After 34 years of bit-by-bit restoration work, the Camron-Stanford House will see its original gold-beige body color repainted and its solarium windows, balustrades, railings and cove molding replaced or refurbished.

To restore the structure's quaint look, the final phase of its preservation plan started last week with $156,000 in city funding. The final phase is expected to last through October.

"It's stained and not as beautiful as it used to be," Sheila Engram said of the house. The 57-year-old Oakland woman was visiting the lake Wednesday with a half-dozen children from her day care business.

Engram's memory of the house dates to when she was about 10 and her father worked as a city janitor in the house, which was then the Oakland Public Museum.

Built in 1876, the two-story structure was a residence to six different families — it bears two of their names — then became the city's first museum in 1910, said Frankie Rhodes, vice president of the Camron-Stanford House Preservation Association.

But in 1968 the current Oakland Museum of California — at 1000 Oak St. — was built to consolidate the Camron-Stanford House displays and other city exhibits into a single large museum. The city found no use in maintaining the old museum facilities.

"(The Camron-Stanford House) was slated to be torn down," Rhodes said.

Three years later, individuals and local businesses rallied to save the Victorian house as a piece of Oakland's history and get city support to start a restoration plan.

The final phase of the 1971 plan that saved Camron-Stanford House was launched this summer when Councilmembers Nancy Nadel and Henry Chang Jr. contributed $50,000 and $25,000, respectively, to the house's preservation fund, Rhodes said.

Also known as the "The Lady of the Lake," the Italianate-Victorian house was inspired by country villas in northern Italy, a style that was popular in the United States at the turn of the last century.

While the house remained a museum reduced to its original residential size, it generates income by renting office space on its second floor and hosting weddings and other special events in the back yard. Funds also come from contributions from the Preservation Association's 250 members.

A docent-led public tour of the house on 1418 Lakeside Drive is available for $4 per adult, $2 for seniors over 65 and free for children under 4. Tours are from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Special group tours may be scheduled by calling the museum at (510) 874-7802 or (415) 836-1976.

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