Charles W. Merrill House

The Charles W. Merrill House is a 6,000-square-foot residence designed by regionally prominent architect Walter H. Ratcliff, of Berkeley, for mining engineer and San Francisco businessman Charles Washington Merrill. Built in 1938, the house's architecture reflects elements of the Spanish Colonial Revival, but with its two stories, low-pitched roofline, and second-story balcony on the front elevation, the house is most characteristic of the Monterey style popular in large California homes built between 1925 and 1940. The house and grounds were designed as a small country estate. The house occupies a hillside location and is sited on two stonework terraces, pierced by three stone staircases placed among gardens designed by landscape architect Mabel Symmes in 1938-1939. The house is significant under Criterion B for its association with the final stage of Charles W. Merrill's long and distinguished career. Merrill lived in the house during the period in which he presided over a highly diversified engineering corporation, with worldwide influence, that had grown from Merrill's pioneering patents and discoveries of the 1890s and 1900s. The house also is significant under Criterion C as an example of the eclecticism that architect Walter H. Ratcliff brought to his architecture. Built in the mature phase of Ratcliff's career, the Merrill House with its elements of Spanish Colonial Revival and Monterey styles reflect Ratcliff's distinctive blend of academic eclecticism and keen awareness of regional topography, climate, and setting.

Charles W. Merrill House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	407 Camino Sobrante, Orinda, California
Coordinates	37°53′51″N 122°11′17″W / 37.89750°N 122.18806°W / 37.89750; -122.18806Coordinates: 37°53′51″N 122°11′17″W / 37.89750°N 122.18806°W / 37.89750; -122.18806
Area	0.8 acres (0.32 ha)
Built	1938
Architectural style	Spanish Colonial Revival
NRHP Reference #	05000251[1]
Added to NRHP	April 7, 2005

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Contra Costa County, California
• National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places: http://www.nps.gov/nr/

References

• Charles W. Merrill House, Contra Costa County, California. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, 7 April 2005. Link to full text of nomination: http://focus.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/05000251.pdf
• Charles W. Merrill House, Contra Costa County, California. Summary produced by the California State Historic Preservation Office: http://www.ohp.parks.ca.gov/ListedResources/Detail/N2285
• Robert W. Ratcliff. The Ratcliff Architects. An oral history conducted by the Regional Oral History Office of The Bancroft Library, University of California. Berkeley: University of California, 1990.
• David W. Ryder. The Merrill Story. San Francisco: The Merrill Company, 1958.
• Also see the extensive bibliography in the National Register nomination document.

External links

• 15 photographs, from the NRHP nomination form.

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