Driftwood Cottage
Driftwood
Driftwood Cottage in 2022
Location26398 Ocean View Avenue and the corner of Scenic Drive, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
Coordinates36°32′24″N 121°55′54″W / 36.54000°N 121.93167°W / 36.54000; -121.93167
Built1908
Built byGeorge W. Reamer
Built forFlorence E. Wells
Current useResidence
Architectural style(s)Japanese architecture
Driftwood Cottage is located in Carmel, California
Driftwood Cottage
Driftwood Cottage
Location on Carmel Point
Driftwood Cottage is located in California
Driftwood Cottage
Driftwood Cottage
Driftwood Cottage (California)

Driftwood Cottage, often simply called Driftwood, is a historic home located on Carmel Point at the southern city limits of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. It has views of Carmel Bay, Carmel River, and Point Lobos. It was the first house built on Carmel Point and became the home of actress Jean Arthur. Architect George W. Reamer built the house in 1908 for Florence E. Wells.[1][2]

History

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake, left many people homeless including a group of writers and artists who relocated to Carmel-by-the-Sea along with poet George Sterling. This included Florence E. Wells (1864-1966), of Oakland, and her cousin Sara E. Reamer (1842-1910), that bought property in 1906. Sara Reamer was the mother of architect George W. Reamer (1864-1938), who they called “Nannu.” George Reamer built a house for Wells, as a summer cottage from a sketch she drew on brown paper. It was the first house to go up on Carmel Point at the southwest corner of Scenic Drive and Ocean View Avenue. The property fronted the Carmel River lagoon at a time when the Point was without trees and any other homes.[3][2][4]

The 3,000 square feet (280 m2) home is set on five lots and has two signle-story buildings made of redwood and stone. The main house and guest cottage are connected by a 20 ft (6.1 m) hallway.[5] There are four rooms in the main house, which open onto an atrium with a glass dome. The floor is covered with blue Japanese slate. A 6 ft (1.8 m) redwood fence borders the grounds for privacy. Reamer built the home with his signature lava rock fireplace.[4][2]

Reamer built a second home on Carmel Point for he and his mother that was across from Wells's cottage. The Wells house was finished first.[6] The area in front of the Wells and Reamer homes was marked on the district charts as "Reamer's Point," and the beach below was called "Reamer's Beach" by those who knew the area at that time.[6][7]

On June 7, 1911, The Salinas Californian, reported a real estate transaction between the Carmel Development Company and Wells for four lots, 25, 26, 27, 28, and a strip 20 ft (6.1 m) wide off the south-side lots 23 and 24, block B14, addition 7 for $10 (equivalent to $314 in 2022).[8] The lot numbers match the Monterey County legal description for the Driftwood 26398 Ocean View address.[9]

Robinson Jeffers's family moved into Tor House in August 1919. Tor House fronts Scenic Drive and the Pacific Ocean a few blocks from Driftwood Cottage.[10]

In 1923, Wells later purchased six acres of the beachfront below her house between Scenic Road and the ocean.[11] Two years later the Carmel Sanitary District Board filed a condemnation suit in the Superior Court for .31 acres (0.13 ha) of Well's property on Carmel Point, to establish a right of way from the septic tank, across the beach to the rocks in front of the Wells house that would go into the water. The Sanitary District later dropped the suit.[6][12] In March 1953, Wells sold 8 acres (3.2 ha) of her beach front to the State Park of California under the Beach Acquisition Program.[13]

The Carmel Pine Cone was tracking Wells comings and goings and on July 12, 1929, reported that Wells was visiting her cottage, Driftwood, out on the Point, and that she would be there several weeks.[14] Then, on December 12, 1929, the Pine Cone reported that Wells had returned to her home in Oakland after spending a few weeks at her cottage Driftwood on Carmel Point.[15]

In June 1938, the Salinas Morning Post, reported that Wells purchased additional lots 22 to 28 on Block B14, and a parcel of land between Scenic Road and the shoreline of the Pacific Ocean.[16] The same lots were reported in The Salinas Californian, on June 12, 1940.[17]

Jean Arthur

Driftwood Cottage became the first Carmel home of actress Jean Arthur (1900–1991) and her mother Johanna Greene.[7] She first rented the house from Wells in 1937,[18][5] and then bought it after World War II. She remodeled the house and created a large outdoor garden, with landscape artist George Hoy, in a Japanese architecture style. A Japanese bronze dragon latches the weathered redwood gate.[19] Arthur became friends with some of the locals like comic strip cartoonist Gus Arriola and the wife of general Joseph Stilwell who lived a few blocks away on Inspiration Avenue.[5]

In January 1957, Arthur won a public fight to keep her Driftwood property. She even gave a rare public appearance before the State Park Commission in San Francisco to plead her case. The State Park Commission voted to deny a request by the Monterey County to develop a Master Plan for the Carmel Point beachfront and to widen Scenic Road.[20][5]

Architectural Digest interviewed Arthur in 1976 at her Driftwood home. She expressed how she wanted to incorporate Japanese architecture into the house and garden, and how she used the garden room as an exercise room and as place for house plants.[3]

Arthur sold the home in 1977 for $435,000 (equivalent to $2,105,538 in 2022) due to financial restrictions.[21]

Florence E. Wells

Florence E. Chapman (1864-1966), also known as Florence E. Wells and Aunt Florence, was an American businesswomen who owned the first house built on Carmel Point called Driftwood. Florence was born on September 24, 1864, in Chebanse, Illinois. She was the daughter of Reynolds C. Chapman (1820-1884) of Connecticut and Susan Mckee (1842-1929) of Ireland.[22][23]

Florence and her family moved from Illinois to Oakland, California in 1880.[24] By 1882, they had settled at 29th and Grove Streets where Florence made her home. Her father built another home at 19th and Grove Street. At age 24, she married an older Frederick E. Wells of Wisconsin, (1846-1894), age 41, on October 8, 1888 in Oakland.[25] He was an American Civil War veteran who survived the hardship of Confederate Libby Prison to take part in Sherman's March to the Sea.[26]

Florence and Frederick had no children, but she helped raise her niece, Fay McKee (1887-1971), wife of attorney David Duncan Oliphant (1886-1968),[27] of Berkeley, who lived with her up to the time of her death in Oakland.[26] In June 1911, Florence hosted the wedding for her niece that included more than 200 guests, at her residence on Montecito Avenue.[28]

Florence died on April 28, 1966, at the age of 101, at her home at 8 Strathmor Drive in Oakland. Funeral services were held in Oakland's Gothic Chapel, and she was buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. Her legacy lives on as a testament to her strong entrepreneurial spirit, a keen eye for real estate, and contributions to the development of Carmel Point.[26][29][1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Florence Wells". Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. 5 May 1966. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-10-01.
  2. 1 2 3 Fink, Augusta (2000). Monterey County: The Dramatic Story of its Past. Valley Publishers. p. 243. ISBN 9780913548622. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  3. 1 2 Rense, Paige, ed. (1977). Celebrity Homes: Architectural digest presents the private worlds of thirty international personalities. New York: The Viking Press. p. 210. ISBN 9780670209644. OCLC 1029290581.
  4. 1 2 Hudson, Monica (2006). Carmel-By-The-Sea. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California: Arcadia Publishing. pp. 73–74, 78. ISBN 9780738531229. Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Oller, John (1999). Jean Arthur The Actress Nobody Knew. Limelight Editions. ISBN 9780879102784. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
  6. 1 2 3 "Carmel Beach in 1906". Carmel Pine Cone. October 27, 1966. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  7. 1 2 Hale, Sharron Lee (1980). A Tribute to Yesterday: The History of Carmel, Carmel Valley, Big Sur, Point Lobos, Carmelite Monastery, and Los Burros. Santa Cruz, California: Valley Publishers. pp. 54, 120. ISBN 9780913548738. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
  8. ↑ "Real Estate Transactions". The Californian. Salinas, California. January 7, 1911. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  9. ↑ "Parcel Report Web App". County of Monterey. Monterey County, California. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  10. ↑ Una Jeffers (10 Jan 1941). "How Carmel Won Hearts of the Jeffers Family". Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  11. ↑ "Property Transactions". Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. July 14, 1923. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  12. ↑ "Condemnation Suit". Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. March 28, 1925. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  13. ↑ "Coast Area New Roundup". The Californian. Salinas, California. March 6, 1953. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  14. ↑ "The Village News-Reel". Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. July 12, 1929. p. 14. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  15. ↑ "Sunset School Progress". Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. December 12, 1929. p. 12. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  16. ↑ "Sunset Outside School District". Salinas Morning Post. Salinas, California. June 1, 1938. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  17. ↑ "Carmel Unified Outside Sunset District". The Californian. Salinas, California. June 12, 1940. p. 11. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  18. ↑ "Movie Actress Here". Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. 1937-09-03. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
  19. ↑ Russell Mac Masters (1976). "Architectural Digest: Jean Arthur". archive.architecturaldigest.com. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
  20. ↑ "Film Actress Wins Fight to Keep Home In Carmel Beach Area". The Californian. Salinas, California. January 18, 1957. p. 12. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  21. ↑ Vermilye, Jerry (2012). Jean Arthur A Biofilmography. AuthorHouse. pp. 42, 65, 77. ISBN 9781467043267. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  22. ↑ "Chapman". Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. January 22, 1929. p. 42. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
  23. ↑ "Historical Information for Florence E. Chapman". FamilySearch. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  24. ↑ "Church Worker, Long In Oakland, Dies". Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. January 22, 1929. p. 22. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  25. ↑ "Licensed To Marry". Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. October 10, 1888. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  26. 1 2 3 "Funeral Rites for Woman, 101". Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. May 3, 1966. p. 34. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  27. ↑ "Historical Information for Fay McKee". FamilySearch. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  28. ↑ "Olphant-Chapman Wedding, Wednesday". Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. June 3, 1911. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  29. ↑ "Civil War Survivor Dies in Oakland". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. 5 May 1966. p. 63. Retrieved 2022-10-01.
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