About The Tour

A 1930 Spanish-style family home with remodeled kitchen and bathrooms, inlaid with special vintage-inspired tiles. A newly-built Tuscan home with exceptional stonework and a wall of windows that slide open to the garden. A traditional ranch house with hand-painted finishes. A meticulously-restored Neoclassical Victorian. These four lovely homes, plus an elegant Victorian garden, will be featured Oct. 15-16 during the 16th annual Rose Garden Homes Tour in San Jose, benefiting St. Martin of Tours School. Gather your friends, put on your walking shoes and enjoy an afternoon in one of San Jose's finest neighborhoods. Afterward, indulge yourself with a gourmet luncheon and browse through a gift boutique in the gardens of a rescued and lovingly restored Italianate Victorian.

Beginning in 1996, our well-organized cadre of parent volunteers began showcasing the elegance of the Rose Garden with a tour of local homes. Generous parents and neighborhood homeowners have supported the effort to raise money for local children attending St Martin of Tours by graciously opening their homes for a weekend tour.

The event draws support from throughout Silicon Valley as many visitors hope to catch a glimpse inside the homes in our Historic Rose Garden Neighborhood.  In addition to raising funds to allow local children to have access to Art, Music and Technology, the Rose Garden Homes Tour promotes the beauty and charm of our local neighborhood and invites the community to experience all the vitality that the Rose Garden Community has to offer.

Ticket Information

$35 Day-of-Event

 

Tour begins at 2017 University Way, San Jose

 Sorry, we cannot accommodate luncheon orders after October 11th

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 Homes on Tour

 

The home of Ray and Diane Wetmore

In the 10 months it took to build this house from the ground up, a lot happened in the Wetmore family. Diane's mother, the matriarch of the family, died, and her daughter got married. What she realized then was just how important it was that this new home become the center, the gathering place, for the family.

And to Ray and Diane, whose four grown daughters all attended St. Martin of Tours, that meant big, open spaces for entertaining, both inside and out. And that starts at the majestic front door, a work of iron art with wavy glass windows that open behind it, letting the California breeze blow from the front all the way to the glass doors that slide into the wall in the back.

Ray is a commercial masonry contractor and the home that Diane describes as part Arizona, part Florida and part Hawaii needed some signature stonework. With the help of architect Chris Spaulding and designer Susan Powell, they created a stone alcove that can be glimpsed from the entryway as well as a stone-covered stove hood. Even the risers on the curving staircase are covered in a distinctive tile to add interest. The living room ceiling soars two-stories high, with windows upon windows to let light in. The front room was designed as a "man cave" with leather sofas, a wet bar, stone fireplace and vintage wine barrels. Limestone tile floors make a seamless transition from the living room through the wall of windows (that disappear when opened) to the covered patio, complete with a Tuscan-style dining table and plans for a full-service barbecue area.

With a gracious master bedroom downstairs, the upstairs is reserved for family, including a nursery for the Wetmore's grandchildren.

"Everyone comes here and stays here," Diane said. "It was built to bring the family together."

The home of John and Rebecca Lane 

John and Rebecca Lane were avid fans of “This Old House” and looking for a new project when they first laid eyes on this 1905 Neoclassical Victorian.  The house with its Roman-style round columns and dental moldings was in nearly original condition, but needed a lot of work. With the help of architectural designer Lynn Miller in 2007, they took the house down to the studs and began a four-year project that included every weekend of do-it-yourself projects, from refinishing floors to stripping and replacing moldings throughout the house. They tore out a carport and built a detached garage, with John custom-making seven types of molding to match the house.

Along the way, John, a mentor in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, taught teenager Devon Hunter the art of carpentry (and the fun of demolition.)  “He’s practically a member of the family at this point,” said John, who began mentoring 19-year-old Devon when he was just seven.

The Lanes left the front rooms in their original configuration, but opened up the back of the house, extending a breakfast nook onto an old porch area, and converting two bedrooms into a family room and stairwell. By excavating nearly two feet of dirt from under the basement, they turned the low-ceilinged space with exposed pipes into a complete living area with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, a wine cellar and a “secret door.” The couple was surprised to find that a trap door that led them to the attic revealed 10-foot ceilings above. Adding extra dormers, this became their master suite. Rebecca found vintage-style corbels to use as shelf supports for the luxurious closet. They shopped at antique shops for vintage light fixtures and recovered stained glass windows from John’s parents’ attic in Portland to use as transom windows in the kitchen.

They named the house “Villa Roseto,” Italian for “Rose Garden Estate.” “It was a much bigger deal than we originally anticipated,” John said of the project. But the 4,000 square foot result, he said, is worth it.

The home of Dominic and Gretchen Kotab

When Dominic and Gretchen Kotab first saw this 1930 Spanish-style home, they thought it would be perfect for their growing family. The living room with its 15-foot ceilings and exposed rustic wood beams was ideal for their piano -- along with all the lessons for their children to come.

"It just had a lot of charm," Gretchen said, including original hardwood floors throughout. The kitchen faced the back of the house, so Gretchen could keep an eye on the kids in the backyard. The house was already graciously proportioned, with four bedrooms and three baths. But the kitchen and bathrooms hadn't been touched in decades. The family lived in the house for five years before moving out for a substantial remodel when their oldest entered kindergarten at St. Martin's.

"It was chaos," Gretchen said. Her favorite part of the project was a trip to Los Angeles to Mission Tile West, where she chose gorgeous, vintage-inspired tile for the kitchen and baths. The kitchen backsplash is especially fabulous, with a cream and green interlocking pattern. Their master bath is small, but Gretchen wanted to make it elegant, choosing Carrera marble. They expanded the front and back patios, covering the front with Spanish tile and the back with slate. With the children ages 3, 5 and 7 now, the house is just right.

The home of friends of St. Martin's

 This house has been ahead of its time since it was built in 1950. Unlike most ranch houses of their era, this was built with a family room connected to the kitchen and walls of glass looking out to the back garden. For the past 34 years, it has been carefully maintained, updated and adorned by the current homeowners. The house had great bones to start, including gracious formal living and dining rooms and a burgundy- and pink-tiled central bathroom that remains in mint condition. (Take a look at the antique mirror-fronted bathroom cabinets. Original and glamorous!)

One of the homeowners, a retired schoolteacher, is the artisan of the duo and took his talents to add color, texture and craftsmanship to the kitchen and bathrooms especially. An expert in paint finishes and woodworking, he has transformed walls and cabinetry. Peek at his detail work, including the Venetian plaster ceiling in the bathroom off the laundry room. Ask a docent to open the secret spice racks he designed into the stove hood and the curved drawers for silverware in the island. The rear bathroom is another masterpiece, where he engineered a swinging bedroom door that doubles as a bathroom closet door. (When the bedroom door is open, the door then closes the bathroom closet. And notice the woodwork on the door he matched with the cabinetry.) He also fashioned a medicine cabinet using an oil painting, instead of a mirror, on the facade.

Thanks to these homeowners, this house, built for the Zolezzi family more than a half century ago, remains in pristine condition today.

The garden of James and Gail Beard (Tea Home)

This 1870s Italianate Victorian had been abandoned for five years when Gail and James Beard first took a look at it. Pigeons lived in the attic. Plaster crumbled from the walls. The roof leaked. With no foundation, redwood sills were all that supported the house. On a midnight tour, James found a homeless man sleeping against a wall. But there was something about the grand old place that reminded him of his grandmother's house in Kentucky. "I swear it has the same banister I slid down a thousand times as a kid," he said.

 Neighbors were so thrilled that the couple planned to rescue the house, they arranged a welcome party on the front patch of dirt with a banquet table of appetizers and wine. The year was 1997 and the Beards had a toddler son and a baby daughter on the way. Both would attend St. Martin of Tours School. It took two years of work before the family could move back in in 1999. The framing and siding was made of old growth redwoods that termites hadn't touched. The paint was stripped, the extensive woodwork repaired, the gutters and roof replaced and the disintegrating plaster pulled out and replaced with drywall. They built a period garage on the property, added a wrought iron fence around the front and planted roses around the perimeter. To this day, neighbors still thank them. And you can see why.