Adventure 051, Site 052 – Robert Dollar House

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 051, Site 052 – Robert Dollar House

National Registry ID: 91000920

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  September 20, 2012

Location:

Address: 1408 Mission, San Rafael, CA

Description:

Date Built: 1880 's

Architect: Clinton Day

As has been previously noted, Thing One and Thing Two love to walk. We saw that another historic house was in the neighborhood, so off we trotted. We were not sure how far it was and were concerned about the parking meter. But off we went. Along the way, we passed a beautiful building which was the Elks Lodge. As it turned out, this was the former home of Ira Cook, who built the Boyd Gate House, talked about in our Site 51 adventure.



But then we came to 1408 Mission Street. This was a phenomenal looking house in a park like setting. But it was named the Falkirk Cultural Center, not the Dollar House. We look around the park area—sort of looks like a cross between families enjoying themselves, people lounging around, and a few scattered refugies from the 60's and 70's. As we got closer, the house looks more inviting. And it is. The door is open and we are free to walk around. We look around the rooms on the first story, but need to be off to rescue our car from the forces of the meter patrol. On the way out, we noticed a sign saying stay away from trees. Evidently there are some killer cones which drop from their trees.



Now what about the Dollar House? Well it was actually Ella Parks built the house and lived in it until her death. In 1906, Rober Dollar bought the house and over time, this house started to be called the Dollar House. So besides the beauty of the house, why is this house important? Robert Dollar started a lumber company—the first being unsuccessful, the second succeeding. After awhile, Dollar needed a way to get the lumber to San Francisco, so he bought a steam schooner in 1895 to ferry his lumber from Sonoma. This turned out to be a good thing, so he bought more and started a second successful career, forming the Dollar Steamship Company. You may never have heard of this company, but you have heard of the American Presidents Line which his company became. In the 1970's, the family started talking about selling the property to some developers. The community was so upset that they passed a bond measure to buy the property for $250,000. Today, it is a community center which the whole area can enjoy. Where does the term Falkirk come from? Scotland. Dollar's daughter named the location that after her grandfather's birthplace.




References:

• National Registry of Historical Places-Documents and Photos
  
• Marin History Museum
  
• Falkirk Cultural Center
  
• Robert Dollar
  

Overall Landmark References:

• National Registry of Historical Places (NRHP)
  
• Noehill (NOE)