3000 Gibbons Drive

A Stately Home in A Desirable Neighborhood

Nestled on a corner lot among Gibbons Drive’s famed mature liquidambar trees, the home’s primary feature are two two-story towers – a key element of the Norman style. Stained glass highlights in most windows, a quaint gate leading to the side yard, evocative light fixtures and a pair of lion statues flanking the driveway help complete the sense that the residents of 3000 Gibbons Drive live in a castle. The stately magnificence of the home will impress visitors while it still feels welcoming and cozy. The charm continues right inside the home which invites visitors directly into the living room replete with a column portico and two steps up separating it from the formal dining room. Hardwood floors, large windows, a functional wood-burning fireplace with mantel in its own alcove are just some of the amenities in the living room. The adjoining formal dining room boasts a large Schonbek chandelier dangeling with Swarovski crystals and framed with glorious decorative ceiling moldings. 

The kitchen contains many amenities unique to this property: a boxed ceiling, checkerboard Corian backsplash and Corian counters, Sub Zero built-in refrigerator and two freezer drawers, Kraftmaid cabinets providing ample storage, and even a convenient trash drawer. The home chef will be pleased to find a Thermador oven and a built-in and a two-drawer Fisher & Paykel dishwasher. Adjoining the kitchen is a bright, sunny breakfast room for less formal meals. From the kitchen one can access the back steps, yard and a recently installed tuff shed. The yard offers some potential for gardening, landscaping or other projects. A hallway with Schonbek sconces and another chandelier, leads from the kitchen to a half bath with pedestal sink and a bedroom with its cedar closet, chair rails and crown moldings. There are hardwood floors throughout the main floor of the home. 

Stairs lead down from the hallway into the family room with laundry nook and a door leading directly to the cozy side yard and patio. One can also access the two-car garage from the family room, as well as a home office space with built in bookcase and the basement with heater, sump pump and storage space. Upstairs from the hallway one discovers a full bath and two vast bedrooms both with crown moldings, walk-in closets and excellent natural light. The primary bedroom has stairs leading up to a full bath with jacuzzi and a very large walk-in closet. 

Located in the desirable Fernside neighborhood, surrounded by well-maintained homes, 3000 Gibbons Drive’s Normandy style and local history are both interesting stories. The French Normandy style prevalent in the Fernside neighborhood is meant to evoke architecture that evolved during the Middle Ages. At the time Norman people living in the Loire Valley of France attached their farm silos directly to the main living quarters instead of the barn. During the 1920s and ‘30s, a revivalist movement took hold in America that creatively adapted the traditional style and took ideas from the French rural style. Normandy style typically features a tower topped by a cone-shaped roof – 3000 Gibbons has two. The towers are meant to resemble the grain silos of old. The style can take the form of anything from a cozy cottage to a veritable castle.

The Fernside neighborhood, developed in the 1920s, was once the home of Alfred A. Cohen and family. The location of 3000 Gibbons Drive once sat on Cohen’s personal racetrack. Cohen’s career took many forms, but most notably he began the San Francisco & Alameda Railroad in 1864 which ran along today’s Tilden Way and Lincoln Avenue in Alameda. His small spur would later make history when it served as the terminus of the nation’s first Transcontinental Railroad for a time. His estate, named Fernside, covered everything north of Lincoln Avenue and East of Versailles Avenue and even parts of today’s Oakland. The Cohens raised dairy cattle, racehorses and other livestock and crops on the property that also had its own bowling alley and art gallery. The Cohen mansion was the largest single-family home ever built in Alameda prior to it burning in 1897. Alfred’s children sold the estate to real estate developers who reportedly used 3000 Gibbons Drive as a show home as they sold and built the neighborhood during the post-war residential building boom that kicked off in 1920. As far as neighborhoods go, the Fernside and Alameda have it all: quality schools, nearby stores and restaurants, easy access to the freeway, airport and ferry. The new owners of 3000 Gibbons Drive will enjoy discovering Alameda’s convenient historic places, parks, bike paths, shops and beach that make it the Bay Area’s hidden jewel.

 Call now to book your private showing. 

Historian Write Up Credit: Eric Kos, Alameda Sun

**Pulic Records show interior square footage as 2,032; there is an additional 400+ square footage in this home, completed by previous owner.

***Two living room chandeliers, breakfast room chandelier and two bedroom Casablanca fans do not covey with sale. The Schonbek chandelier in the dining room and all other sconces and light fixtures do covey with sale.