761 Jefferson Street
1926 Spanish Eclectic
The J.C. Anthony Family Home is a two-story wood-framed Spanish Eclectic residence built by the craftsman builder J.C. Anthony, probably based on a design by his sometime-collaborator architect Albert B. Coats. Anthony is best remembered as a pioneer in the preservation of Monterey’s historic adobe buildings in the 1920s. In 1921 his crew “deconstructed” the historic Bonifacio Adobe along Alvarado Street, brick by brick, to keep it from being demolished. He later rebuilt it for Percy Gray on the Monterey Mesa where Anthony was reconfiguring Spanish-era homes as estates for artists. Because of his construction of homes using the early materials – adobe, tile, and stone – Anthony helped spark a Spanish-Mediterranean architectural revival in Monterey.
Historic marker: J.C. Anthony (1875-1949) was a visionary builder who rescued several of Monterey’s earliest residences, reviving the styles and materials of the region’s Spanish-Mexican heritage during a local career that spanned 50 years. This Neo-Spanish style home was build in 1926.
J.C. Anthony built the house at 761 Jefferson Street for himself and his family in 1926. Unfortunately, however, their occupancy was short-lived. The house was sold in 1931, probably because of financial and legal problems exacerbated by the Great Depression. Anthony and his son, J.C. Jr., built scores of bungalows for Monterey’s fishing families, often carrying second mortgages for those who could not afford them. This created financial difficulties for the family when banks failed and demanded repayment. In 1933, Anthony and his son decided to declare bankruptcy rather than repossess the homes they had mortgaged to their clients.
This house possesses the characteristic stucco and tile exterior of the Spanish Eclectic form, and exhibits the deep windows associated with adobe structures that have the advantage of bringing diffused light into the interior. The exterior wall cladding is smooth cement stucco, with a retaining wall in Carmel stone. The low-pitched, side-gabled main roof has slightly overhanging eaves with exposed rafter tails and purlins. The roof projects over one end, creating the covering for a second-floor cantilevered wood balcony with views of the Monterey Bay that would have been much more expansive when the Anthony’s lived here. The roof is covered in Mission-style tile, which Anthony manufactured for a time on the Monterey Mesa adjacent to the last surviving Spanish-era tile kilns. Large wooden lintels appear above the open span of the recessed front entry, and above the three large, double-hung windows at the ground floor level in the living room. The maple flooring is original throughout much of the house, with the exceptions of the circular stairway, downstairs office, and anterooms connected to the master bedroom and guest bedroom. The kitchen was remodeled in 2001, with unglazed Tecate pavers and glazed decorative tiles lending a Mexican ambiance.
In the back patio area, a one-story shed-roofed wing contains an open ramada. The slightly pitched flat wood roof is supported by two massive Carmel stone piers, which were probably constructed by subsequent owner Louis Davidson, a stonemason, in about 1951. The Carmel stone terracing in the back is also credited to Davidson, who lived in the house with his wife, Agnes, from 1949 to 2000.
The large stucco and tile bench at the far end of the garden maintains the footprint and style of a bench believed to have been built in the 1940s or 1950s, that was accidentally destroyed by a neighbor in January 2005. The rebuilt bench was constructed by craftsman builder, David Yamamoto. The large tile mural is a reproduction of an 1842 lithographic image of Monterey Bay and was painted by tile artist Alice Gillibert. Reflecting the visionary work of both designer Coats and contractor Anthony, this home is an excellent example of the creative possibilities within the Spanish Eclectic Revival style of architecture. Local historic preservationist, Kent Seavey, claims that “The Anthony House may be the most creative and individual residential expression of the Spanish Eclectic architectural style in Monterey…”
Directions to the next house: Keep walking up Jefferson Street until you get to the John M Thompson House (801 Jefferson Street), #14 on the map below.
