Start your walk across the street from the Chamber:
MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Forest & Central • Dedicated in 1932 and deemed one of the best of its size in the nation, the Museum features local wildlife, plants, geology, and Native American cultural artifacts.
 

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116 Fountain Avenue
The barn-like house where
these fossils are displayed
was built around 1910.




Paris Kilburn house
during wisteria season.
  Continue on Central; turn left at Fountain:
100 BLOCK OF FOUNTAIN AVE.
(below Central)

An early residential street in the Retreat, this block retains many of its original structures. These include: 138 & 138½ - Mrs. Myretta Steiner House - built in 1892 for A.J. Steiner (who owned a grocery store at Lighthouse & Forest in the 1880s & 90s), this house displays both Queen Anne and Stick details. The smaller house, originally detached, may have been a storage shed or servants’ quarters.

122 -124 - Paris Kilburn House - Built in 1889, this unusual boat-like house features an eclectic array of detail work.

116 - Original owner unknown - This 2-story barn-like house was built around 1910, and is an unusual design in the City. It features a gambrel roof, shed dormers, and a variety of paned windows. There is now an impressive fossil display, visible from street level, in the house.
 

Seven Gables Inn
  At the foot of Fountain is:
SEVEN GABLES
555 Ocean View Blvd.

Built in 1886. First owner Jane Page came from Salem, MA & named her home after Hawthorne’s novel. Mrs. Page and later owner Lucy Chase were civic leaders involved with the Museum. Seven Gables is now an elegant bed & breakfast inn.
 
    Next door is:
GRAND VIEW INN

105 Grand Ave.

Once called “Roserox,” this house was built in 1910 for
Dr. Julia B. Platt, a pioneer neurobiologist and the town’s first woman mayor. Now an elegant inn, the house boasts a commanding view of Lovers Point.
 
   

On Ocean View, walk one block to 15th; turn right:
MRS. L.H. CODDINGTON’S HOUSE
109 15th St.

Built in 1888, this is a pretty example of
early P.G. camp meeting style. The facade’s decorative frieze is especially pleasing. In 1993, the cottage’s careful restoration earned a Heritage House Award.

 


  Continue up to Central; turn left; go two blocks to:
ST. MARY’S BY-THE-SEA

12th & Central

P.G.’s first formal church, copied in 1887 from a gothic church in Bath, England. Cyrus McCormick (the inventor’s nephew) donated two Tiffany windows in memory of his wife, whom he married here in 1889.
 

  Walk up 12th to Lighthouse; turn right to Fountain:
STOREFRONTS
541- 553 Lighthouse


These detailed pre-1900 commercial store-fronts include 549 & 551 (built in 1888; the Grove’s first pharmacy, operated by
pharmacist/photographer C.K. Tuttle) and 553 (originally a tobacco store).

At left, detail of what is now Victorian Corner Restaurant on Lighthouse Avenue.
 

  Continue along Lighthouse to Forest:
BRATTY REAL ESTATE
574 Lighthouse


Built in 1904 by Watsonville architect W.H. Weeks, this was originally the Bank of Pacific Grove. It features simulated stone block siding, and is the only example of Romanesque revival style on the Peninsula.
 
Heritage Society barn   Turn left at Forest; go up to Laurel;
turn right to 17th:

KETCHUM’S BARN
Laurel & 17th

Built in 1891 by H.C. Ketchum, animals were kept on the ground floor and hay & other provisions stored in the loft. This square board-and-batten barn is now the home of the P.G. Heritage Society.
 
Wildberries   Across 17th and Laurel is:
OLD 17TH STREET
Above Lighthouse Avenue


Most of the cottages on this block were built in the 1880s; a few were built around 1900. Most of these cottages have been converted for commercial uses, yet the street retains its charming flavor.


Pictured to the left is Wildberry's, a cafe situated in a Victorian cottage on 17th Street.
 

  Follow Laurel to 18th; turn right and go to Lighthouse Avenue
GOSBY HOUSE
643 Lighthouse Ave.


In 1888, J.S. Gosbey, owner of P.G.’s first shoe store, opened his home to summer boarders. To house more guests, he added to the Queen Anne building several times, resulting in the inn’s irregular plan.
 

Weinermobile at Gernot's
  Next door is:
HART MANSION
649 Lighthouse Avenue

This Queen Anne structure has not changed significantly since it was built in 1894 by Dr. Andrew J. Hart. The first floor was used for his medical practice, and the 2nd & 3rd floors for his residence.
 

  Continue 1 block on Lighthouse to 16th:
WINSTON HOTEL
16th & Lighthouse Avenue


Built in 1904 by B.C. Winston, a showman who brought buffalo and trained sea lions to P.G. The hotel boasted rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors and a restaurant & shops on the ground floor.
 

  Turn left down 16th:
ELMARIE H. DYKE OPEN SPACE
16th below Lighthouse Avenue

Dedicated to the woman affectionately dubbed “Mrs. Pacific Grove.” Educator, civic leader & radio personality, her efforts ensured that P.G. remained (until 1969) the last dry town in California.
 

  Next door, at the corner of Central, is:
CHAUTAUQUA HALL
16th & Central Avenue

Since 1881, this has been a vital part of the community, serving as storage space for the Retreat’s tents, church, school, gym, youth center, and meeting place. In 1970, it became California Landmark #839.
 


  Across Central Avenue is:
CENTRELLA HOTEL
612 Central Avenue


Built in 1889 to house Chautauqua-goers, the building originally faced 17th St. 1892 saw the addition of the square corner towers and porch. Painstaking restoration transformed it into an award-winning inn.
 



Beighle houses at 152
and 154 16th Street



137 - Mrs. Caroline Thorton House
  Continue down 16th:
100 BLOCK OF 16TH ST.
Below Central Avenue


Several tiny tent cottages line this street. 152 &
154 - Mrs. Eliza Beighle houses, built in 1901 & 1892.

137 - Mrs. Caroline Thorton House - This delightful 1½-story Carpenter Gothic cottage was built in 1883. Its lower level has horizontal siding, while the upper portion has vertical siding.

122 - J. Kirk House - This Heritage House Award winner was built in 1891. It features decorative shingles in the gables, and the segmented windows still have the original colored-glass panels.

118 - P.B. Chandler House - was built almost entirely of redwood by the Pacific Improvement Co. in 1890, One of the first year-round houses built in the Retreat, it features “balloon framing,” which is very earthquake resistant.
 

 

 
112 - W.H. Stephens House
has been painted fanciful
colors by its current resident.



Another house on the 100
block of Forest.
 

Turn right on Ocean View; turn right on Forest:
100 BLOCK OF FOREST AVENUE
Below Central


An important residential street in the early Retreat grounds, it is lined with a variety of Victorian-era styles.

112 - W.H. Stephens House was built in 1892, and is quite elaborate, featuring stained-glass windows, gables, fish-scale shingles, and decorative bargeboard.

In contrast, 119 - Mary Wilbur House is quite simple in style. Little altered since it was built in 1885, it features redwood siding & a gabled roof with sunbursts.

123 - Grove Hall - was built in 1886 for Dr. Carrie Roe, one of the town’s first physicians. She opened the house as a sanitarium, renting to & caring for invalids.

132 - Daffodil House - this gingerbread is a few years old, but replicates the era so well it was awarded a Heritage Design Award.

 
 






Feel free to print out a copy of this tour for your own personal noncommercial use, but please contact Esther Trosow for permission to reproduce for other purposes. Copyright 1999 - 2007, all rights reserved.
Contact etrosow@93950.com
Last updated November 14, 2008.