Santa Stands Sentry in El Cerrito Hills

One of more unusual features found in the El Cerrito hills is a mysterious statue standing guard at the entrance of what some folks call "the castle house," an estate-sized, three-story home on a 46,300-square-foot lot at 801 Bates Avenue.

The statue's permanent costume suggests he represents someone from around the 1500s, and his temporary costume at the moment suggests the most famous resident of the North Pole.

His Santa outfit comes from neighbor Christine Gilmore, who with support from husband Michael and the owner's permission, enjoys dressing up the statue, whom she calls "Cortez."

"It is just fun thing to do," she said.

"We started dressing Cortez up for holidays a few years ago," she said. "We usually have him decorated for St. Patrick's Day, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  

"We just started doing it for fun, but now we feel the pressure to get him decorated as some people in the neighborhood expect it.  It is fun to see people slow down as they drive past the statue.  We have even had people bring their cameras to take pictures.  One couple set up their camera on a pod so they could both be in the picture."

Gilmore said neither she nor the owners of the home at 801 Bates know much about the statue's origins or what sort of figure he represents. Some people call him a knight.

"We just call the statue Cortez because it looks like a Spanish explorer," Gilmore said.

According to a historic resource report on the 801 Bates property prepared by Page & Turnbull consultants, the original owner of the 1932 home, Edward C. Gill, enjoyed collecting art, including statues. Gill had two statues at the estate's entrance of medieval Swiss halberdiers, who were famous for their fearlessness and warrior skills. Those statues, however, apparently were sold.

According to the historic report, after Gill died in 1949 his widow "subsequently put his art collection on sale, including the statues of Swiss halberdiers, which guarded the two entrances."

The statue that remains seems to resemble a medieval Swiss halberdier, but we at Patch aren't sure. If you have an idea, please let us know in the comments.