Collection: Books and Periodicals > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins

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Title: Volume 056-3 - July 2002 Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Collection Name: Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins # of Pages: 6 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2014-03-12 07:24:00 OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 04:06:01 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 04:06:01

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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NCHS Bulletin July 2002 The Hague House by Evelyn (nee Foote) Gardiner [Note: All photographs in this July 2002 Bulletin are from a collection in the possession of Evelyn Gardiner. ] HE HAGUE HOUSE WAS BUILT AROUND 1907 FOR Billy Hague, son of the owner of the North Star Mine. Billy was an engineer like his father, James D. Hague, and had recently married Bessie Stone of Milton, Massachussets. The architect, Peabody, was as well known in the East as Willis Polk (who worked for William Bourn, owner of the Empire Mine) or Bernard Maybeck in the West. The house was on a hill overlooking the North Star House. In those days, the Buttes and the Coast Range could be seen from the front porch (because all the trees had been removed for timber and firewood). Like the North Star House, it was built in the “Craftsman Style,” well suited to the California climate. It had seven bedrooms and four baths. Two of the bedrooms and one bath were on the north side leading into the kitchen. They were for the “help” which was inexpensive in those days. There were porches on three sides of the house and, even with the number of bedrooms available, Billy and Bessie sometimes had to sleep on the porch when they had company. The kitchen was spacious, with big storage closets and room for the help to eat their meals. There was a screen porch on the south side. The living room had a beautiful corner fireplace which shared a chimney with another corner fireplace in a bedroom behind it. The dining room had a fireplace and glass doors which opened on a forest of bamboo. The big north bedroom had a stove which shared the chimney. There was a pantry and a hall between the dining room and the kitchen. The front door led into a short entrance which looked over a low bookcase into the living room. Just north of the front door, a steep staircase led up to three bedrooms, one bath, a long hall and a big attic. I believe that Billy’s first child, James Duncan Hague (after his grandfather), was born in the house. Bessie had a hard time even though James was a tiny baby. A second son, Nat, was born in a Bay Area hospital, but did not live more than a year or two. When James was old enough, Helen Bontecou, a relative of Bessie’s, was brought from the East to be his governess. She was wonderful to the three little girls at the North Star House and we spent many happy hours playing “Up Jenkins,” “Black Art” and “Sardines.” James had a marvelous music box, elegant tin soldiers and a butterfly collection. We all looked up to him and loved his big sheep dog, “Bobby.” Those were the years after Billy Hague died in France of influenza and A. B. Foote was manager of the North Star Mine (A. D. Foote preceded his son as manager of the mine). James was sent to Tamalpais Boys School in Marin County, and Bessie, in failing health, moved there too. Helen Bontecou became Resident Mistress of the Katherine Branson School where all of the Foote girls were taught. After James went east and to Switzerland to school, the house was rented in the summer by the Evans family from The Hague House on the North Star Mine property near the Nevada County Fairgrounds.