Abraham Dubois Starr built the Starr Mansion in 1869--an aristocrat, local politician and friends with the social elite in the San Francisco bay area. A.D was a close friend of Leland Stanford. So very active in politics, in 1873 he traveled to Philadelphia as a delegate to the Republican convention, which nominated Ulysses S. Grant for reelection.
Starr was born in Ohio on October 14, 1830. He crossed the plains to California in pursuit of riches during the California gold rush in 1850. Good Diggings were found and, when he had accumulated sufficient capital in 1851, he decided to try his fortune running supplies to the gold miners and settlers. In 1854 he opened a general produce business in Sacramento. Through his businesses, he found that flour was very much in demand and became the proprietor of the Buckeye Grain Mill at Marysville in 1857. In 1868 Starr moved to Vallejo, was elected a supervisor of Solano County, served as a director for the California Pacific Railroad and started building his first grain mill in South Vallejo. The South Vallejo Mill (later became General Mills in 1925) was completed in 1869 and was producing 2200 barrels of flour a day. Because of Starr, Vallejo became the largest employer, producer and exporter of grain in California. In 1884, he expanded and started building another grain mill in Crockett California, which later became the C&H Sugar plant. By 1891 the Crockett mill was completed and produced 8000 barrels a day, and was to become the largest producing mill in the world. The Starr Mills exports were feeding Asia, Europe and Central America and were well renowned throughout the world until well after the First World War.
A.D. Starr first met his future wife, Mary Anna Teegarden, in 1850 during the migration across the plains. He moved to Marysville and married Mary in 1856. A.D. and Mary had one child born in 1861, named Ada Deborah Starr. During the 1880's Mrs. Starr and Ada traveled often to Europe and Egypt. Ada met and married Judge Bachgrevinck, Danish minister to Alexandria, Egypt. She never returned to America. In 1889 during a trip to England, Mrs. Starr fell over a balustrade onto a marble floor and severely injured her head. She soon died while in the hospital. Ada's concert grand piano remains in the home.
In 1893 A.D Starr lost his fortune from a bank panic. Relatives were able to save this house while A.D. went to live with his brother at his Oakland home. From there A.D. faded into obscurity and died in 1894. Many of the Starr Family photos remain in the house.
The Starr Mansion stayed with the Starr Family until 1933; it was sold in a state of disrepair to Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Rothschild. Mr. Rothschild was a Jewish immigrant from Germany. He worked at Mare Island as a pipe fitter. Clarence (The Great Rothschild) was also a popular ventriloquist, magician and amateur plane pilot. Mr. Rothschild had many performances booked throughout California and the surrounding states. In the 1960s and 1970s, the mansion received numerous renovations and received many locally and nationally renowned rewards for architecture and interior design. Clarence died in 1978 and his surviving wife, Helen, lived in the home until 2003 when it was sold. Helen passed away in October of 2005. Many Rothschild Family photos remain in the house, including some of 'The Great Rothschild'.
In 2003, the Scharz family purchased the dilapidated Starr Mansion. The house was neglected for over 25 years. The Scharz family owned the mansion for approximately 18 months. They put a new roof on the home and auctioned off 98% of the original antique furnishings, art and accessories (some of which are known to have come across the Atlantic on the Mayflower).
On April 15, 2005 real estate investors purchased the Starr Mansion to repair and restore the mansion. By this time the house had withstood three major earthquakes with the first occurring in the 1880's (which destroyed all the brick mansions on Mare island and some throughout Vallejo), 1906 (which leveled most of San Francisco) and 1989 Loma Prieta (which caused substantial damage to buildings and other structures throughout the San Francisco Bay Area). The Starr Mansion survived all those natural disasters with just minor damages. The mansion had not been maintained since the late 1970's. A major exterior and interior restoration (including repairs from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damage) was needed to take the house back to its original Victorian era splendor.
The Starr Mansion architecture is of the very rare Second Empire Italianate Victorian era with Mansard roof and eyebrows over the Italianate arched windows. During restoration of the exterior, it was discovered that the home was only painted twice over the last 140 years. The Mansion is completely constructed with redwood (even the interior moldings). The exterior siding is almost two-inch thick redwood.
The Interior has many unique features: including the two original Italian marble fireplace mantels with the original coal burning iron inserts. Large crown molding and corbels throughout the first floor were hand molded in place from plaster of Paris. The first floor has the original red oak floors and curved walls. After the mansion construction was completed in 1869, A.D. Starr hired five Italian artists to paint murals on every ceiling in the home. Two of those murals still exist on the upper floors. Numerous original gold leaf gas lighting fixtures are still in use today (electrified). In 1869 the Starr Mansion was also ahead of its time technologically with central heating. The original coal boiler is still heating the mansion today.
As of December 2005, the mansion is now Vallejo's first Bed & Breakfast and boasts seven guest rooms.
|
|
