Monday, August 2, 2010

The Pardee House

Welcome to the Pardee Home and museum.  Enoch Pardee came to California for the Gold Rush and ultimately served in the state legislature.  His son George served as governor and was particularly well respected due to his leadership after the 1906 earthquake.  The family home, built in the late 1860s, is considered to be one of the finest preserved Italianate homes in the state.  Lucky for us, Oakland is rich is Italianate architecture.  George's wife was a collector extraordinaire of many things including Chinese altars, Alaskan scrimshaw, and Mexican rosaries, which are displayed in the home along with many of the original furnishings.  In the 1970s the home was slated for destruction for the building of the 980 freeway.  Oaklanders rose up in protest and ultimately had it declared an historical landmark, thereby preserving it and its furnishings.  Though saved from the wrecking ball, it is now cloistered in a less than beautiful part of downtown where two freeways converge.  You can actually see it from the freeway where it glows despite its surroundings.

10 comments:

  1. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Neat post! There's so much history in your area dating to the gold rush. So fascinating..glad they didn't tear this one down.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's a charming building. Your photo is peaceful, no sense of the highways roaring by. Is it used at all now?

    ReplyDelete
  4. A rose among the thorny freeways...

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's a pretty house. Itallianette?

    Thanks for visiting and commenting on my Theme Day post the other day.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a grand looking house. I'm glad it was preserved even though it's location is now less than ideal.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oops — "its" location… Sigh.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Very nice, love the door in particular and the two... er... turrets? Thanks for the history, it's always interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Quite a building! Glows at night?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Gorgeous façade and doorway! It's so nice to see old buildings well preserved.

    ReplyDelete