New family for historical home
By Kelly Barbazette
On a house-hunting mission , newlyweds David and Alexandra Almeida scoured Gilroy for their first home until they stumbled upon a picture-perfect Victorian home nestled on Church Street .
“ We thought let ’ s just look at it for fun . And we fell in love with it right away . We said this is going to be our house . We didn ’ t know how . We were so determined ,” said Alexandra Almeida , 25 .
She and David attended every open house for the next five weeks late last year , coming to love the 123-year-old cream and green home more and more with each visit .
They also became acquainted with the homeowners , Dick and Elizabeth Barrett . The Almeidas learned that Elizabeth ’ s greatgrandfather , Dr . Heverland R . Chesbro , built the home in 1890 . While the Almeidas weren ’ t looking for a historic home , the character and the stories that it held charmed them .
Dr . Chesbro built the home in 1890 on property he purchased in 1885 . At the time , the house immediately to the north at 7551 Church Street was sitting on that lot . The house next door to the north belonged to Jacob Reither , a former Gilroy mayor and owner of the Gilroy Brewery .
Barrett ’ s great-grandfather moved the home to its present site because the lot is larger . Dr . Chesbro lived in the home from 1890 to 1929 when he built the house immediately to the south and moved there .
His third son , Don Chesbro bought the house from him . His family lived there from 1929 until 1994 when Don ’ s widow Rachel died . Their daughter Mary Lou Chase inherited it , but chose instead a year later to sell it to the Barretts , who owned it until 2013 .
The Almeidas moved into the home a few days before Christmas and likened living in the turnkey home to being on vacation because the Barretts had left behind many antique furniture pieces and comforts of home .
The couple moves about the house gingerly , pointing out the stain glass inset in the front door and the original plaster walls , marveling at the ceiling medallions and the original woodwork that Alexandra said reminds her of her Grandmother ’ s house ..
Two floors above , in the spacious attic , Alexandra envisions a master suite complete with a claw foot tub . Below the first floor rests the basement containing the utility room and two more bedrooms . The backyard holds heirloom roses , and fig , lemon , tangerine , and apple trees – the latter of which David says are the same age as the home .
The Almeidas enjoy poring over a box of artifacts that Elizabeth had unearthed from the property . It contains bits of old chinaware , pieces of china doll heads , bottles , and even clay pipes dating back to 1870 when the original Reither house stood on the lot .
“ It has been a blast uncovering all those layers of human living that has gone on over time ,” Elizabeth said . “ Each piece tells a story and I would love to go back in time to interview those folks and see what their take was on life in Gilroy back in those days !”
The couple say they also like to peruse a binder of “ before and after ” pictures of the home . Black and white snapshots depict the home through the years , in 1903 , in the 1920s , and moving forward to present day .
Elizabeth said she and her husband refurbished and remodeled parts of the home , careful to preserve its historical integrity . They replaced two upstairs bedrooms , upgrading the wiring and insulation in the process . They
stripped and renovated two bedrooms on the main floor , and swapped original windows for historically correct dual pane windows in several rooms .
They also added a half bath and upgraded two other full baths , replaced nearly all of the plumbing and wiring as well as the flat portion of the roof , removed , stripped and powder finished the iron cresting that runs around the flat portion of the roof , had all of the exterior paint stripped down to the original redwood , and the house completely repainted .
“ Basically , we brought the house fully into the 20th century , not the 21st !” Elizabeth said . “ Some of the wiring and plumbing was original , other areas dated to the timeframe of the 1920s to 1950s and all of it was in need of being updated . Many rooms that we stripped to install fresh wallpaper had up to seven layers of old wallpaper underneath , and that in itself was like a history lesson of people ’ s tastes over the decades .”
The Almeidas say they uncover interesting things about the home and its history nearly every day , including a horsehair broom and original hand painted wallpaper in the basement and a trapdoor in the attic leading to the home ’ s roof .
“ It ’ s literally a dream come true . I ’ m really pleased ,” Alexandra said of living in the Chesbro Home .
While Elizabeth said she and Dick had hoped that another Chesbro descendant could purchase the house , they were delighted that the Almeidas bought the house .
“ They will be good stewards over its heritage and begin their own dynasty in this wonderful Gilroy home that has seen so many happy times !” Elizabeth said .
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