Letter to the editor:

Dear 336 Editor:

A minor factual error in John Sutherland’s “Guerilla Parking” article (Caltech 336, May 17, 2001) raises a subject of interest to historical-minded members of the Caltech community.

The structure on Holladay Road referred to as George Ellery Hale’s house was actually his solar observatory. The house on the property was built in the 1980s by Christine and the late Jack Shirley, members of the Caltech Associates, who bought the lot and the building housing the observatory from the Carnegie Observatories.

Christine, who has a keen interest in both Caltech and California history, took great care to preserve the site, deliberately setting her new house along the west side of the lot so as not to block the view of the observatory from the street.

She got hold of Beatrix Farrand’s original landscaping plans for the garden (Farrand, wife of the director of the Huntington Library in the late 1920s, was involved with the landscape design for Caltech; more information about her can be found in Romy Wyllie’s book Caltech’s Architectural Heritage) and planted the yard with careful reference to the plans, including the mock orange trees flanking the door of the house. Over a period of years, with the volunteer help of Caltech students, Christine even restored some of the original observatory equipment.

Emily Adelsohn