Ruth Rowe, Miraloma Park Home Designer

“The Raleigh” by Ruth Rowe

While notable architects such as Julia Morgan and Bernard Maybeck designed homes in nearby San Francisco neighborhoods, St. Francis Woods and Forest Hill, who were the designers of Miraloma Park homes? Since most pre-WWII homes in Miraloma Park were built in groups by the Meyer Brothers as “spec” houses rather than individual commissions, their designers are likely less well known and may be lost to history. It was unusual for a designer’s name to be publicized like the Meyer Brothers did in their advertisement for this home. Like nearby Balboa Terrace “spec” houses designed by architect Harold G. Stoner, however, many Miraloma Park homes feature unique details that seems to reflect the work of professional designers, as I recently discovered about 201 Juanita Way. The home’s Storybook style details of hand-hewn half-timbering, multiple gables, dovecotes, dormer and bay windows – some featuring unique mullions dotted with wood circles, are the work of Ruth Rowe, a designer for the Meyer Brothers. Read what Inge Horton, the author of Early Woman Architects in the San Francisco Bay Area, recently shared with me about: Ruth Rowe.

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Posted June 24, 2014