Published September 22, 2005

“I have never seen a ghost, or really felt a ghost, but there’s an inexplicable warmth to the place.”

So said Robert Mathison, owner of the historic Goodman House on Broadway. Mathison runs his Sonoma Valley Tax Service from the Goodman House’s front parlor room.
“If there is a ghost, it’s a great, great ghost,” Mathison said.

The large, two-story house was built around the turn of the century as a rooming house for teachers. The Goodmans built the home for their daughter, Emma, who was a schoolteacher and ran the boarding house. An old framed photograph of Emma Goodman graces the cozy front entryway of the home; it is her ghost that is believed to haunt the place.
Richard Rhodes, a dentist, and his wife Judy occupied the house from 1979 to 2000. They were reported to have felt a presence when renovating the old house; the presence seemed “cool” at first, but later warmed when it became clear that the Rhodes’ renovations were meant to restore the building to close to its original intent.

Some of those restorations ring out, particularly upon first walking up the front steps to the wide, welcoming porch. The front door swings open to reveal the beautiful heartwood floor of the foyer, and the oak, fir and mahogany staircase leading up to the second floor. Even the most paranormally skeptical would agree the entryway conveys a warmth. Sometimes turn-of-the-century craftsmanship can convey more than even the friendliest spirit.

That feeling continues with a left turn into Mathison’s office, once the parlor room of the boarding house, and later the dentist’s waiting room. Large bay windows look out to the front. Again, there’s a feeling of warmth. Perhaps it’s the fireplace, with its porcelain-surround tiles and beveled mirror over the mantelpiece. A silver bowl, commemorating the Goodmans’ fiftieth anniversary, presents itself for inspection.

Beyond the parlor, signs of the home’s original work become harder to spot. After Emma Goodman’s death, the six-bedroom home became a regular boardinghouse until the 1950s, and has since undergone various incarnations — as a residence, dental lab, and, more recently, offices. An air of modern functionality permeates the back rooms of the first floor, but clues to the home’s distant past are there for those who look carefully. In the bay windows looking southward, for example. Not only do these original, large windows let in a lot of light, they also contain their original weights and ropes, and move up and down with little effort.
Likewise on the second floor. It was once occupied as living quarters for the Rhodes family, and a homeyness remains. The jewel of the second floor is its bathroom; clues exist to a renovation several decades ago, but the original clawfoot bathtub, brass and porcelain fixtures, and antique commode are all comforting signs of a long-gone era.

There are homes in Sonoma that have all the modern accoutrements, from granite countertops to shower stalls that are more like small, wet apartments. But the Goodman House fits the truer, more elusive, definition of Fine House. Although it’s seen its share of renovations — some thoughtful, some less so — there is a feeling throughout of, “They don’t make them like this anymore.” The Goodman House doesn’t merely survive; it thrives.
Mathison demonstrated by opening a door and closing it again.

“Look at that,” he said, as the door closed with a resounding “click” — no scraping, no sagging. “It’s amazing. It’s just absolutely phenomenal. The house is just rock solid. A very solid home.”
He explained that the foundation of the house is its greatest single feature, and that everything is perfectly level — no small accomplishment for a house that stood firm though the 1906 earthquake, along with countless other, less-notable tremors. And there is a feeling that in another hundred years, it will pass the same tests.

Although he never personally witnessed a ghost, Mathison said he felt a sense of serenity on those evenings when he worked late, as if Emma Goodman was giving her approval to him. “I work here late at night, and it always feels like there’s something around me,” he said. “I just feel very secure and comfortable.”