San José City Landmarks

The house at 1195 Willow St. is a one-story single-family residence on a large tree-lined lot in the Willow Glen residential district of San José. Designed in 1923 by the prominent San José architectural firm of Wolfe & Higgins for orchardists Carrie and Frank Dreischmeyer, the house is, through its form and detailing, an excellent example of a Wolfe & Higgins Spanish Colonial Revival residence. Spanish Colonial Revival is a romantic reimagining of Spanish architecture, rooted in the architecture of the missions and the Spanish colonial legacy of the West, characterized by details from various eras of Spanish Colonial, Moorish Revival, and Mexican architecture.

The Dreischmeyer house incorporated many of Wolfe & Higgins’ signature features, such as the entrance tower with Churrigueresque door surround and the oversized arched multi-paned focal, plus stylizations not seen on other Wolfe & Higgins works, such as the exterior decorative cross on the chimney base and the Mission Revival curved parapet above the side entrance.

–Excerpt from 2018 DPR form, Krista Van Laan, author