2011 Home Tour Photos

See the 2011 Tour photos. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

The home tours begin at the Shell Clubhouse in Martinez. The Clubhouse was built in the 1930's and still retains its original Craftsman interior. It is located at 1635 Pacheco Boulevard.

This is the Borland home, an 1890 Carpenter Gothic structure. The gingerbread on the home's exterior and the Victorian interior are still intact and in excellent condition. Today, this building houses the Martinez Museum.

This 1928 Arlington Way home shows the Tudor influence popular in the 1920's. The house features a spectacular view of the Martinez waterfront and Carquinez Strait from the home and hillside garden. Owners: Bob and Kathy Braun.

This beautiful car is parked in front of the previously pictured house. It is a 1935 Packard 120 Sedan. Packard was a highly regarded American luxury automobile which is unfortunately no longer produced. Owner: Paul Kraintz.

This charming home, surrounded by beautiful gardens, dates from the 1880's. During the Prohibition Era (1920 - 1933), when the production of alcohol was prohibited, this home housed an illict still in the attic. Location: 234 Foster Street. Owners: Hope Savage and Jim Cooper.

Musicians provided music at various spots during the Home Tour. These are the Hopeful Romantics. The lead singer, Hope Savage, owns the home pictured above.

This 1890s home belonged to an Italian fisherman whose wife baked bread in a sideyard oven. The home style could be characterized as "Folk Victorian". Across the street is the location of the home (no longer in existence) where baseball legend Joe DiMaggio was born. Location: 236 Richardson Street. Owners: Ben & Aimee Arrigoni.

This Model T Ford truck is parked in front of the house pictured above. The house was already 25 years old before such "motor vehicles" became commonplace on Martinez streets, supplanting the horse-drawn wagons previously used for hauling.

This gambrel-roofed Colonial Revival house is a rare home built during the Great Depression of the 1930s when there was little new construction. The house is located in the Arlington Way neighborhood where almost every home is a charmer. Owners: Matthew & Amanda Segura.

Romance gave birth to this Victorian cottage. It was built by a prominent Martinez couple and presented to their son and his new bride as a wedding gift. Owners: Dick & Carolyn Boone Duncan.

This cat sits on the front step of his Talbart Street abode, greeting visitors to the house -- which is depicted in the photograph below.

This modest fisherman's cottage from the early 1900's is as cute as a dollhouse inside. The support posts underlying the house are the masts from former sailing ships. The fishing nets were pulled through the upper window and stored in the attic during the winter. Owners: Gino and Mimma DiTullio.

The garden of this 1890s Italian winemaker's house is surrounded with a white picket fence and enetered through a vine-covered arbor. During Prohibition, one could smell the home-made wine fermenting in the basements of the homes in this Italian neighborhood. Owners: Pat and Cindy Guitterrez.

This photograph, and the two that follow, illustrate the types of kitchens in the historic homes on the Tour. This kitchen has been thoroughly modernized and updated to today's standards.

This second kitchen has been partially updated. More recent cabinetry is combined with a tile late mid-Century countertop and an earlier, but both beautiful and fully functional, stove and hood.

The third kitchen is a beautiful example of a pre-WWII kitchen. It features glass-fronted cabinetry, wooden counters, beaded panelling, a gorgeous stove, and a huge double-basin farmhouse sink (not shown). Owner: Hope Savage.

This photo and the two that follow were all taken at the same Arlington Way neighborhood house. Here Kathy Braun welcomes visitors to her home.

This photo from the above home illustrates how the charming but very functional home office has been painted, decorated, furnished and equipped with modern electronic equipment.

Here in the same home, we have a well arranged display of family photographs and a daybed suitable for use when grandchildren are visiting.

Lily pads float on this tranquil pond, watched over by a serene buddha, in the verdant back garden of one of the Tour homes. Owner: Hope Savage

Paul Kraintz arranged the vintage cars for the Home Tour. Andrea Blachman and Marlene Thompson were on hand to answer questions from visitors to the Martinez Museum during the Tour. All are volunteers with the Martinez Historical Society

The National Park Service opens the John Muir Home on Tour Day. When he wasn't trekking through the wilderness, John Muir lived here until his death in 1914.

The Martinez Adobe is located on the grounds of the John Muir House. It is home to the largest exhibit ever set up about the 1775-1776 de Anza Expedition from Mexico to present-day San Francisco in what was then Alta California.

The cost of the Tour was underwritten by our community-minded sponsors; please mention them when possible. These are the PLATINUM sponsors:

These are the GOLD sponsors:

And these are our SILVER sponsors:

And these are our Bronze sponsors:

The above pictures are provided by photographer Carter Wilson. Contact John Curtis by email if you have corrections or additional information for the captions underneath the above photos.