The Gould Legacy
Memories captured by Robert Gould, Thomas and Mabel Gould’s grandson.
For additional documentation, images, floor plans and more, visit GouldResidence.com.
“My favorite memories of the house are from when I was very young; 4 to 12 years old or so. There was a hide-a-bed in Grampa's office, which was at the end of the first floor hallway. It had a screened sleeping porch off of it which had been my Dad's bedroom (he had that little area off of the office, or maybe considered both rooms his bedroom; that was never clear to me). I think he just used the porch and the closet, though, while his little sister Margaret had a very nice bedroom across the hall from what was then the Master Bedroom, and hers had her own bathroom and two big closets!
I occasionally took naps in her room, but mostly I used the hide-a-bed in the Grampa's office when I stayed there. I used to get up early from our house on Foothill Road and walk over to Nana's and come in from the East Porch early in the morning and crawl in bed with Nana for a while to warm up.
I also like the master bath with the big tub to accommodate Grampa's 6' 4" frame because I am also tall and Iike deep baths. I also like the heater in that bathroom, which was still there when we sold the house to Mark Sailor, and was the original heater, still working over 80 years after installation. I assume it is still there now.”
When Nana was alive, the upper fish pond was in use and full of carp and lily plants. I once fell into that fishpond when I was about 5 and Margaret (my aunt) was visiting. The picture below was taken in at the upper fishpond 1959 when my girlfriend and I were discussing how our going to college would probably mean the end of our romance. In 1949 it snowed, and the snowflakes coming down over the fishpond and the heliconia at the left all lit up by the outside lights were like a fairyland to us.
Nana and Grampa had matching (one large, one small) Stickley chairs in the Sun Room, and his chair now resides in my study. I have sat in that chair all of my life. The little built in desk in the Sunroom next to the fireplace was Nana's desk, and she spent hours there writing and drawing house plan sketches. Grampa is sitting in that chair with my boys in 1977 at age 92 in the picture below.
Grampa always had a horse or two at the house, and my two favorites were Red, who was a calm and gentle old horse that I rode all over the ranch and to my friends' houses on either side of Loma Vista, and later Harvest Delight, called Dee, who was a first prize show winner and much more lively. I rode her in the County Fair Parade. She later moved to the Camarillo ranch with me and Dad. I was about the only one to ride her, as sheu used to chase Dad out of the corral.