The Rew-Sharp House:


A House Divided By Jean Gazzo


The Rew-Sharp House, a Mediterranean-style mansion designed by noted Pasadena architect Elmer Grey, has undergone many changes since it was constructed by George Campbell Rew in 1918-1919. George Rew made his fortune developing the formula for Calumet “double acting” baking powder, which is still used today. On a long, adventurous driving trip from Illinois to California in 1914, Rew had stayed in the Beverly Hills Hotel, which was designed by the architectural firm of Hunt and Grey. He admired the style so much that he hired Elmer Grey to design a house on an entire block of land in Coronado. The block of lots bounded by Ocean, Alameda, Tolita, and F, had been purchased over a number of years by George and Lila Sturges, who had a wooden frame home on the property. Rew removed that house, and starting building the mansion which would become home for his new bride and his mother.


Front of the Alameda house showing post-1988 renovations.


The house was constructed with redwood to resist termites, with thick hollow clay tile walls. Every bedroom had a small Batchelder tile gas fireplace; other main rooms had large, ornate Batchelder custom gas fireplaces. Tile from the same source was also used for the floor and fountain of the patio room, and a Juliette balcony surround. The Rews were garden enthusiasts and the grounds included rare plants, a glass greenhouse, a lath house, and a pergola.


The next owners, Thomas and Madeline Sharp, bought the house in 1926 following the death of George Rew’s mother, who survived him. Thomas Sharp, an Australian military veteran, was a radio broadcasting pioneer, rancher, and successful international businessman. While the Sharps lived in the house, a second story bedroom wing was added to the Alameda side in the 1930s. Following an extremely bitter divorce, Madeline Sharp received the house, eventually donating it to the American Red Cross in 1944. The Sharps' son Donald was killed that same year when the bomber he was piloting was shot down near Bitberg, Germany. Thomas Sharp gave a major donation to establish Donald N. Sharp Memorial Hospital, in honor of his son, who heroically sacrificed his life to save his fellow crew members.


The Red Cross occupied the mansion briefly, and used it to house Navy nurses and several Navy families after the war. In order to


raise funds to buy new headquarters, the Red Cross subdivided the property and sold off small lots facing Tolita. The largest remaining lot with the mansion, garages, and servants’ quarters was sold in 1946 to Clayton and Leona Miller, who had an agreement with Louis and Dorothy Bauer to immediately split the property, and sell half to the Bauers. At that time, a number of large Coronado homes were being split or demolished, because the cost of maintaining them was prohibitive, and there was a postwar housing shortage.


Original Alameda façade


After the Bauers passed away, the F side of the house had a series of owners. One of these was Bunny MacKenzie, the widow of a former gardener on the estate. Mrs. MacKenzie demolished a single-story wing to the right of the main entrance, and sold the area as a separate lot. She also carved off the oceanfront yard from the mansion property, and moved another house she owned to this lot. Subsequent owners, Mr. and Mrs. Bruno Schwartz, built a second-story bedroom wing, and covered the pebbled cement exterior walls with smooth pink stucco. The present owner added a roof railing, and roof access structure.


(The Millers sold a back lot with garages and servants’ quarters to Annabel Whitby; that property passed to the current owners who remodeled the structures into a family home with guest cottages, and a new garage and loggia.) My husband and I bought the Alameda house from my father, Clayton Miller in 1986, and extensively remodeled it in 1988. A wrap-around pillared loggia with a balcony on top was added, along with a new entryway, semicircular front steps, a three car garage, new wrought iron gates, and multiple rooms. Original sand cast cement ornamentation was reused over the second story French doors. Elmer Grey would barely recognize the place.


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