San José City Landmarks

The one-and-one-half-story residence at 485 South Sixteenth Street is in the Naglee Park Conservation Area of San José. This Craftsman-style house exhibits such character-defining features as deep eaves with exposed rafter tails and knee braces, a prominent central gabled dormer, a recessed side porch, and a porte-cochere, creating a distinctive representation of early twentieth-century residential Craftsman design. Built for Mary Elizabeth Howlett and designed by Oliver Vrooman in 1914, the house has changed little in the past 108 years, maintaining a high level of integrity. For nearly sixty years, it was the home of the Dr. Mark Forrest Hopkins family and then for the next forty-six years, the home of the McClure family. It is one of the few known remaining intact works of Oliver Vrooman, who was a leading residential designer and builder in San José in the early 1900s. The interior of the house also has a high level of integrity, with original woodwork, light fixtures, built-in cabinetry, and even some features such as drapes and wallpaper.

Dr. Mark Forrest Hopkins (1878-1952), a prominent local physician and surgeon, practiced in San José for forty years. When not working in his medical practice, Dr. Hopkins was known as a talented singer and performer (In 1938, he donated a hall to the San José Community Players on First Street). In 1910, Hopkins met Hazel Hodges, a twenty-two-year-old who had just moved from Hollister to San José to train as a nurse at the Belvedere Hospital. The couple married on December 20, in a small wedding held at the home of the groom’s parents.

–Excerpt from 2022 DPR form, Krista Van Laan, author