Property History of Stonedene
The Patwin Indians predated European settlers in the Solano County region and on the property until the early 19th Century. In 1810, Spanish soldiers destroyed the Patwin settlement. In 1837, General Vallejo granted the property as part of the Suisun Rancho, only to purchase it back from Chief Solano in 1842 for $1,000. General Vallejo then sold the property to Captain Waterman in 1850.
In 1853, Pennsylvanian Samuel Martin, moving west with his wife and four surviving children purchased 200 acres, including the property, for his family’s primary home. Patwin Indian descendants continued to work for Samuel Martin for several years. Martin later brought a herd of 600 cattle to his Solano County land and in 1861 he began work on a new family home on the site, to be constructed out of local Tufa stone. A German contractor skilled in the construction of large Tufa stone blocks managed painstaking stone-cutting and construction of the home.
As a Gothic Revival style home, it featured steep gables and intricate gingerbread decoration on the exterior. It had a nice porch fronting what is now Suisun Valley Road, wooden window shutters to keep the home cool in the summer and 13 modestly sized rooms. From 1848 through 1871 Samuel Martin was active in his community as an elected official. He also invested wisely in business ventures and died a wealthy man in 1885, leaving to each of his four children a farm of their own.
His wife, Jemima, died five years later in 1890. The Martin’s youngest child, Henry Martin, married locally born Carrie Pittman in 1882. They had two children. It was Carrie who named the home “Stonedene.” The Scottish term means “House of Stone.” Henry had inherited the main home and sufficient acreage to plant a vineyard of grapes which he operated until 1901, when he and his family moved into the upper floor of the Cordelia Hotel, which they also owned and operated.
Julia Morgan, first woman Architect licensed in California and is best known for her work on Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California commissioned to design Stonedene
The Stonedene home then sat empty from 1901 through 1929. After Henry Martin’s death in 1924, his son, Samuel Jr. set about to renovate and expand the original home for his own family’s use. Samuel Jr. had attended UC Berkeley studying engineering about 11 years after Julie Morgan studied architecture there. It is possible, but not documented, that they met during Samuel Jr.’s time at Berkeley. In any event, in 1929, Samuel Jr. commissioned Julia Morgan to renovate and expand the structure.
Julie Morgan proceeded to add a new wing at the rear of the home and separate carriage house. She used the same Tufa stone for continuity, replaced roof tiles with slate tiles, and redesigned the original windows to be in the elongated French style to align with steep roof lines. She added solarium on the west side of the home. The interior underwent extensive changes, including beamed ceilings, archways, and a full attic and basement. By completion, Julia Morgan’s design work had enlarged Stonedene to become 10,500 square feet, with 25 rooms, including 4 bathrooms and two kitchens.
Samuel Jr. died in 1962. The property was purchased in 1974 by the Curry family, who brought the property back to vibrancy. In 1977, Stonedene was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The current holder of title to the property is First National Group, Inc., a Nevada Corporation, an entity controlled by Woodcreek Homes, LLC.
