Alfred A. and Emilie Gibbons Cohen’s children chose an accomplished, experienced developer to subdivide their parents’ estate. They sold Fernside to Fred T. Wood. Before Wood’s architects, builders, and subcontractors had turned a single spade of earth at Fernside, they had already planned and developed neighborhoods in Oakland, including Lakewood Park, Piedmont Highlands, Claremont Woodlands, Miller Gardens, and Edgemont.
As he would do with Fernside, Wood and his partners had already subdivided Sheriff Jack Hays’ estate, Fernwood, in the Oakland hills. Hays and his partner Jack Caperton were early investors in Alameda. They had purchased a slice of what was then a peninsula from William Worthington Chipman and Gideon Aughinbaugh in 1852. Their holdings on the east and west were bounded by what we know today as Versailles Avenue and Broadway, respectively.
In May 1925, Wood supervised the carving of Fernside’s main street from Central Avenue to High Street and Fernside Boulevard as a curve. A small, grassy triangle at Central and Versailles avenues marks the spot where the subdivision was born.
Wood then defined his development with a pair of curves that embraced this main street just where the estate’s stately mansion stood before it had burned 28 years earlier. He named the main street Gibbons Drive after Emilie’s family, and called the brace of intersecting streets Northwood and Southwood. Not coincidentally, Fred’s family name was Wood. Not one street in the subdivision bore the name Cohen.
Dennis Evanosky and the Alameda Post will take you through the East End’s Fernside neighborhood. They will show you where Alfred A. Cohen family’s homes once stood. Dennis will discuss the important role the family patriarch played in the arrival of the transcontinental railroad in Alameda. We’ll meet his wife Emilie Gibbons’ influential family as we trace the stories of both families’ presence in Alameda. When Emilie passed away in 1924 at the age of 91, the children sold the estate to developer Fred Wood. We will explore and learn how he created the Fernside neighborhood we know today. Join us on Saturday, June 15. We will meet at the intersection of Lincoln and Versailles avenues at 10 a.m. Purchase tickets in advance to guarantee your spot for $20 each. Visit our Tours page for additional information.
Wood told the Oakland Tribune that Gibbons Drive “will extend diagonally from one end of the property to the other and will have a concrete base and asphalt top.” He assured Alameda residents that the work was being carried out under the supervision of the City Planning Commission and City Council.
“We have made every effort to subdivide this famous estate so that all homesites will be large and roomy. The streets have been so planned,” Wood told the Tribune on May 28, 1925, two days before he began marketing the estate. In an oversized advertisement in the same newspaper, Wood advised locals to “Look for the aeroplane with the Fernside banner. It will land at Fernside Saturday and Sunday afternoon.”
Included in the homes that Wood presented at Fernside was the “Versailles Châtelet,” located on its namesake street. The Gaubert Brothers built the “châtelet type” home. An advertisement described the home as “a new creation, combining all the attractive details of French architecture and modern conveniences.” The ad noted that the home had “the arched windows and tower of an Old-World chateau.”
In the age before the television and the home computer, this home was state of the art. “It has also radio plugs in every room,” the advertisement boasted. In case prospective buyers might have an interest in getting the keys to their own châtelet, the ad informed them that the home was “completely furnished and ready for immediate use.”
Wood told the Tribune, “Other attractive residences are now under construction at Fernside, and many more are planned for the fall season. Every home erected in this tract increases the value of the investment for those who bought early.”
He wanted everyone to know that his subdivision had “attracted attention in the Eastern cities and upon the request of the publisher of a national journal photographs of a number of these homes, with floor plans have been sent.”
He boasted, “The Fernside Builders plan to erect 20 homes. They have already completed two homes in the Spanish style of architecture … to fit in the environment of the century-old oaks which have made Fernside famous.”
He noted that “work Is now under way on a larger home to be known as Fremont House.” The builders “named (the house) in honor of John C. Fremont, the Great Pathfinder.” Wood then invented—or simply rebroadcasted—the myth that Fremont “camped beneath the great oaks of Fernside.” He actually posed for a picture standing “in” the tree that many called “The Fremont Oak.” Both the tree and this fairy tale are now long gone.
Wood failed to mention in his descriptions that he owned the Fernside Builders, along with John J. Mulvany. In 1928, the company built Mulvany’s impressive home where Northwood and Southwood drives meet near Lincoln Avenue.
Wood hired builders and supervising architects to oversee all of his subdivisions. In 1925 he placed an advertisement in the Tribune and kept it there. “Mr. Builder,” his pitch read, “We can give you more for your money in Fernside than others can.” The ad informed prospects that “$200,000 is now being spent on street improvements.”
He invited builders to “look this property over. Many lots have beautiful oaks, pines, and fruit trees.” Builders could buy a plot of land from $1,350 to $3,000, depending on size. “Fernside Is the finest property in the Bay district. Let us prove it.”
About the developer
Fred T. Wood was born in Woodland, California, on December 11, 1883, to Daniel and Wylmoth Wood. His father, an accomplished violinist, had something in common with Alfred A. Cohen—he was born and raised in London, England. Fred spent his boyhood at Grass Valley and moved to Oakland in 1904. He and Pearl Burke married there in 1906. The following year, he organized the Mutual Realty Company. A daughter was born to Fred and Pearl in 1908. They named her Ruth. Wood sold Mutual Realty to his partner, J. A. Pizzotti, and in 1917, he formed the Fred T. Wood Company.
Fred and Pearl Wood embraced Fernside. The 1930 census lists them living next door to John and Marion Mulvany on Gibbons Drive. Their daughter, Ruth, and her husband, Stanley Davis, also lived in the Wood household. Fred and Pearl later moved back to Oakland and finally to Piedmont, where Fred passed away in 1962. Pearl followed him in 1974. They both rest at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.
Dennis Evanosky is the award-winning Historian of the Alameda Post. Reach him at [email protected]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Dennis-Evanosky.
