Walking Tour: Wilson Avenue (Fresno, California)
Charles H.
Franklin Home (1938)
3865 North Wilson Avenue
Franklin & Kump, Architects
Ernest
J. Kump, Jr., Designer
International Ranch
Note the glass block and advanced steel sash windows. The house was painted and re-roofed by the second owner. Originally it was white with bright blue trim, red brick and a slate roof. This would have been a very “Bauhaus” primary palette. Charles Franklin built the house without telling his wife; the design was too advanced. The interior walls were panelled in natural plywood. The concrete floors were blue. The inventive side/rear fencing is original.
Also note the use of exterior stacked-bond brickwork along the wainscot and on the chimney. This brick was designed and engineered by Charles Franklin, manufactured locally by Craycroft Brick. This was the same type brick used to face the 1941 City Hall. He experimented with the product on his own house.
Franklin purchased his lot for $250 in a Superior Court sale. The realtor took a court-ordered commission of $12.50.
During the flood of 1-5 March 1938 the house was a few weeks shy of being completed when it was inundated with three feet of water. Nearly three inches of rain fell during this statewide torrential storm. To save the doors, they were removed and returned to the planing mill where they were "pressed" while they dried–to prevent warping.
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