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Guide to the Hayes Mansion Papers
1993.122
1993.122
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Table of contents
Title: Hayes Mansion Papers
Identifier/Call Number: 1993.122
Contributing Institution:
History San Jose Research Library
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
1.0 Linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1979-1981
Abstract: Papers document efforts circa 1979-1981 to preserve the Hayes Mansion in San Jose, California. Includes grant proposals and
related documents, background on the mansion and Mary Hayes Chynoweth, City Council minutes and City Ordinances, records of
the Association to Save Hayes Mansion, and many photographs of the exterior and interior of the mansion.
Conditions Governing Access note
Materials are open to the public for research by appointment.
Property rights reside with History San Jose. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact History San Jose
Research Library.
Hayes Mansion Papers 1993-122, History San Jose Research Library, San Jose, California 95112-2599.
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
The papers were donated to History San Jose by Judy Stabile, who served on the San Jose Historic Landmarks Committee in the
early 1980s and was later a San Jose City Council Member.
Papers document efforts circa 1979-1981 to preserve the Hayes Mansion in San Jose, California. Includes grant proposals and
related documents, background on the mansion and Mary Hayes Chynoweth, City Council minutes and City Ordinances, records of
the Association to Save Hayes Mansion, and many photographs of the exterior and interior of the mansion.
Arranged in four series, the first series of background papers covers proposals for Monterey Park, creation of Eden Vale Historic
District Committee and related City Council minutes. The second series of supplementary information and materials for the
proposal to save the mansion includes a biography of Mary Hayes Chynoweth by Jane Bullis, a pictorial essay of the mansion,
black and white and color photographs, grants-in-aid procedural guidelines, notes and expense reports. The third series contains
a copy of the Historic Grants-in-Aid Proposal dated June, 1979. The last series contains the records of the Association to
Save Hayes Mansion: correspondence, minutes and by-laws, notes, clippings and petitions.
The papers were processed in 2007 by History San Jose staff.
Related Archival Materials note
Related materials located at History San Jose include the Hayes family papers (1995-51), the Mary Hayes Chynoweth Collection
(1991-130), the Frontier Village Collection (1997-376) and the American Institute of Architects Santa Clara Valley Collection
(2008-131).
According to
The Gem of Edenvale, by Nancy L. Newlin, the Hayes mansion was originally build in 1905 to replace a Queen Anne Victorian on the same site in
the Edenvale neighborhood of San Jose, California. It served as a the residence for the Hayes family, whose matriarch, Mary
Hayes Chynoweth, was a community healer and spiritual guide. Both the original Victorian home, built in 1891, and the later
Meditteranean-inspired mansion, completed in 1905, were designed by architect George Page.
In 1953 the Hayes family decided to sell the mansion. Forty acres of the estate were eventually turned into the amusement
park, Frontier Village, which opened in 1961 and closed in 1980.
in 1975 the mansion was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1979 Bren Corporation purchased forty-three
acres on the west side of the mansion for real estate development. Velma Lisher, who had been a caretaker resident of the
mansion and had spent considerable personal effort to prevent deterioration, prepared a Historic Preservation Grant-in-Aid
proposal. Her intention was to rehabilitate the mansion for senior citizen housing. The San Jose City Council, in 1979, voted
to allow condominium development on the Frontier Village property as long as the mansion was rehabilitated and preserved as
an Historic resource.
In 1980 Frontier Village closed, and in 1980 the Eden Vale Historic District Committee was founded to persuade the city to
form a historic district to offer further protection for the mansion, an action that failed. Through the efforts of the San
Jose Historic Landmarks Commission, the mansion was declared a city landmark in 1981. Eventually, in 1991 the mansion was
proposed for development as a premier meeting center and restaurant and in 2004 it operated as the Dolce Hayes Mansion under
Dolce International.
Newlin, N. L. (2005).
The gem of edenvale: the historic hayes mansion of san jose, california. (Second ed.). San Jose: Renasci Publications.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Chynoweth, Mary Hayes, 1825-1905
Architecture, Domestic--California--Santa Clara Valley (Santa Clara County)--19th century
City councils--California--San Jose
Historic buildings--California--San Jose
Historic preservation--California--San Jose
minutes