Kensington, CA

I was actually surprised the other day when co-worker and fellow agent Ron Palmer brought into the office a copy of the Mark Wilson Book A Living Legacy: walking tours of East Bay Architecture. I looked in the index and looked up my favorite architect William Raymond Yelland.

The usual suspects were there, Normandy Village on Spruce and The Tupper & Reed building on Shattuck. A third listing was in the index.

As it turned out, a building I had long suspected as being a Yelland was actually confirmed in the pages of this book. The building is the Pharmacy building in Kensington and the little cafe next to it "Inn Kensington".

Back in the 1920s through the 1940's Yelland designed the entire neighborhood shopping district in a complex that was called collectively as the "Kensignton Neighborhood Center" and was a masterpiece of his Normandy Storybook style. The Kensington Neighborhood Center was lost to a fire that destroyed the area.

The closest buildings surviving of that style are some parts of Normandy Village and the Ritter and Wherry Residences in Modesto.

The Pharmacy building is in Mission Revival Style. I am glad to finally be able to point to this commercial building as an example of his mission reivival works. It makes me think that the Rexall Drugs that was a the corner of Bancroft & Dutton in San Leandro could share some architectural DNA.

It's neat to point out that the Pharmacy building appears to have some of Yelland's original lighting creations still illuminating the outside.

I suspect that gray house behind it also.

lighting creation

A while ago I blogged about how W.R. Yelland's very own home which was a foreclosed property and in dire need of someone to rescue it from it's very distressed state. The home located at 829 Coventry in Kensington, done in Cape Cod style which was rare for Yelland. He was most noted for his storybook Normandy revival styles.

Jim Jewell and Sean Steer of Bee Renovated purchased the home and in a matter of months transformed this property back into the gem it had once been.

Bee Renovated works on flipping the higher end properties in Piedmont, Bekeley and Kensington in the Berkeley Hills.

Their first property was in my very own neighborhood in San Leandro. That property located at 555 Diehl Avenue is on the next block from my home on Superior Avenue. It just goes to show that San Leandro is a great place to get a start.

Keep an eye on Bee Renovated for first class properties remodeled with first class appointments. Visit their website at www.beerenovated.com

I wanted to share with you the photograph that Robert Yelland sent to me of the architect William Raymond Yelland and his wife Edna. Thanks Rob (btw if you need a great veteranarian doctor for your pet, go see Robert Yelland at this office on Lewelling Avenue in San Leandro)

William Raymond and his wife Edna lived on Coventry Drive in Kensington in a home that he originally designed for his in-laws.

It's a little Cape Cod styled home, something you wouldn't expect from him, if all you knew from him was his storybook style and Normandy Styled homes and buildings. The home just sold in December from foreclosure. I need to wait for the new owners to move in and tell them of the important nature of their home, having a home designed by Yelland, but also being the residence of the architect himself. (sounds like an episode from "If Walls Could Talk" from HGTV)