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History of the Carriage House
The white pillared house at 27 St. James Park, with the letters “S/D” on its chimneys, reflects 90 years in the lives of two early Los Angeles families – the Stearnses and the Dockweilers. The house was completed in 1900 for Col. John Eldredge Stearns, his wife, Julia, and their daughter Katherine, then 12 years old. Chicago-born Stearns had just retired from the real estate business in Nampa, Idaho, where he served as the town’s first mayor. They built their retirement home on a ¾-acre site in the new subdivision of St. James Park, on the city’s outskirts near USC. Postcards said the park was “for the exclusive use of the residents who reside by the side, and is a part of the property of several millionaires whose homes adjoin it.” For his architect, Stearns chose English-born John Parkinson, who had worked in the Napa Valley and Seattle before moving to Southern California. Parkinson’s houses are rare, for he quickly found success in commercial buildings. He and his firms went on to design such landmarks as Los Angeles City Hall, the Coliseum, Union Station, the Bullocks-Wilshire Building, much of Los Angeles’Spring Street financial district and more than a dozen of the older buildings at USC. For the Stearns estate, Parkinson not only designed a classic house but also a classic carriage house, with an attached cottage for the household cook. Within a few years, Stearns separated the carriage house and cottage into separate buildings. He tended orchids in his greenhouse, and enjoyed fishing off Santa Catalina. Col. Stearns died in 1927, and his wife in 1935. Meanwhile, daughter Katherine had married a neighbor, Thomas A. J. Dockweiler, who joined his bride in her parents’ home. Thomas was the eldest of 11 children of Isidore and Gertrude Dockweiler, a prominent Los Angeles family who lived on Adams Boulevard. Isidore Dockweiler had been born in 1868, and baptized in the old Plaza church on Main Street, the heart of the Pueblo of Los Angeles. The law firm he founded, Dockweiler & Dockweiler, included five of his sons. Influential in Democratic politics, Isidore ran for lieutenant governor and served for 13 years as state committeeman for California. Isidore’s brother, Major John Henry Dockweiler, was city engineer in 1888-89 and again in 1896-98, during which Los Angeles’ Third Street tunnel through Bunker Hill was constructed. Motorists still use it today. Of Isidore and Gertude’s 11 children, one became a congressman and later district attorney of Los Angeles, one an admiral, one a Superior Court judge, one a medical doctor, one a diplomat and Democratic state treasurer, and one a candidate for mayor. Thomas, the eldest and Katherine’s husband, was an attorney, president of the city’s Social Services Commission, and for several years a member of the State Committee of Bar Examiners. Like his father, he was a prominent Catholic layman; both were appointed Knights of St. Gregory. Katherine Stearns Dockweiler, as she was known after her marriage, was active in social and charitable organizations. She was chairman of Las Madrinas, sponsor of Los Angeles’ annual debutante ball, and president of the Social Services Auxiliary of the Sisters of Social Service. Thomas and Katherine had two children – a son, dermatologist John E. S. Dockweiler, and a daughter, Julia Stearns Dockweiler. John married but did not have children. Julia, who never married, was active in social, charitable and musical organizations. In 1990, after her parents and brother had passed away, Julia sold the house to Jim and Janice Robinson. |
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