Alfred H. Cohen House
Alfred H. Cohen House | |
.JPG) Cohen House | |
  Cohen House Location in Alameda County  Cohen House Cohen House (California) | |
| Location | 1440 29th Ave., Oakland, California |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 37°46′47″N 122°13′36″W / 37.77972°N 122.22667°W |
| Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Built | 1881 |
| Architectural style | Victorian architecture |
| Website | www |
| NRHP reference No. | 73000394 |
| Added to NRHP | June 19, 1973 |
Alfred H. Cohen House, also known as the Cohen Bray House, is a residence located in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland, California. The house was originally part of the Peralta land grant, knonw as "Oak Tree Farm." The building was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 19, 1973, and placed on the List of Oakland Designated Landmarks. The Cohen home is among the few remaining original houses built in the Fruitvale area in the 19th-century.
History[edit]
On July 6, 1854, Watson Augustus Bray and his brother John Grandid Bray purchased 200 acres (81 ha) of the Peralta Mexican land grant. They continued to buy acreage through 1863. On January 20, 1859, W.A. Bray built a home on this property, which they called "Oak Tree Farm" in the neighborhood of Fruitvale. Other families moved into the Fruitvale area and built large homes. Bray and his wife, Julia A. Moses,[1] had a daughter Emma Bray who married Alfred Henry Cohen on February 28, 1884, at her parents home in Fruitvale.[2] For her wedding present, her parents built her a seventeen room house, now called the Alfred H. Cohen House, also known as the Cohen Bray House nearby. Alfred's father, Alfred Andrew Cohen, and attorney for the Central Pacific Railroad, outfitted the new house with furniture as their wedding present. They resided in the house the remainder of their lives. They had four children. One child, Edith Emelita Cohen lived in the house that her mother bequeathed her. In 1918, a third child, Marion Cohen, remodeled the carriage house, and moved it to the front of the estate, north of the main house. A.A. Cohen was responsible for bringing the Fruitvale station to Fruitvale.[3][4][5][6]
The property encompasses a plot of land covering approximately 1 acre (0.40 ha). Today, this house is among the few remaining original homes constructed in the Fruitvale area for that period. The residence is the sole remaining portion of the Oak Tree Farm property, which once spanned more than 200 acres (81 ha).[3]
Design[edit]
The house is of the Stick or Queen Anne Victorian-style, which was the fashion from about 1870 until 1885. The two-story wood frame house, has a third-story attic with a water tank, supported by a 4 ft (1.2 m)-high base and brick foundation. A 6.5 ft (2.0 m)-wide front porch wraps around the entrance, with a pair of columns with capitals that reflect a Moorish-influence, and brackets that support the cornice. The columns are set on a bulustrade with turned balusters standing 2.6 ft (0.79 m) high. The reconstructed front steps feature simple wood railings.[3][4]
The entrance, approximately, 10.5 square feet (0.98 m2), extends through the second story as a tower, culminating in a third-story freestanding tower topped with a steep pyramid-shaped roof. The front and north sides of the tower have arched windows flanked by narrower arched windows. A balcony is cantilevered from the center window. The second story has a single square-headed window, complemented by brackets supporting the balcony. The entrance features a pair of oak doors, each 4.4 ft (1.3 m) by 8 ft (2.4 m), with a stained glass transom above. The doors are set back in a 2.3 ft (0.70 m)-deep, 5.75 ft (1.75 m)-wide, and 11.6 ft (3.5 m)-high vestibule. Each door leaf has a transparent arched glass panel, a stained glass pane above, and a wooden panel below.[3]
The main parlor wing extends to the porch depth in an octagonal form, extending through the second floor and capped by a gable upheld by corner brackets. Open bargeboards resembling wishbones provide support for the gable's cornice. Similar octagonal and square wings project from the southern and northern elevations.[3]
The interior of the house has a front parlor, library, dining room, large living room. The house has custom made woodwork, using red mahogany and redwood. There is a front and rear staircase, along with a third staircase leading to the third floor. Upstairs The house comprises five bedrooms and two baths. Electricity was installed in around 1907.[3][6]
The descendants of Emma and Alfred have established a foundation where their home functions as a study center for late 19th-century decorative arts.[6]
Historical significance[edit]
Alfred H. Cohen House is in its original condition, unchanged, retaining its original furnishings. The house is a good example of 19th-century Victorian style. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 19, 1973,[7] and on the List of Oakland Designated Landmarks for Oakland, California. Digital images are available of the facade of the house looking southeast, tower and detail of front facade taken facing east, and rear of the house showing roof detail taken facing north.[8]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Married". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. May 2, 1868. p. 3. Retrieved June 7, 2024.
- ^ "Society. Weekly Resume of the Happenings in the Modern Athens. The Cohe's Bray Nupitals". The Morning Times. Oakland, California. March 2, 1884. p. 3. Retrieved June 7, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f Edwards, Thomas E. (June 19, 1973). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form". National Park Service. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
- ^ a b Margot Patterson Doss (January 9, 1972). "Pocket of the Past". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. Retrieved June 7, 2024.
- ^ History of Alameda County, California. Oakland, California: M. W. Wood Publisher. 1883. pp. 55–56. Retrieved June 7, 2024.
- ^ a b c Regina Cole (Spring 1996). "Emelita's House Unchanged". Old House Interiors. 2 (1): 59. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
- ^ "Alfred H. Cohen House". Office of Historic Preservation. June 19, 1973. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
- ^ "Alfred H. Cohen Residence". National Register of Historic Places Property Photograph Form. June 19, 1973. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
External links[edit]
- Official website
- The Ultimate Victorians
- Encyclopedia of California
- Three videos of Edith Emelita Cohen
Media related to Alfred H. Cohen House at Wikimedia Commons
