Once In A Generation

Does a home of this caliber come to market. Lovely, historic and vibrant, this Colonial Revival Estate was built in the early 1900's for the Ghirardelli family.

History

One of the most fascinating aspects in doing historical research is discovering something new about the past. Shortly after the Piedmont Historical Society published the first photo from its collection a second photo came to light. Both show two different renditions of the home at 636 Highland Avenue.

A recent trip to the Ghirardelli exhibit at the Museo Italo-Americo revealed some interesting details about Thomas Cushing and Ellen and Carmen Ghirardelli and may explain why they remodeled their home so soon after it was built.

Thomas Cushing was described as an heir from Santa Barbara. He and Ellen married in 1909 and Carmen had her debut in 1913.

The Mission Revival style of the earlier house was popular from about 1895 to 1915 and was just starting to go out of style in 1909 when the Cushing’s married. As heirs to the Ghirardelli chocolate company and Santa Barbara fortune, they were able to remodel the home to the newer Colonial Revival Style.

Ellen and Thomas had just married and Carmen was just about to have her debut; either of these events could have influenced the Cushing’s decisions to remodel. In 1911, Ellen Ghirardelli took out a building permit for the house. The new construction raised the assessed value from $4,000 to $6300. While construction was underway the family moved around the corner to 29 Sierra Avenue. They returned to their home in 1912.

Reprinted from the Piedmont Historical Society Collection – republished in the Piedmont Post February 1st, 2000. Source: Gail Lombardi, Historian

 Read more @ DiMaggioAndBettta.com

and on CurbeSF.com

To learn more about 636 Highland or Piedmont, our small town community give me a call.