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Owners: Carmie Tekaguchi Gaye and KimMarie Pozar Gaye
House first built as a tent cabin
First appears as a home on maps in 1906
House purchased in family approximately 1942 (third owner)
Original owner, Sarah Uren, built 3 houses on two plots, 135, 135 ½, and 137 all have similar rooflines when looked at from street.
Alterations to house:
1920’s Clapboard and fish scales added to front of house.
Water closet added to inside house?
1950’s Foundation added.
Battens removed from sides of house, asphalt shingles added
Studs and double wall construction added.
Bathroom added to back of house
1980’s House used as family vacation cabin, repairs made as necessary.
Passion vine removed from oak tree in back yard,
Water heater changed after flooding house,
Original gas lines rotted through from lying on ground, replaced.
2003-2005 Complete renovation
Square footage increased from 480 square feet to 1000 square feet
Additional foundation added
Downstairs bumped out at kitchen
Dining room added to back of house
Upstairs with Bedroom bath and closet added
Exterior changed back to original board and batten.
Color changed to Red with white and blue trim.
Draftsman: Darren Davis
Draftect
2150 Garden Road
Monterey, CA 93940
(831) 646-5986
Contractor: Chris Houston
Houston’s Home Improvement and Repair
1135 Balboa Avenue
Pacific Grove, CA 93950
(831) 375-0965
Handyman: Noa Kristi
Honey-Do Ohana
(559) 970-0005
Corner of Union and 17th street Circa 1885
Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, Tuttle collection
Tent Cabins Circa 1885
Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, Tuttle collection
Similar House showing full porch, Circa 1910
Pat Hathaway collection
Before the Renovation
My Grandfather, Marshall Dean, purchased 137 in the early 40’s. Grandpa Dean was an architect and was involved in the construction of Robert Down School, Forest Hill Hotel, The Officer’s Club at the Presidio and barracks at Camp Giggling
My Mother, Eleanor Dean (Pozar) lived in the house for a few years in the forties along with her husband and my oldest Sister, Marsha. She said that the walls were so thin that if you sat on the day bed in the front room with your back against the wall, you could feel the hand print of someone leaning against the outside of the house. The house had an interior water closet located between the kitchen and the bedroom.
Over the last 60+ years numerous family members have spent time at the home, including my Nana Ruby Price Dean Staton and lots of Cousins over the years. At times the house was a rental, in fact, the rent received from the house in the 1950’s paid for tuition at Stanford for my cousin Sam Kier.
In the late 1980’s, my Mom quit renting the house and our family started using it as a vacation home. It was rather run down but a fun way to get away from the Valley heat and back to the family’s hometown. It was definitely a crash pad for the family and the most it hosted was 14 for a family reunion.
My son, Kythe Robert Stillwell, and I moved here permanently in 1998 and he was able to graduate PGHS. The house had no interior doors except for the bathroom, so it was a good thing that we got along so well. There was serious dry rot in the house and an occasional slug would crawl in through the walls. I hate slugs. Thank goodness Kythe didn’t mind removing them for me. Kythe moved out when he entered the USMC in 1999 and has since finished his tour with the Marines and is a Fire Fighter at the Old Fort Ord.
Living in the house was always a joy. I loved sitting on the front steps with a hot cup of coffee and watching the street wake up, or at night, sleeping with the windows open and listening to the sea lions, the buoys in the bay and the occasional fog horn. The back yard was small and usually overgrown but had two unique features. A passion vine that completely enveloped the oak tree and a ships ladder that went up into the tree. We removed the passion vine in 1990 because it was strangling the tree, much to the dismay of the bus drivers who used to stop in front of our house so the tourists could snap pictures of the flower covered tree.
I moved out in 1999 when I married Carmie Tekaguchi Gaye. Over the
next few years we worked on the legal and logistics of a home renovation in
Pacific Grove. We wanted the house to maintain its historic character yet be
up to date and comfortable for a small family.
This is what the house looked like before the 2003-2005 Renovation
The Bush (that isn’t there)
There was a huge bush out front that Kythe and KimMarie removed in 1998. The bush had been there since at least the 1940’s because Eleanor remembered it. It took three days for Kythe and KimMarie to cut it down and dig it out. It had grown to block the front window and grew from the porch around the side of the building to the fence.
The Clapboard
The front of the house was remodeled in the 1920’s with the addition of Clapboard and fish scale decorations.
The Asphalt Shingles
The sandy brown colored asphalt siding was added in the 1950’s when Marshall did several renovations. The battens were removed and the boards were covered with the siding.
The Stoop
The small landing in front of the door had a definite lean towards the sidewalk.
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Front Porch and Door |
Original sash window |
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Uphill side yard |
Backyard |
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Downhill side yard Pozarville sign – still posted |
Behind the siding, the original battens were removed. Tent canvas is visible in gaps. Tent material is on display at the Heritage Society Barn in Pacific Grove |
Interior
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Front room side window radiator was heat source |
Front room towards front window Same trunk, Same window |
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Kitchen |
Bedroom with built in wardrobe |
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Bump out bathroom sink area |
W.C. aka slug haven |
Demolition
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The front two rooms |
The original wallpaper inside wall |
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Redwood rafters |
Bathroom removed - Gaps show ‘tween boards from removal of battens |
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Kitchen area with bay window multiple paint colors on wall |
Back of house with Bath removed, colors show here also |
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Beginning of foundation |
Floor torn out |
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The original house that stayed |
Foundation poured |
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Framing the flooring |
Not much was left |
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The framing went up fast |
Yes, the old wallpaper is still there. |
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The upstairs with loft |
Back yard view |
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Putting in the porch |
Redwood exterior just like the original |
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After insulation, then drywall |
Rough stairs |
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Starting on finish work |
Working on stairs |
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Floors nice enough to skate on |
Finished stairs |
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The tub as found in the yard at the old Pozar place in Marina. |
The tub as being enjoyed by Ben, who likes playing in the tub his grandpa used to take baths in. |
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The house as shared by KimMarie and Kythe, not always this messy, but starting to pack up all our belongings. |
Soon after moving in. Kythe is visiting and getting kisses from Casey the dog. Carmie enjoys kicking back and watching. |
The 2005 Tour Highlights
The Front Porch was extended from a landing to a full porch. I was able to find pictures in the Pat Hawthorne collection of homes in the retreat with a similar roofline and a full porch as evidence of the style being used in the early 1900s. The Rocker was my Aunt Mary Kier’s.
The Front Room. The front window and the two downhill windows are original, as well as the redwood siding on those walls. The original front room wall was halfway between the two original sash windows. The steamer trunk was the one my great grandfather William Burt Price had with him when he traveled by steamer ship in the 1870’s from the East Coast through Panama and then up the Pacific to the Sacramento Delta. It is full of family journals.
The Kitchen. I love having a small kitchen that is open to the rest of the house. I also love having plumbing that works and power that doesn’t pop the fuses, both things that used to be problems before the renovation. The black and white tiles and the stainless appliances are in homage to the drugstores and diners of the past.
The Downstairs bath. The Claw foot tub is the same tub my father, Frank W Pozar, used as a teenager in the 1930’s. It was still on the old family ranch in Marina and being used as a planter. I can imagine my father coming home from the canneries and being sent directly to clean up. The ranch was sold in 2004.
The Dining Room. The pair of photos are of My Great Grandparents, Theodore Henry Dean and Lillian Viola Marsh the pictures are from the 1870s. On the opposite wall is a Family picture of my Grandmother’s family from the 1890’s. My grandmother is the little girl sitting on the fur rug to the left.
The Stairway art is a reflection of some of our interests including old Science fiction movies and Disneyland.
The Upstairs Bedroom. The Kimono over the bed belonged to my husband’s Mother, Shun Takeuchi Gay. The items in the wall display are from Carmie’s adopted Grandmother’s Buddhist Shrine. The Bedroom set was purchased in 1956 by my parents at Turpin’s Furniture Store in Fresno, California.
The Loft is home to a fluffy blue alien named Stitch and a place for future grandchildren to spend the night.
The Upstairs Bathroom. This is our escape to the Hawaiian Islands. Some day we will really get to go there.
The Back Yard. Small but friendly complete with a tree that stirs lots of memories. This 100-year-old house should have another century of memories in the future.
* Note: this page was made by taking a document created in MS Word 2000 and saving it as a webpage, Cleanup was done with Dreamweaver and direct HTML commands.
