b,^y~tree, was one of the first trees planted*
evergreen Chilean tree related to Latu-as, seeds itself now*
illZiJi nopulnea. evergreen tree from iieva Zealand, seeds Itself prolifioally.
.-.; ri a ae^atvloaa. leas prolific and therefore isore desirable.
traakiae. Trask mahogany, evergreen shrub, found only on Catalina Island.
boarjat the Hayten, an evergreen tree from Chile, seeda itself freely.
Zu.^enia, hookeriana. shapely evergreen tree froa Australia, aomewhat tender, froze
down in 1922 but cane back.
r^A-ugli^ erandlflora. evergreen tree from s.e. U,£>, , 12 planted showed variation
is size and shape.
Py ru a ksg! alcarei . evergreen ornamental pear from e. Asia, has spread of 35 feet now.
C e i ru a. at 1 ant in a 'Argontea', the Atlas cedar, produced cones now.
Pirris cnnarionsia. Canary Island pine, froze in 1922 but came back.
-illLiUi coneolor. the vjhite fir, and Paeudo3iu,<a t axi f oAlja « she Douglas fir, both
'> ••\L:i;vJ'..''-p4.a lanceolata. the CMna fir, a.isc produces coneo.
^ jn_ia sg:r:arvire'is . California redwood* About 50 rodwoods v/ero plantad, either
from seedlir.-'ja or cuttings, -hey no-:J are about 75 foot tall.
cliffortiQiJ.es. fz-o>n t-Ie-.i Zealand, is related to the TTcrth Ameridaa beecho;
j,, the vueengland kauri, is i'njn Aiistraila..
:;-:~aloides. quaking aspon, found ia ilorch .-'cnerica.
Lll ^r" olata. s::.iill leaved di7aric^to?.y brrii'Lched shrub frcvi: li. Zealand.
-Ll_i-i euulio. i^-iat or cafta, from Arabia, .-.raba cako ^tir-^laciuy •..iv.nl-: i'ron Isavoa,
mate, froa J.«i^.erici, u^ed iu Para^'iay aa i. drialc-
vijcosa. ?i3tacii_a chine:i.3ia. Xct i'.ii,U_a chiuen-i:. ;::. , .Ag.rr;en.a sm^thjLl,.
The sources of many of ZJro. Elaira'a plants were .seeds frora the Eoyal Horti
cultural Society, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Charles Abrahaa, Golden Gate Park, Eeari
Correvan, Arnold Aruoretum, Botanical Society of iouth Africa,
541
VARIETY
Ml 1-ia hybrids: Lillian CUBIC ings, and
specimens from Jan do G-raaff 's Hollywood and
Mid-century series
QlIliLSiS. Jamesonii (double forms)
I-ilii. Kaempf eri
Gzy pet alum caeruleum
L£JJi columellaris
Soronia elatior
Uyirangea macrophylla var . ?
all. 11 urn canadense
!_•_ Bclanderi
Potv,r:ia Fire Chief
/iolfa aetplicg. saxatilis
L£ijkif.lg. auricula (show)
Th:tlictrum kiusianum
Eanori
crocatun.
SXIII3ITCR
Syv'.noy B. Mitchell
calif ornica
E seal Ionia Mrs . Holcno Strybing
lucida
^ar. t Q do s c hi a inacrocarpa
Rhododendron Kvawi.
Oeisha
a Ligtu hybrids
LIBRARY NOTES
Toichi Domoto
Mrs. Anson 21ai:e
i: u n
is n n
Mrs. Edna Raffo
Do an Malcolm
Mrs. Robert Tuckey
•L K. Roberts
Mrs. Charles Billig
Hay Williams
Robert E. Saze
ti n n
ii n u
Mrs. H. N. Hanseto
tf. C. Blasdale
Edythn Foster
Franl-c Br Duveneck
Go?, don L .t 3 Park
n n n
5. II. p.:. rrelee
3-?r:-:elc-y
liayward
Berkeley
Sari Francisco
Oakland
Kentfield
Guor- nsvllle
San Francisco
Watjonville
San Francisco
u
M
Lafayette
Berkeley
San H-af ael
LOG Altos
San Franc loco
n
East Palo Alto
Mrs. M. «\ A. Giauque Berkeley
n is n n
La Roch-tte San Francisco
Conatanca Hans an, Recording Secretary
T.aoor.t acquisition:
Cle-.cnts, Edith S. Flowers of coast and sierra, with J?, plates in color.
226 pp. Gift of Cora R. Brandt
542
MRS. ANSON S. BLAKE
Tie •o-Lrr.al. of ::'.ie •.rall'ornta Horticv.lcural
Society, April l'?5o, Vol. XVI I, .\o .
Editor's page: "We welcome the opportunity to publish a picture
of Mrs. Anson S. Blake, truly 'the First Lady of Our Society.'
A list of the plant material from her Berkeley garden shown and
discussed at our regular meetings is presented as a special
tribute and record."
543
A List of the Plant Material Shown and Discussed at
the Regular Meetings of the California
Horticultural Society
By MRS. ANSON S HLAKI-
( List compiled from the available Bulletins in the archives
of the Societv)
19-10
Banksin acmida i Nnvr:^ber i
Citharex> Him monU-\ ulcnst: > May )
Pcriploca graeca (Mayi
Pvcnostachys urtirifulia (November)
1941
Billardiera longiflora (September)
Ik'um.i pnlchra I May)
Epidcndrum radicans (September)
Eucalyptus Ichmannii (August)
Gladiolus byzantinus (April)
Sphacralcea fendlcri var. californica
( June )
1942
Acacia koa (February)
Ccrns siliquastrum var. alba (April)
Ccrcocarpus traskiac (March)
Fcrraria tindulala (April)
Mtrrhinium salicinum (March)
\ollca africana (March*
Paeonia mfokoscwUschit (March)
Prolca mtindii ( March I
1943
Erythrina coralloides (June)
Gladiolus grandis (June)
Watsonia dcnsiHora (June)
1946
Acacia jone«ii (April)
FlKicuIaria pitcairniirolin (September)
Ixia columcllaris (June)
Nerinc howdenii (November)
X. sarnicnsis (November)
Phillyrea decora (April)
Rose Chapeau de Napoleon' (June)
Semele androgyna (June)
1947
AKtrocmeria violacea I June i
Arthropodium cirrhatum (June)
Camellia sasanqtia 'Showe No Sakae'
(October i
Clematis crispa (September)
C- 'Nellie Moser' (September I
C. vllicella (June)
C>pella hcrliertii i September i
turvops spathaceui (February)
Fnt.llaria melcagris var. alba" (April)
Momalocladium plal.vcladum (October!
Uchenaha tricolor var. aurea 'March)
Lcucadcndron gntrtdiflorum i Februar>'
Liriopc niit^cari ( September)
M*-'pi!;;s pfriu:inii-a < October I
Moraca spathacua (M;trch)
NarcLsstis minimus, small garden fo-
of N. p^eiido-narcisstis, (January
Pctrea valuliilis (May)
Protea Icpidocarpodcndron (April)
P. mellifcra (September)
P. iieriifolia (April)
Rhododendron macrophylhtm (October)
R. scoltianum (May)
Sctaria p. il mi folia (August)
Tulipa marjolettii (April)
Wigandia caracasana var. macropliylla
(May)
1948
Aconitum voluhite (August)
Bupleurum friilicosum 'August)
Calothamnus rupcstris .January)
Casimiroa edults (No%t:i:bcr)
Cattleya lulcnla (Marctii
Clematis cirrho<a (November)
Eryngilim alpinum (August)
Eucalyptus lehmannii January)
Ficus divcrsifotia (Febniarvr
Fritillaria imperialis (March)
Gaudichaudia cynanchoidcs (January)
Gladiolus lt> /antintis (June)
Hakca nlcifolia ( February- 1
Iris retictilata (February)
Lachcnalia puslulnta (March)
L. tricolor var. aurca (March)
Leucojum auttininale (Augujt)
Luculia intermedia (October)
Montanoa grandiflora (November)
Solanum laurifolium (September)
Thunbergia grcRorii (September)
Tulbaghia \'iolacea (October)
Watsonia dcnsiHora (June)
19)9
Alhuca nelson! (June)
Asparagus scandcns var. deflcxus
(January »
Cattleya citrina (April)
Clematis 'Mrs. Robert Brydon' (August)
Cotinus coggvgria (Khns cntinus) (June)
Crinum po\\cilii (June)
Cyclamen X atkinsii (February)
Dioscorea caucasica (August)
Hebe cupressoides (June)
Iris histrionic-, var. major i February)
Ligularia clivorum ( August i
63
544
64 JOURNAL OF THE CALIFORNIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
Mi Media rrticulata (formerly erroneous
ly exhibited as Lunchocarpus nicou )
i November )
Nerirc f Icxuosa i October i
I'.ir k niMHii.i iiruk-aia ( November i
Finns Dattila i January i
I'f.i i.i IMIS race n»os;i i October i
PtciohlaMus \iridi->trialus var . varans
i February i
KhodfHiriHlnm nticranthuni i October
K prolislitm ' February '
IL tlvia prati'tisis > April i
Sfhimis k-nti-.rifoliiis i January i
Tulip, i aruminata i April )
T. fosleriana i March :
T. kaufinaiitiiann Brilliant' " March t
T. praeMans < M,.rctii
- \iarch '
< Apr:! i
i .Vr,y i
T. s.vlvotris
T. viridiflora
Yucca al"ifol
V. daicaia .
Y. glaiica i M
1U50
Acacia riccana ( March »
Agapanthus at ricanus ( August )
A. orientalis ( August )
A. penctulus i August)
Babiana stricta (April)
Cotinus coggygria (October)
1 l.tt'ni.mt Ims coccineiis i September )
Ht't>enstretia comosa i September )
Ilex insik'n is ( February )
Iris kacnipfcri i June »
Ixia columcllaris (Junel
Lcucadcndron prandiflorum i February )
uxypetalum cacrulcum ( June )
Pistacia chinensis ( October i
Pittosporum daphniph> Moides i April )
Pontederia cordata i August )
Pro tea nicllifera ( September )
L' n iota panictilata (October (
1951
Dipidax ciliala ( February)
Gladiolus gracilis (February)
Iris bakeriana (January)
Magnolia grandiflora ( fruiting branches)
(January)
Narcissus bulhocodium ( February )
Passiflora caerulca ( August )
P. inantcata ( August )
Pi'larpnnuim salnioiictini i August !
Tritonia crocuta i May t
1952
Anemone hlanda I March t
Aspliotii-linc lutca ( May )
Aster vricoidcs i September )
Uaillnniii jtincca ( May )
C.illuua vut«aris i June i
( .MI i ii in maculnltim i June t
Coprosma arentata i August )
Kryngium planunt i September I
Fasticuluria pit<-airniifolia i November )
Iris \ artanii alha i January )
Ji;nipi_rus com mini is cnniprcssa
i February i
Kii'i/r.i ericilolia i June )
Lrmifcra pilcai.i i Soplembcr )
Magnolia X snulangcana ( October )
Nerinc ( Barr's hybrids ) - ( November )
Csmanthus ilicif olius ( January )
Qucrcus dentata ( October )
Seliiuim tciHiifulium ( August )
Tulipa praccox ( February)
T. schrcnki ( February )
Viburnum cylindricum I January )
1953
Agapanlluis orientalis (June)
Arthropodinm cirrhatum (June)
Aster kumlcini (September)
Dcbrcgcasia longifolia i September)
Gaura lindhctmeri ( September )
Millcttia reticulata (October)
Moraea spathacea i March )
Khododendron fakoneri ( March)
K. scoUianum tM.ltjdcnii Series) (June)
Sophora tetraptera (March)
Tnlipi fostcriana i March »
T. grcigii I March i
1 naperi ( March )
T. saxalilis (March)
1954
Nerine flexuosa (October)
Ptn us armandii (October)
Pistacia chinensis { October)
N.B.: In the Jan. 1943 Journal, the editor notes:
"No award has ever been given to the person or persons
contributing most to the plant material shown at our
meetings, but I am quite satisfied that, if one were
instituted, it would go first to Mrs. Anson S. Blake."
545
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547
PRELIMINARY LONG-RANGE DEVELOPMENT PLAN
for the BLAKE ESTATE
by Geraldine Knight Scott
Landscape Architect
Department of Landscape Architecture
University of California - Berkeley
November 1964
548
BLAKE ESTATE
KENSINGTON
549
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS
1 '
I. SITE DESCRIPTION - EARLY HISTORY
II. PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS
Professional Trends
Departmental and College Needs
•
III. LONG-RANGE GOALS 20
General Academic Objectives
Specific Academic Policies
IV. SITE DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS 27
General Site and Zoning Arrangements
Specific Site Recommendations and
Plan Descriptions
Summary of Major Site Changes
V. THE BLAKE ESTATE: 1980 51 - 56
Basic Considerations
A Projection to 1980
VI. MANAGEMENT POLICIES - COST ESTIMATES 57 - 68
APPENDICIES 69 " 75
Deed of Gift
Inventory of Existing Facilities
Inventory of Existing Maps and Plans
550
FOREWORD
The long-range policies and general plans in this study
are offered as guides for developing the Blake Estate into
a property of maximum value for teaching, research, and serv
ice to the profession of landscape architecture, and selec
tively, to the public. The study is intended for information
and discussion only and is in no sense a definitive document.
Policies and plans for the extended use of this handsome
property given to the Department of Landscape Architecture
have evolved slowly. Because the deed permitted life-long
residency to Mr. and Mrs. Blake, the years from 1957 to the
time of Mrs. Blake's death in April 1962 were spent in main
taining the garden according to her wishes. It served then,
as now, primarily as a teaching laboratory in plant identi
fication and planting design. Professor H.L. Vaughan, former
Chairman of the Department, and Dr. Robert Raabe, plant pathol
ogist and acting director of the garden, developed some general
principles and initiated departmental discussion of policies
and goals. Summaries of these emerging policies appear in
reports made by Professor Vaughan in 1961 and by Dr. Raabe in
1962 and 1963.
The present study was undertaken in February 1963 at the
request of Professor Francis Violich, Department Chairman.
At the same time a Blake Garden Committee of three faculty mem
bers - - Geraldine Scott, Lecturer (Chairman); Mai Arbegast,
Lecturer; and Assistant Professor Michael Laurie - - was named
to supervise management and assist in the formulation of long-
range goals. In June 196^ a new and enlarged committee was
established, including Professor R.B. Litton, Jr. as Chairman,
Dr. Robert Raabe, Associate Professor of Plant Pathology, As
sistant Professor Roger B. Martin and Geraldine Scott. Mrs.
Scott was assigned to direct the work at Blake Garden succeeding
Dr. Raabe. This committee was asked to review and criticize the
551
present report and make proposals for its wider circulation
for review by all related departments. The committee will
also correlate Blake Estate management with the teaching
program.
The Blake Estate, situated in Kensington, is described
in the LONG-RANGE DEVELOPMENT PLAN, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA,
BERKELEY, June 1962, as "a residential property specified by
the donors for use of its highly developed garden plantings
by the Department of Landscape Architecture, thus insuring
utilization compatible with the high-quality residential area
in which it is located."
The drawings in the present report represent stages or
alternative proposals for the conversion of this residential
property into a facility correlated with teaching and research
In the Department of Landscape Architecture. Provisions for
use by departments with related interests have also been con
sidered, as suggested in the deed of gift.
The graphic plans and planning policy statements offer
general guidelines only; in recognition that changes in the
curricula of the College of Environmental Design are under
consideration and that conversion to a quarter system will
bring about even more drastic changes; alternative plans for
several parts of the estate are included. To allow for adjust
ments to changing circumstances and to make the best use of
the plan, a responsible advisory committee with broad repre
sentation is needed. Professional staff services will be
needed to prepare detailed plans for programmed uses as funds
become available.
A large endowment will be needed to implement the plan
and see that the Blake 'Estate serves the purposes this study
shows to be desirable. For example, since the estate offers
a good location for scholars in the environmental arts and
sciences to work and for students to live, funds - - hereto
fore few and meager - - should be sought for student scholar
ships and teaching and research fellowships, as well as for
needed facilities and physical development of the site.
552
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The first note of appreciation must go to all of the mem
bers of the faculty of Landscape Architecture who, by sustained
Interest In horticulture and continuing friendship with Mr.
and Mrs. Blake, prompted the gift of this property to the Uni
versity of California for teaching and research in Landscape
Architecture. The Department Is fortunate to have had Mrs.
Mai Arbegast as the first director of work at the garden. With
her thorough background in scientific method and landscape
architecture, as well as a respect for history, Mrs. Arbegast
collected maps, records, and photographs referred to through
out this report. Under her direction a planimetric survey
locating all major facilities and plants was made. This was
keyed to a comprehensive plant list which entailed identifi
cation of many species. Through respect for the general wishes
In managing the garden, Mrs. Arbegast gleaned important facts
about soils, winds, planting practices and the age of many
trees on the site. Without her records, photographs, and quan
titative analysis, this report and all future work at the
Blake Garden would be without foundation.
Dr. Robert Raabe of the Department of Plant Pathology
deserves praise and gratitude for his supervision of the gar
den. Appointed on a half-time basis in July* 1961, Dr. Raabe
undertook, with characteristic enthusiasm, the never-ending
task of renovating an over-grown garden, which, as Mabel Symmes
(who made the first plan for the garden) commented, "Is a sad
business at best and harder when you do it piecemeal." His
c
program of weeding, seedling and underbrush removal and poison-
oak eradication cleared the way for a contour* survey made by
two students, Carlisle Becker and Michael Wheelwright. That
survey provided the basis for all the studies In this report
as well as maps for many student problems.
Harry Tsugawa, B.L.A. 1961, named Assistant Landscape
553
Architect for this project, made the early maps, studies and
tree evaluations. Hugo Burgemeestre took many of the record
photographs which appear in this report and in the large scrap-
book made by Mrs. Arbegast.
Parker Smith and Richard Modee, graduate students, com
pleted the contour survey of the lower portion of the property
and made a contour model which exhibits the turbulent character
of the site more clearly than drawings.
The rendered plans and sections are the work of John Coe,
senior student, while the perspective sketches of proposed
facilities are the contribution of Michael Laurie, Assistant
Professor and member of the first Blake Garden Committee.
Walter Vodden, Senior Superintendent of Cultivations at
the Blake Garden has contributed to this study in many ways; by
assisting with surveying, by locating records and data, and by
recalling the plant preferences and horticultural practices of
Mrs. Blake and her sister. His loyalty, patience, and good
will during the period of changing garden management and the
development of long-range goals merit commendation.
To all of these contributors must be added the name of
Margaret Hays, Secretary of the Department of Landscape Archi
tecture, who with her assistants, especially Ava Lydecker,
worked on budgets, typed lists and reports, and brought this
report into being.
Geraldine Knight Scott
Landscape Architect
Lecturer, Department of Landscape Architecture
554
I . SITE DESCRIPTION AND EARLY HISTORY -:.-
Locat ion: Recalling the spring day in 1922 when the fam
ily went out to choose the site of their new home in Kensington,
Contra Costa County, Mrs. Blake said that the property at that
time "was a mile from where the little street car ended, and
it was open land, largely pasture land, but sloping down from
the top of the ridge above us to the more level land below.
It was bounded by two little lines of drainage, really streams
at that time, and there were wild flowers everywhere; houses
were not in sight. Down below we faced El Cerrito, that big
mound on the shoreline, with an adobe of the Castro family
which was still there. Down at the foot of the grade not far
away was the 'metanza,1 a slaughtering field for the cattle
owned by the Spaniards. Along our southern stream was a trail....
followed by the coyotes that went for the offal from the slaugh
tering field. When we got there we heard almost the last howls
of the coyotes. There were not many left, but everything else
was left, and it seemed as though we would never have a garden."**
Terrain : Today the estate no longer seems remote. I t is
less than four miles from the main campus of the University
in a we 1 1 -developed residential area, and there is a bus ser
vice to its Rincon Road gate. Although the property includes
only 10.5 acres, it seems much larger because of the unusually
rugged terrain. Sloping off in a southwesterly direction,
the land drops more than 100 feet in a distance of 750 feet.
The eastern portion above the house declines at an easy grade
}f five to seven percent, while areas below decline- in grades
/arying from'fifteen to fifty percent.
See Inventory of Existing Facilities - Appendix b
•'•• "The History of a Pioneer Garden," a paper read by Mrs.
Blake at a meeting of the California Horticultural Society
in the fall of 1957. Further remarks by Mrs. Blake quoted
in this report are from the same paper.
555
C 1 i ma t e : Strong prevailing winds vary from northwest to
north in summer, bringing in thick fog which drips from the
needles of many conifers. Drying winds from the northeast come
in fall and winter. Rain-laden winds blow from the southwest
or northwest. "My greatest fear was the wind," wrote Mrs. Blake.
But Charles Abraham, well-known nurseryman, advised, "Go! More
wind, less frost. Go and plant your windbreak!" Heeding his
counsel, the Slakes started their garden in 1925. Annual rain
fall has varied from eleven to twenty-four inches, according
to Mrs. Blake. (Rain gauges were installed in 1962). Temper
atures generally range from 36 to 95 , but 17° was recorded
at the estate in the phenomenally cold month of December 1932.
Dra inaqe : One of the two streams mentioned by Mrs. Blake
is near the northern boundary; the other is close to the south
ern property line. The northern stream, which dries up in
summer, is now shaded and protected from erosion by the redwood
grove, rhododendrons, and mixed plantings to the west. The
banks of the southern stream have not been so well protected
by planting or other means: The upper portion of the stream
spreads out to form a marsh; lower down, it has cut a deep
channel. Moreover, a spring, or seepage water, from a point
southwest of the house runs into a hollow and forms another
marsh in wet years.
Soi 1 : Mrs. Blake found "Every kind of soil, serpentine
in some places, gravel in another, and adobe packed hard by
the pasturing of the cattle." A layer of serpentine rock under
lies a large portion of the garden, rising near the surface
in the upper or eastern area and lying at various depths else
where throughout the property. This complex rock forms a cliff
which divides the property. High in magnesium content and very
dense in some places, the serpentine layer is not easily pene
trated by tree roots, which probably accounts for the weakened
condition of many trees.
Rock Outcrop: All the rock for walls, steps, and path
556
edgings came from the site and is described by Gregory A. Davis
as 1 awson i te-pumpel 1 y i te-g laucophane schist. In an article in
the Amer ican Journal of_ Science, December I960, Mr. Davis writes;
"This occurrence, although similar to others in the area, is
characterized by an unusually fine development of lawsonite as
veins and as lithologic layers parallel to the foliation of
enclosing glaucophane schists. The locality is near the west
ern edge of the estate, now the Blake Gardens, a research fa
cility for the Department of Landscape Architecture of the Univ
ersity of California, and it and other outcrops of glaucophane
schist on the grounds will be preserved."
"Lawsonite and pumpellyite are found on the estate in a
large block of glaucophane schist, twenty feet high and twenty-
five feet across, apparently resting on serpent in! te. The lo
cality is probably within the Hayward fault zone, the main
trace of which lies several hundred feet to the east. This
schist block and others of similar or larger size in the area
are regarded as tectonic inclusions within serpent in i tes of
the fault zone, although it is impossible to ascertain whether
the Blake Garden's block is now ^n situ."
Plant Cover: The first garden plan for the property was
made by Mrs. Blake's sister, Miss Mabel Sytnmes, an early stu
dent in the Department of Landscape Design. She provided for
a garden to serve two houses, one of which was later sold and
is now the Carmelite Monastery north of the redwood grove.
Approximately twenty-five hundred plant species and varieties
from many sources throughout the world were planted. Many
have since matured or died. Extensive collections of ferns,
vines. South African bulbs and unusual conifers were developed
as well. Mrs. Blake and her sister exchanged seeds with hortir
culturists in many lands, and their herbarium collections are
now distributed to eleven herbaria throughout this country
and Europe. Articles on the garden and its development were
publ ished in the Journal o_f the Cal i forn ia Hor t icul tural
557
Society from 19^5-^7.
Shelter belts of Laurel, Cryptocarya, Coast Redwood, Ca
nary Island Pines, Acacias, and Hoherias were the earliest
plantings on the new and barren site. Many varieties of
Melaleuca, Eucalyptus and other Australian plants which were
introduced extensively seem to have thrived in spite of the
serpentine rock layer. Some plants had achieved mature growth
even before the garden was deeded to the University. In 1957
the property had the romantic charm of a much older garden in
a warmer climate, due to the luxurious growth of some species,
notably the laurels, evergreen pears, magnolias, Canary Is
land Pines, Actinidia chinensis and many other vines and
cl imb ing roses .
The years have proved that many trees were planted too
close together, some because they were new introductions whose
mature size and form could not be predicted, and others because
they were planted as windbreaks or to reduce glare. Competition
for light or food, failure of introduced species to adapt to
soil or climate, and inadequate maintenance since World War II
have reduced the number of species that flourished earlier.
However, many fine specimens of unusual plants are to be found
throughout the garden. Hort icul tural ists come especially to
see the Eucryphi* nymanse (variety Mt. Usher) a columnar tree
bearing white bell-shaped blooms in August and September, or
I
the fruit of the Chinese Gooseberry Vine (Actinidia chinensis)
nearby. Other notable plants include good specimens of Coprosma
areolata, Dodonaea viscosa, Drimys winter!, Ouercus myrs inaefol ia,
Lithraea caustica, and Ilex paraguensis, the leaves of which
are used in South and Central America to brew the drink called
matte. Here, this plant forms a dense shrub with medium-sized
glossy leaves of particularly pleasing texture.
Most of the work at Blake Garden during the past three
years has consisted of plant removal, renewal, and attempts
to create some spatial quality in the jungle of plants, weeds
558
and seedlings that threatened to engulf large sections of the
garden. The overcrowded condition has been mitigated during
the past two years by extensive pruning and tree removal.
Plants long neglected are being brought into proper form and
balance. Seedlings which had practically taken over certain
sections are being removed. However, at least one fair speci
men of each variety is being retained until others are propa
gated, even if the plant is poorly located by planting design
standards. Investigation of the weaker specimens which have
been removed shows that many of these plants had very poor
root systems.
The first new plantings are to be found along the entrance
road, where the previous effect of all medium to fine textured,
medium green plants (mainly Acacias, Melaleucas, and Ouillaja
saponaria) was particularly monotonous. Plants with larger
dark green leaves more in scale with an entrance to a semi-
public property have been started. As they develop, their
color and textural contrast will lend some distinction to the
area without requiring undue maintenance.
House : Blake House was designed by the architect Walter
Bliss, whom Mrs. Blake described as "a warm personal friend
and also a garden lover." When she expressed concern about
the wind, he said, "Oh, I'll build you a house that is a
windbreak." He proceeded to fulfill his promise with a
structure one room deep, extending along contour, and ac
cording to Mrs. Blake, "very effective for the planting."
The house, like the garden, has elements of excellence
although it is representative of the eclecticism of the 1920's.
Formerly it was filled with fine books, antique furniture,
Persian rugs and chests from many lands, all collected by the
owners in their extensive travels. The great hall, living room
and dining room still contain many handsome things appropriate
to the spirit of the period in which the house was built. In
1962 the house was reconditioned by the Prytanean Alumnae
559
Association to serve as a dormitory for graduate women students.
Sculpture: Typifying the taste of the 1920's, the formal
garden is reminiscent of the Villa Tusculana at Frascati, Italy.
However, it displays an oriental tone as well: Several pieces
of oriental ceramic sculpture are situated at focal points in
the garden, while three large Chinese urns appear elsewhere
on the estate. The enclosed garden at the north end of the
house contains two pieces of oriental stone sculpture, a marble
goddess of a late period, an early sandstone figure and a large
ceramic urn.
Greenhouse : A large campus greenhouse, declared surplus
in I960, was purchased and reconstructed in the southeast corner
of the garden. It is accessible by an entrance from Norwood
Place. With a new headhouse attached, this facility has added
3,000 square feet of valuable teaching and research space to
the property. Nearby, a pre-fabricated unit for tools and dry
storage has been erected to increase the efficiency of mainte
nance operations and simplify class demonstration. This new
installation permitted the removal of a glasshouse and tool
shed, both of them old and inadequate, thereby opening up an
area for lawn and improving the spatial quality of this central
section of the garden.
10
560
III. LONG-RANGE GOALS
GENERAL ACADEMIC OBJECTIVES
This long-range study aims to show how the Blake Estate
can be developed into a facility which will a) advance the
teaching and research potential of the Department of Landscape
Architecture at Berkeley, b) permit collaborative studies with
other related outdoor arts and sciences, c) allow the Depart
ment to initiate broad environmental studies through collabo
rative projects with related outdoor arts and sciences, and
d) serve the profession and a limited public through demon
strations and conferences.
In the Blake Estate, the Department of Landscape Archi
tecture has a piece of land whose characteristics are more
appropriate to future departmental and college needs than they
were for the creation of a distinguished private garden.
While the primary use of the estate should be for teaching
in the broadest sense, the clear need for comprehensive research,
for testing of materials and methods, and for demonstrating
the qualities of a man-made environment call for a s i te where
multiple activities can be carried on without friction. That
irregularity of contour which separates the Blake property
into distinct areas with access from three sides seems ideally
suited to these needs. It would allow simultaneous yet inde
pendent activities to be conducted in teaching, research and
publ ic service.
The dynamics of growth and change evident throughout the
Blake Estate offer infinite opportunities for teaching land
scape architecture. It would be of inestimable value, in fact,
for students in environmental design to make daily observa
tions by living on the estate itself.
Commenting on a proposed center for architecture and allied
design fields similar to the one at Palo Alto for Advanced
20
561
Study in the Behaviorial Sciences, Dean Martin Meyerson said
in 1963 in his first talk to the faculty: "I think it would
be best to establish such a center at a major university.
This university would be an excellent location for such a
center. Indeed, if our colleagues in landscape architecture
are willing, and if the University administration is willing,
the Blake Estate could be a magnificent setting for such a
center."
The Blake Estate, deeded to the University "for teaching
and research purposes" of the Department of Landscape Archi
tecture, is indeed an appropriate location for such a center.
The proposed facility would be devoted to research in physical
and visual design problems of the environment and in methods
for dealing with these problems. Such research would seek
to deepen our understanding of the environment with regard
to man's perceptual and ecological reactions and to the ways
in which he shapes the environment to his needs. The research
center would thus be basic to all design fields involved with
the environment. In the setting of the Blake Estate, relatively
cut off from distracting influences, scholars would be in di
rect contact with a varied terrain and landscape admirably
suited to those studies most directly related to the immediate
forces of the physical environment. At the same time, those
working on environmental design problems of a broader nature
would find the setting to be a valuable resource as a microcosm
of the regional scale.
21
562
SPECIFIC ACADEMIC POLICIES
The following recommended policies for maximum use and
development of the Blake Estate for teaching, graduate study,
research and public service have been considered in the order
of their importance to the Department of Landscape Architecture,
allied departments of the University, the profession of land
scape architecture and a limited public.
Teaching - Undergraduate Curriculum
The Blake Garden should receive more intensive use by all
classes in the Department of Landscape Architecture. By nature
of its size, topographic variety, and richness of plant cover,
the estate is a valuable landscape teaching resource. It
should be departmental policy for all professors and instructors
to base at least one problem each semester on some potential of
this property.
A summer course demonstrating the newest and best methods
of soil preparation, planting operations and maintenance prac
tices should be developed and offered at the Blake Estate.
Such a course might be an extension of the week of demonstra
tions held in the summer of 196^ as a part of the LA k9 course,
or it might be a new course offered jointly by the Department
of Landscape Management at Davis and the Department of Land
scape Architecture, Berkeley.
The resources of the site, together with such accessories
as maps and records should be made available for student prob
lems in other departments in the College of Environmental
Design. In addition, various departments in related sciences
should be permitted to conduct controlled experiments in approv
ed areas of the estate.
The plant cover, which is of primary importance for in
struction in identification, adaptability, cultural requirements,
landscape characteristics as modified by light and distance,
plant composition and ecological relationships, has additional
22
563
value for instruction in horticulture and landscape mainte
nance practices. Here, sprinkler irrigation observations
including pressure checks, precipitation rates and coverage
have instructional value. Maintenance of this plant cover
should be raised to appropriate standards consistent with use.
(See Maintenance Diagram).
The Soi 1 - Soil survey, testing, and management techniques
should be demonstrated here.
The land form, in its variety and site characteristics
should be preserved because it offers unusual opportunities
for instruction in both design and construction, such as walk,
ramp and step gradient observations, field proposals, combi
nations and limits of each. Studies in outdoor space percep
tion, measurement, notation, modification, mood and use have
a broad potential at this site which should be fully exploited
by al 1 instructors.
Construction materials and techniques employed in the
older portions of the garden should be augmented by the use
of other and newer materials and methods wherever these may
be appropriately employed in the design and installation of new
facilities. An orderly display of samples of construction
materials should be developed and maintained adjacent to the
tool house and project area. Such a materials depot should
be designed to permit mock-ups of unit materials, with panel
backgrounds for the study of color and value contrasts in sun
or shade, and as affected by artificial lighting. Measurements
of light absorbtion or reflection could also be made here.
The visual qualities of the plant cover, land forms and
construction materials have instructional value for other de
partments in the College of Environmental Design. Limited use
of the garden should therefore be extended to these departments.
Base maps, plant lists, weather charts, and records of
every aspect of the history, development, and maintenance of
the garden should be kept in a systematic way as basic data for
23
564
instruction in both the artistic and scientific aspects of
landscape architecture.
The existing greenhouse, head house, and proposed shade
house are valuable and necessary facilities for teaching and
maintenance operations.
Extended University Uses
The stated qualities and facilities of the Blake Garden
indicate its value for summer courses in maintenance, work
shops or professional short courses demonstrating new mate
rials and methods, as well as extension or refresher courses
attracting both professional designers and home owners.
Courses at the Blake Garden should be planned and scheduled
for 1965-66 and continued at appropriate intervals. The De
partment of Landscape Management at Davis and any or all of
the departments of plant sciences on this campus should be
invited to use the Blake Garden under clearly stated terms.
Graduate Study
Graduate students in landscape architecture and related
fields should be informed of the exceptional opportunities for •
intensive studies or theses available at Blake Garden and should
be encouraged to use this departmental resource. Blake House
would be admirably suited as living quarters for senior or
graduate students. A brochure which outlines the opportunities
for advanced study and fellowships at the estate should be
prepared and sent to all applicants.
Research
It is proposed that an environmental design research cen
ter be established at the Blake Estate. Funds would be needed
primarily for the building of suitable quarters and facilities
for study by a limited number of scholars and for development
or redevelopment of portions of the grounds related to such facili
ties and studies. About twelve to fifteen persons could be
accommodated for individual or group work without interfering with
the Department's anticipated activities in regular teaching,
research, and public service.
Those various levels of teaching and public service activ
ities in the physical design of the environment which result
2k
565
from the general research can be programmed at this location.
Environmental design studies not dependent on this setting,
or those needing more direct contact with the general library
and other facilities or personnel, should be conducted on or
nearer to the main campus.
The research center and related activities will enhance
the Department's own work and be appropriate to the location,
physical characteristics and existing development of the site.
Research projects using the Blake Garden as a laboratory
should be encouraged. Major experimentation, however, should
be permitted only after detailed plans for such research have
been approved by the Blake Garden Committee.
For example, a project in sand lot grading, using a tractor
such as an Agricat to place ten or more cubic yards of sand
in order to study the topographical resultants might require
the use of a sizeable area for a term or a year and would there
fore be considered major experimentation. On the other hand,
an experiment in recording the sound produced by water drop
as modified by volume and fall might make use of natural season
al flow in the streams, involving little or no equipment or
dislocations. An extended study of this subject however, in
which research is greatly needed, could become costly and dis
rupt i ve.
Experiments in concrete casting for finish manipulation
and the effects of water - cement ratios could be conducted
in a small work area or become messy operations if not rigidly
control 1 ed .
Pub 1 ic Serv ice
The garden should not be opened to the general public
except at stated times or by appointment to groups with clearly
related interests.
Special facilities, such as a test or demonstration garden,
shadehouse, and an outdoor classroom or garden theatre should
be designed to serve the home owner also. A continuing exhibit
25
566
of the principles of landscape design, materials, and methods
is a form of public service which could and should be developed
and maintained in a convenient section of the estate.
Blake House
Operation of the house by the Prytanean Society as a
dormitory for graduate women students is a compatible use of
this facility. At the termination of the lease in 1968 the
house should be made available to senior or graduate students
of landscape architecture and other departments of the College
of Environmental Design. Since the house is not large enough
to be an economic operation, additional small dormitory units
should be located in the area east of the house above the grotto.
During the summer months the house could be used as a confer
ence center.
Cone 1 us ion
The Blake Estate has great value to the university commu
nity and to the neighborhood simply as open space possessing
historic and aesthetic qualities which should be preserved.
Although it now serves the Department of Landscape Architecture
mainly as a teaching facility, its use is limited be its resi
dential character and the crowded and overgrown condition of
the plantations. Conversion of the property to serve the stated
purposes of teaching, research, and public service while requir
ing time and a budget for both capital expenditures and augmen
ted maintenance, will give the Department of Landscape Archi
tecture an opportunity to demonstrate leadership in developing
interrelationships among the environmental arts and sciences.
By extending the use of the estate to other departments in
both the College of Agriculture and the College of Environ
mental Design under approved terms, the cost of both develop
ment and maintenance can be justified. The many and varied
uses porposed can be accommodated at the Blake Estate because
of its natural attributes. Judicious planning and programming
are essential to a realization of the full potential of this
property.
26
567
Location Diagram
!\
MIL»«
568
Blake House. The main entrance and reflecting pool.
-..JI
THE
PRESIDENT'S HOUSE
AND
BLAKE GARDEN
1924 Blake House. During landscaping.
1 924 Blake Garden. From the main entrance.
LAKE HOUSE, the residence of the President
of the University of California, and Blake Garden were given to
the University by Mr. and Mrs. Anson Stiles Blake, both of whom
"•ere alumni.
The Blake family had a long association with the University. Mr.
Blake's grandfather, Anson Gale Stiles, for whom Stiles Hall, the
Berkeley Campus YMCA, was named, had been a trustee of the
College of California, which later became the University of Cali
fornia. Mr. BlaJce himself was active in Stiles Hall as a student
and served as Chairman of its Advisory Board from 1902 to 1952.
Mr. Blake was a man who found time to pursue, in addition to
his family quarry business in Richmond, his work in California
history as well as share in his wife's interest in the garden. He and
Mrs. Blake collected Asian and European art objects and antiques.
Many of these are in the house today.
Mrs. Blake was an enthusiastic horticulturist and assembled in the
ten-acre garden some 2500 different species of plants from all over
the world. Her sister, Miss Mabel Symmcs, who lived with the
I'l.ikc.1., iliulu-d l.iii(lsk..i|>c .irchiit-ctiirc .it itcrkdcy .nul w.is largely
responsible for the planning of [he formal gardens. From the be-
gmning, individual faculty members and their students used the
garden. After the Blakcs deeded the house to the University of
California, the garden was, and still is, maintained and used
In [he Department of Landscape Architecture as a teaching lab
oratory.
In 1967 the Regents of the University decided that lilakc House
should be restored and used as the President's house. Many of the
furnishings have been dispersed to the libraries, art departments
and Chancellors' houses of the nine campuses. Today the furnish
ings in the house arc [xirt Blake bequests, part purchases m.idc
by the University in 1968, and part the property of the current
president.
KENSINGTON, CALIFORNIA
licloH arc .1 few highlights of the history of Blake House:
1922-2.4 Planning and building of the house.
Architect: Walter Bliss
1957 Mr. and Mrs. Blake deed their house and garden to the
University of California, "reserving unto themselves and
the survivor of them the right to occupy the property for
life."
1959 Death of Mr. Blake
1962 Death of Mrs. Blake
1962-64. The House serves as a residence for women graduate
students.
1969 The restored and modernized Blake House becomes the
President's House.
Architect: Ronald Brocchini
Interior designer: Anthony Hail
1972 Blake House. View from the west.
COFI
G E R A L D 1 N F. K \ I C. I IT SCOTT
LANDSCAPE R C H I T E C T
, , j o STERLING AVENUE • K F. R K F 1. h Y X CALIFORNIA . THORN WALL I - .< 7 2 2
March 9, 1972
Professor Donald Appleyard, Chairman
Department of Landscape Architecture
Room 202, Wurster Hall
University of California
Berkeley, California 9U720
Dear Professor Appleyard:
I am •writing to you about a matter of grave injustice that concerns the Department
of Landscape Architecture not only in its relations with the University of which
it is a part but also in its relations with the profession of landscape architecture!
Recently when I visited Blake Garden I was given a copy of a new leaflet entitled
The President's House and Blake Garden. Upon reading this publication, I found that
it contained inaccurate statements about the garden and the Department of Landscape
Architecture. I also failed to find my name mentioned as landscape architect in
charge of planning and directing the remodeling of the garden, including areas so
closely related to Blake House as to be virtually parts of it.
Not knowing precisely who prepared this leaflet, I am presenting my grievances to
you as chairman of the University department that was given, by deed, the primary
use of the estate of Mr. and Mrs. Anson Blake for instruction and research"! I have
already learned that Professor Russell Beatty, the faculty member who is currently
in charge of the garden, was unaware of the publication of the leaflet and thus was
not consulted about it. From my conversation with him I judge that you, too, knew
nothing about the preparation of the leaflet.
I believe that you will agree that common courtesy required the submission of copy
for an informational publication about the Blake Estate to the department mentioned
in the deed of gift as having preferential use of the property.
The leaflet gives the impression that Miss Mabel Synmes, sister of Mrs. Anson Blake,
"was largely responsible for the planning of the formal gardens," that few if any
changes in the original scheme have been made, and that the Department of Landscape
Architecture has merely maintained the grounds and used them "as a teaching labora
tory" since 1957, when the property was deeded to the Regents* As you know, and as
many garden clubs and civic organizations know, except for the reflecting pool and
areas immediately in front of Blake House, the garden has been extensively altered
and improved in recent years and now bears little resemblance to anything Miss Symme
and the Blakes knew in their time. All changes have been planned and carried out
under the direction of the Department of Landscape Architecture and its represent
atives, particularly myself in the years 1962 to 1968. From 1958 to 1961 Mai Arbega
had the property surveyed, inventoried the plants, and made a photographic record
of the entire site.
Upon the death of the Blakes, when the department began making studies for long-
term replanning of the garden, there were no open spaces lending themselves to
public use. The garden was a horticultural jungle, so overgrown and shady that
2
570
many shrubs and trees wero distorted in their development, so dense that there
were no views from one part of the garden to another and few vistas of the bay.
In preparing my report entitled A Long-Range Development Plan for the Blake Estate,
which the Department of Landscape Architecture issued in November, 196U, I proposed
particularly to create several areas for public use and enjoyment, to improve the
circulation of the garden, and to provide easier access and necessary parking areas.
Vainly in accordance with proposals embodied in that report, Blake Garden has been
converted from a horticultural preserve serving only limited purposes to a quasi-
public establishment exemplifying the contributions that the profession of landscape
architecture can make toward increasing the usefulness of a varied and interesting
site. Specifically, these spaces have been added: the large lawn near the entrance
court, the terrace on the west side of the house and an open area below it, several
vista points and overlooks, and various study areas. Creating these new areas in
Blake Garden was necessarily exceedingly difficult because many fine trees and shrubs
had either to be preserved or transplanted.
As evidence that the garden nor is suitable for uses that would formerly have been
impossible, I cite two commencements held there by the College of Agriculture, plans
of the College of Environmental Design to hold its next post-commencement party there,
and many picnics and outdoor parties that various organizations have scheduled on
the grounds in recent years.
I think that any member of the profession of landscape architecture who considers
the way in which Blake Garden has been enhanced by the application of sound princi
ples of landscape design will conclude that the profession has been slighted by omis
sion of the name of the landscape architect who effected the above-mentioned changes.
At a time when the University is charged with discrimination against women, I think
it is also unfortunate that the institution denies, or appears to deny, recognition
to a woman landscape architect who is one of its own graduates.
The writer of the leaflet to which I refer may say that the "few highlights" presented
pertain only to Blake House and that that is why only the names of the architect and
interior designer have been listed, but I cannot accept such an explanation because
the title of the leaflet is The President's House and Blake Garden and some informa
tion about the garden, though misleading, has been included. Further, as I pointed
out at the beginning of this letter, some of the additions to the garden, such as the
terraces off the house, are almost integral with the building. Any fair-minded
architectural magazine publishing an article on the house would give the name of the
landscape architect as well as that of the architect.
If the University believes in giving proper credit to the Department of Landscape
Architecture, the profession of landscape architecture, and to me as a member of the
profession and as a loyal alurtna, I think it can do no less than withdraw all copies
of the present leaflet and issue a new one with a text that adequately describes the
replanning and redevelopment of Blake Garden and lists my narr.e as landscape architect.
This should be done, iroreover, as soon as possible because the San Francisco-East
Bay City Panhellenic, for instance, will hold a fashion show ami box luncheon at the
Blake Garden on L'ay 17 and should not receive copies of the present leaflet. It would
indeed be ironic if a leaflet that discriminates against a woman landscape architect
with thirty years of professional practice should be distributed at an event held
for the purpose of raising money for scholarships, one of which will go to a woman
student working for a degree in landscape architecture.
571
I am sending copies of this letter to the persons listed below because you
yourself -were not associated vdth the Department of Landscape Architecture during
much of the redevelopment period at the Blake Garden and may not know the full
history of the Blake Estate, whereas most of them do. I trust that you and ail
of them will agree that justice mist be done.
Sincerely,
. c^
Geraldine Knight Scott
cc: Dr. William L. C. TTheaton, Dean
College of Environmental Design
Professor Garrett Eckbo
Department of Landscape Architecture
Professor Russell B^atty
Department of Landscape Architecture
H. Leland Vaughan, Professor Emeritus
Department of Landscape Architecture
Mr. Gary E. Karner, President
Northern California Chapter,
American Society of Landscape Architects
Mr. Kirk 0. Rowlands, Executive Assistant to the President
University Kail
University 01' California
Berkeley, Calif. 9ii720
Mr. Louis A. De Monte, Campus Architect
Office of Architects and Engineers
Berkeley Cair.pus
Mr. Thorras 7, Church, Canpus Landscape Architect
Mrs. Charles Kitch
Blake House
Kensington, California
Editor's note: The University changed the
brochure. The current version appears in the
front of this volume.
572
Blake Garden
LINDA HAYMAKER
Blake Garden, on Rincon Road in Kensington. California, is the property of
the University of California, Berkeley, and is open free to the public between
eight and four-thirty on weekdays.
It is not surprising that the eleven-acre estate
known today as Blake Garden is a part of
the University of California at Berkeley. Its
owners, Anson Stiles Blake and Anita Day
Symmes Blake, were closely involved with the
university, following in the footsteps of their
families.
Both families had become well established in
the San Francisco Bay Area before the turn of
the century. Mrs Blake's family had prospered
from her grandfather's electrical fixture busi
ness in San Francisco. In the East Bay, Mr
Blake's family had succeeded in the businesses
of real estate and street paving. Anson's grand
father, Anson Gale Stiles, was affiliated with
the university in its early days and was a
member of the board of trustees of the College
of California. (Stiles Hall at U.C. Berkeley was
built with Blake family funds and named in
honor of Anson Stiles in 1891.) At the time of
their marriage in 1894, Anson and Anita's rela
tives were described as "prominently known
in society, mercantile and literary circles and
. . . representative pioneer families."
In 1895 the Anson Blakes had moved to prop
erty in Berkeley near the western border of
Strawberry Creek, where they built a residence
adjacent to properties belonging to his mother
and brother, with connecting gardens. They
lived here for almost thirty years, until they had
to surrender the land to the university to make
way for the Memorial Stadium. In 1922 they
decided to move onto land holdings in Ken
sington, and construction of the house and
garden began.
At that time the surrounding hills were
covered with grasses and chaparral. The Blake
property had fine outcroppings of Lawsonite
rock, a generously rolling terrain, and a beau
tiful view of the bay below. The area seemed
so remote from town (at four miles out it was
beyond street car lines) that the Blakes called
their new home La Casa Adelante, Spanish for
"over there" or "far away."
Blake landholdings there originally included
some forty-five acres divided into four pieces,
one for each of the Blake children. Anson and
Edwin built houses on their adjoining parcels;
the other two were not built upon and were
eventually subdivided. Edwin's residence, just
north of Anson's, is now a Carmelite monas
tery.
Early Developments
The Blake property slopes downhill in a
southwesterly direction, and the wind and fog
coming up off the bay from the Golden Gate
can make the site occasionally cool and damp.
A long Spanish-style house designed by Walter
Bliss was constructed on the top third of the
parcel, providing both a grand view and an
effective windbreak. The eastern garden, above
the house, is sheltered and flat, and below are
rugged, breezy slopes with grades of up to fifty
percent.
The two people most responsible for
planting Blake Garden and for its upkeep
during the first forty years were Anita Blake
8 / Pacific Horticulture
573
Blake Garden soon after construction of the house. Edwin Blake's property is on the lower left, Anson Blakes on
the upper right.
and her sister Vlabel Symmes. Before the
house was completed, thick bands of trees
were planted for windbreaks— hoheria, laurel,
coast redwood, Canary Island pine, acacia, and
eucalyptus. These soon provided leeward pro
tection for more delicate plants. Miss Symmes,
a landscape architecture student at the Univer
sity of California, Berkeley, designed a graded
path system that transformed the easily eroded
grassland into a series of defined, accessible
sections that could be more fully used and cul
tivated: the formal garden, redwood canyon,
spring walk, rose garden, oak ridge, bog. and
conifer hill. By preserving open spaces with
long views, contrasted with dense shrubbery
and masses of trees, Miss Symmes retained
much of the expansive feel of the site without
sacrificing comfort.
Much of the original garden design reflected
a desire to enhance the natural features of the
site. The formal grotto and reflecting pool
diverted hillside spring and rain water into a
major focal point. Two streams draining the
property were stabilized with vegetation: one,
shady and moist, was planted with rhododen
drons, redwood, dog\vood, maples, and wood
land unclerstory; the other sprouted sun-loving
oak, buckeye, and mayten. Rock present on the
site was used for garden walls, steps, an open
roadside drain, path and pool edging, and dry
Blake Garden
The reflecting
pool and
grotto in 1924.
Mrs Anson Blake in the garden.
Blake house.
walls. Several large blue-gray outcroppings of
Lawsonite remain as striking features west of
the house.
The soil at Blake Garden is generally shallow
and heavy. Mrs Blake found "every kind of soil,
serpentine in some places, gravel in another,
and adobe packed hard by the pasturing of the
cattle." The two women kept earth amendment
to a minimum and chose plants adapted to par
ticular garden microclimates. Although both
seem to have been fond of exotic plants, and
particularlv flowering herbaceous plants, they
reserved only certain areas for intensive culti
vation—the formal garden and the rose garden
—while the redwood canyon, conifer hill, bog,
and Australian hollow were designed with
plants that would thrive with little care.
Working within the limitations imposed by soil
quality, the two sisters brought to these areas
a diverse and distinct character that is still
apparent.
Many unusual and untried plants, especially
from other Mediterranean climates, were intro
duced to California in Blake Garden. In the
1920s, 1930s, and 1940s the garden developed
into an impressive plant collection. About 2,500
species and cultivated varieties were obtained
from sources throughout the world, including
many ferns, vines, South African bulbs, and
unusual conifers. Mrs Blake and her sister
10 Pacific Horticulture
575
P\an of Blake Garden, 1957.
exchanged seeds with horticulturists in the pieces of fine glazed statuary, tiles, and old
United States and in Europe, and their her- ornamental urns were prominently placed,
barium collections made of plants in the garden Many of them can be seen in the formal garden
have been distributed to eleven herbaria on the today.
two continents. The interest Anita and Mabel took in their
The sisters appreciated Asian art, and many garden is still remembered. It is said that one
Blake Garden / 11
576
of Mrs Blake's friends, following a strict order
from Anita to bring back some Cyclamen
neapolitanum bulbs from her trip to Europe,
passed them through customs in the toe of her
slipper. Miss Symmes reportedly supervised
every cut during the annual pruning of her
roses. And Mrs Blake, overseeing the move of
wagonloads of plants from the Berkeley garden
to the garden in Kensington, would not allow
a tree, shrub, or herbaceous plant to be either
removed or planted without her approval.
These stories suggest the great love these
women had for their plants. Their devotion to
the garden is still felt by visitors.
University Stewardship Begins
When Anita Blake died in 1962, the house
and garden passed to the university's Land
scape Architecture Department. Although the
land had been deeded to the university in 1957,
and the first university employee for the
garden, Walter Vodden, was hired that year, it
was not until both Blakes died that operation
of the estate could be modified. The five-year
transition from the Blake-run operation with
Walter on hand proved an invaluable link
between the old and the new and set the stage
for thoughtful renovation. Through the two
sisters Walter learned about the vast plant col
lection in the garden and discussed its design
schemes and maintenance requirements.
The position of garden director also was
established in 1957. The first two directors
reviewed the garden. Mai Arbegast surveyed,
mapped, photographed, and cataloged the
plants and terrain. Bob Raabe introduced tech
nological improvements such as weather sta
tions and soil and plant treatments and
brought in new cultivars of roses, chrysan
themums, and other plants. But it was under
Geraldine Knight Scott that consultation
turned to management, and a work plan for
developing the garden evolved. Responding to
a request of Department Chairman Frances
Violich in 1963, Mrs Scott began an intensive
compilation of Blake Garden information that
culminated a year la r in A Long-Range Develop
ment Plan for the Blake Estate. This plan included
a history of the garden, photographs, maps,
maintenance diagrams, site development
proposals, and long-range goals.
Mrs Scott's proposal noted the conflict
between preserving the garden for recreation
and developing it to meet emerging urban
needs. It examined the garden as it was and
identified areas of low, medium, and high
maintenance. It called for simplification of
paths and plantings and opening up of over
grown sections. The report also compiled an
immense amount of previously hard-to-find
information into one readable, well-illustrated
volume, and it included hypothetical plans for
garden development to 1980. One plan kept the
formal garden and redwood canyon intact but
extensively developed the rest of the estate into
an art and garden center, with studio buildings,
outdoor classroom theater, picnic areas, pro
ject and test sites, student dormitories, and a
small lake. The other envisioned a center for
advanced study in environmental design, with
facilities along the eastern and southern por
tions of the garden and enhanced circulation
and plantings in the formal garden, redwood
canyon, and the west. Budget restrictions
prevented full implementation of either plan,
but circulation and access were much unproved
in 1967-68, following Mrs Scott's design.
Aside from her contributions to theory,
research, and design, Mrs Scott was the first
director to spend considerable time in the field
with Blake Garden staff. In 1965 and 1966 she
managed programs of tree removal, road reno
vation, and extensive pruning, planting, and
weed eradication. It was under her guidance
that the southern portion of the garden was
redesigned to include a large, open lawn with
a classroom seating area, and service areas for
equipment. She also oversaw much-needed
structural delineation of the formal garden and
simplification of the old rose garden.
From 1962 to 1964 the Blake house served as
a residence for women graduate students, but
the venture was financially unsuccessful. In
1967 Charles Hitch was elected president of the
university, and the regents decided to mod
ernize and restore the house for use as the
president's residence. Geraldine Scott, no
longer garden director, was rehired by the
12 / Pacific Horticulture
577
The formal ga
todav Photograph
bv the author.
university to improve the entrance and access
to the house. In front, she redesigned the
residential forecourt and entrance gate; in back
she designed a lower lawn and conferred with
architect Ronald Brocchini over the detailing of
the patio and stairway. In 1969 the Blake house
remodeling was completed and the president
and his family moved in.
As director from 1967 to 1973 Russell Beatty
supervised students in the design and con
struction of several garden features, including
an arbor, stream crossing, and overlook area.
He also sponsored the children's adventure
garden with Chevron Chemical Company.
The 1970s saw a shift in responsibility for
garden design and maintenance due to both
funding shortages and a growing popular
interest in horticulture. The position of garden
director was discontinued and staff members
became more directly involved in selection and
propagation of plants. The freeze of early
December 1972 and the drought of 1975-77
altered both choice of plants and maintenance,
while increased environmental awareness re
duced the use of chemicals to a minimum. The
work of local native plant experts such as
Wayne Roderick and James Roof, and the hor
ticultural designs of Lester Hawkins, Marshall
Olbnch, Roger Warner, and David Bigham in
fluenced subsequent planting at Blake Garden.
Many California natives, along with South
African and Australian plants, were introduced
or reintroduced into the west section, particu
larly drought-tolerant herbaceous plants. Later,
in the early 1980s, renovation of the formal
garden was influenced by growing interest in
the English-style perennial border and owed
much to the wide selection of plants available
at Western Hills Xurserv in Occidental.
The Garden Today
The residence at Blake Garden today is not
open to the public; it is independently staffed
and reserved for functions of the university
president. The garden is used for education,
research, and plant display. Faculty and stu
dents of landscape architecture, horticulture,
and botany, as well as the gardening public,
are fortunate to have this valuable resource
nearby.
Many of the plantings of the 1920s and 1930s
are now senescent, and underused and
neglected areas of the garden need develop
ment. Large trees continue to decline and
require phased removal and replacement,
uhile shrubs and herbaceous plantings need
constant refinement as more is learned about
their performance in different locations on the
site. In this process, the use of a greater range
of plants, improved horticultural practices, and
a systematic process of design will be impor
tant factors in accommodating future research
and development needs while retaining the
best features of the original design. £
Blake Garden 13
INDEX - BLAKE
578
Anderson, Jim, 22, 33, 244, 252
Arbegast, Mai, 19, 20, 28, 34,
111, 117, 120, 241, 247, 248,
251, 258. Interview 271-297;
325-327, 345, 360-362, 367
Bank of Oakland, 57
Barchfield, Agnes McCorrnick
[Mrs. John], 266, 267, 312,
313
Beamer, Scott, 325
Beatty, Russ, 260, 326, 331,
333, 334
Becker, Carlisle, 319
Bellquist, Imogene [Mrs. Eric
C. ], 123, 138, 145
Berkeley Horticultural Nursery,
223, 224, 230, 293, 294
Berkeley Barb. 123, 185, 206,
322
Blake and Bilger Quarry, 100
Blake, Anita Symmes [Mrs.
Anson], pass im.
Blake, Anson, pass im.
Blake Brothers Co., 8, 10, 14,
18, 30, 37, 58, 59, 71
Blake, Charles Thompson, 37,
48, 72, 77-79
Blake, Edwin, 6-3, 25, 26, J9,
41, 50, 51, 57, 64, 65, 68,
76, 98, 100, 266; garden,
369, 370
Blake, Eli Whitney, 30, 31
Blake Garden Committee, 260
Blake Garden, pass im. Also
see Friends of Blake Garden.
Blake, Harriet Waters Stiles
[Mrs. Charles T.], 6, 12,
21, 26, 37, 47-51, 60, 99
Blake, Harriet Whitney Carson
[Mrs, Edwin 1, 6, 1, 50, 65,
69
Blake House, passim, bees,
175-177; cats, 20-24, 2457
279, 280, 306, 330; Chinese
cooks [Blake family], 32,
70, 101; Chinese cooks
[Hit' h family], 203, 204,
264
Blake, Igor Roberts, Interview
3-42; 77, 78, 252, 253
Blake, Mary Elizabeth "Liz"
[Mrs. Igor], 10-12, 13, 73,
78
Blake, Robert Pierpont, 6, 7,
14, 18, 21, 29, 31, 36, 50,v
58, 59, 71
Boyd, Phillip, 194
Brocchini, Myra, Interview
153-187; 323
Brocchini, Ron, Interview 153-
137; o23
Dudgen, George, 223, 224, 230,
293, 294
Butterfield, H. M., 216
579
California Historical Society,
5, 6, 30, 72, 76, 78, 79,
88, 100
California Horticultural
Society, 214-221, 226, 233,
257, 278, 279, 282, 283, 293,
303, 307, 308, 354, 355, 367
Canning, Lawrence, 315, 321
Cardinet, Allison, 240, 242
Carmelite Monastery, 6, 7, 24,
25, 68, 112, 201, 202, 265,
266, 295, 296
Carter, Edward, 194
Chandler, Dorothy, 118, 122,
127, 159, 192, 194, 320
Chaney, Ralph Works, 25, 256
Chervatine, Fred, 340
Chesbro, Wayne, 74
Chinatown, San Francisco, 9, 10
Chinese household help, 32, 48,
49, 70, 101
Christensen, Helen, 34, 35, 73,
74
Christie, Cicely, 281
Church, Thomas D., 223, 224
Coblentz, William, 122, 167,
319, 320
Contra Costa Historical
Society, 97
Cornell University, School of
Horticulture, 273, 285, 236,
327
Dochterman, Clifford, 192
Domoto, Toichi, Interview 212-
231; 368
Domoto, Tom, 214ff.230, 293
Donnelly, Ruth, 145
Eckbo, Garrett, 242, 260, 331
Essig, Frances, 165
Evans, Elizabeth Janin [Mrs.
Elliot], Interview 83-92
Evans, Elliot, Interview 83-
92
Evans, Jeff, 240
Evans, Robert "Bob", 159, 165,
208
Farranr!, Beatrix, 288, 356
Filoli, 288, 309, 364. Also
see Roth, Lurline Matson.
Fortnightly Club, San
Francisco, 10, 90-92
Frederick, Adeline, 281
Friends of the Blake Estate,
321, 322, 328
Gardner, David Pierpont, 172,
181, 262-264, 288, 346, 372
Gardner, Elizabeth "Libby"
[Mrs. David P. ], 150, 172,
181, 342, 343, 346
Giffen, Helen, 86
Goodspeed, Thomas Harper, 294,
307, 308
Gotzenburg, Andy, 263
580
Greenleaf, Mary [Mrs. George],
89, 92
Gregg, John, 304
Griggs, Helen Thacher, 54, 55
Hail, Anthony, Interview 153-
187; 200
Harding, George, 97, 100
Harney, Charles, 239
Haymaker, Linda, 240, 320, 331,
332, 334, 343. Interview 351-
373.
Hearst, Catharine, 122, 158,
159, 166, 192, 319, 320
Heffley, Al , 163, 177
Heller, Elinor, 194
Helmke, Frances, 92
Heyman, Therese [Mrs. Ira M.],
346
Heyns, Roger and Esther, 127,
341
Hitch, Caroline, 164, 170, 172,
178, 179, 185, 201, 202, 204,
207, 323, 326
Hitch, Charles, 5, 111, 125,
143, 144, 158ff.l86.
Interview 190-209; 259, 260,
262, 264, 323, 326, 342
Hitch, Nancy Squire [Mrs.
Charles], 28, 125-127, 143,
144, 150, 158ff.l86,
1 9 0 f f . 2 0 9 , 264, 324, 326,
329, 342, 343
Holmes, Florence "Flo" [Mrs.
Jack], 209. Interview 337-348
Howell Mountain, Napa County,
38-40, 292
Inouye, Ar i , 262, 340
Isola, George, 101
Janin, Erwina [Mrs. Charles],
88, 90, 91
Japanese gardeners, 214, 226,
227, 230, 340
Japanese nurseries, 239
Japanese Relocation, 32, 33,
214
Jepson, Willis Lynn, 79, 292,
293, 307
Johnson, Pat, 181
Johnston, Marguerite "Maggie",
116--I8, 120-123, 125, 127-
130, 134, 136, 137, 140,
144, 146-150, 175, 181, 182,
206, 207, 341, 343, 344, 347
Jones, Bill, 343, 345
Jones, Katherine, 274-276,
294, 303, 304, 308, 316
Kensington, California, 97-
103, 312, 313
Kerr, Catherine Spaulding
"Kay" [Mrs. Clark],
Interview 106-131; 134, 136-
138, 143, 146-150, 166, 193,
206, 207, 314, 339-344
Kerr, Clark, 22, 35. Interview
106-113; 193, 264, 314, 339,
340, M 2
Kittredge, Janice, Interview
134-150
Kuechler, Carol Symmes, 13, 75
581
Laurie, Michael, 262, 318,
325, 367
Leach, Bernard, 199, 200
Lee, Lawrence, 332
Louderback, George, 97
Lutz, Bob, 209
Mare Island drydocks, 40
Mathias, Mildred, 203
Maybeck, Bernard and Annie, 103
McClintock, Elizabeth, 257,
296, 310
McDuffie, Duncan and Jean, 26,
272, 304, 309
Meyer, Theodore, 194
Mick, Floyd, 223
Modecki, Charles, 246
Moffitt, James K., 228
Morgan House, 2821 Claremont
Avenue, Berkeley, 140, 186,
208, 209
Nichols, Herman, family, 222,
230
Norcross, John, 240, 243, 263,
333, 334
nursery business, 212-231, 237-
239
Obata, Karuko [Mrs. Chiura],
339
Olbrich, Marshall, 367
ornamen.tal horticulture,
study, 237-241. Also see
Arbegast interview.
People's Park, Berkeley, 206
PG&E, construction, Sierra,
53-56, 71
Prytanean, graduate women's
residence program in Blake
House, 122, 123, 134, 136-
146, 156, 157, 251, 314, 319
Raabe, Robert, 258, 259, 316,
331, 333, 36
Reiter, Victor, 219, 283, 293,
309, 310
Rixford, Emmet, 332
Robb, Agnes, 129
Roth, Lurline Matson [Mrs.
William], 212, 215, 225,
230, 288, 309
Rowntree, Lester, 368
Sacramento Union, 206
San Francisco City College,
237
Sandkeule & Carlson, 230
Save San Francisco Bay Assn.,
134, 144, 149
Saxon, Shirley [Mrs. David],
127, 180, 194, 264, 329
Saxon, David, 180, 194, 264
Scannavino, Mrs., 216
Scofield Construction Co., 40
582
Scott, Geraldine Knight, 118,
165, 169-171, 259-261, 275,
287, 296. Interview 300-334;
357, 362, 367, 363, 371, 372
Seaborg, Helen [Mrs. Glenn
T.J, 118, 119
Seaborg, Glenn T., 144
Shepherd, Harry, 253, 273-275,
280, 293, 303, 305, 309, 365
Society of California
Pioneers, 5, 30, 12, 76, 85-
88, 100
Sproul, Ida Amelia [Mrs. Robert
Gordon], 22, 129, 205, 340
Sproul, Robert Gordon, 29, 109,
129, 150, 173, 264
Stein, Louis, Interview, 95-
103; 110
Stiles Hall, 29, 30, 48
Strong, Edward, 144, 340
Strong, Gertrude [Mrs. Edward],
74, 119, 137, 143, 146, 314,
340
Strybing Arboretum, Golden Gate
Park, San Francisco, 238, 356
Sullivan, Noel, 24, 112
Sunset Cemetery, 99, 100, 102
Sunset Nursery, 230
Symmes, Frank >7 . , 251
Symmes, Mrs. Frank J., 26, 42,
42
Symmes, Mabel, 8, 9, 12, 13,
19, 20, 34, 35, 41, 62, 66,
69, 74, 80, 102, 113, 156,
214, 215, 220, 223, 225, 229,
Symmes, Mabel, 234, 245-247,
249, 250, 254, 255, 261,
273-285, 303, 304, 353ff.371
Taft, Charles, 11, 35
Taft, William Howard, 75
Taylor, Angus, 205
Taylor, Patsy, 178, 205
Tetlow, Robert, 328
Thacher, Eliza Seeley Blake
[Mrs. Sherman], 6, 97 14,
47-52, 57, 58
Thacher, George, Interview 45-
80
Thacher, Helena Duryea [Mrs.
George], Interview 45-80;
117, 121, 252, 254
Thacher School, Ojai,
California, 49
Thacher, Sherman Day, 9, 48,
49, 52
Thomas, Ida Wickson [Mrs. John
Hudson], 252
Tilden Botanical Garden, 293,
355
Tilden, Charles Lee, 16
Tsugawa, Harry, 319
Tsui, Tsang Mo, family, 203,
204, 264
University of California,
Alumni Hostesses, 130, 134,
146-150
Botanical Garden, 278, 293,
333
583
University of California,
Charter Day, 347
College of Environmental
Design, 262, 317, 321, 325,
326
Department of Landscape
Architecture, 12, 19, 23.
Also see interviews with
Arbegast, Haymaker, Scott,
and Vodden.
East Asiatic Library, 245
Faculty Wives Section Club,
339, 344, 346
housing, 135-141, 145, 146
Mortar Board Alumnae, 147,
149
President's Office, 192, 193,
372
Prytanean Alumni Assn.,
134ff.l46. 149. See
Prytanean .
Ritter Hall, 137, 142, 143,
147
Stiles Hall, 29, 30, 48
University House, Berkeley,
111, 118, 119, 124, 126, 127,
143, 144
Vice-President's House,
Berkeley. See Morgan House.
Vaughan, H. Leland "Punk", H,
23, 238, 241, 242, 247, 258,
288, 294, 295, 311, 315, 318,
323, 325, J 6 1
Violich, Fran, 317, 318
Vodden, Walter, 19, 20, 22, 23,
35, 80, 101, 120, 209, 220,
223. Interview 235-268; 8,
292, 297, 311-313, 327-:_j,
343-345, 356-362, 367, 370,
372
Walther, Eric, 308
Waters, George, 309
Welch, Andrew, 230
Wellington, Winfield Scott
"Duke", 73, 120, 121, 306
Wellman, Harry and Ruth, 340
Wertheim, Ernest, 219
West, Bob, 340
West, James, 34, 230, 296,
297, 306-308
Western Hills Nursery, 367
Wheaton, William L., 326
Wheelwright, Michael, 318, 319
Wickson, Gladys, 252
Wilier, Norma, 125, 126.
Interview 153-187; 323
Womble, Churchill, 22, 244,
287, 313
Worn, Isabella, 281, 309
Wurster, William Wilson, 12, 162
Suzanne Bassett Riess
Grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Graduated from Goucher College, B.A. in
English, 1957.
Post-graduate work, University of London
and the University of California, Berkeley,
in English and history of art.
Feature writing and assistant woman's page
editor, Globe-Times » Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Free-lance writing and editing in Berkeley.
Volunteer work on starting a new Berkeley
newspaper .
Natural science decent at the Oakland Museum.
Editor in the Regional Oral History Office
since I960, interviewing in the fields of
art, cultural history, environmental design,
photography, Berkeley and University history.
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