By Amy O’Hair
With research contributed by Kathleen Laderman
Last October, in a post about a group of teen nature explorers, I thought I had reached the end the story—their plans to build a clubhouse. Never having come across evidence of the building, I wrongly concluded their plans were mere pipe dreams, abandoned and unrealized. But further research, prompted by an inquiry about an architect from a loyal reader, revealed that the clubhouse—a sizable structure at forty by sixty-five feet—was indeed built! More surprisingly, it was designed by the notable architect, Ida F McCain.
During the 1910s and 1920s, McCain was responsible for designing over a hundred houses in Westwood Park (and many more elsewhere)—the most distinctive in the nearby development. She was a standout for the era—giving interviews, talking publicly with knowledge and ease about her field, and promoting her own work. Her bungalows in the Arts and Crafts vernacular are compact and distinctive, with unique details and thoughtful interior fittings.[1]
The clubhouse for the Sunnyside kids was one of her rare design projects that was not domestic architecture,[2] and though there is no way of knowing what the style and features of the building were, perhaps it included some of the clinker brickwork (an example of which can be seen in the header image above) or the charmingly primitive details she used elsewhere. For many decades, Ida F McCain’s full biography was not complete—until I recently unearthed the true story of her later years and death, published in this post and this post.
Dreams Come True
The clubhouse project was initiated by the group’s leader, Elfreda Svenberg, whose unusual career leading local teens in a robust nature group I detail in the previous post. She lived at 751 Foerster Street (the house is gone, replaced later by another one with the same address).
Svenberg and McCain were of the same generation, coming of age toward the end of the Progressive Era, and benefiting from the increase in public participation afforded to many women then. They were both well educated and enterprising and both led public lives.
Somehow, perhaps through one of the many progressive women’s clubs of the time, the two met and found common cause in this seemingly small project with a community focus—although the nature-loving Svenberg leaned toward bird clubs and the more ambitious McCain preferred business women clubs.[3]
What evidence is there to support the fact of construction of the clubhouse? Continue reading “Sunnyside’s Log Cabineers, Part Two: The Ghost Clubhouse by Ida F McCain”
