Historic Hartz House Renovated with Italian Flair

The Hartz House, a historic Folk Victorian home in downtown Danville, is prime real estate and an important landmark of the town's past.

It has witnessed generations pass by its graceful front porch and endured as the town has grown and changed around it. 

The La Ultima restaurant called it home for 30 years until it closed in April.

The building now will become the home of Incontro Ristorante, which will relocate from San Ramon.

Partners Gianni Bartoletti and Stefano Giovacchini have patiently waited for just the right spot to bring their restaurant to downtown Danville. Bartoletti says they are thrilled to have found “the best spot in Danville.”

They are renovating the building that once was the home of John and Catharina Hartz, for whom Hartz Avenue is named.

Catherina Hartz took pride in her home, according to docent Patty Dobbin, who has led historical walking tours in town for nearly 10 years.

She says Catherina "loved to clean," and reportedly kicked her husband out of the house to do her weekly house cleaning each Thursday.

John Hartz often spent those days down the street at Elliot’s Bar, then known as The Eagle Bar.

Their daughter, Matilda (“Tillie”), one of three children, married Hiram Elliot.

When Catherina was done cleaning, Dobbin says she was known to sit on the front porch of the home and smoke a cigar.

"I always think of Catharina smoking her cigar on the front porch when I pass the house," she says.

John Hartz had a lot to do with shaping downtown Danville.

He arrived in California around 1865 at age 18 from Holstein, Germany, with $10 in his pocket. He headed to the foothills in search of gold.

Hartz was successful, and with his newfound wealth he returned to Germany to marry Catherina and bring her back to the San Ramon Valley.

The first house the couple occupied was on Propect Avenue, close to Front Street.

It was the main road through town in those days, and the center of the community’s commercial and social life.

Hartz purchased 220 acres from early valley settler James Stone that he farmed. The property extended from Front Street into the Las Trampas hills to the west.

In 1891, when the Southern Pacific Railroad came to Danville, Hartz sold 8.65 acres of his land to the railroad to build a train depot and granted land access to the depot.

It still stands today and houses the .

Also around that time, Hartz became “Danville's first developer,” in the words of local author Nilda Rego. 

He subdivided the additional acreage into 74 lots, known as the Hartz Addition.

Homes and businesses, many of which still stand today, sprang up in the addition as Danville became a bustling railroad town.

The focus of downtown Danville life shifted with Hartz’s development from Front Street to Hartz and Railroad avenues.

Today, the historic home still is in the heart of the bustling downtown district, a big draw for Bartoletti and Giovacchini.

They consider the site a “granted wish” after many years of waiting patiently to find the site “a restaurant of (Incontro’s) caliber needs,” Bartoletti says.

Renovating a historic site is a challenge, but Bartoletti says they “respect what a landmark the building is."

The partners are “working around the building,” using what is there in making necessary improvements. 

The two plan no major structural changes, but will extensively renovate the interior, keeping the “charming feel” but adding an “Italian flair.”

Carpets will be replaced with tile, lighting will be updated and crown molding will be installed.

They also are including a bar and lounge area, which they say modern restaurants and patrons require.

In addition to the location of the home, Bartoletti says they appreciate the uniqueness of the structure. 

Most modern restaurants are built like warehouses, he says, while the Hartz house has angles inside that add to a more intimate ambiance.

The partners hope to open at the end of August, Bartoletti says, marking a new chapter in the life of the Hartz House.

Downtown walking tours are available the second Saturday of each month through October, and begin at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley at 10 a.m.