Encompassed by a thick wall of trees, President Tom Stritikus stood before his emerald green side door wearing orange-and-black-striped Adidas. Stritikus is the eighth of Occidental’s 17 presidents to live at Occidental’s Wallis Annenberg House, according to Publications Editor of Occidental Magazine, Dick Anderson.
The Monterey Revival style house was built in 1932 by architect Myron Hunt, who not only designed many of the college’s original buildings, but also LA landmarks like the Rose Bowl and the Huntington Library. Special Collections’ College Archivist Alanna Quan said that the house was originally built as a residence for the Vice President and Dean of Faculty, who at the time was Robert Cleland. During this time, the president lived in what is now the Collins House of Admission across the road, until 1943 when President Arthur Coons transitioned from Dean of Faculty to President.
In commemoration of a two million dollar gift to the college in 2005 from The Annenberg Foundation, the house was renamed the Wallis Annenberg House after chairman Walter Annenberg’s daughter, according to Quan.
Throughout the house’s standing, only two presidents have lived off campus, President John Brooks Slaughter from 1988 to 1999 and President Jonathan Veitch from 2017 to 2020.
After a president’s term, Quan said the college collects ephemera and materials from the administration, such as a ceramic tiger from Veitch’s term. Though she said in the past they’ve collected anything from degrees to plaques, due to spatial issues, they now only collect objects directly relating to the college or the house as a historic structure.
“If [objects] were to come [to Special Collections] at this point, it would have to fall under our archival collecting policy,” Quan said. “It would be material that is related to Oxy [or] related to a function of the president during his tenure at Oxy.”
According to Quan, Special Collections also holds some of the former presidents’ regalia, especially if they’re leaving Occidental as a function of retirement of their career, in cases like President Coons and President Bird.
“When a new president’s administration comes in, they get to go through a process of redecorating the house, and different presidents have chosen to do more or less in that,” Quan said. “[Special Collections] is involved in as much as we loan artworks from the college’s collection to the president’s house for that.”
Debbie Pfeifer, Stritikus’ wife, said that although many of their belongings are yet to be unpacked, she’s excited to put up their personal artworks and to speak with Special Collections about loaning work from the college.
“We brought all of our artwork. We like to, when we travel, buy art. We lived in Mexico for a year, so we’ve got some paintings from Mexico. We’ve got some paintings from Vietnam,” Pfeifer said. “I love having art from different places because it reminds me of the trips and places we’ve been.”
As part of the redecorating process, Quan said that any furniture moved out of the house is rehomed around the campus.
While living on campus is technically part of his contract as president of the college, Stritikus said he is happy to be living in the house.
“I get to wake up every morning right above 2,000 of the most talented, exceptional young people in the country,” Stritikus said.
Much like many of the students living on campus at Occidental, Stritikus lives and works in the same place.
“I love being on campus, walking down and saying ‘hi’ to students,” Stritikus said. “I love being part of the campus life, and part of being on a small campus is being immersed in that life.”
Stritikus said it’s important to him to maintain the historic nature of the home, and the only major change they’ve implemented has been putting up taller fences around the yard to prevent their rescue dog, Sky, from escaping.
While moving in, Stritikus said one of their two twin boys opened kitchen cabinets to find myriad china dishware and glassware from previous residents, some adorned with roosters and gold trim. The dining room is lined with persimmon wallpaper, speaking to the agricultural fruits of Southern California, and a brick fireplace protrudes from the middle of the living room.
“That’s what makes it fun and interesting,” Stritikus said. “Even things like the weird china that you find, or glasses, and you think, ‘How many presidents, how many meetings, what happened here?’ I think that’s a fun part of the home.”
The five-bed, four-bath house has gone through various renditions throughout its residents. According to Assistant Vice President for Information Technology Services & Deputy Chief Information Officer Gerald Craft ‘94, the 4,839 square foot house was temporarily used for the Occidental Faculty Club around 1999, in which faculty and administrators could get a buffet lunch for $3.50. Later on, under President Skotheim in 2008, an upstairs room turned into an eight-bed bunk room for their grandchildren, according to Assistant Vice President of Technology Services & Chief Technology Officer Steven Gilman ‘01.
Renovations to the landscape and garden areas were done most recently in 2015, after its original design in 1937 by Beatrix Farrand, who did much of the original landscaping for the college. Farrand’s most notable works beyond campus include the First Lady’s Garden in the East Wing of the White House and landscaping at Yale and Princeton Universities, and she was the only woman among the 11 founding members of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
“It is such an oasis in the middle of the city. I didn’t imagine that I could live in such an urban area and be able to take my dog for a walk and have trails right behind my house,” Pfeifer said.
Before moving to LA, their family lived in Durango, Colorado, where Stritikus was the President of Fort Lewis College. While Stritikus said that he loved living in Durango, he is excited to move to LA because he sees himself as more of a city person. Pfeifer said that she is excited about the opportunities LA brings for her involvement in the arts.
“I’m looking forward to getting more involved in the community here,” Pfeifer said. “I already have my eye on Vidiots, I love movies. Durango’s amazing, but you can imagine we did not have much when it came to movies. I love theater, and I was a part of Durango PlayFest, but Los Angeles just has endless culture opportunities.”
During their free time, Stritikus said you might be able to spot him at the tennis court and Pfeifer said she hopes to swim at the pool more often. They both said they enjoy taking Sky on walks up Fiji Hill, using the trail behind the house, and even venturing to Griffith Park to hike when they have more time.
Within the home, Stritikus and Pfeifer both said the outdoor patio is one of their favorite parts of the design and spend time reading and hosting events there. A large pergola shades the front patio with vines, while the back patio opens to the trees above.
“[The house] was very purpose-built for entertaining, which is great. We had a party for the LA area trustees, and the boys and I landed in Burbank at 4:30 and the party started at 5:30. We just walked in and the backyard had all these lights and flowers. I was just like, ‘I get to live here?’” Pfeifer said. “I feel so lucky, it’s such a beautiful historic property. I’ve never lived in a home where the architect was that prominent, or a house with a name. It’s a beautiful place.”
One of their kitchen shelves has a colorful assemblage of cookbooks, which Stritikus said is only about one-third of his full collection. Among them, Jamie Oliver’s “Comfort Food”, Christopher Kimball’s “Milk Street” and José Andrés’ “Zaytinya”.
“I love the kitchen, it’s amazing,” Stritikus said. “I cooked for our board chair and our incoming chair, and we had a really nice dinner.”
Since Stritikus’ move in July and Pfeifer’s in Sept., they both said they’ve found a few local meals they love, and that it’s hard to narrow them down from all the options. Stritikus noted the huevos rancheros at Lola Cafe, bread at Bub and Grandmas and the chicken clay pot at Viet Tapas. Pfeifer said she’s had the opportunity to walk down to Bagel and Slice, as well as Skafs on York. They also said that they are hoping to begin hosting club meetings at the house as an opportunity to get to know clubs on campus better.
“I think we’re going to start with the mahjong club because [Debbie] likes playing mahjong,” Stritikus said. “After that, we’d do a raffle for all clubs to host a meeting here.”
Pfeifer said that she’s recently learned to play mahjong, though she plays with cards that show a cheat sheet and is excited to learn to play in the more traditional way with the recently-formed club.
“It would be a really fun way to get to know the clubs,” Pfiefer said. “Tom’s a really good cook, so it’d be fun for him to get to make some snacks for people too, and Sky loves people.”
The house has an unspoken remarkable history of hosting, including Martin Luther King Jr. during his 1967 visit and Maya Angelou in 1992 for speech at Occidental’s 105th commencement ceremony. Looking forward, Stritikus and Pfeifer said they are both looking forward to welcoming more people to the home.
“We definitely are excited to use the home as a connection place for students, alumni, donors [and the] community,” Stritikus said.
Contact Mollie Barnes at mbarnes@oxy.edu
