Blacker House

Formerly the home of Michigan lumberman Robert R. Blacker, the Blacker House is located in Pasadena, California and listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places. The house was built in 1907 by Robert and his wife Nellie Canfield Blacker.The house and all of its features were custom-designed. Both of the Blackers had died by the mid-1940's and the property fell into probate. While no heirs were listed, Nellie did specify that the house, land, and all of its furnishings be sold as a whole. Unfortunately, this did not occur and the land was parceled off after its sale which destroyed the gardens on the property. Today the house sits on a one acre piece of land and the garage and caretaker's cottage are considered separate. The furniture was sold as well at a yard sale. Many of the pieces were relocated to museums across the country, and a good potion of them were returned to the Blacker House by a family that had lived down the street at the time of sale and purchased a large portion of the furnishings. During the 1980's, the owner of the Blacker House brought in an antiques dealer to dismantle much of the home, an event that later became known as the Rape of the Blacker House. The house has since been restored and the completion of the project was celebrated with a celebrity-attended benefit dinner.