16th Annual Carmel Inns of Distinction – 2014 – Part 4 – Carmel Country Inn, Candle Light Inn, Wayside, & Coachman’s Inn

Carmel Country Inn
East Side Dolores Street at Third Avenue
Amenities:  Dog Friendly,
Complimentary Breakfast, Parking on Site
831-625-3263

Our last four inns have more of a modern history, starting with the Carmel Country Inn  which was built in the 1950’s as the Dolores Lodge.

But Dolores no longer lives there, in the mid 1990’s, Chris Tescher, a local award winning builder purchased the lodge and changed the name and every other aspect of the inn.

He transformed the guest room kitchenettes into luxury bathrooms, and designed fireplaces to warm the sitting rooms.    

Inside the charming country great room where guest are normally treated to a delicious breakfast, Inns of Distinction guests were treated to mini quiche and egg rolls from The Grill On Ocean Avenue. 

Our lite bites were paired with tastings from J. Lohr Estate Vineyards out of Monterey. 

The first video below Candle Light Inn will show some of the highlights from the rooms that were open in both the Carmel Country Inn and Candle Light Inn.

Candle Light Inn
Westside San Carlos between Fourth and Fifth Avenue
Amenities: Continental Breakfast Delivered to your Door,
Some rooms with kitchen and fireplace

831-624-6451

The Candle Light Inn was built in the early 1960’s.  It was purchased by the Inns by the Sea in 1982 and the 20 guest rooms have recently been updated.   

Just a short walk to Carmel’s Ocean Avenue, their shops and restaurants, the Candle Light Inn features generously sized guestrooms with flat screen TVs.  The deluxe rooms offer a fireplace, with some including oversized jetted tubs.

 

One of the charming features of the Candle Light Inn is the former swimming pool, now a cozy brick fire pit.

Inside the lobby,

it is time to enjoy a tasting of the 2011 Pinot Nicole or 2012 Arroyo Seco Chardonnay from local wine room, Dawns Dream paired with crab cakes from Flaherty’s.


The following video show select rooms from the Carmel Country Inn and Candle Light Inn. 

A quick walk across Ocean Avenue brings us to our last two inns of the day.

Wayside Inn
Southeast Corner of Mission and Seventh Avenue
Amenities:  Complimentary Breakfast delivered to room,
On site parking
831-624-5336

The Wayside Inn, another Inns by the Sea property, features 22 guestrooms and suites with fireplaces and flat screen TV’s.  This cottage style inn is located next door to the premier shopping of the Carmel Plaza. 

In the lobby Inns of Distinction guests were treated to Spinach Spanakopita and Mediterranean Meatballs from da Giovanni’s,

paired with a tasting of Pinot Noir from Cima Collina Vineyards.  

The video after Coachman’s Inn will feature the rooms of both the Wayside and Coachman’s Inn.

Coachman’s Inn
Eastside San Carlos between Seventh and Eight Avenue

Amenities: Complimentary Breakfast delivered to room,
Dog Friendly Rooms,
Dry Sauna, Hot Tub, On site parking
831-624-6421

Our last inn of the day is the Coachman’s Inn.  The Coachman’s Inn opened its doors in 1954 and quickly became a favorite of visitors to Carmel-by-the-Sea. 

One of its repeat customers was Dr. and Mrs. Gordon Steuck.  When the Coachman’s Inn came up for sale in June of 1985, the Steucks decided to buy the property. They hired Karen Redmon to help them manage the inn. 

The inns 30 spacious rooms have undergone three major renovations since the early 1990’s, the most recent in 2010. 

In June, 2014, the Coachman’s Inn became the newest addition to the Four Sisters Inn Collection.

Though no longer involved in day-to-day operations, the Steucks continue to own the Coachman’s Inn, and you will still find Karen behind the front desk as manager. 



At the Coachman’s Inn, Inns of Distinction guests enjoyed tapas from Mundaka paired with wine tasting from Scheid. 

The following video highlights the rooms from Wayside Inn and Coachman’s Inn.

Click here for a map of the 16th Annual Inns of Distinction Tour and mark your calendars for the 17th Annual Carmel Heritage Society’s Inns of Distinction which will be held early in December 2015!!! 

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Photography and video

First picture courtesy of Carmel Country Inn
All other photography and video
L. A. Momboisse – www.carmelbytheseaca.blogspot.com

Carmel Heritage Society House and Garden Tour 2014 – Door House and Forge In The Forest

Door House
Forge In The Forest 

In 1906 Frank Devendorf of the Carmel Development Company was busy meeting the needs of his clients by building homes on the lots he was selling in Carmel. To meet demand for building supplies, Mr. Devendorf arraigned for dismantled houses to be shipped from San Francisco to Monterey. These houses could then be quickly reassembled on lots in Carmel.  

One shipment from San Francisco contained only doors from Victorian houses that had been destroyed in the 1906 Earthquake.  What happened next may prove that age old adage “necessity is the mother of invention.”  

John Columbus Stevenson, a widower from San Jose, decided to use the doors and build his family a vacation home.  Using 32 identical solid wood four-panel doors he lined his 22 by 13 square foot house inside and out with doors.

He also built two other houses adjacent to his Door House on Lincoln between Ninth and Tenth, although they were not made from doors. (The Door House is to the right in the picture below).

                           

In the 1920’s the Stevenson family sold the house to James and Harriet O’Hara.  From 1937 to 1960 O’Hara family member Janet Carroll and her husband George L. Carroll lived in the home.  Janet was the first post-mistress of Pebble Beach and George owned a store in Carmel.  

The Carroll’s deeded the house to their granddaughter, Mrs. Bruce Fergusson, in 1960. The Fergusson’s were Carmel retailers.

In 1995 owner Ron Thomas decided to build a bigger house on the property. 

Enid Sales, then president of the Carmel Preservation Foundation, declared that the house was historically significant and should be saved.  Mr. Thomas sold the home to the foundation for $1 and Sheila and Wynne Hutchings provided their lot on Mission between Alta and Vista Avenues for the house.

The Carmel Preservation Foundation hoped to restore the home so that it might be “used for low-income housing, a public facility or a permanent office space for the foundation.” (1)  The picture below shows the lot on Lincoln after the Door House was removed. 

Carmel’s Planning Commission designated the Door House as an “historical resource” on June 28, 1995. 

The hope to restore the Door House did not materialize, and it remained sitting up on moving blocks for three years at which time, the City threatened to demolish it if it was not moved or restored.  

The current owners of Door House saved it from demolition by agreeing to “adopt” the home and move it to their property.

“The house’s “final resting place” will be on the property owned by Dr. Fred Nelson and Dr. Karyl Hall…who have “adopted” this wanderer.” (2)

On June 2, 1998 Door House was once again transported through the narrow streets of the forest. 

Today it happily resides having been loving renovated inside and out by its “adoptive parents.”  

A miniature replica Door House created by the current owners sister-in-law graces the front garden. 

Inside knotty pine paneling and a quaint kitchen for one have been refreshed and updated.  

The door set in the wall
 of Victorian doors leads to a tiny bathroom.  

Off the kitchen dining area a bedroom with 

 brick fireplace finish off the

 charming 286 square foot cottage. 

A bit farther down the drive way past the Door House sits our last house of the day, Forge in the Forest.

A darling replica of Forge in the Forest, made by the sister-in-law of the owners, acts as a mail box.

The lot on which Forge In The Forest resides was purchased in November 1923 by Edna M. Sheridan from the Del Monte Properties Company for $10 in gold coin.  The original house (shown in the picture below) is believed to have been built around 1926.  

John C. Catlin 

John C. Catlin was born in 1870 in Sacramento.  His father Judge A. P. Catlin a member of the State Senate in 1854 designed the legislation that established the present site of the State Capital in Sacramento.  John followed in his fathers footsteps and studied law, practicing for 30 years before he grew bored and decided to take a year off and travel in Mexico.

Before he arrived in Mexico he stopped in Carmel and ran into an old friend Garnet Holme who was putting on a play in Santa Cruz.  Holme asked Catlin for some help. Catlin ended up never going to Mexico but settling in Carmel that same year, 1922. 

Though it is not known when Carmel’s “Famed Blacksmith Mayor” (mayor from 1932-1934) John C. Catlin moved into Forge In The Forest, it is known that he lived in this house until he died in 1951.

Mr. Catlin never went back to the practice of law.  He found much more satisfaction in his creative outlets such as stone carving, drawing, and blacksmithing. 

In 1923 he established “The Forge In The Forest” for Blacksmithing and Horseshoeing at Juniper and Sixth. The old forge is now home to the restaurant Forge In The Forest. 

Mr. Catlin also had a small forge in the garage of his home. 

The decorative gate to the right of the garage door is some of his work. 

  

He is also responsible

 for much of the stone work

 on the property.  

Master blacksmith Francis Whitaker worked alongside Mr. Catlin in his garage forge and his forge on Junipero. In 1948 Catlin would sell the forge on Junipero to Whitaker. 

Both men felt their metal work should not only be functional but decorative.  Mr. Whitaker’s work is also found on the property. The side gate

                

and boot cleaner at the base of the stairs as well as interior sconces and candelabra are his work. 

The current owners, who purchased this property in 1990, added to the eastern elevation.  

The addition appears seamless to the original structure. 

  

Here are a few more highlights. 

Part 1 – First Murphy House, Los Abuelos, and Studio for Florence Lockwood
Part 2 – The Fields’ House and Walker Home by Frank Lloyd Wright House

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Notes

(1) Wolf, Paul. “Early Carmel Home’s fate in limbo.” Carmel Pine Cone, May 1, 1995.

(2) Press Release, “Door House, Finally, To Move Again.” Carmel Preservation Foundation, May 28, 1998.

Credits 

All photographs by L. A. Momboisse unless otherwise noted below: 

Following Photographs courtesy of home owners of Door House and Forge in the Forest: 

– Photograph of John Columbus Stevenson.
– Black and white photo of Door House with two women (one possibly daughter of Stevenson) c. 1906 – 1909.
– Black and white photo of Door House with second house possibly built by Stevenson.
-Black and white photo of Door House on Lincoln.
-Color picture of lot on Lincoln after Door House moved.
-Color picture of Door House on blocks at second location on Mission.
– Color picture of Door House being moved to final location on Pescadero.
– Color picture of Forge In The Forest before addition.   

Carmel Heritage Society House and Garden Tour 2014 – The Fields’ Home and Walker House by Frank Lloyd Wright

The Fields’ Home
Hatton Fields

Nastovic a builder to the Russian aristocracy and Nicholas II fled Russia after the Revolution in 1917.

In the early 1920’s Nastovic probably found the newly incorporated village of Carmel-by-the-Sea very attractive. The Carmel Development Company had sold many lots but they were in need of homes.  Michael J. Murphy and Hugh Comstock had already established themselves as master-builders, but there was room for one more.  

On June 15, 1926, the Pine Cone reported, “Six houses to go up in Hatton Fields at once, designed by A. Nastovic the man who was famous for the monument of Alexander III in Moscow.”  

In the aerial photo above taken sometime in the 1940’s, one of those houses, the Fields’ Home can be seen…

to the left of what is said to have been the beginnings of a “fast food” restaurant which never came to be. 

Nastovic’s 1927 construction in French Normandy style remains very authentic to this day.

  

The Carmel Stone entrance,

all windows and doors (except for one
 in the first floor dining area) are original.

Nastovic incorporated unique architectural features in his home.  Most distinctive are the “Z Doors.” In fact The Fields’ Home has 28 of them.  

These “Z Door’s” were made with Douglas fir planks overlaid with more Douglas fir planks in the shape of a Z.  All held together with metal pegs.  

Another unique element found in this home is the use of the Gothic arch, 

                   

which is found repeated throughout the great room,

 even the 55 inch wide fireplace and
niche above contain this element.

The only significant interior renovation made to Nastovic’s original plan was the removal of a wall between the living area and the kitchen.  (This wall can be seen below in a “before” picture.)

With the wall gone the downstairs living area 

becomes a very inviting great room.  

There many more charming elements to The Fields’ Home, like the third floor turret room. 

             

which the owners refer
to as Rapunzel’s Room.  

The turret room, decorated with vintage hats and hat boxes does bring to mind those words from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair,  

so that I may climb the golden stair.” 

Mr. Nastovic built at least six homes in the Hatton Fields area of Carmel during the late 1920’s. These homes found in a cluster around Seventh and Hatton are easily identified by their prominent “Z Door.”   Unfortunately the depression brought Nastovic’s building career of these stately homes in Carmel to an end.   

The Cabin on the Rocks
Walker House
by Frank Lloyd Wright 

In 1918, Mr. and Mrs. Willis J. Walker, San Francisco socialites, purchased 216 acres of land for $150,000 from John Martin (Mission Ranch).

The Walkers subdivided the land into what they called the Walker Track, and sold  many of the lots.  But the ocean front acreage was deeded to Mrs. Walker’s sister Clinton Della Walker.

“Della Walker was a childhood friend of Frank Lloyd Wright, and when she asked him to design a seaside house for her, he was 84 years old.  He didn’t know that, so he accepted the challenge (his only ocean house), and personally supervised its construction… 

“Make it low,” said Della, “so my neighbors’ views will not be interrupted.”  He did that, and now the prow of the house, on Scenic Drive near Martin Way, drives ceaselessly into the waves that buffet Carmel Bay. 

It is designed like an ocean liner, facing the tireless sea. 

The living room, slightly sunken, looks across the deck through stepped-down windows, like a Captain’s bridge.” (1)

“I want a house,” Mrs. Clinton Della Walker wrote to her old friend and architect Frank Lloyd Wright, “as durable as the rocks…

and as transparent as the waves.

Her phrase captured Wright’s imagination. For almost five years the octogenarian “dean” of American architects worked on and off on Mrs. Walker’s challenge. 

The result was a home that, since its completion in 1952 has been one of the show places of the Monterey Peninsula.” (2)

“In the design, Wright wholly departed from the conventional four-cornered concept of rooms.  There isn’t a square corner in the house. 

The culmination of this dynamic approach is in the hexagonal living room…the stepped-out windows, leading up to the wide roof overhang…the home’s construction is of Carmel stone, supplemented by cedar plywood on interior walls and ceilings.  This wood came from the mills of Mrs. Walker’s son in Susanville…Heating is by radiant floor units…built-in furniture includes…a couch along the living room view windows…Mrs. Walker added only a few pieces…such as the Japanese fish net balls.” (3) 

Mrs. Walker was also responsible for the Mermaid Sculpture on the deck. 

How much did the house cost?  This is a question Mrs. Walker says she can’t answer because she didn’t really keep track of it.  She says, however that it is insured for $25,000, “which I think is enough.” (4)   

” Della doesn’t live there any more, but the house will last forever.” (5)

Here are a few more highlights. 

Part 3 – Door House and Forge In the Forest
Part 1 – First Murphy House, Los Abuelos, and Studio for Florence Lockwood

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Notes 
(1) Smith, Al. “Carmel Legends.”  Carmel Pine Cone, (June 13 – 19, 2014), Section RE p. 2.
(2) Hall, Thorne. Editor, Publisher, Owner. “Houses of Distinction-Frank Lloyd Wright’s Blend of Stone and Sea on Carmel Beach.” Carmel Pacific Spectator Journal, September 1957.(3) Ibid.
(4) Ibid.
(5) Ibid. Smith, A. “Carmel Legends.”

Credits 

All photographs by L. A. Momboisse unless otherwise noted below: 

– Black and white areal photo c. 1940 of Fields house, courtesy of the home owners.  

–  Color picture of the Fields living room before renovation courtesy of home owners.  

– First two black and white photos of Walker House – Hall, Thorne. Editor, Publisher, Owner. “Houses of Distinction-Frank Lloyd Wright’s Blend of Stone and Sea on Carmel Beach.” Carmel Pacific Spectator Journal, September 1957.

– Black and white photo of Della Walker, courtesy of Della’s great-grandson. 

Carmel Heritage Society House and Garden Tour 2014 – First Murphy House, Los Abuelos, & Studio for Florence Lockwood

First Murphy House

Lincoln and 6th Avenue 

In 1900 Emma Murphy, a widow, brought her 15 year old son Michael J. Murphy and 10 year old daughter Myrtle to Carmel-by-the-Sea.  Emma had read about this new village and believed her son, a trained carpenter would quickly find work. 

By 1902 Michael was working for Franklin Devendorf building homes in Carmel and became the chief builder for the Carmel Development Company in 1904.  In 1914, Mr. Devendorf helped Murphy open his own contracting business and lumber and building supply store in town (located where Carmel Plaza is today).  

Over 300 buildings are attributed to Murphy, most notably the Highlands Inn, Carmel Art Association,  Harrison Memorial Library, and the Pine Inn. 

Murphy built his first house for his mother and sister in 1902 when he was 17 years old.  Today the First Murphy House is home to Carmel Heritage Society.   

  

The First Murphy House was completely restored in 1992 by Congleton Architect AIA and today serves as a meeting place and museum.  

M. J. Murphy Lumber and Hardware continues today and is run by Murphy’s relatives in the heart of Carmel Valley.  

Los Abuelos

San Carlos and Santa Lucia

“The property containing Los Abuelas was originally owned by Prof. George Boke, Dean of the Law School at U.C. Berkeley.

Purchased in 1907, it consisted of 8 lots. Prof. Boke, who was active in the Forest Theater, sold 3 lots to Charles & Gertrude Eells, who, according to city records, may have incorporated an existing building into their new home, which was designed by Michael J. Murphy in 1928.” (1)  

In 1931 Murphy added

 an upstairs bedroom. 

This addition at the eastern elevation created a carriage porch below.

Murphy went on to make two more additions for the Eells Family. Another upstairs bedroom in 1933, this time on the northwestern elevation, and in 1938 a bay window on the first level. 

The Monterey Pine tree in the back yard, which towers over the home, was listed as Grand Champion (1998 – 2003) in the National Register of Big Trees. 

Murphy constructed this house using Carmel manufactured speed-block, and redwood from Big Sur.  

Original glass doors and windows feature metal muntins. 

The floors are also original, made of Monterey County oak milled by Murphy at his lumber yard. 

Carmel blacksmith, Francis Whitaker supplied a number of original ironwork pieces: hinges on the front gate, 

kitchen light fixture
(later electrified),

and banister 

with Whitaker signature “Dragon Head.” 

This historic home built by Michael J. Murphy has been owned by the same family since 1957.  Currently it is for sale with Christie’s International.

Studio for Florence Lockwood

Ocean and Forest 

Portrait artist Florence Lockwood was 36 years old when she arrived in Carmel in 1932. A native of Santa Cruz, she received her early art training at Mark Hopkins Institute in San Francisco.

Around 1940 she met and married film, television, and stage actor, Steve Cochran who had arrived in Carmel to perform in the Carmel Shakespeare Festival. They had one daughter Xandria and divorced in 1946. 

Member of the Carmel Art Association, Ms. Lockwood exhibited her one-person show there in 1950.

In 1940 Ms. Lockwood hired Hugh Comstock to build her an artist studio/house on the NW corner of Carpenter and Ocean.  

Comstock, who by the 1940’s was building far more than his namesake “fairy tale” houses, built a 970 square foot home in what was considered the San Francisco Bay Regional style of architecture.  From the eastern elevation it mimics the “salt-box” style common on the east coast and the western prairie during the 1800’s.  

Comstock used redwood siding for the exterior and covered the entire east wall in Carmel stone.  

Inside, past the Dutch door is the 550 square foot studio Florence used to produce many of her portraits.

“It went quite easily from the start,” she says.  “My friends dropped in at the studio to have their portraits made, and then their friends came.  I thought the professional side would be difficult, but it seems that work of this kind attracts charming people, and a good relationship follows.  It’s all such an easy process.  I’m amazed that it’s actually supporting me.” (2) 

On the north wall Comstock incorporated a large window with attached skylight to provide the natural light Ms. Lockwood desired for her portrait work. 

The homes original Victorian tin paneled fireplace, 

 was given new life by the current owners. 

The rest of this quaint artist cottage features a galley kitchen, 

  one bath and charming bedroom. 

The cottage is now owned by another artist, this time a musician, Marilyn Ross and jazz pianist Dick Whittington. Dick, who entertained us during the House and Garden Tour with his extensive repertoire of musical numbers has been playing piano regularly at the Cypress Inn since 2005 check out the Cypress Inn calendar.


Part 2 – The Walker House built by Frank Lloyd Wright, and Fields House.
Part 3 – Door House and Forge In the Forest

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Notes
(1) Carmel City Hall, Building, Structure, and Object Record, Los Abuelas, Evaluator Kent Seavey, 5/13/2002.
(2) (McGrath, Virginia (1952, May). Florence Lockwood. Game and Gossip, p 15.

Credits 

All photographs by L. A. Momboisse unless otherwise noted below: 

– Black and white photo of Michael J. Murphy, his mother and sister in front of the first house he built, c. 1906. (Courtesy of Harrison Memorial Library History Department)  

– Black and white photo, Florence Lockwood self-portrait. (McGrath, Virginia (1952, May). Florence Lockwood. Game and Gossip, p 15.

–  Black and white photo, portrait by Florence Lockwood 1946. (Courtesy of Carmel Art Association)

– Color picture of fireplace at Studio for Florence Lockwood before renovations provided by current owners.

Mission Orchard House – Historical House Carmel-by-the-Sea California

Mission Orchard House Property

Most of us have driven by this historical property on Rio Road, nestled between the Carmel Mission and Larson Baseball Field, but few have the opportunity to tour the grounds.

It has been open for special events in the past decade such as: the Carmel Heritage Society’s Home and Garden Tour 2003, the California Mission alfresco dinner in 2013, marking the 300^th anniversary of the birth of Blessed Father Junipero Serra, and the inaugural Carmel Bach Festival House and Garden Tour in 2014.

There are two main houses on the property, one built of adobe and one of wood. The two structures (adobe left, wood right) are seen in the picture below.

It is a special place with quite a bit of history. In fact the adobe on this property is considered the oldest private residence in California.  Well at least one of the walls of this residence can claim to be almost 250 years old having been erected in 1772.

Carmel Mission

1770 – 1834

Pentecost Sunday, June 3, 1770 Blessed Father Junipero Serra said Mass and erected the cross that would establish the second mission in California, Mission San Carlos Borromeo (Carmel Mission).  The mission was originally located near the Monterey Presidio beside the Bay of Monterey. 

On August 24, 1771, Blessed Father Junipero Serra moved the mission from Monterey to its present site in Carmel. 

He began construction on the mission and an adobe wall that would surround the future mission orchard in 1772. 

Two years later, Fr. Palou planted a pear orchard within the adobe wall. Three of those pear trees still exist today. 

The picture, above shows the side of the orchard adobe wall that would have faced the Mission.  This is the present day adobe living room wall.  

In 1812 mission records show that a lean-to was built against the orchard adobe wall. This lean-to would have provided housing for the mission orchardist and caretaker.  The 1774 wall of the lean-to is the current north wall of the adobe living room.

Secularization 
1834 – 1859

On August 9, 1834, Mexican Governor Figueroa passed regulations secularizing mission lands.  If the regulations had been carried out as they were decreed, the Carmel Mission Native American’s would have received portions of the mission lands. Though some were granted land, the majority of the mission lands went to Mexican families. (1)

Native American Juan Romero would come to own 160 acres which included the Carmel Mission, pear orchard and the adobe lean-to. (2)

By 1839 the rest of the land surrounding the mission, some 4,367 acres became the Mexican land grant called  Rancho Canada de la Sequnda, granted by Mexican Governor Jose Casto to Lazaro Soto. Lazaro Soto’s grandfather came to California with the De Anza Expedition. Lazaro was married to Felicita Cantua and by 1849 he had sold his land grant for $500 to Andrew Randall.     

–  Back at the Mission, (it is not clear where Juan Romero was during his years of ownership), by 1846 squatters had begun to occupy the mission ruins and the adobe lean-to. One of the squatter families by the name of Cantua (possibly a relative of Felicita Cantua Soto) filed a claim with the U.S. Lands Commission for possession of the property. This was denied. 

In 1850 the squatters used whalebone vertebrae gathered from the beach and wood beams taken from the abandoned Carmel Mission to build a one story wood house next to the adobe lean-to. 

The two downstairs rooms of the wood house that exist today would have represented this structure.  

Though squatters were living on the property Juan Romero still owned the land.  In 1852 he would deed this property to William Curtis a Monterey store owner for $300. 

In 1856 Mr. Curtis sold the property to one of his clerks, Mr. Loveland.

In 1859 John Martin purchased the property from the Loveland’s and lived in the adobe lean-to.  Later that year, the United States Land Commission confirmed ownership of nine acres of the Martin purchase (the land surrounding the Carmel Mission) back to the Catholic Church. (3) John Martin moved his family into a ranch house he built on his property at Mission Ranch.


The picture below is the 1859 U.S. Government survey of land restored to the Catholic Church.  In the north east corner of the orchard two squatters houses are drawn. One being the adobe lean-to consisting of the living room and entry area of the current adobe and the other the two downstairs rooms of the current wood house.   

Back in Church Hands

1860 – Present 

May 27, 1861 -“We visited the old Mission of Carmelo…it is now a complete ruin; entirely desolate…we rode over a broken adobe wall into this court.  Hundreds (literally) of squirrels scampered around to their holes in the old walls…About half of the roof had fallen in…the paintings and inscriptions on the walls are mostly obliterated…The old garden was now a barley field, but there were many fine pear trees left, now full of young fruit.  Roses bloomed luxuriantly in the deserted places, and geraniums flourished as rank weeds. (4)  

Around 1870 Father Angelo Casanova would be appointed pastor of Carmel Mission.  He leased the orchard land to Christiano Machado, a whaler from the island of St. Michael’s in the Azores.

Machado would serve as the mission caretaker and orchardist until 1920.  During that time he added extensively to the garden and the orchard.

In the garden a “ramada” for al fresco dining was built of adobe, along with an oven for baking. 

In 1881, Machado’s brother-in-law, whaler Captain Victorine, (who built the whaler’s cabin at Point Lobos which still stands) would add a second story to the wood squatters shack next to the adobe for the Machado’s twenty-five children.

In 1921 Carmel Mission pastor Father Ramon Mestres would hire Jo Mora to restore the adobe house. 

The main entrance of the adobe was moved to the east side facing the entrance to the wood house.  

An entry room in the adobe led to the living area. The painting decorations on the interior walls were originally painted by Joe Mora.

Additional space was added to the living room to make room for a fireplace.  Mora hired stonemason Juan Martoral to build the large field-stone chimney, which would be built into an addition to the north wall of the living room.

The adobe still resembles the lean-to, with sloping roof off the north wall. (The room seen above off the living space to the west was added in the 1940’s)

To make the ramada and gardens more accessible to guests, doors were added to the south elevation. 

In 1924 Father Mestres sold the restored house to three women.  One of these women was Eva DeSalba, the second mayor and first woman mayor of Carmel. 

These women opened the adobe as the Carmel Tea House, which became a popular Carmel spot for lunch and afternoon tea.  It closed in 1929.

In 1929 the Lloyd Pacheco Tevis Family purchased the property. They would further expand the existing buildings over their years of tenancy. 

The Trevis Family added separate living quarters for their butler and gardener toward the rear of the property,

as well as an art studio for Mrs. Tevis, 

and a billiard room for Mr. Tevis.

In the early 1940’s the Tevis Family hired Sir Harry Downie, curator in charge of the Carmel Mission restoration, to expand the existing adobe home, with the aim of keeping it with its original character.

A new kitchen, 

dining room and butler’s pantry

were added following 

the long axis of the building
opening to the gardens. 

These additions would double the size of the original adobe house.  Downie would also install one of the first water-circulated radiant heating systems in the country within a new concrete slab floor in the adobe.

In 1976 antique dealer Harry Lewis Scott purchased the property from the Trevis family.  Mr. Scott operated Keller & Scott Antiques in downtown Carmel.  At the time, his store was across from the Carmel Art Association on Dolores. 

Scott decorated the home and garden with museum worthy antiques and original painted designs found at the Santa Inez Mission. He also incorporated pieces of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, damaged in the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989, into the garden.  

In the mid 1990’s Mr. Scott sold the two and a half acre property, which had come to be known as “Mission Orchard House,” back to the Monterey Diocese. Mr. Scott maintained a life estate in Mission Orchard House so that he could live the rest of his life on the property.

In 2003 he opened up his beautifully decorated property to the Carmel Heritage Society for their annual House and Garden Tour. 

Mr. Scott passed away in 2011 and Mission Orchard House passed to the Diocese of Monterey in October of that year. Currently the diocese is investigating what must be done to restore this important and historic property.  


___
Notes
(1)Randall Millken, Laurence H. Shoup, and Beverly R Ortiz, Ohlone/Costanoan Indians of the San Francisco Peninsula and their Neighbors, Yesterday and Today (Archaeological and Historical Consultants Oakland, California, 2009), p. 154,155,161,162.

(2) Helen Wilson, “The Mission Ranch – A Brief History,” The Herald Weekend Magazine, April 20, 1986.

(3) Martin J. Morgado, Serra’s Legacy (Mount Carmel Publishing Pacific Grove, 1987), p. 113.

(4) Up and Down California in 1860 – 1864 – The Journal of William H. Brewer:  Book 1 Chapter 7 Salinas Valley and Monterey. 

Art
Monterey Father Serra’s Landing Place (Painting of first Mass Pentecost Sunday June 3, 1770) – Oil on canvas depiction by Leon Troussett 1877. 

Photography
All photos and video by L. A. Momboisse http://www.carmelbytheseaca.blogspot.com except those listed below:

– Black and white of adobe and wood house taken after 1921. (Kent Seavey, Images of America Carmel A History in Architecture, (Arcadia Publishing, 2007) p.17

– Black and white drawing of Carmel Mission c. 1794 by John Sykes (picture taken from wall in Carmel Mission courtyard).

– Picture of water color of Carmel Mission c. 1827 by Richard Beechey (picture taken from wall in Carmel Mission courtyard).

– 1859 U.S. government survey of land restored to the Catholic Church (Martin J. Morgado, Serra’s Legacy (Mount Carmel Publishing Pacific Grove, 1987), p. 113).

– Two black and white photos from 1929 – the Mission Tea House inside and out.  Photos used with permission from Casa Q Events. Casa Q Events planned the dinner at Orchard House given in honor of the 300^th anniversary of the birth of Blessed Father Junipero Serra. 

Carmel Heritage Society and First Murphy Park

Old Carmel Foundation / Carmel Tomorrow
“It’s Your Town Start Running It”

In 1976, “born of frustration and nurtured by anger, a grassroots movement sprang up in Carmel with the avowed intent of halting deterioration of the village.  The group Old Carmel was conceived and gained notoriety through its efforts to save the Village Corner, long a favored stopping place of local residents. 

                                

When threatened with a loss of lease and possible conversion to some other purpose, the Village Corner became a rallying point for residents concerned with the proliferation of tourism as Carmel’s chief source of business. With well over 300 members, Old Carmel rapidly established itself as a potentially powerful political movement.” (1)  

Old Carmel counts the saving of the Village Corner as their first victory. “Ben Lyon, Randy Reinstedt, George Faul, Mindy Faia and several others banded together to help then owner George Rockwood to keep the popular restaurant on the northeast corner of Dolores Street and Sixth Avenue.  The group initially named itself The Old Carmel Foundation which eventually evolved into Carmel Tomorrow.” (2)

In their first general membership meeting, Carmel Tomorrow leaders, Frank Lloyd a newspaperman, Arthur Strasburger, vice president of Carmel Realty, Leslie Gross former building inspector, and Howard Brunn owner of Carmel Bay Co., raised a set of diverse objectives – from saving the north field at Sunset Center for baseball games to establishing a system of preferential parking for local citizens.  Their moto, “It’s your town. Start running it.”

Carmel Heritage Society 

“It’s Ours to Protect”  

Carmel Tomorrow was dubbed a “politically potent organization” and fell into disarray. In 1984 it was reborn as a new non-political group called Carmel Heritage.

“Virginia Stanton, the first president of Carmel Heritage told the Carmel Pine Cone/Carmel Valley Outlook that the group plans to work toward preservation of the village’s past without dabbling in political controversies.” (3)  

Thirty years later the Carmel Heritage Society, a non-profit organization, is still serving the City of Carmel. Their mission is to protect, preserve and promote the cultural heritage of the community in a way that encourages public recognition and participation so that people will have a greater knowledge and appreciation of the community of Carmel and its sphere of influence.

Carmel Heritage Society provides the community of Carmel with a variety of historic gifts and venues.

Besides their current project of cataloging and archiving numerous historical documents and photos from the last 100 years, the Carmel Heritage Society hosts two charming and informative tours yearly. The House and Garden Tour and Inns of Distinction are well worth the price of admission. Check out Carmel Heritage Society’s Facebook page for more details.  

Carmel Heritage Society‘s home is First Murphy House, which is a living history museum of the 100 year history of Carmel-by-the-Sea.  One piece of this living history stands just outside the front door.  It is the wooden Milk Shrine, once used by Carmelites for their milk deliveries. 

First Murphy House is staffed by volunteers and the hours are posted on the front door at Lincoln and Sixth.  

First Murphy Park

First Murphy Park is a wonderful addition to the grounds of First Murphy House. It is an area of native plants and benches, and a delightful place to sit and just let time pass. 

In 1994, The Valentine, a bronze sculpture figure by George Wayne Lundeen, of an elderly couple seated on a bench was purchased by the City of Carmel for $40,000 to grace the southeast corner of the park.  

“As someone views and touches a piece of my work, it is  my sincere hope that they will look past that hard surface of bronze to find the life which I try so much to capture within.” (George Wayne Lundeen)

Mr. Lundeen most certainly captured life in The Valentine.  Every time I walk by this statue, I am reminded of my parents who honeymooned at the Pine Inn in 1940, and were married for 70 years.  

If you visit the living history museum at First Murphy House, take time to meander the paths of First Murphy Park.

Rest on a bench,
or check out the upper deck
with it’s ocean view. 

 
The landscape 

with it’s wall of large boulders, 

was designed for Carmel’s
maritime climate with native and drought
resistant plants such as Sea Lavender,

and Rockrose.

The newest addition to the grounds is a commemorative bench dedicated in honor of Enid Sales, a historic preservationist, who was also instrumental in the community effort to save First Murphy House.   

The First Murphy Park is open sunrise to sunset.  There are public restrooms at the southwest corner of the park.

Read more here: http://events.sacbee.com/carmel_ca/events/show/327091043-commemorative-bench-at-first-murphy-house-in-carmel-to-honor-enid-t-sales#storylink=cpy

____

Footnotes
(1) Michael Butowotch, “Frustrated Residents Form Old Carmel,” The Carmel Pine Cone, (10/14/76): 3.
(2) Michael Gardner, “Carmel Heritage Hopes to Preserve Village History,” The Carmel Pine Cone (4/19/84).
(3) ibid. 

Photo Credits
Photographs – L. A. Momboisse – http://www.carmelbytheseaca.blogspot.com
Except those listed below:

.– Black and White Photo by Ben Lloyd of The Herald of Carmel Heritage Society Honorees, Marjory Lloyd, Virginia Stanton, and Helen Wilson. (The Herald (11/27/1990), 3D)

First Murphy House – Home of the Carmel Heritage Society

Michael J. Murphy

Born on June 26, 1885, Michael J. Murphy was one of the twelve children of Michael and Emma of Minden, Utah.  He grew up on the family cattle and horse ranch in Utah until his father’s untimely death in a horse accident in 1893. 

The ranch became too much for Emma and her five unmarried children, so she moved the family to Los Angeles.  Here Michael learned the trade of carpentry. 

In 1900 Emma learned of a small settlement starting up near Monterey, called Carmel-by-the-Sea and decided to take Michael and his ten year old sister Myrtle north for a visit. They traveled by train to Monterey and then took a stagecoach over the hill to Carmel. 

In 1902 Mr. Murphy built his first home, for his mother and sister.  By 1904 he had become associated with Franklin Devendorf as a builder for Carmel Development Company. 

Franklin Devendorf had purchased much of the land in Carmel and was subdividing and selling the parcels. He wanted to sell the lots with homes.  So in 1903 Devendorf ordered 100 “portable houses,” to put on the lots he had for sale.  What was delivered however, were 100 doors.

Devendorf used the doors to create one house. (Insistently this house, “Door House,” still exists and will be part of the Carmel Heritage Society House and Garden Tour 2014.)  But Franklin Devendorf needed more than one house for all the lots he had for sale.  So he asked young M. J. Murphy who had only built one house, to help him build the houses he needed.    

Murphy developed his own designs and did most of the building himself. As his reputation grew, more and more people wanted Murphy homes.  “In 1914 he became a general contractor and in 1924, he established M. J. Murphy, Inc., a business which sold building supplies, did rock crushing and concrete work, and operated a lumber mill and cabinet shop business situated between San Carlos and Mission streets.” (1)  The lumber mill was located where the Wells Fargo Bank and parking lot are today, and the lumber yard where the Carmel Plaza is today.    

Over 300 buildings in Carmel are attributed to Michael J. Murphy, most notably The Highlands Inn, the Carmel Art Association, the Harrison Memorial Library, the Pine Inn, Sea View House and First Murphy House.  Murphy’s influence on the character of both residential and business districts was tremendous.  

Mr. Murphy was also hired by Robinson Jeffers to build Tor House.  During the first stage of construction Jeffers studied under Murphy as an apprentice.  After learning all the trades, Jeffers went on to finish the house and build Hawk Tower.

Mr, Murphy retired in 1941 and turned his business over to his son Frank. Today, M. J. Murphy, Inc is operated by his grandsons out of Carmel Valley.  

First Murphy House

Michael J. Murphy was not a proponent of any particular style when he built his first house for his mother and sister in 1902.  This home, an 820 square foot cottage, is a mixture of Victorian (Queen Anne bay windows) and a Craftsman Bungalow (rectangular single story style).

Over the years the home was remodeled, moved, and eventually ended up in the middle of the commercial district on Mission between Fifth and Sixth for use as a storage unit.

In 1990 Murphy’s first house was purchased by developers who planned on tearing it down.  

With the lack of funds, need for a new location for the house, and the developers pressuring for demolition, the odds of saving the house seemed insurmountable. 

But Carmelites can be tenacious.  To save the house from demolition, and with the support of the Carmel Heritage Society, the citizens of Carmel formed the First Murphy Foundation, which raised $16,000 for the relocation of First Murphy House.  

The City of Carmel offered city-owned property at Sixth and Lincoln for the relocation site, and the house was declared historical.  

Relocation 

One morning residents awoke to find the
First Murphy House rising above the trees, 

being transported through town

 (almost as if leading a parade),

and deposited at its present location

 next to what would become First Murphy Park.

After relocation, renovation of the little cottage began. Project Architect, Brian Congelton of Congleton Architect,  spent a great deal of time insuring that the First Murphy House would conform to its original design. 

The project was completed in the summer of 1992 and First Murphy House became the home and welcome center for Carmel Heritage Society.  

Inside visitors will find a living history museum of Carmel.  They may also purchase the video Don’t Pave Main Street.  This video on Carmel history is narrated by former mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea Clint Eastwood.

Also available for purchase is The Comstock Fairy Tale Cottages of Carmel, by Joanne Mathewson, the second edition, published by Carmel resident Stephanie Ager Kirz of White Dog Press.  

 First Murphy House
Welcome Center 

Carmel Heritage Society 

Next History of Carmel Heritage Society and First Murphy Park

Read more here: http://events.sacbee.com/carmel_ca/events/show/327091043-commemorative-bench-at-first-murphy-house-in-carmel-to-honor-enid-t-sales#storylink=cpy

____
Footnotes
(1) Hale, Sharron Lee. A Tribute to Yesterday (Valley Publishers Santa Cruz, 1980), 20.

Photo CreditsPhotographs – L. A. Momboisse – http://www.carmelbytheseaca.blogspot.com Except those listed below: 

– Black and White Photo of M. J. Murphy with wife and children, 1910. (M. J. Murphy Hardware Carmel Valley)
– Black and White Photo of M. J. Murphy with his mother and sister in front of First Murphy House. (Harrison Memorial Library Local History Department)
– Three Color Photos of First Murphy House relocation. (Harrison Memorial Library Local History Department)
– Black and White Photo of the dedication of First Murphy House as Carmel Heritage Welcome Center.  Pictured (l to r) Susan Draper, Lacy Buck, Carmel Heritage President Kay Prine, Burney Threadgill, Glenn Leidig, and Jean Draper.  Prine holds a plaque dedicating the house to the late Carmel philanthropist and first President of Carmel Heritage Society, Virginia Stanton. (Deborah Sharp, “Carmel Heritage Officially Opens Welcome Center.”  Carmel Pine Cone, (1992).

Carmel Heritage Society Event Posts

Carmel Heritage Society

“It’s ours to protect.” 

Carmel Home and Garden Tour 2012 

Part I Hansel and Curtain Call (Hugh Comstock)

Part II First Murphy House and Bowhay House (Michael Murphy)

Part III Cornerstone (Frederick Bigland)

Cabin on the Rocks ( Frank Lloyd Wright)

Carmel Home and Garden Tour 2013 

Part I First Murphy House ( Michael Murphy)

A Hugh Comstock Residence (Hugh Comstock)

A Storybook Cottage (Huch Comstock)

Part II Forest Cottage (Frederick Bigland)

All the Way (American Foursquare)

Holly Oak Cottage ( Michael Murphy)

Part III  Hob Nob and Carmel Cottage Inn

Carmel Inns of Distinction 2012 

Part I Carmel Cottage Inn

Part II La Playa Carmel, Tally Ho Inn

& Candle Light Inn

Part III Lamp Lighter Inn & Cypress Inn

Part IV  Happy Landing Inn & Hofsas House

Carmel Inns of Distinction 2013 

Part I Vendange Carmel,

Carmel Garden Inn & Tradewinds Carmel

Part II Carriage House & Coachman’s Inn

Part III  Cypress Inn, L’ Auberge Carmel &

La Playa Carmel

Carmel Inns of Distinction 2013 – Part III – Cypress Inn, L’Auberge, and La Playa

We have three more unique inns to view.  From the Coachman’s Inn , we head south on 7th Avenue to the Cypress Inn.

Cypress Inn 

Lincoln and 7th Avenue

Attributes: Complimentary Breakfast,

Ocean View Room 220, Pet Friendly Rooms

Terry’s Lounge and Restaurant on Site

The site of the Cypress Inn enjoys a rich history.  Home to the first art gallery of Carmel in 1906, rumored to have been used as a nursing home or sanatorium in the 1920’s, finally transformed into the Hotel La Ribera in 1929, and then quickly forced to close due to the Great Depression.  In the 1960’s the property opened as the Cypress West Hotel.  In the 1980’s it was purchased by its current co-owners, businessman Dennis LeVett and actress Doris Day and became Carmel’s first pet friendly inn. 

We entered through the side patio

where pet’s are welcome

for lunch and dinner

from Terry’s Restaurant. 

In the lobby annex Terry’s Restaurant serves cookies

and lite bites of roast beef.

The “Day Room”  is decked

out with Christmas cheer

and Heller Estate is pouring

their 2012 Merlot,  Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc.

The rooms we tour are in the courtyard

off Terry’s Lounge.

Through the glass doors lies a beautiful

courtyard filled with white lights,

and nine beautifully appointed courtyard rooms. 

The following video tours five of them. 

To  view all the rooms with rates and amenities

 view the Cypress Inn room site, it is very comprehensive. 

And don’t forget to come back
after dark to take in
an original by Mr. Brainwash. 

For more information
or rates on

Cypress Inn call
800/443-7443

L’Auberge Carmel 
Monte Verde at 7th Avenue
Attributes: Valet Parking,
Breakfast, Pet Friendly Rooms,
Peeks of the Ocean from some rooms,
On-Site Restaurant

Just about every building in Carmel-by-the-Sea has a fairly well documented history, and the L’Auberge is no different. 

<span style="font-family: "In 1901, J. F. Devendorf (Carmel’s founding father) ordered 100 San Francisco cottages to be shipped in sections to Carmel.  Only one cottage arrived. It was purchased by former mayor of Carmel, Allen Knight’s father, and reassembled on the Knight property on Monte Verde and Seventh. 

<span style="font-family: "

<span style="font-family: "

<span style="font-family: "During the 1920 while Allen Knight was bicycling through Prague he fell in love with the European architecture and somehow convinced the owner of a Czech hotel to share their blueprints with him.  He brought this drawing back to his aunts, who had inherited the property after his father died.
<span style="font-family: "
<span style="font-family: "The aunts decided to use the plans of the Czech hotel to built an apartment building.  But first they had to move their little cottage to Guadalupe and 6th (which is a whole other story).  Anyway the aunts hired Albert Farr a San Francisco architect to design the project and in 1929 their building opened as the Sundial Apartments, the first apartment building in Carmel. 

<span style="font-family: "

<span style="font-family: "The Sundial Apartments became the Sundial Lodge and finally in 2003 was sold for an undisclosed price to the Auberge Carmel partnership who reopened the L<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "<iframe width=\0022420\0022 height=\0022315"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: "’<span style="font-family: "Auberge Carmel in January 2013 after a $1 million upgrade.  You may see my post on the grand opening here.     

A member of the Relais & Chateaux an association of luxury hotels and restaurants, the L’Auberge is listed on the Travel & Leisure’s Top 500 World’s Best Hotels and Executive Chef Justin Cogley of their award winning restaurant Aubergine was voted Food & Wine’s Best New Chef in 2013. 

During our tour, Nathaniel Munoz, Aubergine’s Restaurant Director, treated us to a delicious taste of 100 year old cheese and a hot toddy with a pleasant holiday kick…

…from one of the bottles that shares

space in the custom built cheese cave
with the fromagerie.

With warm drink in hand

we passed the lobby fireplace

to the charming courtyard 

where Karen Hudson, Director of Sales, 

met us for our tour.  

For information or rates of
the L’Auberge Carmel 
call 831/624-8578

A short walk to Camino Real and 8th 

and our last inn of the day, 

The La Playa Carmel.  

The La Playa Carmel 

Camino Real & 8th Avenue 

Attributes:  Breakfast,

 Ocean View Rooms, Pool

The La Playa was originally built as a home in 1905 by Christian Jogenson as a gift for his wife.  Mr. Jorgenson was fascinated by the Carmel Mission and even placed a window in his front patio that imitated the star window in the Mission. 

In 1916 the mansion was converted into a hotel, was frequented by my mother and her cousins in the 1920’s and 30’s, and the sight of my college Junior Prom dinner in 1978. 

The hotel recently underwent a
 $3.5 million restoration 

and reopened in August 2012. 

Our tour takes us past the Fireside Room, 

and the historic
 antique wood bar
with iconic Greek columns,

to the dining room 

where the La Playa kitchen
served dessert petit fours

  

and Caraccioli Cellars 
served their Pinot 

 and sparkling Brut Rose.

Next to the dining room is
the Pacific Terrace

where hotel guests
are served breakfast,and an ocean view. 

Or later in the day guests may enjoy the
Pacific Terrace by the firepit with
a cocktail – and ocean view. 

Of the 75 guest rooms
the La Playa Carmel
has to offer, we toured
Ocean View Rm 201,

with four large picture windows 

overlooking the ocean

and the hotel garden.

For information or rates
on the La Playa Carmel
call 800 / 582 -8900

For a  map of the tour click here.

Our tour is over.  Many thanks to all the hotels, restaurants, and wineries who participated in this years Carmel Inns of Distinction.  The $30 price tag to get in more than pays for itself with the wineries giving away coupons for free tastings and the restaurants giving away coupons for discounts on meals.  Not to mention the numerous pourings and bites one has the opportunity to taste while enjoying a behind the scenes tour of some of our beautiful hotels and inns.  

And finally many thanks to the Carmel Heritage Society, for it is because of their existence and their mission to protect, preserve and promote the cultural heritage of Carmel-by-the-Sea, that this event is even possible.

Carmel Inn’s of Distinction 2013 – Part I (Vendange Carmel, Carmel Garden Inn, Tradewinds Carmel)
Carmel Inn’s of Distinction 2013 – Part II (Carriage House, Coachman’s Inn) 

___
Credits
All pictures and videos by L. A. Momboisse except two black and white photos under L’Auberge.  The first is courtesy of the Harrison Memorial History Library Nixon Files.  The second from Carmel A History In Architecture by Kent Seavey, Page 93, 

Carmel Inns of Distinction 2013 – Part II – Carriage House and Coachman’s Inn

A short five block walk east on Mission Street from Tradewinds Carmel brings us to the back entrance of Carriage House just one block from Carmel Plaza‘s shopping, numerous restaurants and a plethora of coffee houses.  Carmel-by-the-Sea is one square mile, so actually, nothing is very far away – and that includes the beach.

Carriage House Inn 

Junipero between 7th and 8th Avenue
Attributes: Breakfast Delivered to Room,
Evening Wine Served in Library,

 Off Street Parking 

In the lobby we enjoyed

light bites from

The Grill on Ocean Avenue.

A AAA 4-Diamond inn for over 30 years, Carriage House has 13 spacious rooms and suites.  We toured room 7 a deluxe king room on the first level. The dressing area can be separated from the rest of the room by closing the blue French country toile fabric doors over the sink. 

There is plenty of room in this room with

 window seat, 

feather bed, bed bench,

and sitting area, 

all facing the gas fireplace and flat screen TV. 

  The bathroom features a 1 person

 jetted tub and shower combination.   

Every evening, 

coffee, wine and hors d’ oeuvres

 are served in the library.

During the tour our wine was poured by
Paraiso Vineyards of the Santa Lucia Highlands

For more information
on the Carriage House Inn

or reservations call 

831/625-2585

We bring our Carmel Heritage

wine glass and cross the street to

a Carmel staple since 1954.

Coachman’s Inn 

San Carlos at 7th
Attributes: Breakfast Delivered to Room,
Pet Friendly Rooms,
Dry Sauna, Hot Tub, Off Street Parking

Current owners The Steuck’s purchased the Coachman’s Inn in the 1990’s.  Since then it has undergone three major renovations, including the most recent finished just three years ago.  The outside keeps its original lines, a U shape with stucco siding decorated with “Comstock” style half-timbering.

Ample off-street parking for guests

 (this means you don’t have to worry about
 moving your car every two hours – a real plus). 

On site dry sauna and hot tub.

Up on the patio balcony Mark Manzoni of

Manzoni Cellars 

poured a 2011 Pinot and 2012 Chardonnay.

Visit them in town

in the Paseo Courtyard west side

of San Carlos between Ocean and 7th

The Tree House Cafe provided our small bites.  By the time we arrived, the Hummus had been devoured,

and the server was heading back across the street to the restaurant for more provisions.

Rooms were open
on the second level
for viewing. 

Room 209 with two queen beds, 

large sitting area,
gas fireplace, and
flat screen TV –

and Room 211 with
one queen bed 

sitting area,
(all rooms have Kuerig
Single Press Coffee Makers)

  flat screen TV
(yes we are still watching the 49ers)
and gas fireplace. 

Also enjoy fresh baked cookies
and apple cider
every afternoon in the lobby. 

(Yes, I know those are dog biscuits
not cookies – Karen the innkeeper was
still baking the cookies when we dropped in.)

For more information on
The Coachman’s Inn 

or reservations call
831/624-6421

For a  map of the tour click here.

Next up our last three inns, Part III – Cypress Inn, L’Auberge and LaPlaya 

___
Credits
Photos – L. A. Momboisse http://www.carmelbytheseaca.blogspot.com