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Historic buildings in Professorville
include Professor Angell's home, the Sunbonnet House, and
Professor Gilbert's home
Photograph by Judith Silva, courtesy of the City of Santa
Clara |
In 1889 land was subdivided to provide home sites for the professors
who preferred to own rather than lease university land at Stanford
University. The area, which came to be known as Professorville,
is bounded by Kingsley, Lincoln, and Addison avenues and the cross
streets of Ramona, Bryant, and Waverly. The city of Palo Alto
was created subsequent to the founding of Stanford University,
essentially to serve as a university town. Construction of the
University began on May 14, 1887, on land that had been the Leland
Stanford farm. Early founders desired the presence of a town near
the University but the two existing nearby towns of Mayfield and
Menlo Park did not seem suitable to them, as the founders wanted
the new university town to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages.
Since the two existing towns did not meet this requirement or
seem willing to give up their saloon businesses, Leland Stanford,
in 1887, acquired 740 acres to create a new townsite. The area's
eclectic architecture is known for its brown shingles with gambrel
roofs. Classic examples are Professor Angell's home at 1005 Bryant
and Bernard Maybeck designed "Sunbonnet House" at 1061 Bryant.
Professor A. B. Clark designed the stately 433 Melville house
for Professor Charles Gilbert, one of Stanford's first teachers
and a leading citizen of Palo Alto.
Home of Professor Ferando Sanford
Photograph by Judith Silva, courtesy of the City of Santa
Clara |
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Stately Dutch Colonials dominate three blocks of Kingsley Avenue.
At 450 Kingsley Avenue is the former home of one of Stanford University's
pioneer professors, Ferando Sanford, who headed the physics department.
The architect, Frank McMurray of Chicago, was a former student of
Professor Sanford. He designed the three-story, 14-room frame house
with a variety of features fashionable at the time--a Queen Anne
corner tower, a Palladian window in front and an unusual archway
reaching out past the second story. The comfortable, columned front
porch reaches across the front to the west side of the house, where
a doorway, once the carriage entrance, has been covered over. The
buildings, which give the Professorville area its strongest image,
are the brown-shingled houses whose stylistic allegiances range
from the Colonial Revival to the Craftsman. The Professorville Historic
District reflects the area's origins and its early years to the
founding of both Stanford University and Palo Alto itself.
The Professorville Historic District is bounded by Kingsley,
Lincoln, and Addison aves. and the cross streets Ramona, Bryant,
and Waverly, in Palo Alto.
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