Proud Victorian

There is a soft spot in my heart for these quintessential architectural
variety and these early California Victorian houses. There were lots of them in Berkeley, including one on our street. I know from looking at it  that this one is a bona fide victorian, probably built during Victoria's reign from 1837 to 1901.  I can tell by looking at the siding that it is genuine and not some modern builder's version.

The Victorian on our street was probably the first house to be built in our neighborhood, probably around the turn of the century. Our house was a genuine California Craftsman designed by John Hudson Thomas, and may have been one of the next houses to be built on Magnolia Street right after the San Francisco earthquake in 1907. It was followed by Berkeley brown shingles with four bedrooms upstairs around a central hall and four rooms downstairs. Then came  stucco prairie style homes which evolved from the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. They were all on a single block in our flat, grid type neighborhood. We used to walk our dogs around the block before bed every night on the well lit streets and enjoy thinking about the life that was going on inside these homes set so close to the pavements.

The house we live in now couldn't be more different. It is a mid century farmhouse style single story house  set on a lot on a rural country road (which is rapidly disintegrating due to the fact that it has never been repaved since it was put in in the 1950's and is now reverting to a dirt road because of all the heavy vehicle traffic. It is not particularly architecturally interesting but is very light and open to the outdoors. 

Sometimes a Victorian house like this one we passed on the way to the Urban Tree Farm this morning sets me to reminiscing about the old neighborhood and how it evolved over the 45 years we lived there. My father was born in a house on Hillegass Avenue inot far away. . Our family history is very intertwined with  the history of Berkeley and its University of California campus. I was the fourth generation of my family, following  in the steps of my grandmother and her four sisters, their father and my father  to graduate from that venerable institution. 

I spent a pleasant afternoon talking with Janet, my neighbor on the driveway side of our house. Their lot was cleared last week and she came by to say that they have decided to rebuild. We were delighted to bring out the wine and drink a toast to fine neighbors. We talked about what changes they plan to make in their basic floor plan, what to do about our rather convoluted property line, and how we might jointly invest in a big water tank in the corner of the field between our houses. 

If we're not talking about covid vaccinations then we're bound to be talking about fire restoration and rebuilding. We are currently enjoying delightful weather, unseasonably warm and spring-like. We really need rain, but for now, the blue skies and fine weather are good for the soul....