Perry-Downer House and Costume Gallery > An interview with Mrs. Downer

In 1966, Webster and Marguerite Downer acquired the badly run-down Perry House with the aim of saving it from the wave of demolitions then going on in the name of urban renewal in the oldest parts of Monterey. Several years ago, Maggie Downer gave an oral-history interview to the MHAA researchers; the story of saving the Perry-Downer House is taken from the transcript of those interviews.

As urban renewal made its way across Old Monterey, Maggie Downer noted. “The Perry House was still there. It had been boarded up and vandalized. I understand that the heirs of old Mrs. Perry had tried to sell it for $25,000.” … [In the end] the Department of Urban Renewal acquired the property: “Her nephews were thrilled to get the money they were paid which was $26,000 or $27,000 ... It had been boarded up and everything had been stripped off of it that could be stripped off of it and used. People really expected it to be demolished.”

The prospect of seeing the fine old building disappear roused Maggie Downer to action. “I went to the board and asked if it might be for sale, if I could find a use that could be compatible with the area. I was told ‘No,’ it was scheduled to be demolished, and so I went home.”

But others were objecting to the destruction of the old part of town, and the media took notice. “Within two days the San Francisco television was showing an old home by the wharf [where] an Italian family owned a home … and [they] did not want to leave.... They were taken out and at night they re-entered and hung a flag upside down in distress… The television did make it clear what was happening to the old Italian families.”

The coverage led to a surprising change of heart in Monterey’s planning department. “In a few days, I got a call from a Dr. Chang, who was the head of Urban Renewal. And he said ‘Mrs. Downer, were you really serious in wanting to buy the Perry House. If you can come with a financial statement and a plan…” there was a chance of saving the building. Mrs. Downer appeared before the planners, armed with “…some sketches and how we could do it and what we could use it for… They needed someone to do something positive in the area because of the bad publicity. I became the first urban developer for [Monterey’s] Urban Renewal.”

[And so] “we bought the Perry House. At that time the interest rates were so high it was really very difficult to get money, everything had to be cash. Urban Renewal didn’t give you a mortgage. The Monterey Savings and Loan just smiled at me: here is an old building with all its windows boarded up...”

But Mrs. Downer persevered. “We had  to borrow the money, it had no roof even before the final papers were signed. It was getting late in the year before the rains…” But eventually, Bob Littlefield, the President/CEO of Monterey Savings and Loan, saw the importance of the project and funding came through.

Maggie Downer was personally involved in the restoration. “I worked very hard with an Army sergeant who had retired here. He helped teach me how to wallpaper. We had a wonderful time putting the house back the way it had been.”

And when the greater part of work on the main house had been completed, the Downers turned their attention to the garage. Faye Messinger, another MHAA member who is the librarian at the Mayo Hayes O’Donnell Library, has had a long acquaintance with the Downers. She recently recalled the early days of work on the Carriage House: “This was a really beat-up garage… I remember when Maggie Downer had the stained glass ceiling brought down from San Francisco and threatening everyone with bodily harm if anything happened to it” before installation in the Carriage House ceiling. “Pictures of it are worth a thousand words…”

That Maggie and Webster Downer succeeded is amply visible to anyone who visits the Perry House – now known as the Perry-Downer House in their honor – the Costume Collection housed there, or the charming Carriage House special event space.

Perry Downer House & Costume Museum
201 Van Buren Street
Monterey, CA 93940
831-372-9182

Closed Indefinitely for Inventory.