415 Walnut Street, Petaluma – A 1908 Cottage

I’m not one for making New Year’s resolutions, but if I were, moving photos from my phone to my computer might be at the top of the list.

Here is one I just downloaded. It was taken in 2018 at the Petaluma Regional Library and shows plans for a house designed by Brainerd Jones for Charles Feliz of Petaluma. Like so many architectural drawings, there is no date or address. Using U.S. Census records and newspapers, it didn’t take much research to find out that the house is at 415 Walnut Street, located within the Oakhill Brewster Historic District, was constructed by Charles F. Turner and Frank J. Emenegger in 1908.

Charles Joseph Feliz was born in Hopland on January 2, 1881, and moved with his parents to Petaluma as a boy. In September 1900, he married Emma Josephine Anderson, daughter of Catherine and the late John Anderson. Before they married, Emma worked as a live-in servant for the Frank and Grace Lippitt family on D Street. Charles worked for Camm and Hedges Lumber Company as a yard superintendent. He later established his own real estate and insurance business.

The couple had five children: Charles Jr., Evelyn, Genevieve, Aletha, and Russell.[1] When Charles Sr. died in 1942, his funeral rites were held at 415 Walnut. Emma appears to have occupied the house until the early 1960s.  She was 95 when she died in 1978 at a convalescent home. Steven and Sylvia Nowicki were living at 415 Walnut in 1968.

According to City of Petaluma Building Department records, the owners of the house applied for a building permit in 2011 to construct a new foundation, demolish and replace the front porch, steps, and landing, and replace the rear steps and landing with concrete access walk, landing, pipe handrails, and retrofit an existing rear toilet.

A listing on REDFIN states that the house sold for $1,000,000 on February 17, 2022. This listing, as do others, gives the year of construction as 1906.

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[1] In 1959, according to Petaluma Argus Courier columnist Bill Soberanes, Russell “Bud” and his wife Grace Feliz purchased the Oak Street Grocery at 311 Oak Street.