Sanborn Map excerpt shared by the Oakland History Center
Mer Tranquil was a boat-shaped house at 4763 El Centro Avenue, near Trestle Glen. It was the home of Frederick Alfred Heroux, an entrepreneur, from approximately 1924 through the early 1930s. Mer Tranquil was shaped like a 55-foot yacht. It had a concrete base and was surrounded by an artificial lagoon. Heroux, who lived from approximately 1862 to 1946, also had a large coop for fancy pigeons next to his home.
From the Oakland Tribune, July 3, 1927: "Yacht Built on Hilltop Fulfills Youthful Ambition"
Heroux, who was from Calgary, Canada, bought a farm in Modesto in 1916, where he raised cows that won competitions. By 1920, he ran a bakery in Oakland at 1618 San Pablo Avenue, called I. Knead Bakery, which sold health-food bread:
The bakery went out of business in 1926 though.
Heroux also purchased a tract of land in Oakland that he named Glendome. By 1924, he built his own boat home there. For a time, he lived on the boat with assistant Captain, William Holtchu.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 7, 1924
Heroux subdivided his tract and sold other houses there, sometimes using his boat-house to advertise the location.
Oakland Tribune, August 29, 1926
Unfortunately people sometimes broke into the house to have an "orgie":
Oakland Tribune, March 28, 1930
A few years after Heroux died in 1946, there was a lawsuit about whether Glendome Circle is a private road. It said "Some years ago one Heroux subdivided a tract of land in Oakland. He prepared a map of it but never recorded the map."
Mer Tranquil was demolished and replaced in the early 1930s. From 1935 through 1939, through ads and articles in the Oakland Tribune, Mr. Heroux offered to sell the new home constructed on the former site of Mer Tranquil at lower and more desperate prices. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 Note that the initial 1935 ad refers to a 100-foot by 10-foot moat, while the 1937 ads refer to certain marine features of the house. 1,2,5 The address of this replacement house is now 724 Glendome Circle.
Links and References
- A Gentleman's Estate Oakland Tribune September 15, 1935
- Unsupported - Claims Futile! Oakland Tribune May 9, 1937
- New Residence Landscaped Oakland Tribune November 7, 1937
- Owner on Premises Oakland Tribune November 7, 1937
- A New Home Oakland Tribune November 14, 1937
- Appealing To Potential Buyers of Better Homes Oakland Tribune August 13, 1939
- A Quickie Oakland Tribune October 29, 1939
