{"nrhp_refnum":"05000251","name":"Merrill, Charles W., House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"407 Camino Sobrante","address_restricted":false,"city":"Orinda","county":"Contra Costa County","state":"CA","lat":37.89735352300005,"lon":-122.18899814999997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-04-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 6,000-square-foot, two-story single-family residence at 407 Camino Sobrante in Orinda, Contra Costa County, California, built in 1938 and designed by Berkeley architect Walter H. Ratcliff for Charles W. Merrill, with terraced stonework grounds.","why_significant":"The nomination argues significance under Criterion B for its association with mining engineer and businessman Charles Washington Merrill, and under Criterion C as a work of architect Walter H. Ratcliff blending Spanish Colonial Revival and Monterey elements. The house and its terraced gardens, designed by Mabel Symmes, retain a high degree of integrity from the 1938 original. It is one of only a few residences Ratcliff designed in the 1930s.","narrative":"Set on a hillside in Orinda, this 6,000-square-foot house was completed in 1938 as a small country estate for mining engineer and San Francisco businessman Charles W. Merrill. Berkeley architect Walter H. Ratcliff designed it with two stories, a low-pitched roof, and an inset second-story balcony that mark the Monterey style, along with Spanish Colonial Revival details such as iron window grilles. White stucco walls, blue shutters, and blue clay roof tile remain as originally built. The grounds include two stonework terraces, three stone staircases, and gardens planned by landscape architect Mabel Symmes in 1938-1939. Later changes were modest: a kitchen door update in 1958, an enlarged patio in 1965, and a rear swimming pool added in 1967. The property is recognized for its link to Merrill and for Ratcliff's skill in combining several architectural traditions, in one of only a few houses he designed during the 1930s.","period_of_significance":"1938-1957","architect_builder":"Ratcliff, Walter Harris","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Spanish Colonial Revival / Monterey Style","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a single dwelling; the form and footprint are unchanged, the exterior is minimally altered, and the original blue roof tile was retained and reused in 2004. Two original outbuildings survive in poor condition.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:29.763191-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/05000251.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000251/91f3338cbb-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000251/91f3338cbb-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Mwmccune","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_W._Merrill_House_National_Register_05000251_MM_4065.tif\" rel=\"noopener\">Mwmccune</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_W._Merrill_House_National_Register_05000251_MM_4065.tif"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858546","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_W._Merrill_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5083232"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/contra-costa-county/merrill-charles-w-house-05000251/"}