Benicia Historical Society

Page 7 LEARY HOUSE ~ c. 1850 140 East G Street History: This historic home has been occupied by the Clyne family and their de- scendants since before the turn of the last century. The house has undergone many changes in its lifetime. Speculation is that this home is a combination of two houses and that it has been remodeled at least twice. The original house on this site was built around 1850 by Sylvester Woodbridge, an early Benicia clergyman. Rev- erend Woodbridge sold the home to Daniel N. Hastings in 1852 and presumably, that is when the alterations began. Daniel Hastings held this property until some- time in the 1880s when it was purchased by James Clyne, a local carriage maker. Clyne had first settled in Benicia in 1863. Most notably, he served as a city trustee between 1880 and 1894. His son Charles, who would occupy this unique house for many years, served as Mayor of Benicia during the 1940s. Architecture: Here is an example of a classic Queen Anne Victorian home with a penchant for Colonial Revival details, i.e., simple columns, broad plain trim and a hipped roof. The two-story front of the house is all original to 1896. The gable projecting to the street with its doubled, multi-paned windows and decorative shin- gling is still classic Queen Anne. The rounded corner sans turret is unusual for the style and reflects the influence of prominent American architect H.H. Richardson, whose buildings featured heavy massing often crowned by broad expanses of slop- ing roof unbroken by the usual offsets, gablings and changes in level characteristic of most Queen Anne buildings. In this case, it creates an elegant entry to the porch.