Rose Garden Resident
Cover Story
Photograph by Vicki Thompson
Gourmet Kitchen: Earl and Barbara Koberlein eliminated a bedroom and bath to enlarge the kitchen. Cupboards are lighted to show off their collection of silver, crystal and blue and white porcelain.
Autumn tour opens homes for public viewing
Tour includes work of Wolfe, De Mattei
By Mary Gottschalk
Every year, the chance to get inside some of the most interesting homes in the Rose Garden neighborhood brings more than 1,000 people to the area over a two-day period.
The 11th annual Autumn in the Rose Garden Homes Tour benefiting St. Martin of Tours School is scheduled for Oct. 14 and 15. This year's tour features three dramatically renovated homes and one equally dramatic home restoration.
The oldest home on the tour is a Wolfe & McKenzie built in 1912 for Allen Kline and his family. He was a history and political science professor at the College of the Pacific, now the home of Bellarmine College Preparatory.
Frank Delos Wolfe and his first partner, Charles McKenzie, designed some of the most significant homes in both the Rose Garden and adjacent Shasta Hanchett Park neighborhoods.
Marti Martz says when she first walked into the 3,900-square-foot house in 2000, she knew this was her home.
Today, it is home to Martz, her husband, David, and their daughters Emerson and Chandler.
"We did substantial work to the house, but what we love is it was all in its original condition. It wasn't like somebody came through in the 1970s and did a remodel, and you couldn't see where things originally were," Martz says.
The original architectural blueprints were found in the basement, and the Martzes used them as a guide to return the house to its original grace.
One of their most significant changes was reopening the first-floor side porch and the upstairs balcony, as they were when the home was built.
The first-floor porch had been entirely enclosed, Martz believes sometime in the 1920s.
The family salvaged the porch windows, using them when they redid the garage, creating a cottage look for it, compatible with the house.
The second-floor balcony, which had been partially enclosed, is once again open, creating a semi-private aerie.
In some cases, the restoration was a matter of cleaning and refinishing.
In both the foyer and dining room, Mexican tiles had been installed.
"We pulled them up and found the original hardwood underneath," Martz says.
"With the exception of the kitchen, we've sanded and salvaged all the original hardwood floors throughout the house, staining them a dark mahogany."
Additionally, she says, "We researched plaster and finishes prevalent in the early 1900s and matched it.
"If you walk in, you wouldn't know it hasn't been that way forever. We've been very painstaking in trying to respect the architectural integrity."
While most of the downstairs, except for the updated kitchen, remains much as it was originally, the Martzes moved walls upstairs to create a new, large master bedroom suite and to divide one long, awkward bathroom into two smaller ones.
Each daughter has her own room, with older sister Emerson having a private bath as well.
In Chandler's room, artist Robert Guidace has created a mural based on Alison Jay's artwork in one of Martz's favorite children's books, If Kisses Were Colors by Janet Lawler.
Martz's father, Alfred Koch, has used his woodworking skills to build window seats in Chandler's room and also to build an entertainment cabinet in the first-floor library that melds perfectly with existing, original woodwork.
Although the home has an historic feel to it, Martz displays the family's contemporary art collection throughout. Furnishings include antiques handed down from both sides of the family.
Just a half-block away from the Martz home is the 1917 home Barbara Koberlein and her husband, Earl, purchased in 1973.
"It was originally a prairie-style house, and in 1992-93, we did a remodel with [builder] Mark De Mattei," Koberlein says.
Before starting the remodel, which took the house from 4,500 square feet to 6,500 square feet, Koberlein compiled photos of design elements she liked in the Rose Garden area, as well as ones she clipped from Architectural Digest magazine.
An accomplished artist, Koberlein collaborated with De Mattei to achieve the look she wanted; it led to her consulting on other projects with his firm.
The front of the home includes an entrance with columns, a Palladian window over the front door and a long porch across the front of the house.
The foyer is two stories tall, and the faux stonework was all hand-painted by Koberlein. Overhead is a Baccarat crystal chandelier originally used in a New Orleans theater that can be lowered or raised for cleaning and decorating.
A stairway leads from the foyer to her second-floor studio, over the garage.
"It's like a treehouse with a balcony and a fireplace," Koberlein says. Walls of windows and a skylight fill it with light, and her art books are housed in two bookcases with leaded glass fronts left behind by the previous homeowners.
Off the foyer to the other side are the formal and informal rooms of the house.
A home office has textured walls created by Koberlein by using a collage of torn paper bags and finishing them with a sealer and paint.
Artistic touches
Her artistic touches are evident throughout the house from the fabrics she's selected for drapes and furniture, as well as other wall finishes and color palettes.
Antiques collected in travels to France and England are mixed in with finds from Koberlein's favorite shop in Carmel, Great Things Antiques. The results are rooms with an inviting look.
The kitchen, which was enlarged by eliminating a bedroom and bath, is clearly designed for entertaining. Cupboards along the walls and under the large, central stove and work counter are lighted to show off Koberlein's collection of silver, crystal and blue and white porcelain.
There is a story behind almost every object in the house, and Koberlein is generous in sharing them.
The kitchen is open, flowing into an informal dining area and a large, comfortable great room.
A more casual entertainment room with a pool table and television is beyond that, leading out to the beautifully landscaped back yard with its swimming pool and full-size tennis court.
In between the kitchen and the rec room is an L-shaped courtyard filled with greenery and a cozy table and chairs. Overhead screens create the feel of an outdoor atrium, while keeping flies and mosquitoes out.
The second floor includes the master bedroom suite with a large, open space overlooking the foyer and across to the studio.
One guestroom has lapis blue walls with red trim and features the antique iron headboard from Koberlein's grandparents.
A front, corner bedroom is decorated and reserved for grandchildren, with cheery chintz pillows on the twin beds.
The Koberleins have lived in the home for more than three decades, raising their two children there. Now they are building a new home in Auburn and expect to put this home on the market in a year or so.
The last two houses on the tour are three blocks over toward the Rose Garden on Emory Street.
All that remains of the original 1940 home, now owned by Joe and Carol Molina, is one wall.
Tudor-style upgrades
Eric Evans, head of Evans Construction, remodeled the house into a 2,175-square-feet Tudor-style home for himself. It includes a two-sided fireplace between the master bedroom and bath, a large kitchen with commercial-style appliances, a great room with built-in entertainment center and Brazilian cherry hardwood flooring.
Carol Molina says of their home, "It's very eclectic. We moved from a 1930s Spanish-style home in San Francisco, and everything in there fit perfectly here. We have collections from Mexico that we couldn't give up."
Among the Molinas' collections are carved wood from the Huichol Indians near Puerto Vallarta, a hand-formed black clay pot from Oaxaca and some kachina dolls made by Native Americans.
Mixed in are art nouveau lamps and paintings.
Just down the block is the 1938 home of Frank and Elizabeth Leamy and their two children.
The Leamys did a complete remodel of the house this year, increasing it from 1,600 square feet to 3,400 square feet and adding a second story to accommodate their expanding family.
Their art "is passed down from parents and grandparents," Elizabeth Leamy says.
"It's a mix of European and Asian, and we've also furnished a lot of the home with antiques handed down from our families."
The family travels to Europe every year to visit relatives and when Leamy discovered the Oiseau Bleu pottery from Gien, France, they made a trip there.
"I fell in love with it and hand-carried all the plates back," she says.
Like all those opening their homes for the tour, Leamy says, "We were honored to be approached.
"We really enjoy the Rose Garden area. It's just beautiful, and now we can say we're not going to leave."
The final stop on the tour will be the gardens of Jim and Sheila Nielsen's University Avenue home, where complimentary tea will be served and box lunches will be available to purchase.
Funds from the tour will be used for the endowment program, partial scholarships and operational costs of St. Martin's. Chairwomen of the 2006 tour are Dailene Bray, Rebecca Russo and Nicole Vierra.
The 11th annual Autumn in the Rose Garden Homes Tour is Oct. 14 and 15 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Advance tickets are $30 at St. Martin of Tours School, 300 O'Connor Drive; Commuknity, 1345 The Alameda; Casa Casa, 1355 Lincoln Ave.; and Garofalo's, 234 E. Campbell Ave., Campbell. Event-day are $35 at the first home on the tour at 1290 McKendrie St.
For information, visit www.rosegardenhomestour.com.
