Woman's Club of Palo Alto (founded 1894, and active to present day) is a civic, cultural, philanthropic and social club, initially founded on June 20, 1894 by 24 women in
Palo Alto,
California.
The building that currently houses the club is historical and built in 1916 in a
Tudor-
Craftsman style, and is located at 475 Homer Avenue in Palo Alto.
The building was listed in the
National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
Club history
The Woman's Club of Palo Alto was initially founded on June 20, 1894 by 24 women who gathered at a
Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto, California.
The first president was Mary Grafton Campbell, a doctor.
Early members of the club included Anna Zschokke, a figure in the establishment of the
Palo Alto Unified School District; Lydia Mitchell, who co-founded the Palo Alto Red Cross; and Julia Gilbert, a figure in the establishment of the Palo Alto libraries.
In 1898, the club formed a circulating library and donated over 2,000 books, which four years later led to the first public library in Palo Alto.
In 1911, the club worked for
California women's suffrage movement.
From 1916 until 1929, the club members were involved in local and national issues concerning
World War I,
universal suffrage, and women in politics.
The club has hosted many speaking events including
suffragist Hester Ann Harland, lectures by
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
professors, among others. In 2018, many female engineers and university students met at the club to discuss
cryptocurrencies
A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank
A bank is a financial i ...
and the club served as a safe space for women in technology to meet.
Architectural history
Club members raised money to buy a lot on Homer Avenue, and it took a decade to raise the remaining money for the building construction.
The total cost of the new club building was $10,590.
Charles Edward Hodges (1864–1944) was the architect of the building.
The style of the building is a Tudor Craftsman design.
The exterior features are Craftsman with a
porte-cochere doorway, heavy beams,
stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
finish with a painted wood
wainscoting band of lap siding at the base of the structure.
The Tudor design elements include the one and a half story
gable, a half
timbered
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...
frame and a steeply pitched roof. The interior features a Ballroom with maple flooring and fir
board and batten
A batten is most commonly a strip of solid material, historically wood but can also be of plastic, metal, or fiberglass. Battens are variously used in construction, sailing, and other fields.
In the lighting industry, battens refer to linea ...
siding on three of the walls, and a stage with an
Olio drop front curtain.
There is a separate Fireside Room with
salt glazed tiles from 1910 made by the ''Steiger Terracotta and Pottery Company'' of South San Francisco.
See also
*
List of California suffragists
*
Timeline of women's suffrage in California
References
External links
* {{Official website, https://www.womansclubofpaloalto.org/
Woman's Club of Palo Alto Yearbook (1904)from
Calisphere, California Digital Library
15th Annual Announcement of the Woman's Club of Palo Alto (1910-1911)from California Revealed, U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services
1916 architecture
Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in California
Buildings and structures in Palo Alto, California
Women's suffrage in California
Clubhouses in California
Women's club buildings in California