First an introduction to the dynamic father-son duo: Johannes Reimers and Fred Reimers
The Bay Area architect, Frederick Reimers, transformed the modest adobe building that was formerly used for fumigation and storage. He created a modern building with windows to let light in. Locally manufactured tiles covered the floor and roof. The historic adobe was introduced as the "Old Adobe."
[Fred Reimers designed many buildings and homes in Oakland, Piedmont, and the Bay Area. His residences are very cute and are still very sought after. He designed a model home for the Niles Rotary in Adobe Acres which was built on former nursery land during the Depression. (see Fremont Main Library)]
Johannes Reimers, his father, designed the garden around the Vallejo Adobe. He created the pleasant sheltered garden surrounded by nursery buildings and created a place for gatherings.
Johannes Reimers had a long association with the Roeding family and designed and built Roeding Park, many other parks, industrial site gardens, and train stations.
The Heart of the Nursery & Frances Roeding
The adobe's renovation as the nursery's Guest Lodge created the heart of the nursery where visitors could relax, be refreshed, and be entertained. The complex was available for visitors, charitable organizations, nurserymen meetings, scouts, and others. People came together here as a community. Many in visitors to the office gardens have told us about their memories of the gardens and building.
People also have fond memories of Frances Roeding, who was the garden designer and kept the gardens filled with color. She helped design the furnishings in the adobe. She create colorful floral arrangements to fill the adobe. She was in a sense the third partner of the creation of the Old Adobe as the Heart of the nursery.
The Old Adobe Trademark
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| The "Old Adobe" trademark, 1943 [The trademark was under the Niles Nursery Company, a secondary name, because people kept calling it that.] |
The Old Adobe also inspired a re-branding of the nursery and a change in marketing. The new retail center was a modern wooden building shaped like a low-slung adobe. The nursery office underwent an adobe treatment with stucco walls, a tile roof, and a front porch with matching unpeeled logs to support the entry roof. The adobe theme was carried to the nursery's other locations. Collections of roses were named the "Adobe Collection" and pictures of Spanish singers and costumed hostesses sprinkled the pages. The Spanish edition of the nursery catalog used the "Old Adobe" theme to its advantage with additional pictures.
Listen to Frances and Bruce Roeding
Listen to Frances Roeding and her son, Bruce talk with Phil Holmes, about the nursery and the bulbs shows. A summary here: Frances married George C. Roeding Jr. in 1927. Bruce was born in 1928, George III in 1930, and Gerald in 1932. Frances was always interested in gardening and designing, bought the materials for 4 different gardens, supervised the planting, and laid thousands of bulbs. Also she made about 60 flower arrangements in March and April for 6 weeks inside the adobe to show the combinations of color and flowers. Coffee and cookies served for free and everything was free. One bulb show had 5,000 people. People would sit around the Adobe garden and listen to the musicians. The garden is the same as there was at the time of the interview. Only Frances always had flowers planted. She said that her husband (George Jr.) was always a quite a promoter. He enjoyed having people and was kind of a showman. It was his idea to restore the adobe as a guest house. People had picnics, garden clubs, Rotary, scouts, and other charitable organizations. Mrs. Whipple (Mrs. Niles) had many charitable organizations that used the adobe garden.
Another view of the Old Adobe in Niles
by John Sandoval
"Our article about the California Nursery some weeks ago evoked a few letters and comments, augmenting the information in the column.
"Mrs. George Roeding Jr. has added some information about the "Old Adobe" building which even today, is the trademark of the California Nursery Co. |
"J.J. Vallejo raised cattle and fine Mexican cavalry horses on his Rancho de Alameda. The old adobe was one with walls 36" thick and with a single opening for a door.
"An old employee of the nursery, Frank Garcia, was born in the adobe in 1867.[1] His father was in the employ of J.J. Vallejo and he remembered living in the structure very well. He said there was a hole in the middle of the roof, under which the family cooked, so that
the smoke could go out, and some fresh air could come in. Each corner of the structure was used for a different purpose.
"One corner was used for sleeping, another for storage of supplies, the third for quarters for domesticated fowl and animals, and the fourth for a family chapel.
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"When George C. Roeding, Jr. took over management of the California Nursery from his father in 1926 the "Old Adobe" was used as a storage shed for late export nursery shipment so that the stock would be kept cold and dormant.
"For a while one end of the building was partitioned off and used as a fumigation chamber. The building consisted of four unpainted adobe brick walls, some of which had been badly eroded and washed away by the elements, a dirt floor and a door at the southwest side of the building.
"In 1930 Roeding saw the possibilities of restoring the adobe as a focal point for public relations activities, charity affairs, garden club and trade association functions. The first meeting of the California Nurserymen was held there.
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| The 1933 catalog introduced the "Old Adobe." (soon to be scanned). The 1934 catalog invited us to the Historic "Old Adobe" and introduced the new retail center and the colorful Show Gardens, The retail center was a modern wooden version of the Old Adobe. A similarly configured adobe with the shady porch was repeated for the 1939 World's Fair on Treasure Island (also designed by Fred Reimers). |
"George wanted it to be an attractive "guest house" which customers could enjoy as well as professional groups but also wanted to keep the restoration as authentic as possible and in keeping with its heritage.
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Historic American Buildings Survey Robert W. Kerrigan,
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"He secured the services of San Francisco architect Frederick Reimers, who was known for his early California architectural designs. Reimers liked to combine the old with the new, and spent a lot of time traveling the state to study old missions so that he could design and restore the old building consistent with what was a appropriate and usable during the early 1840's, keeping in mind that we wanted it to be attractive and functional as well as adhering as much as possible to the past.
"Two original beams were kept, the center low beam, running cross wise, and the long high beam running lengthwise to the building. The other two beams were found in an old shipyard, and hand hewn to match the others. Eucalyptus logs from the Patterson Ranch at Newark were used for the other rafters which supported the especially designed and hand made tile roof. Krafttile of Niles made special floor tiles and three concrete buttresses were constructed to support the Southwest side of the building.
"The front door on the northeast end of the building was carved out of the 3 foot thick wall and a heavy handhewn redwood door was designed by the architect to adorn the opening as well as a similar door for the original side opening - both portals were furnished with suitable leather latch locks.
"Three windows were like-wise opened in the thick adobe wall, two in the north side and one to the right of the original door. Reimers also designed an attractive round fireplace in the southwest corner of the building which was constructed by one of the nursery employees.
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| Historic American Buildings Survey Robert W. Kerrigan, Photographer February 15, 1937 INTERIOR DETAIL - Rancho Arroya de la Alameda Adobe, Niles Boulevard & Nursery Avenue, Fremont, Alameda County, CA Find this picture in the Library of Congress |
"Adobe bricks were needed to restore the crumbling walls. so an old Spanish employee, Antonio Torquemada, who knew the art of making adobes, set up an area to the side of the ancient structure and dug a big hold, gathered special adobe soil from the nursery property, and after his helpers dumped the clay into the pit, added some straw and water, and mixed all to the right consistency.
"The workmen poured the mixture into wooden forms, and then left them to dry in the sun for several weeks before they were fitted into the repaired walls.
"Johannes Reimers, Frederick's father who was a landscape architect for the Santa Fe Railroad designed the garden around the adobe, as he had done two decades before at Roeding Park in Fresno.
"From 1935 to the early 1960's, during the months of March and April, the California Nursery had an annual bulb and flower show at which time friends and customers from all over California came to visit and enjoy the hospitality of the "Old Adobe"
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| The 1947 Catalog |
"The Show Gardens were ablaze with thousands of tulips and other bulbs., flowers and blooming trees of many varieties. The interior of the Adobe was filled with flower arrangements to show the possibilities of different combinations of bulbs and flowers, and long branches of flowering trees hung from the overhead beams.
"On Sundays as many as 5,000 visitors crowded the nursery grounds. The nursery served free tea, coffee and cookies to the visitors, and Spanish costumed musicians entertained the throngs. Volunteer guides from the Toyon Branch of the Children's hospital, under the direction of Mrs. James R. Whipple of Niles, sold sandwiches for the benefit of the society. Local girls as well as students from Mills College and UC Berkeley dressed in costumes of Dutch or Spanish derivation and acted as hostesses in the gardens during the shows.
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| Postcard from Golden Gate International Exposition, from eCollections. Fred Reimers designed this 1939 version of the "Old Adobe" for the nursery's exhibit. It was the only nursery exhibit at the exposition. Notice its similarity to the 1934 new retail center! |
[1] The 1965 Edition of the History of the Washington Township says (p. 150) that Frank Joseph Garcia, born in 1867 in the Vallejo adobe on the California Nursery Grounds, is still living - our oldest citizen. Mrs. Thane was one of the original Washington Township Country Club members and she may have told Frances about Frank Joseph Garcia. She can be seen in this April 1932 movie. at 5:42.
She appears in the 19
[2]
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