Issue date: December 15, 1999
By Dick Barbour
James L. Flood was a man of high style and led a life typical of the well-born of the times. The descendant of Comstock King James Clair Flood, he and his family lived on at Linden Towers (now Lindenwood) until the mid 1930's. Earlier it had been given to the University of California, but in 1903 it had been returned to the family.
Linden Towers was the 40-room mansion built on 1,700 acres of Flood property, 22 acres of which were lawns, landscaping, and a large artificial lake. Started in 1875, and completed three years later at the hands of master carpenters and craftsmen, the many-spired and highly ornate manor house was irreverently known as the "Wedding Cake." On a diminished scale it would have indeed been a source of professional pride to any baker who could duplicate it with icing and pastry ornamentation.
We are indebted to a Flood family photo album, belonging to the Historical Association, originally assembled by a Col. Oates and brought from Sacramento by the John Murphys of Los Altos, as a means of reflecting the lifestyle of James L. Flood, his family and guests.
We can determine from the pictures that he had a fondness for dogs, good wines, attractive women, and a variety of early automobiles. The latter were housed in a round garage equipped with hardwood floors and a turntable for easier parking. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, visits to Yosemite, Del Monte and Lake Tahoe, as well as trips to Mexico and the southwest in a private railroad car. That, good friends, is not a bad lifestyle.
The dogs included a pair of great mastiffs, a collie, a Boston terrier, a pert fox terrier for whom he showed great affection in the photos, and a shaggy nondescript little mutt that was a great ham when it came to posing for pictures. The mastiffs, in addition to winning a handsome silver trophy, presented the Floods with a litter of four floppy pups.
The lovely women are not identified, but we can assume that the one seated at the dining table, behind a tall vase of home-grown lilac, is Mrs. Flood. She is Flood's mother and was generally clad in black silk. She is treated with deference in the arrangement of groups for picture-taking, and, in one instance, where James is pinning a flower to her gown.
The wine cellar is shown as an impressive room with horizontal 6-foot racks on all walls, plus several stacked cases and seven casks. Labels appear to be Chateau Tour-Blanche '74, Chateau D'Aquem '74, Chianti, and Lacrymachristy.
The lord of the manor is portrayed in a variety of poses, mostly dignified, and nearly always with a grey fedora or derby on head or in hand. One less dignified photo shows him lying on a broad expanse of lawn with the derby resting on his stomach. He is shown in the surf, pitching hay, playing cards, petting his dogs, displaying a limit of trout, climbing rocks in Yosemite, in the Del Monte Hotel pool, and seated at the bounteous table in one of Linden Towers 4 dining rooms. These and other photos reveal a man with enthusiasm for the good life.
There are many among us who fondly recall memories of the fabulous Linden Towers in its park-like setting of the lake, lawns, flowers and trees. Others remember attending dances on the hardwood flooring of the garage. But the majestic estate, and the way of life it represented at the start of the century, will hardly be duplicated in the coming 1980's.
Dick Barbour's column was published in the Menlo-Atherton Recorder Dec. 16, 1980. It is reprinted here courtesy of the Menlo Park Historical Association.
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