Charles C. Holbrook (1830–1926) was a successful wholesale hardware and mining supply store owner in San Francisco, he created the grand rural estate of Elmwood in the late 19th century.[2] Beginning in 1883, the Holbrook family would summer in the house together and occasionally visit on the weekends during the slower seasons.[4]
In 1926, Olive Holbrook Palmer (1878–1958) inherited the estate which was then named "Elmwood" which she used as her summer home with her spouse Silas H. Palmer (1874–1963).[5] Their main house was in San Francisco, the 22-room Holbrook mansion located at the corner of Van Ness Street and Washington Street.[4] Up until the mid-1950s, the estate was still operating as a farm and did not seem to have any major architectural or landscape changes.[4] When Olive died in March of 1958, the couple did not have heirs; she willed the estate to the city of Atherton for recreational purposes.[4]
Architecture
The Elmwood water tower was built in c.1883, designed by San Francisco architect Henry C. Macy in a Second Empire style and is a rare example of a nineteenth-century tank house that was made in a less utilitarian style (in order to match the main house).[2] The water tower is three stories tall and is built with lumber, featuring an ornamental balcony and a French mansard roof.[4]
The main house was built c.1875 in the same Second Empire style, but was replaced in 1959.[2][4]
The carriage house (also known as the Gen Merrill Carriage House) was built in c.1897 in a Colonial Revival style.[2][4] The carriage house is two stories tall with the first floor featuring stables, a tack room and carriage storage, and a hay loft and bunkhouse in the second story.[4] The carriage house features a hip and gable roof with asphalt shingles and redwood siding.[4]
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