Delmas House, at 124 Delmas Avenue, lies in a neighborhood that was the residential section for many of San Jose’s early professionals and shopkeepers, notably of its thriving music businesses, during the decades around the turn of the 20th century. The site originally held a small gingerbread Victorian much like those surviving across the street, but the current building is a landmark Craftsman bungalow constructed by Theo Brohaska, of the noted Brohaska music family. The adjoining lot at 142 was also part of San Jose’s music world as the home of one of the city’s first music store proprietors and his family, which developed connections with other contemporary music enterprises.
Brohaska Family in San Jose
Gustave and Margaret had five children; three of them played a part in San Jose history for many years (Gustave, Jr., died in 1913, and Julius owned a liquor store across the street from the Opera House, but went to Mexico as a railroad engineer in 1904 and died on his ranch at Chula Vista in 1939). Theodore (Theo) was born in 1860 at River and San Fernando Streets, where Holy Family Catholic Church later stood. Matilda (Tillie) was born at First and San Carlos, later site of the Hale department store. Fred C., the youngest, was born in 1864 at the Opera House (where they apparently lived at the time), and made his debut as a violinist at age 5 on that stage.
After the fire, the family moved around downtown for a few years, but finally settled at 124 Delmas Avenue between 1887 and 1888. Theo had started as a laborer with J. M. Dawson Packing Co. but soon became a carpenter, and served as construction foreman for the Robert Summers firm in San Jose for 24 years. Fred was a driver for the Wells Fargo firm, but after moving to Delmas Avenue had a fish market at Market and El Dorado (now Post Street) for a few years with partner Dennis Marander, who moved in with the Brohaska family from 1889-1891.
Theo, who had married Elizabeth M. Gartleman on July 5, 1888, remained at the Delmas Avenue house with Gustave, Jr. Theo became prominent in local government, serving as City Councilman from 1910-1918 and on the Board of Freeholders for eight years. He was a charter member of Carpenters Union Local #399, and as contract foreman for the Summers firm helped to move Lincoln High School in one entire piece from one side of its property to the other, to make room for a new grammar school — this while classes remained in session! He had served as a flag boy for the local firemen in San Jose parades, and enjoyed playing trumpet in the 5th Regiment National Guard Band on many occasions.
Local maps of 1901-1902 show that a major tributary of the Guadalupe River flows under Delmas Avenue just north of the property at 124, and it was undoubtedly covered several feet deep in the great flood of March 4, 1911, which was severe enough to necessitate boat travel on many downtown streets. Theo applied for a building permit to construct a new “cottage” on November 19, 1911, which was granted on December 1, and the construction was completed in very professional fashion. The new building is described in the City Survey of Historical Buildings (1977) as a fine example of Craftsman style with beveled siding and a partly half-timbered exterior. It had an unusually large side porch on the southern exposure, held up by three stone-trimmed pillars. Other special features were the horizontal windows at the entry and the multi-panelled front door. Interior panelling throughout the living and dining rooms, a great stone fireplace wall, built-in cupboards and pass-through from dining room to kitchen were undoubtedly supervised, if not actually constructed, by Theo (and perhaps by Gustave before his death a year later).
In 1915, Theo’s daughter Catherine Margaret became a teacher at the San Jose High School, and in 1919 Theo sold the house to Henry C. Vincent, a clerk for the U.S. Railway Administration. Vincent, in turn, sold the property to Peter N. Dalis around 1921-1922. (The house number is incorrectly listed in the San Jose City Directory of 1922 as #121; by 1923 the correct number is restored).
Later, Irene Dalis, Opera San Jose’s founder and director, gave the house, her childhood home, to the opera company to house its artists-in-residence. The house is now a registered city landmark in San Jose.
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