This article is the second in a series of Fremont house histories written by local historian Valarie Bunn. This month, we’re highlighting the Braida House at 3408 Woodland Park Avenue North, which was also a reader request.
You may remember the Braida family name from the Stone Way Rising: Installment 2. The family has been in Fremont for over a century – four generations – and still owns and manages property in the area. You can read a detailed report about the home here.
Enjoy!
House History: 3408 Woodland Park Avenue North
If this house looks to you like a two-layer cake, you would be right. The original house is now on the second floor. The house was about fifteen years old when it was purchased in 1915 by Giovanni (John) Braida. He was an Italian immigrant who was a skilled marble and terrazzo artisan. As soon as Braida bought the house at 3408 Woodland, he had it raised up to the second floor level and he constructed a marble-working workshop on the ground floor.
Over time, the Braida family built adjacent structures such as a storage building, garage and storefront/office building. Their holdings expanded to most of the block between Woodland and Stone Way. The property is still in Braida family ownership today (fourth generation).
One of the best-known stories about the Braida property is the mosaic and concrete garden ornaments that were displayed in the yard, including an almost-life-sized elephant. A streetcar line ran up Woodland Park Avenue and people enjoyed seeing the elephant as they rode past the Braida house.
In 1946 John Braida’s son, who was then living in the house, sold the elephant to the Aurora Flower Shop at 8800 Aurora Avenue North. The flower shop owner used the elephant along with an advertising board with slogans such as “an elephant never forgets to send flowers” and often gave the location of deliveries such as “today we sent flowers to Ypsilanti Michigan.”
The business, which is now the Aurora Rents shop, still has the elephant there today. In 2009 they had the elephant removed for restoration, then re-installed. Members of the Braida family were there to get a close-up look at the elephant for the first time in more than sixty years.
4 responses to “House History: The Fremont home that came with an elephant”
I’ve always loved and been intrigued by that house. Please keep in in the Braida family. It would be really cool to know where some of the marble work was done.
Oh, and what part of Italy?
There’s no ‘list” of where John Braida did marble work but sometimes there were newspaper ads with lists of craftsmen who had worked on a building. One which mentioned Braida was the Olympic Hotel. Census info says that Braida was from Udine, in the northeasternmost corner of Italy. He came to the USA in 1890 and lived in California for a time, then came to Seattle for economic opportunities.
Great questions! We checked with historian Valarie Bunn.
Giovanni Braida was born in 1873 in Udine, in the far northeastern corner of Italy. He came to the U.S. in 1890, lived in California for a while and eventually made his way to Seattle after hearing about work opportunities here.
As for his marble work, there isn’t a complete list of his jobs, but Valarie has found newspaper ads indicating he worked on the Olympic Hotel (today’s Fairmont Olympic). He passed away in 1943 and is buried at Calvary Cemetery in northeast Seattle.
When I would walk by, I was happy to see a fish pond in the garden. I don’t know if it is still there.