The Quarterdeck
On November 27, 1909, Alice Wight
Alden and Marie Everett, in response to advertisement for a
"Beautiful development in Newport Beach" including a free inspection
trip down in the big red cars, boarded
the Pacific Electric Railway in Pasadena and travelled to the Pavillion
on the Balboa Peninsula. They crossed the bay in a sight seeing
boat, got off at the bottom of the cliff in what was later to become
Corona del Mar, and climbed the steep road to the top of the
bluff. The two friends pooled their funds and bought three lots
that day
from George and Mary Hart. They drew a line in the dirt dividing
the three east-west facing lots into two lots oriented north and south,
and built houses on them.
The two houses were built in 1910 by R. F. Foss, a contractor from
Pasadena who came down and camped on the site during
construction. The house on the
corner was designed by Alices's brother, Charles Henry Alden, an
architect in Seattle. Alice said she wanted a house made of
redwood, with a flat roof and a big deck around three sides of the
small second story. She named it the Quarterdeck, because it
looked like the quarterdeck of a ship.
The house, located at the
corner of
Ocean Blvd. and Iris St. in Corona del Mar, California, was originally
numbered "1000." Later the house
number was changed to "2928."
In the front seat, Dr. Eliot Alden and his wife Etta. In
the back seat, Alice Alden
and a young Mary Everett.
The house has been the home of Jay and Florence Stoddard since
1954. It was remodeled in the 1950s.