Once again plowing through microfilm of the Petaluma Argus and the Petaluma Daily Courier for 1927 in an effort to find out who, if anyone, designed my sister's "new" house on Oak Street. We know it was built by local contractor Walter Singleton for June and Arthur Ross in 1927. Singleton may have drawn up his own plans for the house, but as he is known to have worked with prominent architects including Albert Farr, Julia Morgan and Brainerd Jones it's worth following up on. Follow up in this case means reviewing an entire year's worth of newspaper - two papers in fact because the Argus and the Courier were two separate publications until 1928.

14 Coady Court, Petaluma, Calif. Photo taken June 17, 2013, by Katherine J. Rinehart

It was while doing this that I came across an article in the Petaluma Daily Courier dated July 15, 1927,  which references the building of a residence on Coady Court. The street number isn't provided but the owner is. With the owners name I was able to find the street number using a city directory.

According to the July 15th article, H. Von Emster hired H.P. Vogensen to build a "very modest Spanish bungalow and garage" for he and his family on their Coady Court lot.

Checking the 1930 census I discovered that H stood for Hans and the Von Emster family consisted of Hans' wife Marion and their two sons: Conrad H. (22) and Ernest W. (21). The census taker also put a value on the house as $9,000.

In planning the residence, Vogensen Co. is reported to have incorporated many modern features and "with the assistance of J. E. Kresky" was able to solve the problem of economically heating the five room bungalow without the necessity of a basement.

Although I don't have a historic photo of the house (or should I say I have yet to come across one), I was able to take this picture the other day.

It is safe to say that if the current owners were to put their home on the market today, the price would far exceed $9,000.