Kendra Ruminer's Two Cents of Real Estate

Take A Peek At Los Alamos, New Mexico

Month: August 2024

Peggy’s Place

August 30, 2024 /

Many of us know the name Peggy Pond Church. Margaret “Peggy” Pond was the daughter of Ashley Pond. She grew up on the Pajarito Plateau from the time of her father’s Pajarito Club venture. By the time she married a Los Alamos Ranch School Master, Fermor Church, she was already on her way to becoming a well known poet and author. Given Peggy’s long time love affair with the region and Fermor Church’s important role at the school, it’s no wonder they immediately settled down to life at the ranch school.

The “First Family” at LARS

The couple was married in 1924 and spent their honeymoon at Camp May. You can read more about that HERE. It’s probably no surprise that the couple was expecting a baby fairly quickly. They’d been happy at the school, but the need for a family home quickly rose to the top of the couple’s list of wants. With help from Peggy’s parents, they decided to build their own home.

There was no doubt that AJ Connell wanted to keep Fermor Church as a Master at the ranch school. With this in mind, Connell allowed Peggy and Fermor to build a small cottage at the far north boundary of the school, “inside the fence”, but far enough away to give the impression of privacy.

While the cottage destined to become “Master Cottage #3” did not originally belong to the ranch school, it sat on property which did. Connell requested that Fermor Church do a complete survey of the school grounds in order to clarify the legality of the situation. The photo below, (courtesy of the Los Alamos historical Museum Archives), is the first formal map of the Ranch School.

In early 1925 construction began on the cottage that Fermor Church designed for what was to be a decent sized family. By fall of that same year, Peggy and Fermor moved into Master Cottage #3 with their brand new baby son, Theodore “Ted” Church. Peggy loved life on the plateau. She once wrote that there was “only a stand of young pine trees between us and Pueblo Canyon…made it seem almost as though we had the world of mountain and mesa to ourselves”.

A Change in Protocol

Master Cottage #3 boasted a living room complete with a beautiful stone fireplace, two bedrooms, and a modest kitchen. The Church’s home had one more bedroom than the average ranch school dwelling, but that’s not what actually set it apart.

Master Cottage #3 was the only Master Cottage that had its own dining room. Connell wanted all masters to take meals with the boys. That had included married masters and their wives until Peggy and Fermor added Ted to their family. The need for a private family dining room in the Church’s Cottage made sense, no matter how strange it might have seemed at the time.

In 1928, Fermor and Peggy added a second story to their cottage when their second son, Allen, arrived. By 1932 the cottage still felt as though it needed more space so the Churches hired John Gaw Meem to add a stone living room to the northeast corner of the cottage. With another fireplace, a vaulted ceiling, and Meem’s typical exposed beams, the attractive space was completed just in time for the arrival of Hugh Church. Peggy and Fermor named John Gaw Meem his godfather. A fitting tribute to the talented architect.

Eventually the boys grew into active, rambunctious boys which made their mother’s writing quite difficult to accomplish in such a busy household. Fermor snagged some lumber left from a LARS building project and constructed a small writing cabin for his wife on the edge of Pueblo Canyon. The rough cabin had room enough for a wood stove and she spent many happy hours finding inspiration through the window of her “office” just a short 15 minute walk from her busy cottage.

By 1940, two of three Church boys were students at the ranch school and the once busy cottage was quiet. Peggy and Fermor moved out of Master Cottage #3 and back into a master’s apartment at the school. The savvy couple traded the cottage (which they still owned) to the school in order to cover their boys’ tuition. Cecil Wirth and his expanding family moved in for a few years before business manager, Fred Rousseau’s family occupied Master Cottage #3 until the Manhattan Project came to town.

Square Dances & Saturday Night Parties

Master Cottage #3 became T-110 during the wartime. Navy Captain William “Deak” Parsons, his wife Martha, and their two daughters moved into the cottage and remained the only residents until the postwar years. Deak and Martha loved hosting square dances in the Churches spacious living room. Eventually the cottage became the place for large Saturday night get togethers. It’s said that Kitty Oppenheimer didn’t enjoy hosting large parties in her home so Martha Parsons was only too happy to sponsor the weekly social event.

When the Atomic Energy Commission took over in 1947, post commander Lt Col Herbert Gee occupied Master Cottage #3. That didn’t last long however, and in 1948 Duncan and Hilda MacDougall moved into Master Cottage #3. MacDougall had worked as a liaison between his home Laboratory in Bruceton, Pennsylvania and Los Alamos during the war. This position required him to make frequent visits to Los Alamos and he chose to settle here with his family during the postwar years.

MacDougall served as the Associate Director for Weapons, and eventually became responsible for the Central Computing Facility and laser research. The MacDougalls remained assigned to Master Cottage #3 until the AEC’s dispersal of real estate in 1968. The MacDougalls opted to purchase their long time home at that time. Master Cottage #3 continues to be privately owned and enjoyed as a family home to this day. Something I’m sure that Peggy and Fermor Church would approve of!

Nothing represents the ebb and flow of Los Alamos more than the incredible history of our Master Cottages. Fermor Church was an educated man. In fact, he came from Washington, Connecticut and was recruited to the Los Alamos Ranch School after graduating from Harvard University. He fell in love with the Western spirit, with being a cowboy, and with a girl named Peggy Pond. He built his log cabin on the Pajarito Plateau just as the rest of the original buildings here in Los Alamos were built for a similar purpose. But as we’ve seen, these cottages became so much more. Now they are a chunk of real history still sheltering local residents of Los Alamos with a passion for history and the beauty of life in Los Alamos.

There’s no doubt that life in Los Alamos is packed with history and plenty of opportunities for adventure. Thanks again to the Los Alamos Historical Society for their valuable knowledge, the wonderful books, photos, maps, and other archive materials, and for their preservation of our history! And when you and your family are ready to talk real estate buying and selling in Los Alamos, give me a call! I’m a hometown girl and I love to talk housing in Los Alamos!

Why Bathtub Row Anyway?

August 15, 2024 /

Even award winning author, Judy Blume knew about Bathtub Row. Her 1982 book, Tiger Eyes, was set in Los Alamos. The main character, Davey, meets a friend named Jane who lives in an old house on “prestigious” Bathtub Row. In the story, Davey spends the night with Jane in the cottage on the Row and the author spends a great deal of time describing the claw footed iron tub in the bathroom. Davey chooses to take a bath in the infamous bathtub during her night’s stay in order to say she’d had the experience.

The cottages of Bathtub Row aren’t all the same, nor were they built at the same time for the same reasons. The existence of ANY cottages speaks to the success the Los Alamos Ranch School was experiencing. There were certainly some small additions over the years and the Lodge handled a good deal of the school needs. But when AJ Connell paid off the school’s mortgage in 1931, he decided his venture had finally become prosperous enough that it was time to hire a business manager and make some improvements to the school that wouldn’t be a total loss in case of fire.

Sound familiar? In a prior post about Master Cottage #2, I mentioned that the original “Director’s Cottage” at the ranch school burned to the ground in the winter of 1931. How that must’ve been a blow to AJ Connell! Pay off a mortgage. Cottage burns to the ground. Talk about one step forward and two steps back!

The original cottage of the Los Alamos Ranch School was a rather modest structure built entirely of wood planks. The mountains behind have so many more trees than the view we enjoy today, but the shape of our Los Alamos “skyline” still packs the same dramatic punch!

The photo above is from Craig Martin’s and Heather McClenahan’s book, “Of Logs and Stone”. If you haven’t picked this up, you really should! You can find it on the shelf at the Los Alamos History Museum with a dozen or more resources focused on Los Alamos and our unique history.

AJ Connell didn’t actually occupy the Director’s Cottage for very long. The cottage was built in 1923 and he lived there until 1928. The structure was just northwest of the baseball diamond, which meant long foul balls often smacked the roof. Not that the baseball skills of the Ranch School students were responsible for AJ Connell deciding to move out. It was more that the school was growing and teachers were needed. To make room for more staff, Connell moved into a tiny third floor alcove in Fuller Lodge. The room had a slanted roof and provided Connell with a cozy bedroom and sitting room which he utilized in all but the hottest month of summer. Imagine that the next time you’re sweltering in a non air conditioned home here in Los Alamos!

Lawrence Hitchcock and Art Chase occupied the “Director’s Cottage” until it burned in 1931. The Duck Pond, (Ashley Pond) was the main water source for the school. During a good winter, the pond would freeze solidly enough to cut into blocks of ice to be stored in the Ice House and even solid enough for the boys to play hockey. This meant it wasn’t going to help the poor “Director’s Cottage” when it caught fire. The wood structure smoldered until it was nothing but ash as the boys created bucket brigades to bring water from a nearby canyon to douse the flames.

May Connell was said to watch the flames at the “Director’s Cottage” from her cozy “Master Cottage #2”. It’s also suggested that she made mention that a certain corner of that cottage seemed to smolder all through the night and into the next day. The school masters never told May the reason. Evidently, Hitchcock, Art Chase, and Fermor Church had been storing a 30-gallon key of corn whiskey in the cottage to let it age. They’d been hoping to sell big when the cost of whiskey skyrocketed after prohibition ended. Apparently, some things in Los Alamos NEVER change. I’d like to point out that Miss May had no idea what those men had been up to!

With the “Director’s Cottage” gone, it was time for Connell to make a new plan for master cottages, guest houses, and other expansive projects to grow the school he loved. “Master Cottage #1” soon replaced the burnt out shell of what had been and eventually became the Hans Bethe House. But more on that next time… And when you’re ready to join our community here in Los Alamos, give me a call! I love Los Alamos and I’d love to talk real estate in Los Alamos with you!

What’s the Deal With Oppenheimer’s House? Part 2

August 1, 2024 /

Last time we explored the original purpose of the Oppenheimer House as a Master Cottage for the ranch school. The first occupant was May Connell, a native New Yorker, also an artist who wanted for her cottage a stone room with enormous windows, light, and warmth. When the Los Alamos Ranch School became home of the Manhattan Project, a very different young woman chose Master Cottage #2 as her home.

When Robert and Kitty Oppenheimer came to Los Alamos, they had the first choice of housing for several obvious reasons. There is plenty of speculation on why Kitty chose May Connell’s cottage as her new home on the Pajarito Plateau, but the primary reasons are probably the most practical. Number one, the house was of a good size for their family. Number two very likely centered on May Connell’s beautiful studio windows. The light in the house was always quite lovely in comparison to other homes on Bathtub Row at that time and still remains so to this day.

The Oppenheimers did not settle into May Connell’s little cottage without needing a few renovations. Some folks might’ve imagined that the glass enclosed sleeping porch would’ve needed attending to, but Kitty and Robert never seemed to mind that feature. It was the lack of a formal dining room that just didn’t go with the Kitty and Robert’s love of entertaining guests in their home as a method of stress reduction.

In order to give the cottage enough space for Robert and Kitty’s love of entertaining guests and social engagements, the Army remodeled May Connell’s modest eat in kitchen into a dining room. A new kitchen was added to the west side of the cottage, and Robert did most of the cooking in this newly renovated room! According to Of Logs and Stone, Robert’s fave dishes to make for family and friends were spicy, exotic offerings from all over the world.

One of Kitty and Robert’s big traditions was to entertain new arrivals to Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project in their home on their first night in town. The night always began with dry martinis, generally two per person, before sitting down to a wonderful meal and conversation. Many times the guests wouldn’t anticipate the effects of strong dry martinis on the body at high altitude and visitors had trouble walking back to their lodgings at the end of the night. I suppose in that way it was good to have everything close at hand in those days!

Once the war years had passed and the Oppenheimers returned to California, Eric and Eleanor Jette were assigned to live in Master Cottage #2. In the winter of 1945-1946, before the Jettes moved in, the Army finally added a second bedroom onto the west side of the cottage. It’s so hard to believe that until that time, the house only had May Connell’s glass enclosed sleeping porch. If I suggested to any of my clients that a family of four move into a home with nothing but a sleeping porch for a bedroom, they’d likely tell me “no thanks”!

After the bedroom was completed and the Jette’s took possession, it’s said that Eleanor Jette was thrilled at the prospect of a bath. Each of the Master Cottages was originally equipped with a cast iron bathtub complete with claw feet! The tub in Master Cottage #2 had tiger feet at its base. Remember that at the time, Bathtub Row got its name because these were the only bathtubs in Los Alamos. Once iron became scare in the war, the US Government changed regulations regarding construction. Bathtubs weren’t plastic back then. They were all made of cast iron, which meant they became contraband during the war years!

Poor Eleanor Jette, finally getting to use her bathtub at Master Cottage #2, had to wait a bit longer when the pipes froze on the night she tried to take a bath in her new housing! The poor woman had to wait a week for her hot bath as the water remained frozen for an entire week and the Army had to bring truckloads up the mountain to keep the town supplied. Can you imagine? Nowadays we’re all feeling abused if the county takes more than a few hours to repair a water outage caused by broken or leaking pipes.

Eric and Eleanor Jette occupied Master Cottage #2 until 1947 when they moved to the Pojoaque Valley. The house was occupied by Frank and Betty Hoyt until the late 1950’s when Bergen and Helene Suydam got the luck of the draw and had the opportunity to choose Master Cottage #2 as their assigned home in Los Alamos. Helene Suydam once told a friend that they were 3rd or 4th on the housing list and only got assigned to the house because they had one more “point” than the other couple tied for their spot on the housing list of Los Alamos. (Housing Points and List information can be found HERE)

The Suydams loved their cottage on Bathtub Row. Helene Suydam used to tell folks that though she never met the Oppenheimers in person, but she once spotted Kitty Oppenheimer and Dorothy McKibbin walking up to Master Cottage #2. Helene speculated that Kitty was showing Dorothy where the Oppenheimers had lived while occupying the Pajarito Plateau during the war years.

The Suydams loved their cottage home and purchased it in the 1960s when the Laboratory offered housing for private ownership. Bergen Suydam worked in T Division until his retirement in 1986 and both he and Helene remained the home’s owners until 2003. The Suydams had long recognized the historical importance of Master Cottage #2 to Los Alamos and the history of the Pajarito Plateau. This led them to the decision to create a living trust agreement with the Los Alamos Historical Society in October of 2003.

This living trust provided a way for the society to preserve the home while the Suydams still maintained the right to occupy their long time home in Los Alamos. A grant from Save America’s Treasures allowed the Historical Society to stabilize the foundation of Master Cottage #2 and they held a dedication ceremony in 2004 when the bronze plaque was unveiled on the cottage. The commemorative plaque celebrating the most historic resident of Master Cottage #2 was the beginning of the home’s “official” handle as “The Oppenheimer House”. Even though it’s called “The Oppenheimer House”, it is still May Connell’s studio window that gives the home much of it’s character and class.

The Oppenheimer House is still in dire need of some serious renovations. In fact, the Historical Society and the Museum have a fund going for folks to contribute to this effort. There are some serious issues with the structural integrity of the home that need to be addressed soon lest it crumble into nothing more than a cool memory of times long gone. The house itself is a bit of a bridge between the different historical identities of Los Alamos itself, which makes it worthy of restoration. I’d encourage you to check out Master Cottage #2, the last house on Bathtub Row, and the scene of so much history here in Los Alamos! Take a drive past, drop by the museum, and have a peek in the windows to get a glimpse into a very real past.

As always, I want to give credit where it’s due! Thanks to the Historical Society, the History Museum, and their wonderful staff for their help on my exploration into The Oppenheimer House! Please stop by sometime and chat with the knowledgeable staff and see the wonderful museum and shop full of books, gifts, and facts about Los Alamos through the years! And when you’re ready to become part of our community here on the Pajarito Plateau, give me a call! I’m a hometown girl who LOVES the funky and often unique bits and pieces about real estate in Los Alamos!

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