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Building History

Ellen Blood, who migrated to Berkeley, CA, in 1889, erected this Queen Anne Style residence two years later. Perry and Xora Tompkins purchased the residence in 1907, in what was then a fashionable neighborhood, filled with socially prominent residents. The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) said of the area: "Perry and Xora Tompkins’ residence in the Blood House added a new name to the list of “Blue Book” families living on Durant Avenue in the early days: Judge William H. Waste; Addison W. Naylor (Shattuck’s successor as president of the First National Bank of Berkeley); Dean Witter, founder of the investment firm; William E. Knowles; University Physician George F. Reinhardt and his wife Aurelia–future president of Mills College; Frank Lawton, developer and partner of James L. Barker; Professor Cornelius Beach Bradley; J. Edward McCreary; and later, as apartment residents, the John Galen Howards. A residential street of stately homes and apartment houses, Durant Ave. gradually evolved until, by 1930, it also accommodated clubs, churches, and even a hotel. In 1936 the Tompkinses remodeled their house by redesigning some features and facing the house with stucco—perhaps to reflect the revival styles of the day." (See Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association [BAHA], "Give the Blood House a transfusion!" published as the BAHA Newsletter #113, Summer 2003, accessed 09/29/2017.)

Building Notes

The Ellen Blood House was listed as a City of Berkeley Historical Landmarks Structure of Merit.