When Steve Perricone bought the crumbling Victorian house on
Sixth Street near San Benito Street, he may have gotten a little
more than he bargained for.
When Steve Perricone bought the crumbling Victorian house on Sixth Street near San Benito Street, he may have gotten a little more than he bargained for.
Hidden in the walls and floors of the 113-year-old home were art and newspapers dating back nearly 80 years.
“I just have a real soft spot for Victorians,” Perricone said. “So when I had the chance to purchase one and restore it, I jumped on it.”
Initially Perricone, 45, had intended to restore the house and convert the space into offices, but was approached early on by a local entrepreneur interested in opening a women’s day spa. To accommodate such a business, some serious renovation was required.
“In the 1920s, they converted the house into two apartments basically,” said Perricone. “They turned one bedroom upstairs into a kitchen, and popped a closet into the bedroom that extended into the bathroom.”
Early on, it was decided that the closet would have to go. But when renovators knocked down the back wall, they found large sheets of collages buried inside four-foot-by-eight-foot slabs of sheetrock. When these were initially recovered, chunks of the bathroom wall were still visible on the back.
“I don’t even know if they had sheetrock in those days, so that’s a little confusing,” Perricone said. “They used the material for a cheap wall in the closet, which was pretty common back then.”
The collages are collections of magazine advertisements, and many of them are works of art on their own. Images of wealthy ladies, flowers, family scenes and eastern architecture can be distinctly made out, and the over all effect is impressive.
“We trimmed the edges a bit because they were turning up,” said Perricone. “You can still see the newsprint on the back.”
Perricone decided to have the collages framed – he has several small pieces already at his home and the largest will probably be incorporated into the spa’s decor.
Renovators also found several intact San Francisco newspapers dated from 1927 underneath the kitchen flooring.
“They used the papers to pad the floor,” said Perricone. “You used to see a lot of that.”
A man named A.H. Coy first built the house in 1893, Perricone learned. It was sold in 1897 to Ambrose M. Cunning, a Supreme Court justice from Indiana who came west to be near his brother, F. A. Cunning, who had fought in the Civil War and, at the time, owned the largest produce store in the county at the corners of 5th Street and San Benito Street. The small white building that still sits on the property served as Ambrose’ law offices when he first set up practice in the county.
In 1927 it was sold to a developer, who remodeled the house. In 1947 it was sold to the Ciutto family, who kept the house in the family until just recently when it was sold to Perricone.
The Tranquility spa is set to open in late May.
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
