Building on a Heritage
A Handsome Cottage
The Frank Hellam House is named for a prominent Monterey family that has been important to the town for over a century.
Frank Woodhull Hellam Sr. was born in 1868 in Pontiac, Michigan, the son of John and Fannie Woodhull Hellam Frank Hellam married Amelia Plapp in 1899. They had seven children, Monty, Frank Jr., John, Frances, Anstice, Le Gray, and William R.C.
Together they bought the lot on Scott Street in 1900 and started to build “a handsome cottage”. He moved a one-room, hipped roof cottage from the Hotel Del Monte to the property onto the lot, and his father, a brick mason, constructed the chimney. The front gabled section and kitchen were added at the same time. By 1912, the back porch had been altered with additions, though it is unknown when the dormer windows were added or when the attic area was converted to livable space. With Frank’s large family along with his father living in the house, the conversion was probably soon after 1905.
In 1903, Frank Hellam purchased a stone house on the corner lot of Van Buren and Scott Streets. By 1905, the house was demolished and Frank’s father, John Hellam, used the stone to build the large wall on Scott street.
— Excerpts from preservation reports by architectural historian Margaret E. Clovis, M.A., and the Old Town Neighborhood Association Historic Homes Walk
True Citizen
A biography of prominent Monterey citizens included Frank Hellam in its pages, writing: “His whole career is splendidly creditable. Suffering from the handicap of being crippled, he has nevertheless won success in business, and by reason of his handicapped condition has been made most sympathetic toward others. Frank Hellam’s good cheer and kindliness, his generous charity, have been the factors which have contributed so largely toward making his life an inspiration to others; all Monterey knows and loves and honors Frank Hellam; both town and county are proud of his success and exemplary citizenship.” x-footnote)
Frank Hellam gave generously to build a Carnegie Library in Monterey and was elected to the Board of Freeholders, who drafted the City Charter.
Old bones. New Life.
Hellam House changed little in more than 120 years until 2023 when the main house was renovated—and a second construction phase in 2024 saw the addition of a modern wing to the south side of the house. Along with structural improvements, updates included utilities, energy efficiency, heating, and kitchen and bathroom updates.
Most importantly, the character and historic architectural details of the original house were maintained including the rehabilitation of several historic outbuildings repurposed for laundry, a home office, and a recreation room.
Hellam About Town
Frank Woodhull Hellam Sr. (1868-1936) was born in Pontiac, Michigan. He left school at 11 and came west with his father John. They settled for a short time in Monterey and then returned east. Frank returned to Monterey in 1887 and at the age of 19 opened up a small boot black stand next door to Adolpho Sanchez’s Bohemian Saloon, located on the corner of Franklin and Alvarado Streets. When the saloon closed, he opened the first Climax Cigar Store at 420 Main Street (now Alvarado). From there he moved to the ground floor of the Monterey Hotel at 404 Alvarado Street.
By 1908 Frank had built his business into the largest retail cigar store in the United States, having already established a retail confectionery business, the Palace of Sweets, with his brother Clarence, back in 1898.
In 1905 he opened the Climax Furniture Store. That same year he subdivided the southern portion of Block 70 into Hellam’s Subdivision (Hellam Street is named for him) and got into the real estate business.
In addition to the Monterey businesses, Frank owned another tobacco store in Pacific Grove and a gas station in Chualar. He was the agent for the National Brewing Company and the Union Ice Company. He could be seen driving to and from his many businesses behind the wheel of his famous rattletrap roadster “September Morn” which often made headlines in its own right.
In 1933, Frank moved the cigar store to 423 Alvarado Street and remains California’s oldest tobacco shop and Monterey’s oldest continuing operating business. The Hellam family owned and operated the store for more than 100 years, before selling to the current owners in 1999.