West Petaluma home a vintage queen

<p>As an architectural historian for the California State Parks department, Marianne Hurley has learned that old does not necessarily mean fragile — at least when it comes to vintage buildings.</p><p>Hurley's own west Petaluma home has outlived three owners and made it through three major earthquakes in the 20th century — not to mention a period of nearly 40 years when it sat unoccupied and rather neglected.</p><p>In fact, the 1903 late Queen Anne, with its single story tower topped with a characteristic “witch's cap,” undoubtedly will preside over the same corner of Howard Street long after the Hurleys are gone.</p><p>That's not to say that Hurley and her husband, Tim, haven't done everything they can to make sure that it does stand long enough to embrace many new owners. The foundation has been replaced and the walls reinforced. But to the Hurleys, the particular appeal of this house, with its delicate plaster-work ceilings and redwood trim, grained to look like white oak, is that it has withstood the test of time and the vicissitudes of changing tastes.</p><p>“It's not precious. It's been around a long time, so I'm not worried about doing any damage to the place,” Hurley says, trying to articulate that quality that makes her feel so comfortably at home within its sturdy old walls. Everything inside was selected not just to be accurate but to be used.</p><p>The Hurleys, then living in Novato in the late '80s, spent six years scouring Petaluma for just the right old house to restore, one that was largely in original condition.</p><p>When the real estate agent directed them to a house right across from St. Vincent's Catholic Church — a little bit of Europe in downtown Petaluma with its twin towers and Spanish Romanesque design — Marianne knew instinctively that if the interior checked out, this was the one.</p><p>To Hurley, 63, who oversees the preservation planning for historic buildings and structures in 32 Bay Area parks, it's important to maintain the original architectural integrity of a building.</p><p>“I didn't want to spend the money to rip out some 1960s improvements done not according to the historic character of the house,” she said. “We wanted our dream house to be as authentic as possible, but we also knew this was going to be our retirement house, so we really made a conscious decision to buy a house close to downtown so we could walk to the market or the post office.”</p><p>Built as a retirement home by William Bourke, an Irish immigrant who came to California during the Gold Rush, the house was bought by Petaluma butcher Pete Murphy in 1913. By the 1920s, it was the home of plumber Park Van Bebber, who willed it to his son Norm. A one-time Petaluma city councilor and mayor in the late '50s and early '60s, Van Bebber had started to make a few changes, with the idea of carving it into apartments. But he never completed the project. The house sat empty from 1955 until the Hurleys took title in 1994.</p><p>They mined Van Bebber's memory for details, confirming, for instance, that the beautiful carpet in the front tower parlor is original, and therefore, needed to stay put.</p><p>Hurley took care to keep whatever was worth saving, including all the old windows and original glass. And if something had been removed, she had it restored as close to the original as possible, while still making the house liveable. So successful was she that visitors walk into the kitchen, with its refurbished 1920s Wedgewood stove, antique dry sink, wood counter made from a piece harvested from an old schoolhouse in Novato and cabinets reproduced to look like they've been there for a century, and bluntly ask, “So, when are you going to update the kitchen?”</p><p>“When we bought the place, there was nothing in here but the lowered ceiling,” said Hurley. “They had big a porcelain sink just sitting over there. Everything else was gone.”</p><p>The Hurleys' re-creation of the original kitchen was so on the mark that when Van Bebber later visited, he was astonished that the stove was almost identical to the one his parents used, and that it was in the exact same location. Ditto for the small farm table pushed up against the window. You'll have to duck into “the scullery” off the kitchen to find the microwave and espresso maker.</p><p>The dining room still has some of the original anaglypta wallcovering — a heavy paper imprinted with a raised design that was popular around the turn of the last century. Hurley hung new anaglypta in the foyer in keeping with the period. If you think regular wallpaper is maddening, try hanging this paper. One wrong move and the design has been flattened out.</p><p>What Hurley characterizes as “the crown glory” of the house is the raised plaster designs in the coved ceilings. They had been completely covered over in white paint, but Hurley painstakingly took a toothbrush to the delicate flowers and stems, the latter made of string dipped in plaster. During the cleaning process she could tell what some of the original colors would have been. She's hand-painted some of the gold back into the design, but the other colors will have to wait until her retirement.</p><p>Other elements long missing had to be restored. Rather than looking for reproductions, the Hurleys found authentic old fixtures, tiles and other details from salvage yards and other sources. A rosette for the center of the front parlor ceiling was salvaged from a house in San Anselmo. Some of the light fixtures once illuminated the old McNear Mansion on Petaluma Boulevard South. The dining room fireplace had been dismantled, but Hurley sourced the most historically accurate antique tile harvested from three different fireplaces and then had it laid in the historically correct way, with very narrow grout lines.</p><p>“I've always been interested in old things,” she explains. “I credit my grandmother for that, going to her house and seeing all the things my parents didn't have because they wanted everything modern.”</p><p>But it was the late Margot Patterson Doss, who wrote a column on walking for The San Francisco Chronicle, who “whetted my appetite” for architectural history. Hurley went on to study architecture and architectural history and preservation, first at The California College of the Arts and then at the graduate level at The University of Oregon. Now she gives walking tours herself through the Petaluma History Museum, as well as serving on the city planning commission.</p><p>She's worked for the state for the last 14 years. Currently she is the project manager for the stabilization of the 1950s John Marsh House in Brentwood. She's also heavily involved in restoration projects from Jack London State Park to Olompali State Historic Park to Angel Island.</p><p>“A particular place on the surface may look pretty mundane,” she says of his fascination for architectural artifacts. “When once you explore and research, and go below the sufrace, you uncover a really rich history. And once you've seen the history you appreciate what you see in front of you even more.”</p><p><i>You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at meg.mmcconahey@pressdemocrat.com or 521-5204.</i></p>