Old Postcard Wednesday--Grandview Community Inc., Healdsburg, California

[Note: I included updated information about this property at the end of this post.]

This is one of the few in my grandmother's box of old postcards that has absolutely nothing to describe it on the back of the postcard.

When I saw it I thought this beautiful structure looked like the perfect place for a Thanksgiving dinner with family, friends, and acquaintances who would otherwise be alone at Thanksgiving.

Googling Grandview Community Inc. led me to communities with that name in eight other states and one in southern California, and a really cool website called Think Urban from Grandview Heights, Ohio. But I came to a dead-end regarding a search for anything related to a Grandview Community in Healdsburg, California, a lovely-sounding and -appearing place in the wine country there.

Deciding that if the building was still standing there might be an off-chance that it became a bed and breakfast, I looked at websites for Bed & Breakfasts in Healdsburg, and, going through a list in order on the page (eliminating one that was obviously new architecture) I determined the building on the postcard did not become:

The Camelia Inn
The Grapeleaf Inn
The Calderwood Inn
The Raford Inn
The Honor Mansion
The Haydon Street Inn

But it certainly DID become........Madrona Manor! It was just thrilling when the home page opened and the first thing I saw (in the top left corner) was a black-and-white drawing of the building, unmistakably the same as in this old postcard. The website shows gorgeous color photos of the outside architecture, inside various rooms of the B&B, and of the grounds. This tempting online tour convinces me that it deserves the accolades it boasts:

Madrona Manor Wine Country Inn & Restaurant

"Rated No. 1 in Napa/Sonoma"
"Top 100 Hotels in Continental US and Canada; Top 100 Worldwide" 2008 Travel + Leisure

"One Star Michelin" 2009 Michelin Guide San Francisco, Bay area & Wine Country Restaurants
"ZAGAT Top Spot" 2009 ZAGAT San Francisco Bay Area Restaurants

I sure pegged this spot as a wonderful place for Thanksgiving dinner. Click here for the Madrona Manor restaurant's holiday dinners information, including a link for this year's Thanksgiving feast menu.

Now back to the mystery of Grandview Community Inc. and the dearth of information about it. The Madrona Manor website has a section on its history, including a color old postcard of the Manor and the following information:

Blitz [son of John Paxton who built the home] took over the family home as well as the presidency of the Bank of Santa Rosa following his father's death. Madrona Knoll Rancho was retained by Blitz and was used as a weekend retreat until he sold it circa 1913.

The property remained a private residence until 1981 when it was purchased and renovated into its new incarnation as a world-class country inn and restaurant.

In April of 1987 the Madrona Manor was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic District.

Thus, somewhere between 1913 and when my grandmother died in 1960 leaving behind the postcard in a box, the home was in private ownership by someone(s) who established a Grandview Community Inc. When did this occur and for what purpose? I can't answer that.

Sites featuring Healdsburg's History and an historical overview of Healdsburg are chock-full of truly fascinating history - none of it, however, mentioning a Grandview Community. This leads me to think it must have been of a single-purpose and possibly short-lived nature.

Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society's website has a photo exhibit of 215 old buildings and homes and I enjoyed a trip back in time looking at each. But the mystery of Grandview Community is not solved in this exhibit, as the home isn't featured there.

The list below contains photos from the Museum's old buildings exhibit that particularly appealed to me:

Salvation Army Boys & Girls Orphanage
Healdsburg Plaza "with a few remaining native trees in 1872"
Furniture and Coffins store
Man on bicycle with bovine
a home
a home
a home
a home

Since the Museum website is one of the best historical society online sites I've seen I imagine the museum itself would contain a wealth of interesting material. Maybe someone connected with the historical society will read this and can explain the history behind Grandview Community Inc.; I hope so.

`