San Luis Obispo County CA Archives Photo Place.....The Judge's House 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com November 25, 2006, 10:52 pm

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"THE JUDGE'S HOUSE" 
1720 Johnson Avenue, San Luis Obispo

History and Description:

As the only structure on the hillside, "the Judge's House" was, when it was
built by Superior Court Judge E. P. Unangst in 1906, a famous landmark to those
who travelled through San Luis Obispo. At that time the entire community looked
to Judge Unangst's home for celebrations on election nights, the Fourth of July,
and at Christmas.  The judge himself was a personality, an amateur geologist,
botanist and an excellent photographer.  The fireplace in the library contains
many specimens of rocks found in the area, and was actually built by Judge
Unangst himself.  His geological collection was given to Stanford University and
his botanical collection was given to Cal Poly.

Among the pages of Judge Unangst's guest book one can find the names of
President Theodore Roosevelt, President William McKinley, William Jennings
Bryan, Luther Burbank, Judge Ben Lindsay, and others.

Mrs. Dorothy Unangst Bilodeau, a daughter of Judge Unangst, says that the entire
house is made of redwood. The original architectural design of the house was not
good enough for the judge, so he designed the house on his own ideas, in
cooperation with a minister in the area whose church was made of similar
materials.  The huge rock frontage and tall chimneys of stones were personally
selected by Judge Unangst from the Santa Lucia Range for the house.  The
rockwork was done by an Irishman and a Negro.

Oregon spruce has been used in the interior of the house for all the woodwork
which includes exposed beams in the ceilings, floors and paneled walls. The
transition between wall and roof is curved and gives the rooms a special feeling
of space.  The fireplace in the dining room is made of bricks.

The exterior of the house is special in design. The gambrel roof (hip roof) is
huge and contains the second floor and attic. The siding panels in the first
floor are huge with a nice profile.  The windows are variable in size and form
and some of them are leaded glass.

An interesting feature of the home is its garden, with unique flora, so intense
that only a botanist could have developed it.

Sources:
Mrs. Dorothy Unangst Bilodeau, daughter of Judge E. P. Unangst



Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Discovering San Luis Obispo County
by
Carleton M. Winslow


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