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Overview

Louis C. Mullgardt design this Mill Valley residence for Ernest and Letitia Evans who married in 1906 and likely erected this house as a wedding gift to themselves. Ernest worked as a salesman, and Letitia had lived an adventuresome life as the wife of a missionary in China.

Building History

The well-traveled San Francisco architect Louis Christian Mullgardt (1866-1942) designed this residence for Ernest Albert Evans (born 12/30/1876 in KY-d. 01/31/1940 in Marin County, CA) and his wife Letitia E. Thomas (born 09/07/1873 in Troy, OH-d. 01/06/1969 in San Francisco, CA). completed in 1907. (Some sources listed Ernest's birthday as 12/30/1877, including the CA Death Index, while his World War I draft registration card listed it as 12/10/1876.) Ernest and Letitia wed in Miami County, OH, on 07/25/1906, this being Letitia's second marriage, while it was the first for Ernest. She first had married a missionary, Reverend Horace Pitkin (born 10/28/1869-d. 07/01/1900 in Beijing, China), who died at age 31 in China.

Voter registration rolls from between 1910 and 1918, indicated that Ernest Evans was an agent for a company that manufactured playing cards, while his wife Lettie Evans managed the household. Both were registered Republicans. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California State Library; Sacramento, California; Great Register of Voters, 1900-1968, accessed 12/10/2024.) By 1930, Evans had become a life insurance salesman. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Mill Valley, Marin, California; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 0032; FHL microfilm: 2339912, accessed 12/10/2024.)

Ernest and Letitia had had two boys together, both of whom died in infancy, one in 1908, the other in 1911. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1910; Census Place: Sausalito, Marin, California; Roll: T624_88; Page: 41a; Enumeration District: 0051; FHL microfilm: 1374101, accessed 12/10/2024.)

The California Polk-Husted Directory Company's San Rafael, San Anselmo, Mill Valley, Sausalito and Marin County Directory, 1911-12, indicated that Ernest A. Evans lived on Tamalpais Avenue near Summit Avenue. (See California Polk-Husted Directory Company's San Rafael, San Anselmo, Mill Valley, Sausalito and Marin County Directory, 1911-12, p.130.)

Ernest and Lettie were not listed in The Independent's Marin County Directory, San Rafael, Sausalito, San Anselmo, Mill Valley, Fairfax, Novato and Marin County, 1925, (p. 187), because they resided in the Bronx, NY, at 1875 University Avenue, nearby to Letitia's son Dr. Horace Collins Pitkin (born 03/29/1898 in China-d. 06/29/1958 in San Francisco, CA), a physician, and his wife Mary Isabel Brice (born 1900 in MD-d. 12/04/1932 in San Francisco, CA) who lived in the same building. Ernest and Letitia likely moved temporarily to the Bronx to be with the Horace and Isabel following the birth of their first child Horace "Hap" Pitkin (born 08/25/1925 in NY-d. 07/15/1998).

The 1930 US Census indicated that he and Lettie Evans again lived in the Mill Valley House, and she continued to live here for some time after Ernest's death in 1940. She survived him by 29 years.

PCAD id: 4801