Mary Dummage Shop

The Mary Dummage Shop is a historic Craftsman Fairy tale commercial building in downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. It was built in 1926, by builder Percy Parkes. The shop was designated as a significant commercial building in the city's Downtown Historic District Property Survey, and was recorded with the Department of Parks and Recreation on September 13, 2002.

History
In 1926, Earl Percy Parkes built and designed a Craftsman Fairy tale building for Mary L. Dummage, based on Hugh W. Comstock's Tuck Box design, for $1,450. It is on Dolores Street between Ocean Avenue and 7th Avenue. The building is called the Mary Dummage Shop, and a common name for it was the "White Rabbit," that sold clothing, handknit sweaters, gifts, and home accessories.

The Mary Dummage Shop is a L-shaped one-story, wood-frame building with a steep front and side gabled roof. A Carmel stone partition extends to the eaves of the adjoining building. The building has two fixed glass windows with and a pyramid window above it, and a large multi pane display window. Stucco covers the walls below the roof line. A French style door faces Piccadilly Park to the south. A low Carmel stone wall to the south surrounds a garden area. The ground floor contains the Galante Vineyards Tasting Room retail shop.

In 1945, Dummage did a complete store remodel at the north-east corner of the building, with a stucco exterior, interior plaster, rewire, replaced the composition shingle roof, and added a Carmel stone partition for $3,000 by contractor Michael J. Murphy.

The Mary Dummage Shop qualifies for inclusion in the Downtown Historic District Property Survey because it is an example of the Craftsman Fairy-tale style of architecture popularized in Carmel in the 1920s by master builder Hugh W. Comstock. The building was designed by Earl Percy Parkes in June 1926 at the same time as the Tuck Box, by Comstock, was under construction across the street. These buildings are internationally associated with the city of Carme-by-the-Sea.

First Dummage Shop


Prior to building the Mary Dummage Shop, Dummage hired Parkes to design and build a two-story Pueblo Revival style building in 1924, called the Mary Dummage Shops or the "Corner Cupboard Gift Shop" for $2,500. It is located on the corner of Ocean Avenue and Dolores Street. It was originally the site of Carmel's first restaurant, which was a tent on a wooden platform. It was built by Frank Devendorf for Mary Dummage in 1903.

The building was designated as a significant commercial building in the city's Downtown Historic District Property Survey, and was registered with the California Register of Historical Resources on November 30, 2002. It qualifies under California Register Criterion 3 as significant for being designed and constructed by Earl Percy Parkes in 1924.