733 Madison Street
ca1925 English Cottage
The John Poindestre House was completed in the summer of 1925 as verified by 1925 Peninsula Daily Herald Builder’s Page documentation. Electrical work was completed in June of 1925. 733
Madison was constructed on lots 4 and 5 of the R. C. Jacks subdivision #1. The property
remains a two lot property with the second lot landscaped with cottage gardens, an orchard
and kitchen gardens.
The property is a wood framed, English style cottage residence. The house is an intact English
cottage, and was one of the first homes constructed on the south side of Madison St. This
home, built by M. J. Murphy, in concert with its original garden setting, gives the property a
strong sense of time and place.
Character-defining features of the property include its two-story height, irregular plan,
smooth cement stucco wall cladding, low pitched wood shake roof, multi-paned Yorkshire
Sash tripartite sliding and casement windows; French doors, an exterior stucco-clad chimney
and an attached garage. A low rock wall constructed of Monterey Shale surrounds the
residence and the established gardens. A rustic “grape-stake” fence rests atop the wall in a
frequently used style consistent with Carmel cottages of the same time-frame, many of which
were also built by M. J. Murphy, a contemporary of Hugh Comstock. However, it is important
to note that although many of the Carmel homes are of the Tudor style, 733 Madison is of the
English cottage style.
The home’s original owner, Mr. John Edmund Poindestre, purchased three lots from Mr.
Romie Jacks in 1925. John was a native of England, with many descendants still residing on
the Isle of Jersey. The name Poindestre is of Norman French derivation. Mr. Poindestre was an
Electrical Engineer as well as a mining engineer and published a mining document during his
professional career in California. He worked as a Supervisor for Pacific Gas and Electric in Marysville, California before retiring to the Monterey Peninsula in 1918.
Directions to the next house: Head down Watson Street (towards the ocean) and feast your eyes on the Martha Brawley Cooper and John Baptist Cooper House (574 Watson Street).
