J. Mora Moss House
| J. Mora Moss House | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Carpenter Gothic—Victorian |
| Town or city | Oakland, California |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 37°49′26″N 122°15′38″W / 37.8238°N 122.2606°WCoordinates: 37°49′26″N 122°15′38″W / 37.8238°N 122.2606°W |
| Construction started | 1864 |
| Completed | 1865 |
| Cost | more than US$14,500 |
| Client | Joseph Moravia Moss |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | pine framing, redwood planking |
| Size | 5,500 square feet (510 m2) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | S. H. Williams |
J. Mora Moss House is a boldly romantic Carpenter Gothic style Victorian home located within Mosswood Park in Oakland, California. It was built in 1864, bought by Oakland in 1912 and documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1960 at which point it was pronounced "One of the finest, if not the finest, existing examples of Gothic architecture of French and English influence as adapted to wood frame domestic architecture to be found in the East Bay Area, and possibly in Northern California." The building was named Oakland Heritage Landmark #6 on January 7, 1975. It is one of five historic homes owned by the City of Oakland and currently serves as an office and storage space of the Oakland Parks and Recreation department.
The building is also known as J. Mora Moss Home, J. Mora Moss Cottage, Mosswood Cottage and simply Mosswood.
Joseph Moravia Moss was born in Philadelphia in 1809 and came to San Francisco, California in 1850 or 1854 to work as a clerk in a bank. From there he built a fortune in banking, ice and fur importing, canal and railroad building and telegraph and gas utilities. It was his wish to retire away from the city's hustle and bustle. Moss acquired a large parcel of land outside of Oakland's downtown, and he commissioned S. H. Williams on February 29, 1864 to design a two-story home on the property for US$14,500 plus building materials supplied by Moss. Williams, who referred to the design as a 'Gothic Cottage', contracted Joseph F. Heston to construct the building, but Heston defaulted on December 8, 1864. Moss finished the construction with his own builders guided by S. H. Williams. No records exist tallying the total cost of building the home.
Moss, a longtime bachelor, married his housekeeper, Julia Theresa Wood, in 1867. They named the estate "Mosswood", a concatenation of their two surnames.
Moss served as president of the Board of Trustees of the California State Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind. In 1868, Moss was elected Honorary Regent to the first Board of Regents of the University of California and was appointed regent in 1874 at which post he served until his death at Mosswood on November 21, 1880.
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