3232 Pacific Ave
San Francisco, CA 94118, USA

Julian Waybur House - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance:

The Julian Waybur House, built in 1901, is the work of master architect Ernest Coxhead. It is an outstanding example of the way Coxhead combined the popular American Shingle Style with experimental uses of European Revival Styles. Coxhead and his contemporaries created designs that were the intellectual embodiment of natural simplicity. Their architectural creations directed Bay Area culture from the Victorian era into the Modern. Coxhead brought his European training to California where he enjoyed an unrestrictive environment to explore the boundaries of architectural design. The box-like shape and flat plane of unpainted wood shingles of the Julian Waybur House derives from naturalistic principles of the simple home but also anticipates work by Bay Area architects after World War II. The sophisticated architectural joke of a balustrade mirroring an interior stair suggests unbridled confidence within the rules of Classical Architecture. The entry composition creates a beautiful dynamic tension, which neither alarms nor calms the viewer. The Julian Waybur House’s extremely unique location within a wedge-shaped block on the edge of the Presidio makes this one of his most identifiable works. It is an excellent intact example of Coxhead’s residential work and is eligible for listing in the National Register under Criterion C at the local level of significance.

The house located at 3232 Pacific Avenue was built for Julian Waybur, who signed the water connection contract with Spring Valley Water Works on December 12, 1901. As no other, accurately documented dates are available for the construction of the house, the year 1901 will be considered the period of significance.

Julian Waybur was born Julius Rehn Weber on September 1, 1855 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.' His family moved to California when he was still very' young and settled on a ranch in Santa Clara Valley. By the time Julian was ready for school the family had relocated to San Francisco. He was a “good student’ and was proficient in languages and music. At the age of fourteen, he left school and started working for the Music House of M. Gray & Co. He eventually became head of their Music Department and familiar with the international music community. During this time Julian continued to study music under Louis Lissner and in 1887 Lissner hired his pupil as Assistant Director of the Mills Seminary Music Department where Julian remained for twenty-three years.

Julian is best known for his kindness and philanthropic work among local musicians, particularly children and the underprivileged. He created the Extension Division of the Music Department of the University of California, co-founded the Berkeley Music Association, and was a crucial advocate for the creation of a music department in the San Francisco Public Library. After his death in 1925 his friend Redfem Mason wrote, “His work in connection and concerning the music at the San Francisco Public Library was enormous, and he did it without receiving a penny of recompense. To make life more livable, to bring beauty into the homes of rich and poor alike -these were his ambitions and to realize them he gave of his time and strength.” Several years later, after the dedication of a memorial plaque for Waybur in the Library, Mason wrote, “Whenever a cosmopolitan chorus was needed Mr. Waybur would hunt up friends of half a dozen nationalities and as in the twinkling of an eye, singers of all classes would get together to make music.”

Julian married Margaret Porter on August 10, 1886 and they had two children, Arnold Randolph and Robert Rehn. The property that the Julian Waybur House is on was originally owned by Margaret’s family. Prior to construction of the House in 1901, the property was divided into two, with the western half transferred to the ownership of Margaret, and the eastern half to her brother Bruce. Bruce Porter (1865-1953) was a renowned San Francisco artist whose work included painting, murals, stained glass, and landscape design. He may be best known for his work creating the extensive gardens at Filoli, in Woodside. Porter was an outspoken and active member in the intellectual and artistic circles that rejected “Victorian” design and lifestyle created by the Industrial Revolution. The group promoted a return to nature. This philosophy was interpreted by local artists such William Keith (1838-1911) in the choice of California landscapes for paintings; writers such as Charles Keeler (1871-1937) wrote numerous poems and books venerating nature; environmentalists such as John Muir (1838-1914) explored the California wilderness; and architects such as Willis Polk (1867-1924) and Ernest Coxhead chose building materials and designs that highlighted natural qualities. David Weingarten, in his book. Bay Area Style, aptly identifies a “web of relationships” within this group of men who are credited with developing a new direction of design.

The acquaintance and shared philosophies between Bruce Porter and Ernest Coxhead lead to the commission of the Julian Waybur House. Coxhead also designed Porter’s own house next door at the same time, the boxy massing and unpainted shingle cladding on both houses represent the shared principles of the naturalistic “simple home” by Coxhead and Porter. With Waybur’s philanthropic tendencies, one can assume that he too shared an interest in a simple design that was not extravagant. Porter’s involvement in the design of his own house is apparent. The exterior detailing is much more subtle than Coxhead often employed. It also included a rooftop garden which was most likely entirely Porter’s creation. The Waybur House, however, does not express any particular design influence from Porter. The small planted area at the front of the house is unremarkable and does not retain any original plant materials. There are no locations for stained glass windows within the house and there are no traces of murals or sculptures. One can imagine that the Wayburs might have displayed Porter’s paintings but there is no evidence as to what or where. The Julian Waybur House fits soundly and completely in the oeuvre of Ernest Coxhead.

Ernest Albert Coxhead was born in England in 1863. At the age of fourteen he began working for an engineer/architect in his home town of Eastbourne, Sussex. According to Richard Longstreth, author of the exhaustive study on Coxhead and his contemporaries. On the Edge of the World, Coxhead’s very early work shows an interest in English Gothic Revival and the writings of Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852).^ Pugin introduced the idea that “architecture could be true or false, morally good or bad, and that in the interest of honesty it ought to reveal its structure function and make use of natural materials.”^ This idea was further reiterated by the writings of John Ruskin (1814-1900) whose influence led Gothic Revival to the Arts & Crafts Movement in England. In 1883 Coxhead moved to London and found work with Fredric Chancellor and began taking classes at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the Architectural Association. Chancellor had a “keen interest in old churches and restored almost sixty of them during his career. Coxhead assisted Chancellor with the recordation of the church tombs which tended to date to the 16th and 17th Centuries. These gave Coxhead a chance to expand his training and become adept with the Classical Revival Style. No sooner had Coxhead completed his studies and become an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), than he left England for Los Angeles.

By 1887 Coxhead had opened an architectural firm with his older brother Almeric in Los Angeles. Little is known of Almeric aside from the fact that the two brothers worked together until Almeric died in 1928. Almeric most likely ran the business side of the office. All of the design work is attributed to Ernest. The hasty move to California is due to an attractive contract with the Episcopal Church who acted as Coxhead’s patron for a number of years. Unfettered Californian culture allowed Coxhead to creatively use his traditional education to produce freely experimental designs. As Jeremy Kotas writes in his essay on Coxhead in Toward a Simpler Way of Life, “his excellent training enabled him to be an authority on architecture in a frontier community that was sorely in need of people who could say what good architecture was and then create it. Coxhead could, in these circumstances, venture into new areas of design without fear of criticism. He was California’s direct link with the Anglican Gothic Revival and he had the English accent to prove it.”’ In addition, Coxhead easily incorporated the contemporary American Shingle Style. His quick assimilation of the Shingle Style can most likely be attributed to the fact that he hired Willis Polk to work in his office. Polk had spent time working on the East Coast with the firm of McKim, Mead & White who are generally credited with the development and popularization of the Shingle Style. The Shingle Style would have immediately appealed to Coxhead for its “honest” use of unpainted wood shingles. Though the working relationship between Coxhead and Polk dissolved after a few months, the two remained life-long friends. Their work conveys the similarities suggestive of a continuous conversation.

With several Episcopal Church commissions to complete in the Bay Area, the Coxhead brothers relocated to San Francisco in 1889. Ernest was quickly embraced by the Reverend ofthe Swedenborgian Church, Joseph Worcester. Worcester was considered the central figure of the group of men looking for a return to nature and a new direction in design in the Bay Area. He is credited with building the first simple home, clad with unpainted shingles. Worcester was enthusiastic about the English Arts & Crafts Movement which not only incorporated design, but a way of life. It worked well with his Swedenborgian beliefs. Worcester and Coxhead also shared a common interest in the writings of John Ruskin. Leslie Freudianism in her book Building with Nature writes, “It is possible that Coxhead played a key role in bringing the English Arts and Crafts aesthetic to California and may even have introduced Worcester to architectural manifestations with which he was not familiar.” Worcester’s church, a National Historical Landmark, built in 1895, is located two blocks from the Julian Waybur House. In the same way that Worcester was surrounded by likeminded artists, the church is neighbored by numerous designs by Willis Polk, Ernest Coxhead, and Bernard Maybeck.

With encouragement from Polk and Worcester, Coxhead transitioned from ecclesiastical design to residential. Like his churches, Coxhead’s houses showed a mastery within both the Classical Revival and Gothic Revival, mixing styles with cleverness and ease. Classical ornamentation supports medieval sized doors and leaded glass windows share space with columns and brackets in Coxhead’s designs. Longstreth notes that while his compositions do not convey effort, Coxhead’s “own methods were no doubt meticulous... he may well have scrutinized specific examples very carefully before developing a scheme.” Many of his designs incorporate carefully oversized elements like the scrolled brackets of the Julian Waybur House. At the Sarah Spooner House (built 1900) located at 2800 Pacific Avenue, Coxhead employed a massive scrolled pediment over the door and at the Brovra-Knight Smith House (built 1895) located at 2600 Jackson Street he used a huge decorative coat of arms. At the same time Coxhead enjoyed laughably small details, like the tiny keystone used on the central arched window at the Julian Waybur House. His scale manipulations make his buildings seem both large and small at the same time.

Coxhead was comfortable working on awkward sites like that of the Julian Waybur House or his own residence located at 2421 Green Street. His Green Street House, built in 1893, steps up along its long narrow site. Monumentally tall at the front and intimately small at the rear, the Green Street House first displays the “taut, abstract quality”'^ of a vast shingled wall that is used at the Waybur House and becomes notorious with Bay. Area architects working after World War II. Other similarities between the Green Street House and the Waybur House include an asymmetrical layout, creating tension or movement in an otherwise static wall plane. At the Waybur House the two main exterior decorative elements, the entry and the stepped balcony, are set slightly askew. The Green Street House has a more pronounced asymmetry with the composition of the windows. The result is a little less dynamic composition than the Waybur House, but both are equally ironic.

Another common design feature Coxhead employed was the appearance of a small, medieval sized door that opens into a low entry hall. While the main entry door at the Waybur house is a normal size, it is made to look smaller by the use of the over-stated pediment. Located a few blocks away at 3362 Clay Street, the Russell Osborn House (built 1896) has a large two-story angled bay positioned just above the door that gives the impression of a diminutive entry. Once inside Coxhead often positioned a stair over the interior entry area creating a low, dark initial experience. An important feature of the Julian Waybur House, this can also be seen at the house designed for his family in San Mateo. John Beach in his essay on the “Bay Area Tradition” points out the importance of the stairwell in Coxhead’s designs. “It is as if the house had been trimmed away, leaving only circulation space. Then a step here and a landing there are extruded horizontally, expanded from a small space to a larger one. By this curious process the stair sequence ceases to be simply an element of a larger building, but is transformed into the building itself”''* This is certainly true for the Waybur House where the stair well informs the plan and even expands its influence to the exterior. This idea of being able to read the position of the interior stair from the exterior was explored previously by Coxhead in his design for the Andrew Carrigan House (built 1892) where the glazing arrangement steps up the fa9ade. It is a more subtly and abstract gesture than that at the Waybur House.

Dave Weinstein’s book, Signature Architects, has a good summary. “Coxhead slyly mixed seemingly incompatible styles, rustic and refined, in a single building, creating drama on one faced and repose on another and surprise throughout. Roman columns and classical Renaissance porticos, sometimes gargantuan, other times diminutive, appear on otherwise informal facades of natural wood... Within their asymmetrically placed windows and doors, and expanses of unbroken walls Coxhead’s homes look very modern.”

The Julian Waybur House is an excellent intact example of Coxhead’s residential work and is eligible for listing on the National Register under Criterion C; Design/Construction. The house is a work of a master architect and an outstanding example of the way Coxhead combined the popular American Shingle Style with experimental uses of European Revival Styles. Coxhead was an integral member of a group of artists that created a new direction m design in the Bay Area in the late 1800’s. His work anticipated trends in Modem architecture and remains influential and pertinent today. Aside from his Green Street House, the Julian Waybur House is one of Coxhead’s most intact Shingle Style residential designs. Next door, the Bruce Porter House is currently under intense renovation. No interior features remain and changes to the exterior windows and shingles do not appear to be in-kind. Several blocks away, a garage has been added to the Russell Osborn House that negatively impacts a once exquisite composition. The Julian Waybur House is also one of Coxhead’s most identifiable. The House is located on a slope on the edge of the Presidio on narrow wedge-shaped block that is unavoidably distinct. It has been featured in numerous publications.