Paul Aiken Flanders

Flanders was born in 1890, in Chicago, Illinois.[2] He attended Lewis Institute at the University of Illinois Chicago. He took his post-graduate studies at the Darmstadter Technical Hochscule in Germany prior to World War I. During the war, he was lieutenant in the United States Navy, commander of submarine chasers in the North Sea from Inverness Mine Deopot, Scotland.[1] He saw service in Russia after the Armistice of 11 November 1918 and remained in the United States Navy Reserve in the 1920s and 1930s.[3][2]

Flanders married Gladys Marjorie Johnson (1889–1915) on October 2, 1912, in Cook County, Illinois, and they had one daughter together. His wife died on February 21, 1915, in Michigan, at the age of 25.[4] When he left the service in 1918, he went into manufacturing in New York where he met Grace Johnson Livingston. They were married on November 25, 1920, in Manhattan, New York City. They had one son together, Barnett "Barry," who died at the age of 11.[5][2][6]

In 1924, Flanders appeared in the three-act children's play Mr. Bunt, by playwright Ira Mallory Remsen at the Forest Theater in Carmel-by-the-Sea. He played the Gateman in the maple tree. He was also the character Jim Giddings, in the play The Bad Man by Porter Emerson Browne, put on by the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club Theater in 1926.[7]

Paul and Grace Flanders came from New York to Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1923, to build a home and start a business in real estate development. Grace was familiar with Carmel as she had purchased land in the Eighty Acre Tract, adjacent to the old Hatton's property, from the Carmel Development Company in 1920.[2][5][6]

Outlands

Flanders Mansion Outlands, North Elevation, 1926

The two-story 8,000 square feet (740 m²) Tudor Revival style home was named Outlands, due to its location on a hillside overlooking Carmel Valley to the southeast, the Carmel Mission, and Point Lobos to the southwest. Flanders hired an outside architect, Henry Higby Gutterson, to design their residence and local contractor Fred Ruhl to build it.[8][9][1]

While the Outlands was under construction, the Flanders rented from their contractor Fred Ruhls, who owned a home Pebble Beach home. In 1925, a fire destroyed the Ruhl house and they were forced to rent a house in Carmel until their Outlands home was completed. The Outlands property was completed by June 1925.[2]

Carmel Land Company

Carmel Land Company Advertisement

In 1925, Flanders became the president of the Carmel Land Company and helped develop Hatton Fields, southeast of Carmel-by-the-Sea's city limits. He purchased 233.15 acres (94.35 ha) of grazing land from the Hatton estate for $100,000 (equivalent to $1,668,691 in 2022).

The new company formed an office on Ocean Avenue between Louis S. Slevin's general merchandise store and the Carmel Bakery. Flanders was president, Ernest Schweninger was secretary, and Peter Mawdsley was the treasurer. Flanders used his Outlands home as a model for the subdivision he planned to develop.[10][1][3][2] Stockholders in the Carmel Land Company were Flanders, Schweninger, Harry Leon Wilson, Charles King Van Riper, Fred Ruhl, and Carmel Martin.[11]

Flanders re-enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the outbreak of World War II, in September 1940 at the Naval Mine school at Yorktown, New York. His rank was lieutenant commander. He was then assigned command of the Mine Patrol Force, 12th Naval District and stationed at Treasure Island, San Francisco.[1][3]

Flanders became a member of the Manzanita Club, the American Legion, and the Masonic Lodge.[1]

Flanders died on September 21, 1944, from a heart attack, in Washington, D.C. He had gone on official business from the Treasure Island Naval Base at Treasure Island to Washington to inspect a navy yard. Funeral services were held at Del Monte Chapel at Hotel Del Monte with full naval honors.[1]

In 1972, Mayor Gunnar Norberg mounted the "Save the Flanders Estate" campaign. As vice-mayor, he persuaded the City of Carmel to purchase the Flanders mansion and adjoining 14.9 acres (6.0 ha) from the Flanders heirs for $275,000 (equivalent to $1,923,906 in 2022).[12][8] In 1980, part of the property, adjacent to the Flanders Mansion, became the Lester Rowntree Native Plant Garden. The non-profit organization Flanders Foundation was established in 1998 to preserve, enhance, and maintain the city owned 34 acres (14 ha) the Flanders Mansion and Mission Trail Nature Preserve.[6][13]

• Timeline of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paul Aiken Flanders.

• Lester Rowntree Native Plant Garden
• Outlands in the Eighty Acres
• National Register of Historic Places in Monterey County
• Mission Trail Nature Preserve