Frank C. Havens

Frank C. Havens
Born November 21, 1848
Died February 9, 1917 (aged 68)

Frank Colton Havens (21 November 1848–9 February 1917) was a lawyer and real estate developer in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Biography

Havens was born into one of the founding families of Shelter Island, New York, the son of Wickham Sayre and Sarah Darling Havens of Sag Harbor.[1]

He was a lawyer in the San Francisco Bay Area from the late 19th to early 20th centuries who also was a major developer of real estate in the East Bay, particularly in the cities of Oakland, Berkeley and Piedmont. He built the four-story Havens Mansion in Piedmont on Wildwood Gardens using Bernard Maybeck and Tiffany. Havens was a follower of Eastern philosophy and meditation and the mansion had an opium smoking bed in it and an inscription related to such philosophy.

Throughout his life, Havens maintained a summer home in Sag Harbor.

Associates

Havens was closely associated with Francis "Borax" Smith through their "Realty Syndicate" which, among other things, built the Claremont Hotel and was originally the parent company of the Key System transit company. His son, Harold C. Havens followed his father into real estate development in the East Bay area.

Havens also is the man responsible for planting eucalyptus trees in the Bay Area. Between 1910 and 1914, his Mahogany Eucalyptus and Land Company had planted nearly three million Tasmanian blue gum eucalyptus and Monterey pine seedlings on 3,000 acres in the East Bay. The scheme was supposed to make Havens a fortune, but although eucalyptus grew quickly it made poor lumber. Havens soon shutdown the sawmills and nurseries, but the eucalyptus and pine groves remain. Native animals (particularly the migratory Monarch butterfly) have learned to live in the eucalyptus, but they are also a fire hazard, and were implicated in the 1991 East Bay firestorm.[2]

One of his nephews was George Sterling, a noted local poet.[3]

The upper floor interiors were created by a Japanese architect.

Deaths

He died February 9, 1917 at his home in Piedmont. His ashes are interred at the Chapel of the Chimes adjacent to the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. His mansion had an unfinished and unused tomb room.

Acknowledgements

A boulevard in Oakland is named for one of his namesake developments, Havenscourt. The Frank C. Havens Elementary School in Piedmont is also named for him.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "A History of Berkeley, From the Ground Up". Alan Cohen.
  2. ↑ "Ubiquitous Eucalyptus: How an Aussie Got Naturalized". Bay Nature.
  3. ↑ "George and Carrie Sterling and the Havens Family". Calisphere. University of California.

External links