By Carolyn Snyder

JOE HU/TOWN CRIER Jeanne and Chuck Halleck show off their ‘mountain’ sculpture in the 900 block of Miramonte Avenue. The sculpture will be coming down now that the Hallecks have sold the land.

At an elevation of 13 feet, it isn’t much to shout about but it is, after all, the only mountain in Los Altos.

It has achieved a certain amount of notoriety because motorists stop, gawk and back up for a better look. And walkers and joggers invariably slow down as they pass.

It looms up in the 900 block of Manor Way, near the intersection with Miramonte Avenue. But soon it will be gone, as well as the orchard that surrounds it.

The mountain is a “constructed sculpture,” the work of Watsonville artist Katherine Stutz-Taylor, who built it nearly two decades ago on property belonging to Jeanne and Chuck Halleck, whose home is on the corner. The Hallecks recently sold the property to developers Ron Labetich and Jeff Arrillaga. They, too, live on Manor Way.

Before the mountain becomes a molehill, here’s a look at its history, as well as the property’s past and future.

The mountain was Stutz-Taylor’s 1988 thesis for a master’s of fine arts degree from San Jose State University. At the time, the city of Los Altos was looking for artists to put sculptures in public parks for a year. She approached the city and was told her design was “tempting but unsuitable” because it could pose a danger to young children who might climb on it.

Halleck, who was at the council meeting, was intrigued, according to Stutz-Taylor, and offered his property as a site and even paid for 50 percent of the building materials. Her father, Bob Stutz of Los Altos Hills, helped with the construction. It was only supposed to remain there for one year, but it was so well built that it would have cost too much to tear it down, Halleck said.

Stutz-Taylor, who grew up in Los Altos Hills, likes landscapes and mountains, arches, staircases and shadows. Her sculpture contains these elements. The 20-by-5-foot mountain suits the landscape and from the front looks like, well, a mountain. But walk around it and you’ll discover two sets of stairs leading to a bench that appears suspended from two arches. As the light changes, the arches create dramatic shadows.

Stutz-Taylor said her mountain is “equivalent to an English folly. It’s trompe l’oeil playing with the mind.”

The property, originally two acres, was purchased in 1933 by Jeanne’s parents, Daniel and Madeleine Wahl, for $850 an acre. Their first home burned to the ground in 1937, but was rebuilt the following year for $4,400. Jeanne grew up there and attended Mountain View High School. Today she is program administrator for the John Gardner Public Service Fellowships and for Stanford in Washington. She works out of an office in the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford.

Prune trees flourished on the property, and the Wahls picked and dried the prunes and sold them to Sunsweet for enough money to pay their taxes. Only remnants of the trees can be seen but the property is flourishing once again. Chuck has planted 80 fruit trees - apricots, Elberta peaches and French prunes - that have become a big attraction for local wildlife. This summer a doe, a buck and two fawns could be seen munching on the fruit or resting in the shade.

In the early 70s, the Hallecks, who were living in the Washington, D.C., area, sold off two lots to pay for remodeling and enlarging the Wahl family home. Labetich was one of the developers who bought the lots.

At the time, Halleck was an associate judge in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He is a former assistant U.S. attorney, worked for the firm of Hogan and Hartson in Washington D.C. and worked “in some sort of litigation for 30 years,” as he puts it. His father, Charles A. Halleck (Chuck is Charles W.) was majority and minority leader of the House, a “top Republican” from the second district of Indiana during his time in Congress from 1935 to 1964.

The Hallecks moved to Los Altos in 1985 when Jeanne took a job at Stanford. “I was ready to retire,” her husband said, but he commuted for a year or two until he wrapped up his case work.

After settling here full time, he enrolled at Foothill College, where he earned a fine arts degree in photography, and became active in civic affairs, at one point running for city council.

Because Jeanne is nearing retirement, the couple made the decision to sell their property and plan to move next spring.

Labetich and Arrillaga plan to subdivide the property to create three standard lots of 14,495 square feet each, and one corner lot of 16,250 square feet. The lots will be 100 feet deep.

The orchard will be a thing of the past because they are removing the fruit trees to make the individual building sites more evident. Other trees will remain until each lot is developed.

The mountain will be reduced to rubble and hauled away.

The plan was approved by the planning commission earlier this month.