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Heritage Resources Inventory
City of Saratoga, Santa Clara County, California
Prepared for
Planning Department
City of Saratoga
13777 Fruitvale Avenue
Saratoga, CA 95070
Attn: John Livingstone, Community Development Director
Prepared by
ARCHIVES & ARCHITECTURE
HERITAGE RESOURCE PARTNERS, LLC
PO Box 1332
San José, CA 95109
408.297.2684
www.archivesandarchitecture.com
Adopted Dec. 2009
Reso. #HP-09-01
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PUBLICATION CREDITS
PRESERVATION PLANNING GUIDELINES AND PUBLICATIONS
This report was prepared using the following guidelines and publications:
• Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic Preservation
• Guidelines for Local Surveys: A Basis for Preservation Planning (National Register of Historic Places
Bulletin #24)
• Saratoga’s Heritage: a Survey of Historic Resources, 1993 ( Saratoga Heritage Preservation Commission)
REPORT PREPARATION
ARCHIVES & ARCHITECTURE, LLC:
Franklin Maggi, Architectural Historian
Leslie Dill, Historic Architect and Architectural Historian
Charlene Duval, Public Historian
Jessica Kusz, Public Historian
With contributions to the narrative history by Historian April Halberstadt
Photo previous page – 1872 photo of Bank Mills (City of Saratoga Community Development Department)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 4
Area map ................................................................................................................................................ 5
Boundaries of the survey area ............................................................................................................. 6
PLANNING BACKGROUND ....................................................................................................................... 7
Use of the Saratoga Historic Context Statement ............................................................................. 8
Methodologies for Surveys and the Development of Context Statements ................................. 8
Past Registration and Survey Efforts ................................................................................................. 9
Preparation of the Context Statement and Inventory Update..................................................... 11
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS .......................................................................................................................... 13
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW .......................................................................................................................... 14
Prehistoric Period ..................................................................................................................................... 15
Spanish/Mexican (1769-1846) ............................................................................................................. 16
Early American 24(1847-1875)............................................................................................................ 19
Horticultural Expansion (1876-1903)................................................................................................... 24
City of Homes (1904-1941) ................................................................................................................... 26
Encroaching Suburbanization (1942-1955) ............................................................................................ 28
Urbanization of the New Municipality (1956 – 1975)........................................................................... 30
HISTORIC THEMES AND ASSOCIATED PROPERTY TYPES ...................................................... 34
Commerce ............................................................................................................................................ 34
Transportation and Public Infrastructure ....................................................................................... 36
Religion ................................................................................................................................................. 37
Architecture and Neighborhoods ..................................................................................................... 39
PLANNING AND REGULATIONS .......................................................................................................... 54
Determining Architectural Significance .......................................................................................... 54
Saratoga Heritage Landmarks ........................................................................................................... 55
California Register of Historical Resources .................................................................................... 56
National Register of Historic Places ................................................................................................ 57
Historic Integrity ................................................................................................................................. 59
SOURCES OF INFORMATION ................................................................................................................. 60
APPENDIX
Saratoga Heritage Resources Inventory
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INTRODUCTION
Cultural resource surveys and historic context statements are technical documents developed by communities
throughout the United States. These documents provide a comprehensive planning tool for the identification,
evaluation, registration, and treatment of historic properties. By developing and maintaining historic resource
surveys and historic context studies, local governments are able to implement planning practices addressing
historical and cultural resources, practices that have century-old roots in the United States.
Preservation of the nation’s heritage has long been part of the national purpose. Since 1966, when Congress
called upon the Secretary of the Interior to give maximum encouragement to state governments to the
development of statewide historic preservation activities, the National Park Service (NPS) has developed
methodologies for survey planning and preservation programs that are outlined in a number of published
guidelines, primarily within the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic
Preservation. Cities such as Saratoga rely on these federal standards for preservation planning.
Surveys, and their resulting resource inventories, provide a basis for sensitive and effective planning decisions.
Saratoga’s surveys and inventories provide documentation that allows informed assessments of its built
environment within the development review processes. With the information provided in these documents,
Saratoga planners and policy makers can understand the history of the city in a variety of ways, and Saratoga’s
citizens can preserve and celebrate significant buildings that convey the past. The current Saratoga Heritage
Resources Inventory and its 1993 Survey of Historic Resources compile a variety of types of research, including
historical patterns of development, identification of diverse community values associated with the built
environment, and comprehensive evaluations of individual resources.
The community now known as Saratoga originated in California’s Early American period just after the
beginning of the war between the United States and Mexico. In 1847, William Campbell founded a mill and
established a lumbering community called Campbell’s Gap just below what is now known as Long Bridge
located above Saratoga Village along Highway 9. Following California’s admittance as a state in September of
1850, Martin and Hannah McCarty first platted a town where Saratoga Village sits today. A third community
was started later, midway between the two, when Charles Maclay founded Maclaytown, or Bank Mills, near
the entrance to today’s Hakone Gardens on Highway 9. McCartysville would endure the longest, and become
the framework for Saratoga, so named in the 1860s.
Saratoga is one of the earliest non-indigenous communities established in the Santa Clara Valley. It was a hub
of California’s early booming lumbering industry, became a focus of the local emerging horticultural
development of the twentieth century, and then grew into a suburban community - incorporating in 1956.
This historic context statement places the physical development of Saratoga within the larger framework of
Saratoga’s history. By investigating the significant aspects and broad patterns of historical development, it is
then possible to identify the types of historic properties that represent important historic trends. With a better
understanding of the roots of community development, planning for future change can occur that will
facilitate Saratoga’s the long-term vitality and sustainability.
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Area Map
USGS San José West, Cupertino, Castle Rock, and Los Gatos composite, 1980 (not to scale)
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Boundaries of the Survey Area
The survey area consists of the land within the jurisdictional boundaries of the City of Saratoga, Santa Clara
County, California, established formally by incorpo ration in 1956, and as subsequently expanded. The city
consists of 12.11 square miles, at an average level of sea level of 410 feet (125 meters). Coordinates are:
WGS84 37degrees 16’ 21”N, 122 degrees 1’10”W
37.2725, -122.019444
UTM 10S 586935 4125553
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PLANNING BACKGROUND
Use of the Saratoga Historic Context Statement
It is the intention that this citywide historic context statement be used by the City of Saratoga and its citizens
as a part of the planning program when considering future projects and entitlements involving historic
properties. The study will serve a foundation for future reconnaissance-level surveys, intensive-level studies,
Inventory listings, Landmark Designations, and Historic Property Contracts, coordinated within the City of
Saratoga historic preservation program.
Methodologies for Surveys and the Development of Historic Context Statements
The methods for conducting surveys and the development of historic context statements are specified in
National Register Bulletin 24, Guidelines for Local Surveys: a Basis for Preservation Planning. The Secretary of the
Interior, through the National Park Service, has developed the National Register program and prepared a
number of associated bulletins that address the survey and registration of the full range of cultural resources
that community planners may encounter.
Surveys should be prepared to be consistent with the Secretary of Interiors Standards for Identification. The
standards provide a procedural baseline as follows:
• Standard I. Identification of historic properties is undertaken to the degree required to make
decisions.
• Standard II. Results of identification activities are integrated into the preservation planning process.
• Standard III. Identification activities include explicit procedures for record-keeping and information
distribution.
Historic resource surveys link resources to their associated historic contexts. To evaluate buildings, structures,
objects, sites and districts for historical significance, a statement of context must first be defined. An historic
context statement establishes the background chronology and themes of a specified area. In doing so, it
describes the significant characteristics and patterns of that area’s history and cultural development.
This Statement of Historic Context briefly summarizes the history of Saratoga within specific historic periods
and themes that are relevant to understanding the geographical area and the goals of the survey. A preliminary
mapping of the area based on recorded and unrecorded surveys, tracts, and subdivisions was done to better
understand the larger patterns of development.
The historic period of the context statement begins in 1769, when Euro-Americans first entered the region
with the intent of establishing permanent settlement. Occupation of central California by indigenous peoples
is believed to have begun over 10,000 years ago, with permanent settlements known to have occurred over
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5,000 years ago, but this historic context statement does not contain an overview of the prehistoric past.
Development planning that involves archaeological resources must conform to a separate set of
methodologies for investigation, identification, recordation and treatment.
The methodology for creating a historic context statement consists of five steps:
• Identify the concept, relevant time period and geographical limits of the survey area.
• Review available contemporary information such as past surveys and other formally recorded
information on file within local, state and national inventories of historic properties.
• Perform original research using available primary and secondary sources of information.
• Synthesize the historical information gathered into a written narrative.
• Define existing property types within the survey area and group them based on shared physical
and/or associative characteristics. These property types should be understood by character-defining
features associated with extant resources, patterns of development, and a statement of current
conditions and the levels of integrity necessary for a resource to be a contributor to a significant
historic pattern of development.
Historic context surveys are not intended to result in static planning documents, but should evolve as
additional information is acquired by planning agencies that might affect future historical evaluations of
properties within their jurisdiction. The development of a historic context statement must therefore include a
description of adopted community preservation goals and strategies, as well as defining what individual
property research might be necessary in the future to better evaluate specific development proposals. The
historic context statement is the foundation for decision-making regarding the planning, identification,
evaluation, registration and treatment of historic properties. The criteria for historical significance are the
criteria of the National Register of Historic Places, the California Register of Historical Resources, and the
City of Saratoga Criteria for historic landmark, lane, and district designation.
The California State Historical Resources Commission has identified nine general themes covering the entire
range of California's diverse cultural heritage. These themes are: Aboriginal, Architecture, Arts/Leisure,
Economic/Industrial, Exploration/Settlement, Government, Military, Religion, and Social/Education. In
2006 a Comprehensive Statewide Historic Preservation Plan for California, 2006-2010 (Plan) was adopted that
describes the vision for California for historic preservation. The Plan identifies new preservation partners,
considers all cultural resources, and provides goals and objectives for future preservation planning. Within
this Plan, goals were adopted to understand better the historic and cultural property types that had been little
recognized in the past. These included post-World War II architecture and suburban development, Cold War
era structures, cultural landscapes and traditional cultural properties, and the inclusion of cultural properties
associated with the diverse communities that are found throughout the state. The Comprehensive Statewide
Historic Preservation Plan for California, 2006-2010, can be viewed at:
http://www.ohp.parks.ca.gov/pages/1069/files/State%20Plan-fd.pdf
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Using these broad California themes as a guide, this historic context statement proposes significance and
interpretive themes for the City of Saratoga. Six distinct themes are identified. These themes are discussed in
a subsequent section, but for the purposes of this statement, the focus has been on Architecture and
Neighborhoods.
Past Registration and Survey Efforts
Saratoga was designated as California Historical Landmark #435 on April 11, 1949. Its designation came as
one of the last of 474 historical landmarks registered by the California State Chamber of Commerce as a part
of a program that was enabled by state legislation in 1931. That legislation gave California’s Department of
Natural Resources the task “to register and mark buildings of historical interest or landmarks.” The
department director assigned that duty to the California Chamber of Commerce.
Saratoga’s effort to become a state landmark was spearheaded by two citizens. The two local historians were
Florence Cunningham and Fr. William Abeloe, a Jesuit priest at Santa Clara University who had grown up in
Saratoga. The landmark application and a petition were displayed at a local drug store. The petition was
signed by several dozen local citizens, and was then forwarded to the California Chamber of Commerce
office in San Francisco. A packet of information accompanied the petition and the application; the
documentation consisted primarily of weekly columns on local history written by Florence Cunningham taken
from the local newspaper.
The designation of Saratoga as a State Historic Landmark differed from current designations in two
important ways. First, the Saratoga application designated the entire town, problematic even in those days,
because Saratoga was unincorporated and had no specific boundaries. Other California landmark
nominations were limited to the actual site or specific structure. And second, nearly all of the other resources
designated were limited to a single site; Saratoga included multiple structures on many properties.
The formal designation of Saratoga came following the centennial of the discovery of gold in California.
Shortly after Saratoga’s designation, in May of 1949, Governor Earl Warren created the California Historical
Landmarks Advisory Commission which took over the statewide registration program. Formal registration
criteria were adopted thirteen years later, and by 1974 the Commission had evolved into the present-day
California State Historical Resources Commission.
By the early 1960s, there was a growing awareness of the importance of America’s historical and cultural
landscape and the wanton destruction of beloved buildings, many by urban redevelopment projects. Many
citizens were outraged at the destruction of the Pennsylvania Station in New York and Jacqueline Kennedy,
wife of the President, walked a picket line to protest demolition. A new age of awareness of our collective
historic past was dawning throughout the nation.
In Saratoga, local citizens formed the Saratoga Historical Foundation in 1964. For years, promotion of
Saratoga’s cultural heritage had been an activity engaged in by members of the Foothill Club. The club had a
History Study Group, headed by member Florence Cunningham. With the creation of the Foundation, the
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group expanded into the community, with plans to collect local history information and memorabilia, and to
establish a museum.
Also in the early 1960s Santa Clara County was preparing the first historic inventory of cultural resources.
Their report appeared in April of 1962 as “Preliminary Inventory of Historical Landmarks in Santa Clara
County”. This report was the first of its kind in the region and identified 123 buildings and sites throughout
the county of significance. The report presented a case for historic presentation consistent with the County
goals of preserving community identity and conserving historic resources.
The County’s plan proposed a planning program and the creation of a Landmarks Commission, a process of
identification and evaluation of potential landmarks, and the addition of a “Specific Plan,” known as the Plan
for Historical Landmarks within the County General Plan. The County’s efforts created a general awareness of
the historic landmarks within the jurisdiction, and local communities began to develop their own local
inventories of potential landmark properties.
The American Bicentennial celebration of 1976 brought increased awareness and interest in historic
preservation. The Saratoga Historical Foundation was moving ahead by then to create a museum, and, after
several efforts, a suitable building was found, relocated and restored. The estate of Florence Cunningham had
left money for a museum structure, and the historic Swanee Dress Shop, in its new location within Saratoga
Historical Park, was restored and dedicated as a history museum.
During the 1970s, many local communities began to identify cultural resources, with financial assistance and
support from the new California State Office of Historic Preservation (OHP). Community survey efforts
were largely the work of enthusiastic volunteers with an interest in local history. Saratoga initiated an effort to
identify their community resources in the early 1980s, and in 1982, the Saratoga City Council created the
Heritage Preservation Commission, in concert with similar actions taken by communities throughout
California. The Commission then began a ten-year effort to survey the historic sites of their community,
presenting Saratoga’s first Heritage Resources Inventory in 1988, and expanding it three years later.
The Saratoga Commission gathered information from a number of sources using local interviews, newspaper
articles and memoirs. The data was compiled by the Saratoga Heritage Commission assisted by other
community volunteers. An updated Inventory was published as a booklet in January 1993 , prepared by
Elizabeth Ansnes, with a list of about 90 structures and other cultural sites. Over the next decade and a half,
an additional 20 properties were added to the Inventory by the Saratoga City Council while at that same time
about twelve properties that had been listed were lost through demolition.
One of the Commission’s first efforts involved the preservation of the Warner Hutton House. Built in the
late-1880s, this Victorian-era cottage located on Sousa Lane off Quito Road was determined by OHP as one
of three historically significant structures within the proposed right-of-way of State Route 85, identified
during the preparation of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Caltrans project. Many Saratoga
residents regarded this building as an irreplaceable treasure, as one of Saratoga’s last nineteenth-century
farmhouses. Seven public agencies were involved in finding an alternative to demolition, and the Saratoga
Preservation Commission convinced the City Council to accept the gift of the house from Caltrans and the
County Traffic Authority, who funded the relocation and stabilization. Later incorporated into the
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community center on Fruitvale Avenue near City Hall, well-known local preservationist Marti Bennett cited
this effort in a 1986 polemic article in the San Jose Mercury News, ‘Public outcry can save local historic
structures,’ declaring that collaborative local efforts such as those spearheaded by local Saratoga residents
could preserve important aspects of a community’s past, while helping facilitate growth.
In 1992, the Legislature amended Public Resources Code with Assembly Bill 2881, creating a formal state-
wide register called the California Register of Historical Resources. Regulations for nominating resources to
the California Register were formally adopted in 1997, and took effect January 1, 1998. Later that year,
Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act were adopted, which incorporated the criteria for the
California Register into the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review process. These regulations
mirror the federal requirements for registering historic resources that were passed by Congress in earlier
years.
Since 1998, survey and evaluation of possible historical resources that are identified as a part of development
review has been a part of public agency planning processes throughout California. Cities such as Saratoga,
when presented with projects that might impact historic resources (or potential historic resources) are
required to evaluate the eligibility of those properties for the California Register. If a property is eligible, the
impacts of related projects must be considered as a part of development review. Designated properties, such
as Saratoga’s Historical Landmarks, are considered automatically eligible for the Californi a Register. Listing
on inventories of historical resources, such as Saratoga’s Heritage Resources Inventory, however, does not
necessarily imply eligibility for the California Register. These listings are intended to provide important
information to proper ty owners, prospective developers, and local citizens of potential historical qualities
associated with buildings, sites and structures.
Preparation of the Statement of Historic Context and Inventory Update
An historic context statement identifies resource types to be investigated further in reconnaissance and intensive
surveys:
• A reconnaissance survey identifies resources that may have significance for their architecture, and will
generally include the preparation of DPR523a Primary Record survey forms or equivalent
information. If a potential district or districts are identified during this process, DPR523d District
Record forms are also prepared that summarizes the historic context and articulate contributing
properties to that context.
• Intensive level surveys record information about properties that includes information about historic
context, personages, and events in addition to architectural information, and includes technical
evaluations for historical significance according to national, state, and local criteria. This form of
recordation includes DPR523b forms in addition to the DPR523a forms.
DPR523 forms are a state-developed format for recording historic information. These forms comprise a
single system for documenting the full range of values present in a given location. The kinds of resources that
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merit recordation and the different levels of information that may be appropriate to gather about them are
established within a set of guidelines that have been prepared by the State and are available from the Office of
Historic Preservation, called Instructions for Recording Historical Resources.
The preparation of Saratoga’s Statement of Historic Context is an important step as a part of the update of
the Historic Resources Inventory. A brief history of community development has been presented in this
report, and the archetypal aspects of the built environment have been noted. It is the intent that this report
becomes a tool for future updates of the Inventory, and as a reference for local citizens as well as historical
resource professionals doing property-specific research and evaluations related to future projects, registration
activities, or other entitlements within the city.
Identifying dates of construction for historic resources within Saratoga as a part of future reconnaissance and
intensive level studies are problematic, as building permits are available for only some later time periods,
beginning in 1947. Early maps and aerials can be used to place building construction dates within narrow
frames of time that can then be confirmed by on-site evaluations. This report includes an extensive
bibliography of reference sources that are useful in researching the history of properties located within
Saratoga’s jurisdictional boundaries. At the end of the bibliography are excerpts from some relevant primary
documents that are usual for those research properties in Saratoga.
Research into the associations that historic personages bring to extant properties is also problematic. In
general, identification of persons important to a community’s past can only be done in a preliminary way
when conducting reconnaissance surveys and preparing historic context statements. This type of information
requires detailed research, and is best developed as a part of property-specific intensive-level investigations.
Within the methodologies of the conduction of both reconnaissance and intensive level surveys are other types of
studies that can be useful for the development of planning data. These hybrid studies, which identify
construction dates, architectural typology, and obtain photographs of buildings and other graphic
information, can be useful when merged with existing land use data to provide additional planning tools for
the management of historic resources within the city.
Research for this historic context statement was undertaken at a number of local archives. These include the
Saratoga Public Library, Saratoga Historical Museum, the California Room at the Martin Luther King Jr.
Library in Downtown San José, and the San José archives at History San José and the County Archives, both
on Senter Road in San José. Additional resource material was reviewed at the Surveyor’s Office at the County
Administration Building in San José, as well as emerging information sources online.
Four members of the firm of Archives & Architecture, LLC participated in various aspects of preparing this
context statement as well as conducting field work and preparing updated DPR523 forms for properties
presently listed on the Saratoga Heritage Resources Inventory. All four historians meet the Secretary of the
Interior’s Standards to perform identification, evaluation, registration, and treatment activities within their
respective fields in compliance with state and federal environmental laws as outlined in 36 CFR Part 61.
Additionally, Historian April Halberstadt contributed historical narratives on certain thematic aspects of
Saratoga’s past that she had developed as a part of her work on Images of America: Saratoga, and other related
research projects she had undertaken while consulting to the Saratoga History Museum.
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SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
The City of Saratoga, incorporated in 1956, is one of fifteen municipalities in Santa Clara County. The
community was formed over a century prior to incorporation however, when three small settlements along
Saratoga Creek were established. During the first century of existence, this community was a part of the
development of an important agricultural region, known as the “Valley of Heart’s Delight.” During the first
part of the twentieth century, Saratoga also became a preferred residential community serving both as a
“trolley car suburb” of San José, and as a resort area of second homes for many prominent families from San
Francisco and elsewhere.
As Saratoga entered its second century, it, as with many communities throughout the West and along with
other communities throughout Santa Clara Valley, became a preferred destination of American westward
migration. This explosive urban growth brought an end to the pastoral setting of the Valley of Heart’s
Delight. This new growth, fueled by new industrial development, helped to create the new “Silicon Valley” as
we know it today.
The present urban and rural fabric of Santa Clara County, including cities such as Saratoga, is diverse. It
consists of complex social and economic settings that overlay a rich historic, multi-cultural and natural
environment. Within the environs of the cities such as Saratoga, much of the rural character that was once the
Valley of Heart’s Delight continues to exist today. Contemporary development pressures continue to bring
the agricultural economy to conclusion, and soon many of the physical remnants and reminders of this
historic era of the past will be gone.
The city of Saratoga consists of about twelve square miles, and is home to a population of about 30,000
persons. Much of the built environment of Saratoga was constructed in the last 50 years. Identification of
historic resources in Saratoga was a community-based volunteer effort in the 1980s and early 1990s. During
that time, Saratoga’s most significant historic properties were identified and first recorded for use by the
City’s planning programs. Little subsequent work has taken place since that initial effort, although now the
evaluation of historic properties has been folded into the planning process due to the evolution of the
California Environmental Quality Act. Because of CEQA, potential undocumented historic resources are
now evaluated for their historic significance as a part of the development review process.
Although many of Saratoga’s earliest historic resources have been lost over time, the city today retains a fairly
intact representation of the community’s historic growth for a century and a half, beginning with the Early
American Period and continuing into contemporary times as represented by post World War II suburban
growth. It embodies, within its boundaries, a multitude of architectural styles, including some vernacular
building types as well as creative works of skilled designers. This community architecture represents the
breadth of design that can be found throughout California during its period of development as the Golden
State.
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HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Within the boundaries of the city of Saratoga are a full range of cultural and historic resources, with human
settlement and occupation activities beginning in prehistoric times and continuing into the present as the area
continues to be a destination for immigrants from throughout the world. The inventory of prehistoric and
historic archaeological deposits, extant buildings and structures, sites, historic landscapes, and traditional
culture properties located within Saratoga is extensive, much of it documented in various cultural resource
studies, surveys, and local history books and publications.
This rich and diverse history reveals information on important people, events, and historical themes of
national, state, and local interest. Many personages associated with the Early American period of development
(1847-1875) were key players in the last western expansion of the United States.
The following section divides the historical development of the Saratoga into six periods. This temporal
model is commonly used in researching historic properties, and was initially developed during the early years
of the State Office of Historic Preservation. Establishing the sequential events that signify a property’s history
provides an understandable basis for later associating themes and personages to its historic context. The
primary eras that help define the historic periods do not necessarily conform to the cut-off years used in this
system, but merely help to define a general period in which a dominant type of culture is associated with the
land, or when economic activities or world events helped shape our view of the past.
Within the discussion of a historic era, recurring themes are identified and characterized by landscape features
or resources that were introduced in, or were unique to, that particular era. Geographical patterns of land use
also emerge throughout the historical narrative.
These periods, defined for this historic context statement, are as follows:
• Spanish/Mexican (1769 – 1846)
• Early American (1847 – 1875)
• Horticultural Development (1876 – 1902)
• City of Homes (1903 – 1941)
• Encroaching Suburbanization (1942 – 1956)
• Urbanization of the New Municipality (1956 – 1975)
As discussed above, it is recognized that a multitude of ethnic groups made major contributions to the
development of Saratoga and the greater Santa Clara Valley. It is not possible within this context statement to
identify the extensive range and diversity of the ethnic groups that have made Saratoga their home. The era
prior to 1847 when Americanization began to occur, however, is ethnically and cultural distinct from the
American period, even though the Hispanic and Native American cultures continue to exist into the present.
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Prehistoric Period
The first inhabitants of greater Santa Clara Valley and the surrounding hills were members of the Ohlone or
Costanoan cultural group. Although the Ohlone people shared cultural and linguistic similarities, the tribe
consisted of eight politically autonomous subgroups that populated the coastal area from the San Francisco
peninsula and the Carquinez Strait south to northern Monterey County. A number of Ohlone tribes occupied
the southern portions of the San Francisco Bay Area.
These early people typically established their settlements near a dependable water source and other easily
available natural resources that served their subsistence needs. Early inhabitants of Santa Clara Valley were
able to exploit the creeks, grasslands, and oak woodlands for fish, game, and vegetable materials. Temporary
camps were established in scattered locations in order to collect seasonal foodstuffs or materials that were not
locally available.
Women harvested plant foods, involving a large variety of seeds, nuts, fruits, and bulbs. Women also spent
much of their time preparing food and weaving baskets, which were necessary for gathering, storing, and
preparing food. Men augmented the food supply by fishing and hunting for large and small game. They also
made tools and weapons. A few important resources were obtained from greater distances through an
extensive trade network. Trade items included obsidian from the Napa region, shells from the coast, sinew-
backed bows from the inland areas, and tobacco, basketry materials, and ornamental pigments from various
locations.
Houses were small, hemispherical huts with grass-bundle thatching that sheltered anywhere from four to
twenty-four nuclear or extended family members. Villages were presided over by a male leader, who was later
identified by the Spanish settlers as capitán. Foreign relations between tribes in the greater region took the
form of trade, warfare, and intermarriage.
Little above-ground physical evidence remains of this extended period of prehistoric human habitation,
although features in the landscape, as well as subsurface deposits found as a part of archaeological
investigations, are evidence that significant settlements existed in the area for over 10,000 years.
The archaeological record is vulnerable to adverse impact by contemporary activities such as land
development. Its treatment is of concern to contemporary descendants of these early peoples. Survey,
evaluation, and treatment recommendations for properties with resources that are associated with the
prehistoric period is not a part of this historic context statement. Protection and preservation of prehistoric
resources are managed through a set of regulatory processes separate from requirements for resources extant
from historic times. What is defined as “historic times” begins in 1769 with the first known presence of
Euro-Americans in the region.
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Spanish / Mexican (1769-1846)
Early Founding
In 1769, Spaniard Gaspar de Portolá and a company of sixty-four men were the first Euro-Americans known
to visit the place that would become known as the Santa Clara Valley. This expedition was intended by the
Spanish government to expand the frontier territory of Virreinato de Nueva España, their new world colony and
viceroyalty in North America. The Portolá Expedition first approached the south reaches of the valley near
the Pajaro River, but then continued up the coast around the Monterey Bay to an encampment place north of
present-day Santa Cruz. A small contingent of seven men, led by Sergeant José Francisco Ortega, crossed the
coastal range in early November 1769 and unexpectedly came across the bay and valley. These Spanish
soldiers worked their way across the southern edge of the bay and explored the shore up to about present-day
Hayward. The following year and again in 1772, Spaniard Pedro Fages led small expeditions from the new
Royal Presidio of Monterey across the San Felipe plain within today’s South County, and journeyed up
through the valley. These expeditions were soon followed by several other Spanish visitations, including that
of explorer Juan Bautista de Anza in 1774. It was Anza who identified the valley as an ideal candidate for
permanent settlement for the Spanish government. In 1776, Juan Bautista de Anza returned leading a large
group of settlers (pobladores) across the valley on the way to establishing the Presidio of San Francisco. The
Anza-led group passed along the western rim of the valley along its southwesterly edge, likely passing through
what is now Saratoga before setting up an encampment in Cupertino.
Spanish Jurisdiction (1777-1822)
In 1777, Spanish Lt. José Joaquín Moraga and Fray Tomás de la Peña of the Franciscans established Mission
Santa Clara de Asís named after the sister saint of Assisi, Clara. The original location of the mission was on the
west bank of the river that had been named by Anza, the Rio de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. Later that year
under orders of Viceroy Antonio María Bucareli, a site was selected for a civilian settlement by Governor
Felipe de Neve, who visited the valley in June 1777. This settlement, named El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe
was located on the Guadalupe River’s east bank approximately 1.5 miles to the southeast of the mission, near
what is now Hobson and San Pedro Streets in San José. The Guadalupe River became the boundary between
the valley lands controlled by the Franciscans at the mission, and the pobladores at the pueblo.
The Spanish colonization strategy utilized three institutions—military, civil, and religious. The military
government, installed in Alta California shortly after the Portolá Expedition, was intended to protect the
Spanish frontier from encroachment by other countries of Europe, and more specifically was directed against
Russian global advancement into North America during this historical period. The first presidios at San
Francisco and Monterey were established to address this threat. The Franciscans, acting in behalf of the
Roman Catholic Church, established missions to convert and proselytize the native population, a partnership
with government authorities that had existed for centuries during Spain’s colonial period. The missions were
the dominant colonizing influence in Alta California during the Spanish period from 1769 to 1821. Each
mission’s sphere of influence radiated from its center (with buildings for worship, housing, and industries)
outward to surrounding grain fields and livestock grazing lands.
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Mission Santa Clara was at the northeastern edge of Tamien tribal territory, a subgroup of the Ohlone. The
missionaries arrived with cattle, mules, horses, sheep goats, pigs, and chickens. Livestock were let to graze on
the fields that had originally supplied the local Ohlone tribes with plants and seed harvests.
In November 1777, Lt. Moraga set out from San Francisco to the Santa Clara Valley with fourteen families,
totaling sixty-six people. Retired soldiers with some farming experience headed nine of the families, and
others were colonists who had arrived with the Anza Expedition. The settlers were generally of mixed
Hispanic, Native American, and African ethnicities. These pobladores had originated from the northern region
of present Mexico. They arrived on two colonizing treks: the 1774 expedition led by José Francisco Ortega up
the coast of the Baja Peninsula from Loreto, and the 1775/1776 second expedition of Juan Bautista de Anza
that had crossed the Sonora desert to Alta California from Túbac (in present-day Arizona). The pueblo at San
José was the first civil settlement established by the Spanish Crown in Alta California .
The period of Spain’s governance in the region lasted from 1770 to 1821. Little physical remains exist within
Santa Clara County that is extant from this early development period. Sites in the outer edges of the valley are
associated with early agricultural or industrial development. The land within what is now the city limits of
Saratoga was part of Mission Santa Clara’s lands when Spain had jurisdiction in the area.
The cultural landscape that existed during this period is mainly remembered by the alignment of many
contemporary transportation routes with routes that originated during the Spanish Period. The many
Hispanic place names throughout the county remind us of Spain’s involvement in the origins of the modern
day settlement and transformation of the region.
Mexican State of Alta California (1822–1846)
With Mexico’s new independence and the formal change of governmental control from Spain to Mexico in
1822 came changes in government organization, land utilization, and local ownership patterns. By the 1820s,
the lagging economy of the area under Spanish rule began to turn around due to attempts to change territorial
administrative policies by the newly formed Mexican government. Two of these policies had important local
ramifications. The first was the legalization of trade with foreign ships in the ports of San Francisco and
Monterey. The new non-Hispanic traders exchanged tea, coffee, spices, clothing, leather goods, etc., for
tallow and hides. Under the stimulus of this commerce, the settlements around the San Francisco Bay became
lively trade centers.
The second change in policy to have far-reaching effects in Alta California was the secularization of the
Franciscan missions and the establishment of large private land grants. In 1824, Mexico passed a law for the
settlement of vacant lands to try to stimulate additional colonization of the territory. Any citizen, whether
foreign or native, could select a tract of unoccupied land so long as it was a specific distance away from the
lands held by the missions, pueblos and Native Americans. The grantee petitioned the territorial governor for
a specific tract, and if there were no objections, title of the land was transferred from the public realm.
Until the Mexican period, the Santa Clara Valley outside of the settlements at the mission and the pueblo was
largely undeveloped, and was utilized primarily for the grazing of livestock. It is believed that the first
documented reference to settlement in the Saratoga area during the historical period occurred in the 1820s or
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1830s when Indian neophyte Titus (known as “Tito”) of Mission Santa Clara established a “dairy ranch” at a
Rancheria along the creek that was later named Campbell Creek (now Saratoga Creek). An oral tradition
indicates that this ranch, which included a vegetable garden and likely an adobe house, was located on the east
side of the creek about where Herriman Avenue intersects today. A biography of John Ellsworth published in
the 1888 Pen Pictures of the History of the World, authored by historian Horace Foote, mentions that when
Ellsworth purchased his 50-acre property in the 1870s, there had been about one acre planted in Mission
grapes that was pre-existing. Ell sworth’s property was located northwest of Saratoga Avenue across and west
of Saratoga’s Heritage Orchard. This early ranch appears to coincide with the location of this early Rancheria.
During the 1820s through early 1840s, large tracts of land were granted by the Mexican government to local
residents. When a citizen was granted land for a rancho, the recipient was required to occupy the property
and to build a dwelling within a certain time period. Each rancho had a hacienda which was in many cases a
self-supporting village, composed of the main rancho house, laborers’ housing, corrals, grist mill, tannery, and
other ancillary buildings surrounded by vineyards and cultivated fields. Thirty-eight land grants were issued
between 1833 and 1845 in the Santa Clara Valley and environs.
Quito rancho, encompassing much of present-day Saratoga, was granted by Mexican Governor Juan Bautista
Alvarado to José Zenón Fernandez and José Noriega on March 12, 1841. It consisted of three square leagues
(about 13,316 acres). Today, Saratoga Village is located within what was then the southwest corner of this
large ranch property.
José Zenón Fernandez was born in Spain, naturalized in Mexico, and came to Alta California with his wife
Petra Enrriques from Mexico City as a part of the Hijar-Pilar colonization expedition in 1834. He worked as
a teacher in the Pueblo de San José, but died in 1843 shortly after receiving the Quito grant. His daughter,
Manuela, also a teacher, married José Noriega in 1838. José Noriega was from the Province of Asturias,
Spain, who also came to California in 1834. He was originally the grantee of the rancho Meganos in the Central
Valley, but sold it in 1837 to pioneer John Marsh. He was then grantee in 1839 of the rancho Positas in Contra
Costa County. It is not known for certain if Fernandez or his son-in-law Noriega ever lived on the rancho
Quito, although Noriega testified in later court proceedings that they had built two houses, one of wood
(wattle), and the other of poles and dirt (palizada). In 1844 Noriega transferred his ownership to Juan Ignacio
Alviso.
Juan Ignacio Alviso had arrived in Alta California at age three on the 1776 De Anza Expedition, having been
born in San Miguel de Horcasitas, Mexico. He was administrator of Mission Santa Clara properties from
1840–1843, and grantee of the rancho Rincón de los Esteros. The town of Alviso is named after him, site of his
rancho. Manual Alviso was claimant for the rancho Quito with Petra Enrriques Fernandez in 1852 (patented
on May 14, 1866). Some histories identify Manual as a son of Juan Ignacio Alviso, but the relationship is not
known for certain.
The Manuel Alviso rancho headquarters appears to have been located southeast of present-day Saratoga Road
east of the junction of Quito Road, in the vicinity of present-day Westgate Mall, or perhaps what was once El
Paseo de Saratoga shopping center in San José. In the late 1850s, Manual Alviso sold this area to José Ramon
Argüello, who developed what was known as the Quito Farm.
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With the relaxation of immigration regulations by the Mexican government in 1828, more foreigners began to
settle in California. Of the approximately 700 people who lived in the San José pueblo in 1835, forty were
foreigners, mostly American and Englishmen. The first overland migration arrived in Alta California in 1841,
and by 1845, the American immigrants had increased the population of the pueblo to 900. The presence of
the growing American population prepared the way for relatively easy occupation of Alta California by
American forces in 1846.
By the time of America’s military excursion into Alta California, the establishment of the Anglo-American’s
commercial presence was well underway. The Mexican population observed the influx of European and
American settlers with a sense of helplessness. Mexican Governor Pio Pico articulately expressed his concern
for California’s future in 1846:
We find ourselves threatened by hordes of Yankee immigrants who have already begun to flock into our country,
and whose progress we cannot arrest. Already have the wagons of that perfidious people scaled the almost
inaccessible summits of the Sierra Nevada, crossed the entire continent and penetrated the fruitful valley of the
Sacramento. What that astonishing people will next undertake, I cannot say; but in whatever enterprise they
embark they will sure to be successful. Already these adventurous voyagers, spreading themselves far and wide
over a country which seems to suit their tastes, are cultivating farms, establishing vineyards, erecting mills,
sawing up lumber, and doing a thousand other things which seem natural to them.
In the earlier Spanish period, Santa Clara Valley was characterized as an agrarian landscape with a pueblo,
mission village, and a few outreaching ranch settlements with little or no commercial activity. With the change
to Mexican governance, the area of present-day Saratoga had its first agricultural settlement along the creek,
where vegetable gardening and management of a dairy herd was instituted by Indians associated with the
Santa Clara Mission. Late in this period, the area was planned for larger agrarian development with the
creation of the rancho Quito, but the conversion did not begin to fully occur until the Americanization of the
territory at mid-century.
Early American (1847-1875)
In May 1846, the United States declared war on Mexico; and shortly thereafter, the American flag was raised
in Monterey and San José. The hostilities finally ended with the Battle of Santa Clara in January 1847. The
hostilities between the United States and Mexico resulted in the creation of the American territory of
California following the concession of Alta California by Mexico to the United States in 1848 in the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo. Soon after was California’s admittance to the Union in 1850. Subsequent American
westward migration by wagon and boat set the stage for the rapid development and economic growth to
follow in the ensuing decades. The frontier period was dominated by the superimposition of American
culture on the Hispanic way of life.
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In 1847, William Campbell founded a mill, later to be called Haun’s Mill, and established a lumbering
community called Campbell’s Gap on what would become Highway 9, just below what is known as Long
Bridge. Campbell had journeyed with his family overland to California in 1846 as a part of the Russell/Boggs
Party, a large group of settlers that included the ill-fated Donner Party, a subgroup of the larger expedition.
First staying at Mission Santa Clara, Campbell established his mill on land that he thought at that time was
just beyond the western boundary of the rancho Quito.
Campbell’s Mill is considered to be the first non-indigenous settlement in the area now known as Saratoga.
His partners in the enterprise were William Haun and Haun’s father-in-law, John Whisman, who also arrived
in California in 1846. Campbell operated the sawmill, and Haun acquired a pair of mill-stones and set up a
flour mill, using the water-power source that Campbell and his sons had created.
On the heels of this first American settlement in future Saratoga and acquisition of California by the United
States, was the discovery in 1848 of gold in the Sierra foothills, which precipitated a sudden influx of
population to the state from continental United States, Europe, Mexico, South America, and Asia.
Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, it soon became apparent to the rapidly growing, land-hungry
population, that the pre-existing system of land ownership would no longer be sufficient. New American
settlers did not understand or accept the Mexican concept
of land tenure such as existed on the rancho Quito, and they
were frustrated since much of the best land in California
was taken up by the large Mexican land grants; the Quito
was the largest in the flatlands of Santa Clara Valley.
Boundary map of the rancho Quito
In many cases, the boundaries of the ranchos, such as Quito,
were only roughly identified. Throughout California, many
of the new settlers believed that the territory ceded by
Mexico in the Treaty was now the public domain of the
United States, and in many locations they tried to make
claim to lands outside the pueblos. They immediately came
into conflict with landowners who had acquired title under
Spain or Mexico.
In September of 1850, Martin and Hannah McCarty first
platted a town downstream from Haun’s Mill where
Saratoga Village sits today. A third community was started
later, midway between the two, when Charles Maclay founded Maclaytown, or Bank Mills, near the entrance
to today’s Hakone Gardens. McCartysville would endure the longest, and become the framework for the
town of Saratoga, named so in the mid-1860s about the time that the patent was granted for Quito on which
much of Saratoga lies.
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Under the Treaty, the pre-existing property rights were to be preserved. To bring order out of chaos, the
United States government created the California Land Claims Commission in 1851, to provide a process to
validate the Mexican titles by determining legal ownership, and by establishing fixed boundaries for property
granted under Spanish and Mexican authority. Intended to protect the pre-existing landowner, this process in
many cases worked to their detriment. The process of title confirmation was long, cumbersome, and
expensive, and many ethnic Mexican rancheros found the economic and legal difficulties insurmountable.
The claimants for the Quito, Manual Alviso and Petra Enrriques Fernandez filed their claim in 1852, shortly
after the creation of the Land Claims Commission.
During the 1850s and 1860s, although title to the land was not clear due to the patent claim, McCartysville
established itself as an active lumber town, located at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains, where harvesting
of the redwood forests on the eastern slope of the mountain range took place over the next half century.
Neighboring Bank Mills was also growing at this time, but was destroyed by fire in 1863.
In April 1861, the dispute over land ownership erupted into Santa Clara County’s Settlers War. Initially this
dispute was over lands in the Yerba Buena Rancho in San Jose’s Evergreen area, but then spread to other
parts of Santa Clara Valley such as McCartysville. The residents of McCartysville staged a combination May
Day Festival and Settlers’ Picnic in 1861 soon after problems erupted in Evergreen, attended by from three to
five thousand people. They gathered at the Toll Gate campground above McCartysville, and sang patriotic
songs while firing cannons. The friction that intensified on the Quito ended in 1865 when Federal Judge
Ogden Hoffman rendered his opinion
approving the boundaries proposed by the
rancho owners. The settlers living on the
rancho had to move off or purchase the land
again. The rancho was patented on May 4,
1866. The town of McCartysville, that Martin
McCarty had thought was outside the
boundaries of the rancho, was determined to be
within Quito’s southwestern boundary when the
patent claim was settled. Martin McCarty had
died in an accident in 1864, and his widow,
Hannah, settled with the rancho owners by
purchasing 128 acres, part of it remaining in her
possession until her death in 1893.
As the productivity of the gold mines fell off and the enthusiasm of the Gold Rush began to wane, many
American pioneers of this period began to look to the cities and fertile rangelands as sources of income. At
the time of the Gold Rush, beef was the only commodity that could be supplied in large quantities by the
Californians; however, it was necessary to import other foodstuffs plus additional supplies of beef and
mutton.
Until a drought in 1864, cattle ranching continued to be the primary economic activity in the region, including
the lands of western Santa Clara Valley. During the Mexican period, open range methods were followed since
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grazing lands were ample. As smaller grain farms began to spread throughout the valley, pasture land was
reduced, and cattle ranching became concentrated in the foothills. More intensive stock farming began in the
1860s when cattle were moved from the foothill pastures to valley feed yards until they were ready for
marketing.
By the late-1860s, much of the valley floor had been developed with grain farming. The easy cultivation and
high fertility of the soil of the Santa Clara Valley facilitated wheat production with little capital investment. In
1854, Santa Clara County was producing 30 percent of California’s total wheat crop. In the summer of 1868,
an observer noted that the Santa Clara Valley was almost an unbroken wheat field. Other grain crops,
primarily barley and oats, followed wheat in productivity.
The agricultural potential of the Santa Clara Valley had been recognized by the mission fathers who had
established small orchards and vineyards. Cuttings from these trees and vines provided the basis for the
establishment of small orchards and vineyards in the Early American period. By 1851-1852, the first pioneer
nurserymen were importing and experimenting with various types of fruit trees; in McCartysville, James Peter
Springer was the first to experiment on his property adjacent to the creek. His 1851 house still remains extant
on what is now Wildwood Way, across Saratoga Creek just north of Saratoga Village.
The American frontier period in California that had began with a military excursion into Alta California in
1846, came to a close in the years following the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. In Santa
Clara Valley, a number of key events signaled the end of this era. The frustration and homesteader’s revolt
that came to a head in the 1860s was dispelled by the patent of key valley ranchos like the Quito. 1866 was
also the year of a devastating earthquake on the Hayward Fault. While not specifically having any known
impacts on early settlements in the western portions of the valley, the earthquake, like the later 1906 San
Francisco Earthquake and the 1989 Loma Prieta, served as a turning point to the development of modern
settlements in the region. Within ten years, farmers in Saratoga were planting out new orchards which would
ultimately change the character of Santa Clara Valley.
The 1876 from Thompson and West’s Historical Atlas of Santa Clara County, California lists 35 residents (households) in Saratoga.
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Saratoga Land Ownership in 1876
Composite of area maps from the 187 6 Thompson and West Historical Atlas of Santa Clara County, California.
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Horticultural Expansion (1876 – 1903)
Saratoga served as one of the centers of Santa Clara Valley’s booming horticultural industry until the second
half of the twentieth century, when industrialization and suburbanization of the valley brought the “Valley of
Heart’s Delight” to a close.
With train service first arriving in Santa Clara County from San Francisco in 1864, and the Western Pacific
Railroad connecting San José to Niles and northward in 1869, the stage was set for the rapid development of
the agricultural potential of Santa Clara Valley. The Niles connection linked the valley to the transcontinental
railroad. This event precipitated many changes in the region as a whole, as it spurred the development of
towns along the railroad lines, and catalyzed changes in land use due to the accessibility of new markets
outside the region.
By 1870, nearly all acreage in the rural areas of the county was devoted to wheat and barley production,
peaking in the mid-1870s. Like the drought of 1864, in 1879-1880 the area again experienced poor yields.
Coupled this time with increased wheat production in the Central Valley, farmers responded by initiating a
diversified farming approach, increasing numbers of cows for milk and butter, sheep for wool, poultry for
eggs, swine for meat, hay, grapes, and fruit trees in an attempt to protect themselves during bad crop years.
By the late 1880s however, orchard products dominated agricultural production. The most popular of the
orchard products was the prune, with acreage expanding rapidly during the 1890s.
In 1876, Saratoga had about 200 residents, most of them
associated with the lumber industry and the rural grain
farms located throughout the western portions of Santa
Clara Valley. Saratoga’s period of Horticultural Development
started in 1876 when the Reverend William Pollard and
William Rice set out the first commercial orchards.
Although Ames Peter Springer had experimented with
fruit trees over twenty years earlier, and on the Quito
Farm, José Ramon Argüello had developed the first olive
orchard in the 1860s; it was Pollard and Rice that began
the transformation of land use that would continue for
almost a century. Pollard, who came from Indiana in 1876, bought 40 acres of land and planted pears,
peaches, apricots, and prunes. Rice planted his 30 acres along Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road with 17 acres in
prunes and the rest in apples, apricots, peaches and pears.
In 1883, Dr. George Handy, an eye doctor from New York, bought a grain ranch of 450 acres, located
between Saratoga and Los Gatos. He named the canyon, and the ranch, Glen Una. Handy planted 125 acres
of prunes, considered to be the largest set-out in Santa Clara Valley at that time. Later taken over by his son-
in-law Frank H. Hume, this ranch became the largest prune orchard in the world, with 350 acres planted.
Much of this early planting of orchards was spurred by Joseph Cox’s introduction of a variety of the French
prune that he named Double X. Cox established a nursery near Saratoga where he propagated this popular
prune variety that soon was in demand through the prune-growing regions of the West. By 1890, orchards
were spreading to the edges of the valley floor, completely dominating agriculture in Santa Clara County by
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the end of the decade. The 1896 San Jose Mercury Souvenir; Sunshine, Fruit, and Flowers prominently catalogues
the expansive horticultural district surrounding Saratoga.
Olives were also a significant part of Saratoga’s growth in horticulture. In the late 1850s, Manual Alviso had
sold land within the Quito to José Ramón Argüello. In the 1860s, the so-named El Quito Farm was planted
with Mission olive trees by Argüello. The olive trees were later grafted with scions from varieties from Italy
that were found to be more productive. By the 1890s, this farm, subsequently acquired by Edward E.
Goodrich in 1882, contained 81 acres in orchards that contained 3,800 olive trees, 1,600 peach trees, and
50,000 grape vines. Both Argüello and Goodrich are noted for being members of distinguished families.
Argüello’s father Luis Antonio was Alta California’s first governor of the Mexican period, and was known for
his innovations in the development of the region during that early period. Goodrich was the grandson of
Noah Webster, the iconic lexicographer considered the “Father of American Scholarship and Education,”
and publisher of The American Spelling Book, and An American Dictionary of the English Language. Tragically, the
Goodrich House on the Quito Farm, then owned by his son Chauncy, burned in 1919, losing a large private
library of these descendants of Noah Webster.
Along with prunes and other fruits, the Saratoga area was
also home to an extensive vineyard district. Mission grapes
were likely first planted in the Mexican period, and during
the late 1860s and 1870s, vineyards were planted on the
valley floor during the early years of the horticultural
period. By the 1880s, immigrants of the Haute-Alpes area
of France began planted wine grapes in Saratoga’s foothills
in concert with fellow immigrants in the South Valley areas
west of Gilroy. The region they came from is known as
Provence, and these early immigrants planted the types of
vines that now characterize the Saratoga’s contemporary winegrowing district. The five local wineries
currently in operation in the Saratoga foothills now represent greater Saratoga’s only industry. In recognition
of the unique products produced in the hills above Saratoga, the area was awarded the first appellation in
America, the Santa Cruz Mountain wine.
This period of Horticultural Development, following the Americanization of California at mid-century, saw the
transformation of a frontier settlement consisting primarily of American pioneers and a small population of
Hispanic and Native Americans, to an emerging agricultural region inter-connected to the national economy.
This new economic vitality based on expanding agriculture began to draw new immigrants to the area from
around the world. The rapid spread of agriculture and ensuing population increase provided impetus for the
establishment of many of the government, economic, and cultural institutions that remain evident in Santa
Clara County in the twenty-first century. Communities such as Saratoga began to evolve in response to the
needs of the surrounding growth. By the end of the nineteenth century, the topology as we know it today was
established. In 1887 the residents of unincorporated Saratoga formed the Saratoga Village Improvement
Association to promote a balanced total growth for the community. This move towards self-management
signaled the concern that Saratogans had for the future of their community, although it would be another 69
years before actual incorporation would occur. Ultimately, over the next century, Saratoga would evolve with
twelve other cities to create a continuous metropolitan region within the Santa Clara Valley.
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City of Homes (1904-1941)
The business of fruit production - the combination of growing, packing and canning -continued to be the
focus of Santa Clara County agriculture during the first half of the twentieth century. Fruit production peaked
in the 1920s, and with the increased ratio of crop value to land unit, large farms that had evolved in the
nineteenth century out of the ranchos became unnecessary. The increased land prices, cultivation costs, and
growing population of ready buyers led to the subdivision of large farmlands into highly specialized “fruit
ranches” that were 3 to 50 acres in size.
Parallel to the maturation of the horticultural industry surrounding Saratoga Village, in the first years of the
twentieth century a number of events signified a change in the community’s future. With the development of
the San Jose-Los Gatos Interurban Railroad (later the Peninsular Railway Co.) which began service to
Saratoga in 1904, much residential growth began to occur in Saratoga that was suburban in character. Many
of these new homes were built for families with commuters who rode the Interurban into San José to work.
The Interurban ran along the current route of Saratoga-Los Gatos Road until 1933 when the rail route was
replaced by buses.
The introduction of the automobile in the early part of the twentieth century eventually contributed to this
new suburbanization of Saratoga. Until about 1910, local residents relied on horse-drawn vehicles for local
transport. The automobile greatly extended the distance an individual could travel to acquire goods and
services and commute to distant jobs.
The 1906 Earthquake was a pivotal event that affected the use of land throughout the Bay Area including
Saratoga. Following the disaster, many communities throughout Central California rapidly set aside residential
development areas, hoping to draw the hordes of San Franciscans who had lost their homes to the ensuing
firestorm. Ultimately, the East Bay Area was where most of this population transfer occurred, but
communities like Saratoga saw an increased interest by San Francisco’s more
affluent residents, who were looking for more rural locations to build second
homes for use during the summer months, and then retire to in later years.
Saratoga provided an ideal environment for this type of development. With
the lumbering industry now removed to the west side of the Coastal Range,
the surrounding horticultural lands providing an idyllic “Valley of Heart’s
Delight,” ready urban services within Saratoga Village and in nearby San
José, and easy access via rail and improved roads, Saratoga was destined to
become a City of Homes, as proclaimed in San Jose Mercury news articles in the
years following the earthquake.
During the first decade of the twentieth century, large new homes sprung up
along the key routes into Saratoga Village, and prestigious residential districts
evolved nearby to the west and east of Saratoga-Los Gatos Road - within
walking distance to the Interurban. Four subdivisions were developed
between 1908 and 1920 to the southeast of the Village, including Saratoga
Park (1908) offered by developer David Bell; Orchard Place, which was sold
by the Woods family; La Paloma Terrace (1915), developed by San José
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developer T. S. Montgomery; and Lutheria Way, offered by Luther Cunningham in the 1920s. These four
subdivisions are some of the very few housing clusters in Santa Clara Valley that can be characterized as a
“streetcar suburb”. Although there are many examples of this type of development in eastern America, few
developments of this type appear in this area.
To the east, where Austin Corners would eventually be established, a health resort called Nippon Mura was
started by Theodore and Lucy Morris, with work beginning as early as 1901, but greatly expanded after 1906.
During this time period, Paul Masson also turned his Mountain Winery into a destination for San Francisco
and California’s elite with his Chateau at the top of the hill to the west of Saratoga Village. Then in 1911, San
Francisco Mayor (and later Senator) James Duval Phelan acquired property that would become Villa
Montalvo in a few years. By 1917, other similar grand retreats were evolving, such as Oliver and Isabel Stine’s
Hakone, to the west of the Village.
1915 postcard of Nippon Mura,
courtesy of Bill Wulf.
Saratoga had been a tourist destination as
early as 1866 when Congress Springs was
first established to the west of
McCartysville. Ironically, the destruction by
fire in 1903 of that large complex coincided
with the beginnings of Saratoga as a new
type of destination. The mobility of the population enabled by new transportation options that became
available during the early years of the twentieth century brought many visitors and new residents to Saratoga.
Saratoga’s annual Blossom Festival, which originated in 1900, brought hundreds and then thousands of
visitors to the community each year. Many admired the quality of life of the area as they spent time at the
Blossom Festival, or passed through on the way to California’s first state park, established in 1902 at Big
Basin. Lumber Street was soon renamed to Big Basin Way to commemorate and market Saratoga’s close
proximity to, and association with, this popular vacation spot.
Following World War I, the era of big new estates subsided, but the environs of Saratoga Village continued to
evolve with more modest, yet distinguished residential neighborhoods. Although growth slowed during the
interwar period, the now predominantly suburban community sought to improve public services. The
Saratoga Foothill Club, designed by Julia Morgan was the first of these quasi-public buildings to appear just
before the war, and soon after other local efforts to build a community library and a new modern school on
Oak Street were successful. By 1941 when the United States entered the Second World War, Saratoga Village
was a stable suburban town on the fringes of San José, serving both as a rural agricultural center, and as home
to commuters who worked in San Jose’s commercial and industrial districts. During the war, Santa Clara
County began considering its future in the post-war period. During the first decade after the war, Saratoga
would face challenges to its seclusion.
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Encroaching Suburbanization (1942 – 1956)
World War II, like the Gold Rush a century before, had a major effect on the changing complexion of Central
California. The San Francisco Bay Area was the gateway to the Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945. The large
naval air station at Moffett Field became a center of much activity. Thousands of military personnel were
brought to the area for training and processing, and many of them would return later to seek work and raise
families.
Events at Stanford University were also setting the stage for significant developments in the post-war period.
Frederick Terman became an engineering professor at Stanford in 1930. Under his guidance the university
became a leader in the field of electronics. Many of the university’s pre-war graduates played important roles
in the post-war development of the local electronics industry.
William Hewlett and David Packard, two of Professor Terman’s students at Stanford, developed electronic
test equipment in a Palo Alto garage in 1939. During World War II, this small company obtained government
contracts and continued to grow during the post-war period. In 1954, the Stanford Industrial Park was
established attracting the companies of Hewlett-Packard and the Varian brothers, also students of Terman, as
well as Sylvania, Philco-Ford, General Electric, and Lockheed’s research laboratory. These companies formed
the nucleus of what became known as Silicon Valley.
Soon after World War II, the Santa Clara County business community launched an active campaign to attract
new non-agricultural related industries to the area. Early industries that established plants in the county
included the Chicago’s International Mineral and Chemical Corporation’s Accent plant in 1946, the General
Electric plant in the early 1950s, and International Business Machines (IBM) in 1953.
Attracted by the increasing job market, the population of the valley experienced phenomenal growth after
1950. Between 1950 and 1975 the population increased from 95,000 to over 500,000. The urbanized areas of
the county grew correspondingly, replacing orchards with subdivisions and shopping centers.
In nearby San José, this growth can be directly related to the appointment of City Manager Dutch Hamann in
1950 by the pro-growth city council. Under Hamann’s pro-annexation policy, San José had annexed 1,419
outlying areas by the end of 1969 when Hamann left the position. During this period, residential subdivisions
replaced orchards at amazing speed. Rural roads widened into freeways, and expressways and boulevards
were lined with restaurants and automobile salesrooms.
In the early 1950s, Saratoga Village had begun to experience a new demand for conversion of nearby orchard
land to residential subdivisions. Being unincorporated, the County of Santa Clara oversaw the approval of
new subdivisions and issuance of building permits. While some new subdivisions occurred close to Saratoga
Village, such as James A. Clayton’s Horseshoe Drive, leapfrogging development was more common, such as
Allendale, which California Pacific Land Title Company began construction on in 1954, and the Peremont
Tract near Quito Road, beginning that same year. Peremont had 79 houses in this early subdivision, and like
Allendale, was targeted for engineers and factory workers at nearby industrial plants such as Lockheed.
But sporadic leapfrog development wasn’t what alarmed local Saratoga residents. By early 1956, some farmers
near Saratoga saw a quickening of the pace of San Jose’s annexation program under Dutch Hamann.
Ranchers had been petitioning the County Board of Supervisors about their concerns by the mid-1950s, and
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on February 25, 1956 nine more farmers petitioned the Board for a protective “greenbelt” zoning of 210
acres of land to protect Saratoga from San Jose’s encroachment. These farmers feared that San José would
extend its boundaries to the foot of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Their petition followed another from a group
of orchardists who had won an emergency and temporary “greenbelt” status for 200 acres of land San José
and sought to annex because it was uninhabited. Under the rules in effect at the time, a city could annex
uninhabited lands if the area in question had fewer than 12 registered voters living within its boundaries, but
could not annex land zoned exclusively for “greenbelt” use.
Later that year, a campaign by residents of Saratoga to incorporate was moving forward in earnest. Two
factions evolved, one the Citizens Committee for Incorporation, headed by Dr. Robert J. O’Neill, the other
the anti-city Saratoga Protective Committee, with Fred W. Buechner as chairman. The incorporationists
claimed that incorporation was necessary to protect the area from annexation, and to maintain the status quo.
The Protective Committee maintained that Saratoga could preserve its rural atmosphere without
incorporation. It accused the incorporationists of overstating the annexation issue, pointing out that no
inhabited area could be annexed without a vote of residents.
In October of 1956, Saratoga residents voted to incorporate. Dr. Burton R. Brazil, a San Jose State College
political science professor who had polled the most votes in a companion City Council election, was selected
by his four colleagues as Mayor. At the first meeting of the new City Council, the newly elected members
agreed that the status quo would be maintained in Saratoga, and a series of ordinances were passed in
conformity with county
regulations.
1956 was the year that Saratoga
became a municipality, and it was
also the year that Valley Fair
opened on the edge of San José,
signaling that city’s movement
westward across the valley. The
valley annexation wars would
continue until the County of Santa
Clara established growth
boundaries and the Local Agency
Formation Commission, but not
before San Jose’s Westgate Mall
opened in 1960 over the eastern
portion of the rancho Quito and
site of the rancho headquarters of
Manual Alviso.
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Urbanization of the Emerging Municipality (1956 – 1975 )
The County of Santa Clara continued to provide government services to the newly incorporated City of
Saratoga while the municipality established itself as a self-sufficient public agency. A structure was relocated
from Saratoga-Los Gatos Road to the planned civic center on Fruitvale Avenue, and served as a temporary
first City Hall until the current building was constructed. The Saratoga City Council met for the first time on
October 22, 1956, and began to address the long-range planning issues facing the community.
The County Planning Commission meanwhile was preparing a draft of what could be Saratoga’s first General
Plan. The planning area for this study was bounded by Prospect Road on the north, Quito Road on the east,
and on the west and south by the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, encompassed 13.5 square miles, and
including the newly
incorporated city limits as well
as what the County Planning
Departme nt defined as the
ultimate build-out boundaries.
This area included the mostly
flat land surrounding the
Village, but the larger planning
boundaries also included about
one-quarter mountainous areas
and about one-third foothills.
The County indicated a
concern with flood protection,
considering the impacts of
severe flooding from storms of
1951-1952 and 1955 from the
San Tomas Aquino, Saratoga,
and Calabazas Creeks,
amplified by the railroad line
that impeded the natural flow
of storm runoff. The County
also noted that while eighty percent of the area’s soils were cultivable, Saratoga did not rank high as other
portions of the valley in terms of land capability, with only twelve percent of the land rated as Class 1.
Saratoga’s population at incorporation was reported in the plan to be about 11,000 residents, a reported
increase of 7,500 people in the six years following the 1950 census. The official 1950 census appears to have
used different boundaries and even fewer residents were listed in Saratoga in 1950: 1,329. By 1970 the official
population had expanded to 26,810 ; the city increased only about another 3,000 residents over the next thirty
years. The population was concentrated in the mid-1950s in Saratoga Village and the newly developing Quito
Road area. There were still about 4,300 acres of agricultural land and 2,600 acres of undeveloped hill land in
Saratoga. In the plan, the County proposed that approximately eighty-six percent of the area be planned for
housing, (mostly estates and single-family), five percent be set aside for continued agriculture, and the
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remaining nine percent be utilized for commercial centers, schools and recreation areas, and institutional uses.
The plan proposed a number of small local shopping center as well as nine elementary schools
The underlying theme of this early study was based on what the County saw as community expectations - that
the citizens of Saratoga wanted to preserve their way of life. The plan recognized that unincorporated
Saratoga had been able to maintain its rural residential character in the face of urbanizing pressures which had
engulfed other valley communities. They attributed this to the effectiveness of zoning regulations placed on
the greater portion of the area by the County Board of Supervisors in 1942. The County planners recognized
that Saratoga had a beautiful setting and had become the home of large estates and summer residences, but
they also recognized that recent trends in industrial growth in the county and the companion vehicular
improvement to the transportation system had opened valley orchard lands to subdivision in order to provide
year-round residences for families of more moderate means.
Five issues of concern were identified: (1) maintenance of a stable and well-coordinated land use pattern
based upon the lot-size policies established by the County; (2) reduction of traffic congestion on the state
highways traversing the town center; (3) reservation of sites for community facilities, including schools, parks
and recreation areas; (4) preservation of the mountain area for recreation and residential estate purposes and
prevention of activities tending to despoil this area; and (5) prevention of flooding. Transportation
improvements had already begun to occur with the straightening of Saratoga-Los Gatos Road at Austin
Corners in 1940, and again near Mendelsohn Lane in 1950, with other improvements occurring in 1960.
The suggestive scheme for the
Village “town center” would
ultimately be this plan’s failing. In
concert with other center-city
revitalization projects in the region,
planners envisioned a park-like
setting filled with large apartment
buildings surrounding a new Village
of commercial blocks and parking
lots. A pedestrian mall shopping
district would be created by re-
routing traffic on new peripheral
one-way roads framing generous
parking areas. This form of
redevelopment would ultimately
occur in other local cities such as
San José, Santa Clara, and
Sunnyvale.
From Santa Clara County Planning
Commission’s 1956 General Plan for
Saratoga.
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In Saratoga, however, the rate of change over the next half a century was moderated, and the local citizenry
choose to maintain the small-scale character of the Village while at the same time allowing for regeneration
and growth. Two years later, Saratoga’s planning consultant Lawrence Livingston Jr. prophesized that in
thirty years Saratoga could still be a rural residential area, but laced with four-lane arterials to serve 30,000
residents. He spoke with urgency to the council and new planning commission that policy action was needed
to deal with rapid subdivision within the city limits
until Saratoga’s own long-range general plan could
be prepared and adopted, and speculated that the
city would be almost completely built-out in the
next 20 to 30 years. Livingston suggested that
“Saratoga retain her character as a ‘low density’
residential community, that commercial
development be confined to existing commercial
areas plus one new neighborhood shopping center,
and that major streets be widened to handle
anticipated traffic volumes without congestion,
instead of building new thoroughfares (as was
happening in adjacent cities)….quality, not
quantity, should be your goal in shopping centers.”
From the San Jose Mercury News in the mid -1960s
Livingston‘s predictions were on target. The pace
of conversion of agricultural land in Saratoga was fast and furious following incorporation. Planning began in
the 1960s for Highway 85 which would bisect the city, creating a distinct eastern district of the city. The area
northeast of Saratoga Village rapidly developed during this time, and was soon named Saratoga’s Golden
Triangle. This mile-square area south of Cox Avenue and to the east of Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road earned its
gilded adjective from the high resale values associated with the new housing built there. The name was
allegedly used by builder George Day when he first marketed subdivisions north of Cox Avenue, but the
market soon linked this name to the more southern subdivisions such as Argonaut Place. Home buyers who
sought ranch-style properties in the new Saratoga subdivisions were looking for a pleasant lifestyle, an easy
commute to work, a good educational system, and a Saratoga address associated with the million-dollar
estates in the hillsides. They also sought out this area for its lack of convenience stores, fast-food
establishments, and apartment buildings.
Houses in Saratoga subdivisions also escaped the uniformity of most of the county’s large subdivisions aimed
at World War II veterans who were first-time buyers. Some of the tracts were single-builder projects, and
others were developed as semi-custom homes constructed by several builders speculating on individual lots.
The Argonaut Company sold lots to prospective home owners or builders, and the company did no actual
construction, although it did establish residential restrictions and reserved the right to review and approve all
plans.
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In companion to this residential growth, commercial property owners in Saratoga Village responded with
modernization projects, and built new small contemporary shopping complexes. Saratoga Village Shopping
Center was the most noteworthy of this new genre, and featured a grocery store along with other small shops.
It had an onsite parking lot designed to serve the new shoppers from the subdivisions. In addition to the
Saratoga Village shopping center, other new business structures were added along Big Basin Way replacing
older wood-frame buildings from Saratoga’s earlier eras. In one unique situation, an old structure was
demolished and recycled into a new building and the Plumed Horse Restaurant was created. This
establishment became a local landmark and helped build Saratoga’s reputation for fine dining.
Mindful of its early history and its noted status, Saratoga civic leaders struggled with the modernization of
Saratoga Village as commercial property owners sought to serve better their rapidly growing community while
attempting to maintain the historic character and scale of the early town. Architect Warren Heid can be
identified as one of the leading figures in this phase of development. From his office in one of Saratoga’s
oldest remaining structures on Big Basin Way (the John Henry House), Warren Heid was involved in either
building or remodeling nearly every building in historic Saratoga Village. Today’s Village is large a reflection
of Heid’s involvement as steward in preserving Saratoga Village’s past while creating the new vibrant town
center that exists today.
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HISTORIC THEMES AND ASSOCIATED PROPERTY TYPES
This Statement of Historic Context includes interpretive themes to help understand Saratoga’s historic
development in relationship to property types. The themes have been extracted from a larger set of general
themes that have been outlined by the State Office of Historic Preservation, and are as follow:
• Commerce
• Transportation and Public Infrastructure
• Religion
• Architecture and Neighborhoods
Saratoga has a rich and diverse history, although most of the present built environment is associated primarily
with residential development, discrete commercial areas, and civic and quasi-public buildings. Few property
types other than those for residential uses exist within Saratoga’s neighborhoods. Manufacturing and industry
no longer exists in the city, agricultural is limited to a small number of orchards or vineyards, and resource
extraction and/or management occurs outside the city limits. Detailed research into the historical context of
thematic property types should accompany any future intensive-level survey or property evaluations, as few of
these historic properties, other than a small group in Saratoga Village, have been recorded or listed within
local and state historic resource inventories.
Saratoga has been, and continues to be, home to a number of important personages that lend significance to
individual properties. Early local residents such as James Springer, Hannah McCarty, Charles Maclay, Mary
Brown, and Charles Blaney, were followed by later residents such as actresses Joan Fontaine and Olivia de
Havilland, Paul Masson, James Duval Phelan, and author Kathleen Norris. Many others provide insight to the
evolution of a community and its accomplishments. The significance that individuals bring to historic
properties is a consideration in establishing historical significance.
The following sections address this thematic context, followed by a more detailed overview of the theme of
Architecture and Neighborhoods. These sections establish a framework for planning of future survey work,
intensive-level investigations, and historic district considerations.
Commerce
Resource types associated with commerce include retail shops, restaurants, drinking establishments, Inns and
motels, financial institutions, livery stables, groceries, offices, shopping malls, and advertising structures.
Saratoga Village, platted and developed by the McCarty’s, had two main streets; a business street, known
originally as Lumber Street, and Oak Street, which runs parallel to the main thoroughfare. Hannah McCarthy
donated a portion of her land on Oak Street to create the local school and another plot to the Congregational
Church to establish their church. At the time of her death, her real estate holdings in Saratoga were
substantial.
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With one of her sons as a business partner, Hannah sold lots to new settlers and built business buildings and
homes to rent. At the time of Hannah McCarty’s death, the center of Saratoga Village was the intersection of
Third Street and Lumber Street (Big Basin
Way). The village was cut into a steep hillside,
and only Third Street was actually cut through
to Oak Street and improved for vehicular
traffic. In Hannah McCarty’s time, the business
buildings along Lumber Street were
interspersed with modest residences and
boarding houses.
From the 1896 Sunshine, Fruit, and Flowers,
Santa Clara County, California.
The second phase of development for Saratoga
Village came in the early-twentieth century. A
second cluster of business buildings were built on the renamed Big Basin Way below the earlier intersection.
The development potential of the Saratoga area had come to the attention of two significant San José
developers, T. S. Montgomery and Charles Blaney, and one local resident with interest in development, Dr.
Robert L. Hogg. The three men, working together and independently helped shape the development of the
community during the years between 1890 and World War II.
Dr. Robert Hogg is responsible for the construction of several business buildings and for joining with Charles
Blaney and others to organize the Saratoga State Bank, the first bank in the area. Dr. Hogg remained active in
local real estate investment until well after World War II, and many local residents still recall that Dr. Hogg
loaned them money for their first homes in Saratoga.
Saratoga Village would remain the area’s only commercial district until after World War II. With new
residential subdivisions under construction in the mid-to-late 1950s, the Village underwent a cycle of
regeneration that continues today, with both new construction, and renovation of older commercial buildings.
Small satellite neighborhood shopping centers also sprang up along Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road at this time,
providing commercial services to the growing population, with the Argonaut the first at Blauer Drive.
Following later were Saratoga Center and Azule Crossing Shopping Centers, located near the northerly edge
of the city. Shopping center development in the eastern portions of the city was limited to the later Quito
Village Shopping Center at Cox and Saratoga Avenues. San Jose’s Westgate Mall and related shopping centers
at Westgate West and the later El Paseo de Saratoga likely competed with market demand in that portion of
the city, and no commercial development occurred in the south parts of the city which had been (and
continues to be) developed with larger estate homes. The architecture of some of these commercial centers
has remained true to their development periods, with little overlay of contemporary post-Neoclassical forms
common to other shopping centers throughout Santa Clara Valley. The Argonaut, now Longs
Drugs/Safeway, is the exception - a recent renovation is typical of the architectural makeovers now taking
place at sites of this scale throughout America.
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Transportation and Public Infrastructure
Changes in transportation during the Horticultural Development period were a major influence on local
developmental patterns during the later part of the nineteenth century. In 1877, the narrow gauge South
Pacific Coast Railroad was completed from Niles. The alignment came through Alviso, along the eastern edge
of the Town of Santa Clara, (intersecting with the Southern Pacific tracks, formerly the San Francisco & San
Jose Railroad), through the College Park area of San José to its station just south of The Alameda at Cahill
Street. The construction of the South Pacific Coast Railroad through nearby Los Gatos just four miles away
opened the West Valley to large scale fruit production. Farmers now had an alternative to hauling their fruit
to the Southern Pacific Railroad in Santa Clara. Access to transportation played a key role in the development
of the Saratoga area.
Samuel Bishop built the first electrical streetcar line in America when he electrified the line between San José
and Santa Clara in 1887/1888. The streetcars were converted to overhead electrical trolley lines in 1891, and
the Interurban Railroad had lines to Saratoga, Campbell, and Los Gatos by 1905. The Interurban paved the
way for suburban development in Saratoga during the early parts of the twentieth century.
No structures remain in Saratoga associated with these early transportation eras other than the Southern
Pacific Right-of-way that exists near or adjacent to Route 85. By the early twentieth century, roadways
widened for automobile traffic became the primary route for local and intercity transportation. During the
World War II era, State Route 9 was realigned and widened as a part of the improvement of statewide
through-routes related to national security. Those improvements did not substantial affect patterns of
development in Saratoga, and the small-scale character of the Village remained intact in spite of demands for
improvements to facilitate through-traffic.
Planning of Highway 85 affected the development of the northeast portion of the city by establishing a
barrier and creating a distinctive edge to the main part of the city. Today Triangle North and South, and the
Quito areas remained separated,
with roadway improvements to its
main thoroughfares more
substantial than within many areas
closer in to the Village. The widened
Saratoga Avenue extends from San
Jose’s Stevens Creek Blvd to
Fruitvale, where traffic is directed to
West Valley College. Further
widening as Saratoga Avenue
approaches the Village have been
minimized. This area was designated
as Heritage Lane in 1991.
Heritage Lane at its northeastern entry
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Religion
Resource types associated with religion include churches, parochial schools, and cemeteries.
From its earliest beginnings, the Saratoga community was shaped by the religious beliefs of its early settlers.
The town of Saratoga is an excellent example of the ongoing tensions between the Roman Catholics and the
Methodist-Episcopal churches, as both groups of early arrivals in Santa Clara Valley established their colleges
and spread their gospels. The early village and its economy were shaped by two religious groups, the Roman
Catholics and the Methodist-Episcopal churches. There would be an underlying tension in the community for
decades, created by difference in philosophy between those groups that supported Temperance and the
sizeable population of Swiss-Italian immigrants who settled in the Santa Cruz Mountains, who were
winegrowers and wine sellers.
The first Methodist in California was
pathfinder Jedediah Smith, pioneer of the
Overland Trail and the first to cross the
Sierras. Smith carried his hymnal as well as his
Bible. He was followed by the Rev. Adna
Hecox who came West with the Cunningham
family and James Frazier Reed of the Donner
party. Early Saratoga was established and
maintained by several Methodists including
William Campbell, William Haun, Charles
Maclay and in later years Frank Farwell. There
were also a handful of early
Congregationalists in Saratoga and their numbers would become increasingly significant. The Methodists did
not establish a church in the early years. It would be several decades, during the later part of the Early
American period, before the community was apparently large enough to build a church. The Congregational
Church was built in 1872, the Christian Church was erected in 1880, and the Methodists had their own house
of worship in 1896. Construction of church buildings is relatively late in the development of the Saratoga
community. For years, some Protestant congregations met in Los Gatos while others met in local homes, and
were served by institution known as the circuit preacher.
The earliest Roman Catholic presence on Saratoga was probably Martin McCarthy, a Gold Rush pioneer of
Irish descent. During the late 1850s and early 1860s the Santa Cruz Mountains above Saratoga began to fill
with Catholic immigrants from the Haute-Alpes area. Today their homeland area is considered part of
Provence in southern France. These early immigrants were wine-growers, and they established some of the
earliest vineyards in the Saratoga area. The French, Swiss and Italian Catholics built their own church, a small
chapel in the hills. The Church of St. John the Evangelist was dedicated in 1890.
The Methodist pioneers who established the mills in Saratoga did not build a church in that area, but in 1853
they did choose a site for a regular camp meeting. The site was noted as a wooded area on Campbell Creek
one-half mile below the tollgate. Members of the Tollgate Camp meeting built a Temperance Hall in Saratoga,
which was later used as Saratoga’s first schoolhouse.
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Today, Saratoga is home to about seventeen church groups. Most of these have houses of worship
constructed in the last half a century during the Saratoga’s expansion years following incorporation.
The California law, known as AB133, allows any "religiously-affiliated" organization to exempt "non-
commercial" historic property from local landmarks laws, regardless of the purposes for which the property is
used. This state statute includes residential and other properties owned by religious institutions. In order to
invoke the exemption, the religiously affiliated organization must formally object to the application of the law,
and determine in a public forum that application of the law will result in a substantial hardship, which is likely
to deny the organization either an economic return on its property, the "reasonable use" of its property, or
the appropriate use of its property in the furtherance of its religious mission.
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Architecture and Neighborhoods
In Saratoga, buildings significant for their architectural character can be identified using the architectural
typology provided in the following pages. Because of the diversity of architectural styles in the city, a wide
variety of buildings may be determined to be historic resources, and these may be broadly spaced throughout
the city limits.
Although there is a notable concentration of mid-to-late nineteenth-century buildings in Saratoga Village,
buildings from the Early American period are generally somewhat rare. Because of their relative scarcity, they
are usually considered to have some level of architectural significance even if their historical integrity may be
comparatively compromised. The architectural history of Saratoga of the rough-and-tumble Early American
years saw primarily the construction of practical, vernacular structures, built of local materials along the major
transportation routes. Redwood cottages and redwood or masonry commercial buildings are the predominant
visual reminders of the nineteenth century in Saratoga. Some early buildings featured stylistic architectural
details, such as Queen Anne or Stick-style Victorian designs, but many buildings were spare National-style
designs, known sometimes in Saratoga as “Pioneer” designs. Current history seems to show a lag time
between the popularity of the earlier styles in the more urban surrounding areas, such as San José, and their
use and appearance in Saratoga. Assuming the Saratoga building dates are close to correct, v-groove siding
and Queen-Anne asymmetry, for example, appear as much as five years after their primary appearance in
more metropolitan cities.
After the turn of the twentieth century, as Saratoga became more accessible and was seen as a preferred
residential area, the types of houses and buildings changed to reflect more variety of materials and scale, more
richness in design and detailing, and a reflection of popular styles. In the City of Homes period, many
significant architects and builders collaborated with the owners to create masterpieces, but even very modest
vernacular buildings from this era include character-defining forms and detailing. This period includes an
array of houses and buildings designed by significant architects from around the Bay Area. Such nationally
known architects as Julia Morgan, Willis Polk, and William Weeks, as well as regionally prominent architects
as Wolfe & McKenzie, Birge Clark, and Hill & Higbie, provided architectural services to local property
owners; short biographies of these contributors can be found at the end of this section.
Saratoga also has a wide representation of architecture from after World War II, but the historical significance
of most of this late-twentieth-century building stock is only starting to be understood. Many mid-century
buildings recently have reached fifty years old, the commonly accepted age for buildings to be evaluated for
historical significance, but most of the city’s post-World-War-II housing is more recent than that. The very
nature of construction after 1945 has been fast and extensive, so much of what was built is not individually
representative of the era. Some individual buildings and tracts are already identified with significant local
architects and trends in design. Although there are other significant modern-era architects whose work
influenced Saratoga in the latter half of the twentieth century, such as Anshen & Allen, Warren Heid holds a
particularly prominent position in the design of Saratoga’s built environment during this era. His local office
was instrumental in the design of many significant institutional and commercial structures, as well as many
residences in the area. In addition to his strong modern designs, he was also instrumental in the preservation
movement in Saratoga.
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Within the residential, commercial, and institutional building types most common in the city are
representative examples of many of the major architectural styles popular between the 1850s and the present
day. The residences include styles as diverse as early-American farmhouses, Victorian-era single-family
residences, later Neoclassical and Craftsman bungalows and cottages, Eclectic Revival designs, Ranch-style
houses and apartments, as well as stripped-down-Modern designs. Regardless of style, the vast majority of the
residences are of conventional wood-frame construction; however, there are also a few early board-wall
houses and a few hollow-core masonry buildings such as the Village Library, and modern masonry structures.
Other structural systems include stone and brick, as well as twentieth-century adobe, steel stud, post-and-
beam, and alternative materials. The dates that are included in the following analysis are not firm; the
popularity of specific styles tends to cross timelines.
Pre-American-era Structures (Prior to 1850)
There are no known extant resources associated with the Spanish / Mexican Period (1769-1846) in the city.
Saratoga’s current city limits overlap one early rancho, Quito, but the areas of these vast agricultural holdings
are not known to have contained structures within the city’s boundaries.
National style cottages and other early pre-railroad
vernacular forms (1850s to early 1870s)
Of the earliest American-era buildings in
Saratoga, only a few are still extant. Of the
earliest American-era buildings, the most
common are vernacular National style designs,
known sometimes in the city as “Pioneer”
cottages, but one, the Springer House, is
identified as a prefabricated structure. All these
buildings are modest in size and plain in
appearance, so they may not always be
recognized as potentially significant. A number
of these National style houses can be found in
the Village, some now used as commercial structures. The buildings of this era often exhibit the distinctive
proportions of a balloon-frame building, primarily visible in the raised eaves of the cross-gabled roof, the
narrow roof span and relatively steep roof pitch, as well as the raised floor. Many of these mid-nineteenth-
century vernacular houses are of board-wall construction. They have simple, steeply gabled roofs, a narrow
roof span, rectangular footprints, and their board-and-batten siding is integral with their structure although
they may be clad with lap or channel rustic siding. The houses are referred to as National style, representing
the simplicity and universality of their forms. National-style houses can have added detailing that shows some
stylistic influences, such as turned porch posts, Tudor headers, or Gothic Revival eave trim, but most in
Saratoga are very plain. Early vernacular wood-frame residences—usually balloon frame—also most often
took a National-style form; these simple houses also had moderately to steeply pitched, gabled roofs covering
simple rectangular floor plans or “L”-shaped plans; however, changes in construction techniques and the
availability of locally milled materials allowed somewhat larger footprints and provided a more polished
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exterior siding material. In addition to a widespread use of channel-rustic siding, the houses had the boxed
eaves, simple projecting porches, and plain, flat-board trim characteristic of this era. Windows, if they haven’t
been replaced, usually consist of relatively narrow 2/2 or 6/6 double-hung wood sash; they are placed
individually around the house.
Still standing in Saratoga are a number of vernacular mid-nineteenth-century commercial and agricultural
structures. Again, these are utilitarian and practical designs, built of local materials. In Saratoga Village are a
few stone buildings or buildings with extensive stone foundations; these appear to be associated with a single
individual who owned a limestone quarry nearby. The agricultural structures have forms and materials similar
to their residential counterparts; they are wood structures—some balloon framed and some board-wall—they
generally have steeply pitched gable roofs, and original fenestration consists of 2/2 double-hung windows
with flat-board trim.
Italianate and Western False-front houses and
commercial buildings (1870s)
As American influence increased after
California statehood, construction of wood-
frame houses increased throughout the Bay
Area. Much of the materials and detailing were
similar to those of the earlier National-style
houses, such as channel-rustic siding and boxed
eaves; however, fashionable buildings became
Italianate in style, and vernacular buildings
started to incorporate Italianate elements. The
construction methods often were sturdier,
utilizing redwood lumber for balloon framing.
The largest houses in the South Bay took on a distinctive Italianate form: two stories on a raised pony wall,
with a concealed low-slope roof, often hipped. These featured wooden quoins outlining their vertical front
façades and rows of Italianate corbels accenting their high, square cornices. Some of these houses have
symmetrical façades; however, even the later asymmetrical versions have a strong, centralized focus rather
than an impression of complexity and multiple parts. National-style houses of the time took their cues from
these designs, primarily incorporating symmetrical central gables, vernacular window hood trim and
occasionally Italianate corbels. Although rare, there are examples of this design in Saratoga. One vernacular
form from this period is the Western Falsefront. The intent was to create a strong rectangular front façade
while the house or commercial building behind it is a smaller, and more traditional gabled- or hipped-roof
structure.
Victorian-era Designs: Queen Anne, Eastlake, Shingle-style, and Victorian Farmhouses (1880s to late 1890s)
Victorian architecture refers to designs roughly associated with the period of the reign of Queen Victoria of
Great Britain—approximately the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Within this catchphrase are a
number of specific styles that have some commonality and some differences. Generally, the common traits
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include a sense of verticality expressed in the proportions of the massing, trim, and windows and doors.
Asymmetry is also an attribute of Victorian architecture; in particular, most houses from this era have
asymmetrical towers, bay windows, gables, porches, cantilevers and other projecting objects that interrupt the
basic, underlying house form. Much of this era of design focuses on elaborate decorative elements such as
brackets, spindlework, Eastlake carved trim, complex shingled window surrounds, etc. The various styles are
built of frame construction, often platform-framed for differentiation between the first and second floor
plans. This lightweight or “western” construction method slowly replaced the earlier “balloon framed” houses
of the National and Italianate styles.
Stick-style designs in the South Bay area,
particularly the more vernacular forms,
represent a transition from the more upright
and blocky Italianate designs of the 1880s to
the more highly decorated and asymmetrical
Queen Anne designs of the 1890s. Classic
Stick-style details commonly include balloon-
framed forms with one-and-one-half-story
forms, patterned shingle work in the front
gable end, elongated corbels and other
Eastlake-style ornament at the gable and porch,
and sometimes bay windows or angled corners.
These early Victorian designs can have channel-
rustic siding, and the bay window are commonly less integrated into the overall form, such as small, separate
bays with no front focal window. Later Stick-style designs have cross-gabled roofs and asymmetrical forms
that begin to be representative of Queen Anne styles, but these retain the carved Eastlake corbels, frame-like
flat board trim, and diagonal paneling of the earlier Victorian—or even earlier—era.
Queen Anne houses and cottages are present in both stylistically clear and vernacular forms in Saratoga;
however, the high-style designs are relatively rare in comparison with other South Bay communities such as
nearby Los Gatos. Queen Anne houses are typified by asymmetrical façades with a combination of hipped
roofs and decorative gables, as well as angled bay windows and turrets. The style is well known for ornate
trim, including scroll-cut brackets and decorative window surrounds. Porches on Queen Anne houses usually
are inset into the complex footprint, but their roofs project from the building mass. The porches feature
turned columns, low balustrades, and additional ornate trim. Vernacular Queen Anne cottages traditionally
are hipped main blocks with a single, projecting gable, often featuring angled bay windows; they have less
ornate trim work, but still include some porch brackets and other refined features.
Shingle-style houses are recognized by their broad, gabled forms—often multiple stories or half-stories are
protected by the same gabled roof. Shingle-style wall walls have cantilevers, bays, and eyebrow forms that are
frequently shingled to smooth and integrate these complex articulations into the larger design. Shingle-style
houses often include Neoclassical-style porch columns, window casings with pilaster trim, and heavy brackets
and dentils. These motifs and materials were utilized in Saratoga and other Bay Area communities over a long
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period of time. Shingle-style influences are found on many Craftsman and Neoclassical designs of the early-
twentieth century.
Victorian Farmhouses are the later versions of National-style forms with vernacular “Victorian” elements
utilized within the porches and eaves. The roof pitches, siding type, window proportions and sash types are
subtly different from the earlier National-style buildings, although many of these utilize balloon framing like
their predecessors.
Turn-of-the-Century: Prairie-style and Foursquare
houses (Late 1890s to mid-1920s)
Traditional Prairie-style proportions include
blocky massing with a horizontal emphasis, and
the buildings are strongly grounded visually.
The strength and solidity of these houses is
most often expressed with a tall first floor—
often created by a trim band or change of
materials at the apron level of the second floor
windows; not only does this create a substantial
base, it also accentuates the horizontality of the
upper portion of the elevations. Deeply
cantilevered, boxed eaves and ribbons of
windows convey additional horizontality. Additional strength is conveyed by wide doorways and heavy posts.
Smaller details that express the Prairie style include geometric art-glass windows, windows with Prairie-style
lite patterns (compositions of rectangles and squares), and stripes of trim.
Foursquare houses are a practical, vernacular expression of this transitional time between Victorian-era
verticality and Craftsman horizontality. Their exteriors are relatively unornamented, and their name refers to
their room configuration. Some four-squares have recessed porches, but usually they have applied front
stoops with simple porch roofs.
Craftsman and Neoclassical Bungalows (1905 to
1925)
Saratoga’s growing reputation as a resort and
retreat produced a rich variety of early-
twentieth-century residences, both architect-
designed and vernacular. The city encompasses
a collection of original Craftsman-style and
Neoclassical bungalows. Most are modest
representations of the popular styles, but,
nevertheless, embody the design aesthetics
presented in such magazines as Craftsman.
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Craftsman bungalows built during the early-twentieth century have a heavy, horizontal orientation that is
often highlighted by long porch beams, broad eaves, and ribbons of windows. A majority of the vernacular
versions are one story or one-and-a-half stories. Craftsman-style houses include a variety of features that set
them off from other buildings: knee braces at their gable ends, outlookers, massive porch posts and/or
truncated posts that rest on solid, sided porch railings, exposed rafter tails and other expressions of joinery,
and wide front doors, as well as double-hung and casement windows with horizontal or square, rather than
vertical, proportions. Often Craftsman bungalows feature cantilevered, square-bay windows, including corner
bays. Few commercial structures are Craftsman
in design, as it represented a residential
movement.
Popular at the same time as Craftsman designs,
Neoclassical houses represent twentieth-century
development of the Queen Anne style.
Occasionally in Saratoga and other locations,
these designs have been referred to as “Princess
Annes.” Neoclassical houses have compact
horizontal or cubical proportions similar to
Craftsman houses, and use similar materials;
however, the distinctive features include the
small hipped or gabled dormers at their usually
hipped roofs that also sometimes have forward-
facing gabled pediments. The vernacular versions have modest turned columns and solid porch railing, and a
great many have recessed porches and shallow angled bay windows tucked under boxed eaves. The more
heavily designed Neoclassical residences have more complete classical detailing, classical columns, and more
complex forms. There are some examples of shingled Craftsman-era or Neoclassical houses, but the common
siding choices from this timeframe include tri-bevel siding, simple lap and stucco.
Neoclassical design did translate to commercial
structures at this time. The designs of stores,
banks, and churches incorporated Neoclassical
compact forms, square window proportions,
recessed entries, and classical trim, such as
dentils and egg-and-dart cornices.
Renaissance Revival, Italian Villa, and Mediterranean
Revival (Mid-1910s through 1920s)
These styles are related to Classical Revival or
Neoclassical designs, as they include classical
detailing; however, these styles are considerably
more suggestive of their roots and more
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expressive of their reproduction of stone walls and classical designs from antiquity. Such identifying detailing
includes applied swags, Palladian windows, and
more ornate columns, cornices and porch trim.
Eclectic Revival Styles: Spanish Eclectic, Mission
Revival, Tudor Revival, and Colonial Revival (1912s
and 1930s)
Over time, Craftsman-style houses began to
take on new exterior detailing reminiscent of
historic and international examples, such as half-
timbered gable ends, and after the First World
War, the Eclectic Revival or Period Revival
styles grew in prominence to become
characteristic of both residential and non-
residential construction. Such styles as Spanish
Eclectic, Mission Revival, Mediterranean,
French Eclectic, and others became popular. Even very modest buildings of all types included Eclectic
Revival detailing, such as Spanish tile roofs, raised and inset plaster ornament, arched porches and arched
picture windows, shaped buttresses, and the occasional ornamental column. In addition to including wood-
framed houses, commercial buildings, and churches, this period also included the occasional use of hollow-
core masonry block. This building material is somewhat rare and representative of an era, beginning about
1922. Following World War II, hollow-core concrete masonry block came into common use, but primarily
for commercial and industrial buildings.
Growing out of a similar desire for traditional and historical forms, some houses from this era were Colonial
Revival and Dutch Colonial designs. Looking to colonial New England and the Middle-Atlantic states for
design features, designers included gambrel roofs, cantilevered upper stories, blocky proportions, shuttered
windows, and classical pediments over
symmetrical front entries.
One of the new building types that emerged in
this period is the automobile garage. Although
early garages were sometimes based on
carriage-house prototypes, and so were
detached, had board walls and board-and-
batten doors, garages soon were being built
along with the primary residences, and so
matched the materials and forms of the house.
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Art Deco and Art Moderne (Mid-1930s to early 1950s)
While Modern architecture began to appear in Santa Clara Valley in the mid-1930s, there are few notable
examples of buildings with these early stylistic characteristics in Saratoga. There is also little evidence of the
influence of the early Modern Movement in the residential areas.
Minimal Traditional (Late 1930s through 1950s)
Some vernacular houses, particularly in the
1930s and early 1940s, were built very simply in
what is referred to as “Minimal Traditional”
style. Minimal Traditional buildings are a
transition between the revival styles of the
1920s into post-War Ranch-style houses. These
modest houses were necessitated by the Great
Depression and World War II when
Modernism was thriving in the more urban
areas but materials and capital were scarce. In
Saratoga, as in other South Bay communities,
the Minimal Traditional style is most often displayed with one-story, unadorned, stucco houses with gabled
roofs, shallow eaves and simplified porch designs. The houses are often accompanied by red-stained
walkways and stoops. Some Minimal-Traditional designs continued to include Spanish Eclectic influences,
with tile roofs or arched porch openings. Within the Minimal Traditional style evolved a distinctive 1940s
residence that features simplified roofs, often hipped, and horizontal window lites, often steel casements but
also sometimes double-hung wood sash. Detailing in these later buildings is somewhat less traditional and
more typically geometric, particularly accentuating horizontal lines, such as a pattern of horizontal rails
between the porch posts. Interesting versions of houses from this era have corner windows with thin corner
posts.
Ranch Style (Late 1940s and 1950s)
The thirties and early forties were a lean time for
construction; the financial atmosphere and the
need to use materials for the war effort
diminished the ability of people to erect new
buildings, but after World War II, the boom
years began. Although a large proportion of
Ranch-style houses in California are traditionally
found in groupings of similar houses within
large subdivisions, vernacular and custom
Ranch-style residences—both large and small—
were also built throughout Saratoga, interspersed
with earlier parcels. The Ranch style,
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championed by Sunset Magazine in the late 1940s, included mostly single-story construction under hipped
roofs, rooms that opened into the landscape, and attached carports or garages. Typical features of Ranch-style
houses include simple posts at the recessed porches, horizontal ribbons of window sash, often steel
casements, and geometric fascia gutters. A decorative feature that often was used to create a more horizontal
line was brick wainscoting. Some have corner steel windows; some have details that refer back to the
surrounding Eclectic Revival houses, including some with Spanish Eclectic tiles and forms. Some houses of
this genre in Saratoga have an Asian treatment, with especially broad or bell-cast eaves, gabled hips, and
special front door designs. In Saratoga, Ranch-style design is represented as single-family residences, multi-
family residences, and offices, as well as institutions such as churches.
Modernism and the Bay Regional Style (Late 1940s to about 1980)
Mid-century Modernism began to reach widespread
popularity, as its simplicity was both practical and
aesthetically pleasing for commercial and industrial
construction in the post-war economy. The character
of this style comes from wide wall planes under flat
roofs with little or no trim around large windows and
simple doors. Ribbon windows and some angular trim
or elements often accentuated the horizontality, but the
primary focus was the overall rectilinear massing.
Single-family residences can be found in Saratoga in
both custom-built houses and in tract design, and
multi-family residences were most often Modernist in
style, as were commercial structures. Bay Regional style
is a regional variation of Modernism, focused on the
use of local materials for the exterior finishes;
specifically, the forms of such buildings are geometric
and Modernist in their simplicity, but the siding and
trim might be wood, such as v-groove siding. In
Saratoga architect-designed Bay Regional residences
were sometimes built into the foothills, and many
multi-family residences began to take this form.
Envelope Replacement Projects (1950s to present)
Since the mid-twentieth century, many residential and commercial buildings have become the subject of
envelope replacement projects. Remodeling the exterior of buildings is not a new phenomenon although
historically most renovation work has tended to focus primarily on re-roofing or replacement of deteriorated
materials. Buildings that were relocated during the early twentieth century often had their porches replaced,
new foundations built, and additions added to expand the useable floor area. Starting about the mid-1930s,
house renovators began to cover wood siding with asbestos shingles. Stucco re-cladding became more
popular after World War II, and decorative elements were stripped from building to create a streamlined
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appearance. Later, large retailers such as Sears
promoted aluminum siding to cover wood
siding while aluminum windows, particularly
aluminum sliders, were touted to replace
original wood windows. Vinyl siding was also
used after the late 1950s. In recent times,
envelope replacement projects continue in the
West. The most common cladding types used
today for envelope replacement projects are
stucco, stucco with foam trim, and textured
plywood. While simple over-cladding with a
modern material is often reversible, many
remodeled structures lose their historic
character permanently when new siding is combined with either window frame replacements or the removal
of trim features from the design. Mid-century Modern shopping centers are altered to become Neo-Tuscan
designs by the removal of slim awnings and the addition of Classical stucco forms. The changes in vinyl
window technology in the last 10 years, along with intensive marketing of inserts to the general public, has
resulted in a subtle but sweeping transformation of much of the historic residential resources in the region.
Architects in Saratoga
Birge Clark (1893-1989)
A Palo Alto native, Birge Clark attended Stanford where his father, Arthur B. Clark, headed the Art
Department. After acquiring an architecture degree from Columbia University, Clark entered World War I, in
which he was awarded a Silver Star. Returning from the war, Clark opened an office in Palo Alto where he
was the only architect in the city between 1922 and 1930. He designed a large number of projects in the
greater Palo Alto area (with a number of them in Saratoga) including 98 private residences and over 200 total
buildings over the five decades of his professional career. Clark is regarded as having designed virtually all of
Palo Alto’s commercial and civic buildings during the 1920’s and the 1930’s, and the overwhelming majority
of those were within the “Spanish Eclectic” or “Early California” style, with which his name is synonymous
in the area. Some of the most notable projects include the University houses on the Stanford campus (39 in
all) and the President Hotel on University Avenue. The 1929 Wright House on Peach Hill Road, listed on the
City’s Inventory, is a recognizable example of one of Clark’s designs in Saratoga.
Ralph Warren Hart (1869-1915)
The 1912 Odd Fellows Home was designed by San Francisco architect Ralph Warren Hart. Born in Illinois,
Hart did not have a lengthy career in California, having died of cancer in 1915 three years after his work on
the Odd Fellows Home in Saratoga. At the time of his death, the Odd Fellows project was mentioned as one
of his "best efforts."
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Warren Heid (1924 - )
Warren Heid was born in Alameda County and has continued a long career as an architect in Saratoga to the
present day. He received his architectural degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950. From
1950 to 1957 he worked for the San José firm of Binder and Curtis, and in early 1958, opened his own
practice in Saratoga. His work has included residential, school, churches, industrial, and commercial projects.
Major commissions in Saratoga include St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and administration buildings,
Congress Springs Elementary School, Saratoga City Hall and Council Chamber, Saratoga Community Center,
the Inn at Saratoga, Plaza del Robles Shopping Center, Saratoga Fire Station, Redwood School Gymnasium
and Science Buildings, Chapel of Lady of Fatima Rest Home, Bitter Dental Center, Azule Shopping and
Office Center, Saratoga/Cupertino Chapel and Mortuary, Saratoga Country Club, O’Neil Medical Building,
Saratoga Office Complex, as well as a number of other offices, condominiums, and residences in the city. His
work also includes an extensive list of projects in nearby Los Gatos, Cupertino, and San José. Warren Heid
has served as Chair of the Saratoga Heritage Preservation Commission, and in 1983, Saratoga’s Chamber of
Commerce honored him as “Citizen of the Year.”
Andrew Putnam Hill, Jr. (1886 – 1973) and Howard Higbie (1879 – 1958)
Andrew P. Hill, Jr., was the son of Andrew P. Hill, the renowned photographer and California landscape
painter. Andrew P. Hill, Jr. was an architect with a substantial career in California prior to embarking on a
career in education. He was trained in industrial arts education at San Jose State University and in architecture
at Stanford University. After teaching at San Jose State College from 1910 to 1917, he continued teaching
while establishing a part-time architectural practice. During this time he was commissioned to do a small
number of residential projects that are now considered distinguished works in the early interwar years
following World War I. During this time he partnered on some projects with architect Howard Higbie, who
had recently moved into the area. Although rare, architectural works by this partnership can be found
throughout the South Bay area, including the 1924 Fontaine House in Saratoga located on La Paloma
Avenue. By 1923, Hill was appointed Assistant Superintendent of the San José city schools, and over the next
27 years worked at various school superintendent jobs in California.
Howard Wetmore Higbie was born in New York. He was educated at Columbia College and practiced as an
architect in New York before moving to San José with his wife Jane in 1912. Howard Higbie collaborated
with his wife on many local projects during his career. Jane Higbie was a distinguished interior designer who
specialized in house furnishings. Howard Higbie was the architect for a number of apartment buildings in
1920-1930s that were created in the Spanish-Eclectic style, and other design work of his included residences
and public buildings. He also designed a wing of the County Hospital.
Julia Morgan (1872-1957)
Julia Morgan is California’s most famous woman architect, with over 700 building to her credit. She is best
known for her elegant work on Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California. Born in San Francisco, she graduated
from the University of California, Berkeley in 1894 with a degree in civil engineering. She also attended the
Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, being the first woman to graduate in architecture from that acclaimed school.
Returning to San Francisco, she first worked for Galen Howard who was designing the Berkeley campus at
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that time, and then opened her own office in 1904 in San Francisco. Her best known works (not
commissioned by William Randolph Hearst) include a number of YWCAs, the Mills College Bell Tower,
Asilomar Conference Grounds, and Berkeley City Club. She was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in
2008. In Saratoga, she was the designer of the 1915 Foothill Club, the 1923 Saratoga Federated Church, and a
number of large residences including the 1907 B. Grant Taylor House and the 1920 Hayfield (Goodrich
residence). She also designed Montezuma Boys School in the nearby Los Gatos foothills.
Willis Polk (1867-1924)
Willis Polk was a prolific San Francisco architect who began his career as a draftsman for his father's
construction firm in Kansas City. He later worked for the Boston firm Van Brunt and Howe and then A.
Page Brown in New York City. He took a position with Chicago architect Daniel Burnham in 1902, but
returned to San Francisco a year later and again partnered with Burnham in 1906 following the earthquake.
Polk was a versatile architect, with particular skill in combining classical styles. He was regarded for his
elegant residential work, mainly in mansions and estates in the Georgian Revival style for wealthy and
prominent Bay Area residents. In Saratoga, the 1917 Blaney House remains today as one of his more
significant residential works.
Henry Clay Smith (1874-1945)
Henry Clay Smith was born in Santa Clara and studied at the University of Pennsylvania. After working for
James Hamilton Windrim, he returned to the San Francisco Bay Area where he went into partnership with
Louis S. Stone in 1900 until 1909. Smith's later signature buildings involved the sitting of houses on hilly
terrain, and he became known as "The Hillside Architect." Smith was adept at many architectural styles; with
many Spanish, Mission and Tudor Revival, Italian Renaissance and Neo-Classicism buildings to his credit. He
was awarded the Jury Prize "for schoolhouse architecture" at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International
Exposition. In Saratoga, he is known as the designer of the 1936 Paul Masson Lodge on Pierce Road.
Eldredge Theodore Spencer (1892-1972)
Eldredge Spencer was an influential California architect who got his start in Santa Clara County. He graduated
from the University of California, Berkeley and, following his service in the Army Signal Corps during World
War I, went on to study architecture at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. In Saratoga he was commissioned
for the Village Library building, an innovative early 1920s design utilizing the then evolving technology of
hollow-care masonry blocks. He later became Chief Architect for the California's National Parks and was
responsible for designing Yosemite Lodge, and a number of buildings at Grand Teton National Park. He
returned to the Bay Area to head the first planning office at Stanford University and instituted a more
modern influence on campus design. The Spencer firm was commissioned to design Saratoga's replacement
library building on Saratoga Avenue.
Hans Sumpf (1914-1985)
Hans Sumpf was founder of Hans Sumpf Company, Inc, of Madera, manufacturer of made-to-order Mission-
clay roofing tiles. The company had a 70-year history, closing in late 2005. They perfected a durable,
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waterproof adobe brick, and created a unique ceramic milieu of sculptured wall surfaces in clay. Hans Sumpf
was born in Coalinga, California in 1914, the son of a German immigrant. He studied engineering at Stanford.
He partnered with George MacFadden and established his business in the 1930s, making bricks with an
asphalt emulsion. He executed the restoration of Mission San Juan Bautista, the Mission San José
reconstruction, and the 1935 Casa de Tesoro (Dr. Clemmer Peck Residence) in Saratoga.
William H. Weeks (1864-1936)
Williams Weeks was born in Charlottetown on Canada's Prince Edward Island and acquired his initial training
with his father, a professional builder. Whether or not Weeks had any academic or professional architectural
training is unknown. Weeks was married in Wichita, Kansas and moved to Watsonville in 1894. The majority
of his designs were commissioned for projects in Santa Cruz, Salinas, and Monterey. By 1930, Weeks had
over eighty school projects on his record, ranging in location from Santa Barbara to Red Bluff, with most
exhibiting the Spanish Colonial Revival style prevalent at the time. He further is credited with the designs of
numerous hotels in the Art Moderne and Spanish Colonial styles, most notably among them the Palomar
Hotel in Santa Cruz (1929), the De Anza Hotel in San José (1931), the Monterey Hotel in (1922), the Durant
in Berkeley (1928), and the Oxford in San Francisco. In Saratoga, he designed the 1911 George Wood House,
known as Woodleigh) House as well as others. His catalog of work compiled by the late historian Betty Lewis
also includes a 1913 commission for the Laveaga residence.
Emily Williams (1869 – 1942)
Emily Williams was San Jose’s first woman architect. She was the daughter of San Jose Water Works
president Edward Williams, starting her career as a teacher, but soon partnering with artist Lillian Palmer and
embarking on their mutual professional ambitions. Williams briefly studied at the California School of
Mechanical Arts in San Francisco and built her first house in Pacific Grove in 1904. She soon built a number
of houses in Pacific Grove and Carmel, mostly for women clients. In San José she designed what is now
known as the Arthur Free house (built for Palmer’s parents) on South Fourteenth Street that is now listed on
the National Register. In 1908, she studied classic architecture in Europe, and returning to California, she
designed an exhibition booth for the Alaska Garnet Mining and Manufacturing Company at the 1915
Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Her career continued into the mid-1920, as she designed houses in
San José and San Francisco. She also designed two houses on Farwell Avenue near Saratoga-Los Gatos Road
during this period for Jennie Farwell and Mrs. May. The Farwell Avenue houses are not listed on the Saratoga
Heritage Resources Inventory.
Frank Delos Wolfe (1863 – 1926) and Charles McKenzie (1874-1957)
The architectural firm of Wolfe & McKenzie practiced in San José from the late 1890s until about 1911.
Frank Delos Wolfe was born in Green Springs, Ohio, and came to San José with his father, builder Jeremiah
Wolfe, and family, in 1888 after working briefly for architect W. L. Ross in Newton, Kansas. First working as
a builder, he established his own architectural office in 1892. Soon working with veteran architect J.O.
McKee, he took over his office when McKee retired in 1894. Early designs by Wolfe include San Jose's Grace
Lutheran Church and the King Conservatory of Music. Charles McKenzie, who had been working for McKee
as a draftsman, became Wolfe's partner in the late 1890s, and together they are responsible for many
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significant commercial and residential buildings in Santa Clara County and elsewhere. Wolfe & McKenzie
designed a large portion of the prestigious houses in the Naglee Park, Palm Haven, and Shasta-Hanchett
residential neighborhoods in San José. In 1907, they published their 102 Designs from Wolfe & McKenzie, a
pattern book that defined local residential architecture during the early years of the twentieth century. By
1911 the firm had split, Wolfe later partnering with his son Carl Wolfe, and then later Ernest Higgins.
McKenzie continued to practice architecture until the beginning of World War II.
Saratoga has a number of buildings listed on their Heritage Resources Inventory designed by Wolfe and/or
Higgins during the early part of the twentieth century. They include the 1905 Fair Oaks, the 1906 Hanchett
House, the 1907 Lundblad’s Lodge, built for a Mrs. Tabor, 1909 Kerr House, the 1909 Miller House, the
1913 Saratoga Bank Building, and the 1914 Carmichael House. In 1911, Frank Wolfe also designed the
nearby Fremont Older House located within Mid-Peninsula’s Fremont Older Open Space Preserve.
Ralph Wyckoff (1884-1956)
Ralph Wyckoff was a native of Watsonville and practiced architecture in San Francisco, Berkeley, Salinas and
Watsonville before moving to San José in 1922. He originally had trained under notable California architect
William H. Weeks and received his certificate in architecture in 1914 after studying at the Ecole des Beaux
Arts in Paris, where he attended on scholarship. Taking over the practice of H. B. Douglas in Watsonville, he
then joined with Hugh White in Salinas from 1919 to 1921. During this period he designed the Tudor styled
Watsonville Woman’s Club of 1917, the Salinas High School in 1920, and a number of buildings at Hartnell
Junior College. Moving to San José, he continued his association with White until 1925. The most significant
design in San José remains the North First Street Post Office building, a 1933 Spanish Eclectic design for
WPA, currently listed on the National Register. During this period he designed the San Jose State Science
Building (currently Washington Square Hall), Willow Glen Grammar School, and later the Anne Darling
School in San José, and the Washington School in Santa Clara. He was an early modernist, designing the late
Art Deco San Jose National Bank on West Santa Clara Street in the early 1940s. In the 1950s, his designs
included modern structures such the Levi Straus plant on Terraine Street and buildings at San José State
College such Wahlquist Library and the Speech and Drama Building. In Saratoga, he designed the Saratoga
Grammar School in the early 1920s.
Other local and South Bay area architects
Since the beginnings of the Early American period, Santa Clara Valley has been the home to a number of
prominent architects. Levi Goodrich, the architect of the 1866 Santa Clara County Courthouse is the earliest
to design distinguished buildings in the area, his career starting in the early 1850s and extending into the
1880s. In Saratoga, few nineteenth century architects have been identified. The area remained largely rural
during the nineteenth century, and architect-designed buildings remaining from this period are rare. A
number of substantial buildings were constructed in Saratoga Village for churches and schools, but most of
these buildings have long been gone.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, as Saratoga became known as a City of Homes, the many architects
previously mentioned executed substantial works in Saratoga and vicinity. Others not mentioned, who were
practicing in Santa Clara Valley, and who may have designed buildings in Saratoga during the first half of the
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twentieth century, include William Binder (also known as Binder & Curtis), T. H. Krause, William Higgins (of
Wolfe & Higgins), William Klinkert, Edward W. Kress, Chester Root (of Higgins & Root), C.J. Ryland, and
Warren P. Skillings.
Following World War II, the explosive growth in Santa Clara County brought many new architects into
business in the area. Many regionally important architects such as William Wurster designed houses in the
Saratoga area. Within the emerging subdivision, many custom-designed buildings were constructed lot-by-lot
as developers provided build-to-suite parcels, and other “modern” subdivisions came from the studios of
such firms as Ashen and Allen. In the foothills, many large homes were architect-designed, following the
tradition initiated by James Duval Phelan, Paul Masson, and others. Architect Warren Heid remains the most
prolific of this period, with a large catalog of buildings within the full range of commercial, institutional and
residential building types.
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PLANNING AND REGULATIONS
Determining Historical and Architectural Significance
Historical research is conducted by investigating primary and secondary sources of information. Just as a diary
or a historic map can serve as a primary source to understand a more specific instance of history and a history
book serves as a secondary source for analysis of a larger area, theme, or an era, buildings can also be studied
to provide primary historical information. They can illustrate the lifestyle, tools, materials, priorities, economic
situations, and values of people from the past.
Historical significance is identified when a building illustrates a story of the events or patterns important to a
community. Buildings, structures and site can be significant for their rarity, utility, beauty, associations, or an
ability to convey other important associations as historic resources. Although significance can relate to larger
community themes, architectural significance is identified when a building distinctly represents a particular
style, building type or historic material, and, therefore, illustrates through its appearance alone the artistic and
practical values of the community.
Architecturally significant buildings and structures represent excellent composition, proportions, detailing,
and materials, and often are a reflection of their original designers’ body of work. Vernacular buildings,
meanwhile, can be found important for their representation of commonly accepted approaches to design and
shelter, even without ornate detailing. Although some vernacular buildings aspire to a specific style by
including limited characteristic design elements, such as scroll -cut corbels on an otherwise stylistically simple
wood porch, other vernacular buildings can be associated with specific periods solely from their materials and
forms. The architectural significance of most buildings is thus related to individual examples and overall
patterns of urban design. Key architectural features that affect the overall urban design of a neighborhood
include front yard setbacks, continuity of materials, and building massing, scale, and size. In some
neighborhoods, certain building styles or types predominate, and the structures that demonstrate those
patterns are significant for their contributions to the overall character of their surroundings.
Saratoga maintains a wide representation of architecture from the period after World War II, but the
significance of most of this late twentieth-century building stock has yet to be established. The mid-century
buildings have only recently reached fifty years old, the commonly accepted age for buildings to be evaluated
for historical significance, and many of the city’s post-World-War-II housing and commercial buildings are
more recent than that. The very nature of construction after 1945 has been fast and extensive, so much of
what was built is not individually distinctive within the modern era. More time must pass before the
community can ascertain the significant character-defining resources from the recent past, and how groupings
of buildings that came together over short periods of time within subdivisions have inherent positive inter-
relationships between properties that are affected by radical alterations to the characteristics associated with
the early periods.
Historic resources may be designated or listed at the federal, state or local level. As a part of the planning
process of agencies such as Saratoga, properties are also determined eligible for listing (or not) for any or all
of the above noted registers. A resource must meet the established criteria for significance of the specific
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register being considered, and retain enough historic integrity to convey that significance. Following are the
criteria for listing as a Saratoga Heritage Landmark, for the California Register of Historical Resources, and
for the National Register of Historic Places.
Saratoga Heritage Landmarks
It is the public policy of the City of Saratoga that “recognition, preservation, enhancement and use of heritage
resources is required in the interest of the health, economic prosperity, cultural enrichment and general
welfare of the people.” This policy is enacted within Chapter 13 of the Municipal Code. The purpose of the
Heritage Preservation ordinance is to:
a) Safeguard the heritage of the City by providing for the protection of irreplaceable heritage resources
representing significant elements of its history;
b) Enhance the visual character of the City by encouraging and regulating the compatibility of architectural
styles within historic areas which reflect established architectural traditions;
c) Encourage public knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the City's past, and foster civic and
neighborhood pride and sense of identity based upon the recognition and use of the City's heritage
resources;
d) Stabilize and improve property values within the City and increase the economic and financial benefits to
the City and its inhabitants derived from the preservation, rehabilitation, and use of heritage resources;
and
e) Integrate the conservation of heritage resources into the public and private development process and
identify as early as possible and resolve conflicts between the preservation of such resources and
alternative land uses.
Heritage Resources are designated in Saratoga by the City Council following recommendation from the
Heritage Preservation Commission. The designation may be for a historic landmark, heritage lane or historic
district if it satisfies any two or more of the adopted criteria, and also retains a substantial degree of
architectural and structural integrity with respect to the original design, as determined by the Heritage
Preservation Commission:
a) The property exemplifies or reflects special elements of the cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic,
engineering or architectural history of the City, the County, the State or the nation; or
b) The property is identified with persons or events significant in local, county, state or national history; or
c) The property embodies distinctive characteristics of a style, type, period or method of construction, or is
a valuable example of the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship; or
d) The property is representative of the notable design or craft of a builder, designer, or architect; or
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e) The property embodies or contributes to unique physical characteristics representing an established and
familiar visual feature of a neighborhood or district within the City; or
f) The property represents a significant concentration or continuity of site, buildings, structures or objects,
unified by past events or aesthetically by plan or physical or natural development; or
g) The property embodies or contributes to a unique natural setting or environment constituting a distinct
area or district within the City having special character or special historical, architectural or aesthetic
interest or value.
Applications for designations may be initiated by related property owners, the Heritage Preservation
Commission as well as the Planning Commission and City Council, or for heritage lanes or districts, at least
sixty percent of the street frontage or area. Designations are not permitted if the property owner(s) of the
affected property (or in the case of lanes or districts at least 41%), object to the designation. Once designated,
the owners may request termination of the designation, but the City Council must make findings that the
designation is no longer consistent with the purposes and objectives of the Heritage Preservation Ordinance,
and no longer satisfies any of the adopted criteria. Owners of properties designated have a duty to keep the
heritage landmark in good repair to prevent deterioration and decay of any exterior architectural or natural
feature.
California Register of Historical Resources
The significance criteria for the California Register of Historical Resources are similar to those used for
determining eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places (see Section 4.3), but oriented to document
the unique history of California. The California Register includes properties listed in or formally declared
eligible for the National Register, California State Landmarks above #770, certain Points of Historical
Interest, and properties listed by application and acceptance by the California Historical Resources
Commission. The California Register is a guide used by state and local agencies, private groups and citizens to
identify historical resources throughout the state. The types of historical resources eligible for listing in the
California Register include buildings, sites, structures, objects and historical districts. [California Code of
Regulations Section 4852(a)]
Under California Code of Regulation Section 4852(b) and Public Resources Code Section 5024.1, an
historical resource generally must be greater than 50 years old and must be significant at the local, state, or
national level under one or more of the following four criteria:
1. It is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of local or
regional history, or the cultural heritage of California or the United States.
2. It is associated with the lives of persons important to local, California, or national history.
3. It embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, region, or method of construction, or
represents the work of a master or important creative individual, or possesses high artistic values.
4. It has yielded, or has the potential to yield, information important to the prehistory or history of the
local area, California, or the nation.
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If nominated for listing in accordance with the procedures outlined in Public Resources Code Section
5024.1(f), the California Register may include:
(1) Individual historical resources.
(2) Historical resources contributing to the significance of an historic district under criteria adopted
by the Commission.
(3) Historical resources identified as significant in historical resources surveys, if the survey meets
the criteria in Public Resources Code Section 5024.1(g).
(4) Historical resources and historic districts designated or listed as city or county landmarks or
historic properties or districts pursuant to any city or county ordinance, if the criteria for
designation or listing under the ordinance have been determined by the State Historic Resources
Officer to be consistent with California Register criteria adopted by the Commission.
(5) Local landmarks or historic properties designated under any municipal or county ordinance.
California Code of Regulations Section 4852(c) addresses the issue of “integrity” which is necessary for
eligibility for the California Register. Integrity is defined as “the authenticity of an historical resource’s
physical identity evidenced by the survival of characteristics that existed during the resource’s period of
significance.” Section 4852(c) provides that historical resources eligible for listing in the California Register
must meet one of the criteria for significance defined by 4852(b)(1 through 4), and retain enough of their
historic character of appearance to be recognizable as historical resources and to convey the reasons for their
significance. Integrity is evaluated with regard to the retention of location, design, setting, materials,
workmanship, feeling, and association. It must also be judged with reference to the particular criteria under
which a resource is proposed for eligibility. Alterations over time to a resource or historic changes in its use
may themselves have historical, cultural, or architectural significance.
It is possible that historical resources may not retain sufficient integrity to meet the criteria for listing in the
National Register, but they may still be eligible for listing in the California Register. A resource that has lost its
historic character or appearance may still have sufficient integrity for the California Register if it maintains the
potential to yield significant scientific or historical information or specific data.
National Register of Historic Places
The National Park Service considers the quality of significance in American history, architecture, archeology,
engineering, and culture that is present in districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that possess
integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, and are evaluated for
the National Register according to the following criteria:
Criterion A that are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad
patterns of our history; or
Criterion B that are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or
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Criterion C that embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or
that represents the work of a master, or that possesses high artistic values, or that represents
a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or
Criterion D that have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.
Properties that are listed on or formally determined eligible for the National Register are automatically listed
on the California Register.
Eligible resources must also retain sufficient integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship,
feeling, and association to convey the relevant historic significance.
In general, cemeteries, birthplaces, or graves of historical figures; properties owned by religious institutions or
used for religious purposes; structures that were moved from their original locations; reconstructed historic
buildings; properties primarily commemorative in nature; and properties that have achieved significance
within the past fifty years are considered ineligible for listing in the National Register. However, such
properties will qualify if they are integral parts of districts that do meet the criteria of if they fall within the
following categories:
(a) A religious property deriving primary significance from architectural or artistic distinction or historical
importance; or
(b) A building or structure removed from its original location but which is significant primarily for
architectural value, or which is the surviving structure most importantly associated with a historic person or
event; or
(c) A birthplace or grave of a historical figure of outstanding importance if there is no appropriate site or
building directly associated with that person’s productive life; or
(d) A cemetery which derives its primary significance from graves of persons of transcendent importance,
from age, from distinctive design features, or from association with historic events; or
(e) A reconstructed building when accurately executed in a suitable environment and presented in a dignified
manner as part of a restoration master plan, and when no other building or structure with the same
association has survived; or
(f) A property primarily commemorative in intent if design, age, tradition, or symbolic value has invested it
with its own exceptional significance; or
(g) A property achieving significance within the past 50 years if it is of exceptional importance.
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Historic Integrity
The seven aspects of historic integrity are defined in National Register Bulletin 15: How to Apply the National
Register Criteria for Evaluation . Historic integrity is “the ability of a property to convey its significance,” and
historic properties either retain their integrity or they do not. To retain integrity, a resource must retain several
and usually most of the seven aspects of integrity:
1. Location: the place where the historic property was constructed or the place where the historic event
occurred.
2. Design: the combination of elements that create the form, plan, space, structure, and style of a property.
3. Setting: the physical environment of a historic property.
4. Materials: the physical elements that were combined or deposited during a particular period of time and in
a particular pattern or configuration to form a historic property.
5. Workmanship : the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture or people during any given period in
history or prehistory.
6. Feeling: a property’s expression of the aesthetic or historic sense of a particular period of time.
7. Association: the direct link between an important historic event or person and a historic property.
The evaluation of historic properties must be grounded in an understanding of the physical features of the
resource, and how they relate to historical significance. National Register Bulletin 15 notes that the evaluation for
integrity can begin only after the evaluator understands the property’s significance: why the resource is
significant, when the resource is significant, and where it is important. A resource need not be “frozen in time”
to retain its historic integrity. Properties evolve over time, and those changes themselves may have acquired
historic significance. But the resource must still have the essential physical attributes that identify it as the
historic property.
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SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Maps and Aerials
Brainard, H.A., Maps of Santa Clara County, 1886-1888 . (online at www.sjlibrary.org)
Herrmann Bros. Official Map of the County of Santa Clara, 1890. (County Administration Building wallmap)
McMillan, J. G. Official Map of Santa Clara County, 1903. (California Room / SJPL)
McMillan, J. G. Official Map of Santa Clara County, 1914. (California Room-SJPL, & County Survey’s Office)
McMillan and McMillan. Official Map of Santa Clara County, 1929. (California Room-SJPL)
Quito Rancho, filed in the County Recorder’s Office Book A of Patents: Page 112.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, Saratoga 1918, 1930, and 1945. (microfilm reel #66 at the Cupertino County
Library, partial 1930 at History San José)
Santa Clara County;
County Archives, 1939, 1940, 1950, 1956, 1960, 1961, 1963, and 1965 aerials (various original sources)
Office of the Recorder, recorded maps (microfiche also at County Planning Office)
County Transportation Department, 1955-1958 aerials (originals at County Archives)
Santa Clara County School District Maps, c1940s and c1950s. (Santa Clara County Archives and the Santa
Clara County Surveyor.
United States Geological Survey, Menlo Park.
Ben Lomond 15-minute Quadrangle. 1942, 1943, 1947, 1948.
Castle Rock Ridge 7.5 minute Quadrangle. 1955, 1968, 1991, 1997.
Cupertino 7.5 minute Quadrangle, 1953, 1961, 1968, 1973, 1980, 1991.
Los Gatos 7.5 minute Quadrangle, 1953, 1955, 1968, 1973, 1980.
Los Gatos 15 minute Quadrangle, 1919, 1943, 1947.
Palo Alto 15 minute Quadrangle, 1899, 1940, 1943, 1947, 1948, 1961.
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Other Primary Records
Polk, R.L. and Co. Directories for the City of San José [and other Santa Clara County towns], 1870–1979.
Santa Clara County, Great register of Voters, 1867–1904.
Santa Clara County Planning Office, building permits, 1947 – 1956.
Santa Clara County, Great Register of Voters, 1890.
Santa Clara County, Office of the Recorder; deeds, maps, and official records.
United States Population Census for Santa Clara County, 1852 –1930.
Published and Secondary Sources
Ansnes, Elizabeth, Saratoga’s Heritage: a Survey of Historic Resources. Saratoga: Saratoga Heritage Preservation
Commission, 1993.
Arbuckle, Clyde, Santa Clara County Ranchos. San José: Rosicrucian Press, 1968.
Balzer, Robert L., This Uncommon Heritage: The Paul Masson Story. Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1970.
Bennett, Marti, ed., Images of Long Ago: a Century of People, Places and progress in the town of Los Gatos and the Cities of
Saratoga and Monte Sereno. Los Gatos: self published by Marben Associates, 1987.
Bennett, Marti, ed., Scouting in the Santa Clara Valley, the Seventy Year Adventure, 1920 – 1990. San José: Santa
Clara County Council, 1990.
Board of Trade, Santa Clara County, California. San Francisco: W. B. Bancroft & Company, 1887 [republished
in 1980 by San José Historical Museum Association].
Boutelle, Sarah, Julia Morgan, Architect. New York: Abbeville Press, 1995.
Broek, Dr. J. O. M., The Santa Clara Valley, California: A Study in Landscape Changes. Utrecht: N. V. A.
Oosthoek's Uitgevers-Mij, 1932.
Brown, Kendall, Japanese-style gardens of the Pacific West Coast. New York: Rizzoli, 1999.
Butler, Phylis F., The Valley of Santa Clara, Historic Buildings, 1792-1920. San José: Junior League of San Jose,
Inc., 1975.
California History Center, Historias: The Spanish Heritage of Santa Clara Valley. Cupertino: California History
Center, 1976.
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Carroll, Mary Bowden, Ten Years in Paradise. San José: Press of Popp & Hogan, 1903.
Cerny, Susan D., An Architectural Guidebook to San Francisco and the Bay Area. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith
Publisher, 2007.
Clarke, Henry, Saratoga Village. Unpublished manuscript in the files of the Saratoga Museum. 2002?
Cowen, Robert G., Ranchos of California, a list of Spanish Concessions 1775-1822 and Mexican Grants
1822-1846. Fresno: Academy Library Guild, 1956.
Cunningham, Charles, The History of the Saratoga Federated Church. Saratoga: Saratoga Federated Church, 1963.
Cunningham, Florence, Saratoga's First Hundred Years. Fresno, Cal.: Panorama West Publishing, 1967.
Damskey, C., comp., History of Saratoga. A Local History Study, including Readings, Field Trip, Historical Walking
Tour. Saratoga: Saratoga Union School District, 1973.
Douglas, Jack, Historical Footnotes of Santa Clara Valley. San José: San José Historical Museum Association,
1993.
Douglas, Jack, Historical Highlights of Santa Clara Valley. San José: History San José, 2005.
Foote, Horace S., Pen Pictures from the “Garden of the World.” Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company.
1888.
Fox, Francis, Hakone Gardens: a Charming Bit of Nippon is authentically portrayed in quaint Saratoga City
Park. San José: Harlan-Young Press, 1968.
Fox, Theron, Ed., After Harper’s Ferry: John Brown’s Widow – Her Family and the Saratoga Years.
Saratoga: Saratoga Historical Foundation, 1964.
Garrod, Emma S., One Life, Mine. Saratoga: self published, n.d.
Garrod, R.V., Saratoga Story. Saratoga, Cal.; Self published, 1962.
Guinn, G. M., History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the Coast Counties. Chicago: The Chapman
Publishing Company, 1904.
Halberstadt, April, Saratoga Fire; A Century of Volunteer Fire Fighting in Saratoga, California. Saratoga: Saratoga
Historical Foundation, 2008.
Halberstadt, April and Katie Alexander, Saratoga. Charleston: Arcadia Publisher, 2009.
Holmes, N. W., Prune County Railroading: Steel Trails to San José. Huntington Beach: Shade Tree Books, 1985.
Hoover, Rensch, and Rensch, Historic Spots in California. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1937.
Hruby, D., Mines to Medicine. San José: O’Connor Hospital, 1965.
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Hunt, Rockwell D., History of the College of the Pacific. Stockton: The College of the Pacific, 1951.
Ishihara, Tanso and Gloria Wickham, Hakone Garden. Koto: Kawara Shoten, 1974.
Jackson, David W., Direct Your Letters to San Jose: The gold Rush Letters and Diary of James and David Lee Campbell,
1849-1852. Kansas City MO: The Orderly Pack Rat, 2000.
Jacobson, Yvonne, Passing Farms: Enduring Values. Los Altos: William Kaufmann, Inc. 1984.
Jenkins, Bradley C. Madronia Cemetery Tombstone Inscriptions, Saratoga, Santa Clara County, California.
Monte Sereno, 1982.
Kaucher, Dorothy, James Duval Phelan, A Portrait 1861 – 1930. Saratoga: The Montalvo Association, 1965.
Kirker, Harold, California’s Architectural Frontier: Style and Tradition in the Nineteenth Century. Layton, UT: Gibbs
M. Smith, 1986.
Laffey, Glory Anne & Robert Detlefs, County Leadership: Santa Clara County Government History. The Santa Clara
County Historic Heritage Commission, 1995.
Levy, Robert J., Windmills – Water Towers & Tank Houses of Santa Clara County. Cupertino: Bob and Louise
Levy, 1996.
Libby, Jean et al, John Brown’s family in California: a Journey by Funeral Train, covered wagon, through archives, to the
Valley of Heart’s Delight…Palo Alto: Allies for Freedom, 2006.
Loofbourow, Leon L., In Search of God’s Gold: A Stor of Continued Christian Pioneering in California. Stockton,
Historical Society of the California-Nevada Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, 1950.
Loomis, Patricia, Signposts. San José: San José Historical Museum Association, 1982.
Loomis, Patricia, Signposts II. San José: San José Historical Museum Association, 1985.
Lukes, T., and G. Okihiro, Japanese Legacy: Farming and Community Life in California’s Santa Clara Valley.
Cupertino: California History Center, 1985.
MacGregor, B. A., South Pacific Coast: An illustrated History of the Narrow Gauge South Pacific Coast Railroad.
Berkeley: Howell-North Books, 1968.
Mars, A., Reminiscences of Santa Clara Valley and San José. San Francisco: Mysell-Rollins, 1901 [San José: Smith
and McKay Print Company Co., reprinted 1976].
McAlester, V., and L. McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986.
McArthur, Seonaid (ed.), Water in the Santa Clara Valley: A History. Cupertino: California History Center, 1981.
McCaleb, Charles S., Tracks, Tires and Wires: Public Transportation in California’s Santa Clara Valley. Glendale, CA:
Interurban Press, 1981.
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McGinnis, Maxine, The Story of Wonderful Women and Their Redwood Meeting House 1907-2007. Saratoga: The
Saratoga Foothill Club, 2006.
Mikesell, S. D., Historic Highway Bridges of California. Sacramento: California Department of Transportation,
c1990.
Millar, Sara Powell., History of St. Luke’s of Los Gatos 1882-1982. Los Gatos: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 1982.
Munro-Fraser, J. P., History of Santa Clara County, California. San Francisco: Alley, Bowen and Co., 1881.
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2008].
Peck, Willys I., A History of Saratoga’s Libraries. Saratoga: Friends of the Saratoga Libraries, 2001.
Peck, Willys I., Saratoga Stereopticon, A Magic Lantern of Memory. Cupertino: California History Center
Foundation, 1998.
Peck, Willy I., The How and the “Y” of it: 125 years of the YMCA in Santa Clara Valley. San José, YMCA, 1992.
Perez, C. N., Land Grants in Alta California. Rancho Cordova: Landmark Enterprises, 1996.
Quackenbush, Margery, Ed., County Chronicles. Cupertino: California History Center, 1972? [see Saratoga
History essay by Mary Jane Hoffecker].
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Regnery, Dorothy F., An Enduring Heritage: History Buildings of the San Francisco Peninsula. Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 1976.
Rice, Bertha M., Builders of Our Valley, A City of Small Farms, Volume I. San José: Bertha Marguerite Rice, 1957.
San José Mercury. Santa Clara County and Its Resources, Historical, Descriptive, Statistical [Sunshine, Fruit and
Flowers]. San José: The San José Mercury Publishing and Printing Co., 1896 [San José: San José
Historical Museum Association, reprinted 1986].
Heritage Resources Inventory 65
City of Saratoga
Prepared by ARCHIVES & ARCHITECTURE, LLC
Salameda, Joe, Italiana of Silicon Valley. Los Altos: self published, 1984.
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Heritage Resources Inventory 66
City of Saratoga
Prepared by ARCHIVES & ARCHITECTURE, LLC
Governmental Guidelines and Standards
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Governmental Surveys and Inventories
California Department of Parks and Recreation ,Office of Historic Preservation California Points of Historical
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Santa Clara County Historical Heritage Commission, 1975.
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Santa Clara County Historical Heritage Commission, 1979.
Santa Clara County Historical Heritage Commission. Santa Clara County Heritage Resource Inventory. San José:
Santa Clara County Historical Heritage Commission, 1999.
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Heritage Resources Inventory 67
City of Saratoga
Prepared by ARCHIVES & ARCHITECTURE, LLC
APPENDIX
City of Saratoga HERITAGE RESOURCES INVENTORY (Updated: 6/88, 11/90, 7/91, 4/93, 4/98, 5/99, 3/00, 12/09)
Original # HPC Resolution/
CC Ordinance
Address
Historic or Common Name Architectural Style Criteria
1 1 HP‐88‐01 13361 Argonne Dr.Johnson‐Kerr House (c. 1900)Craftsman a,c
2 2 HP‐88‐01 20021 Bella Vista Rancho Bella Vista ( 1917)Italian Villa a,b,c,d
3 3 HP‐88‐01 14413‐14415 Big Basin
Way
Kerr Building/Hogg Building (1910)False‐front a,b,e
4* 4 HP‐88‐01 HP‐18
14421 Big Basin Wy.Saratoga Bank Building (1913)Classic Revival a,c,e
5 5 HP‐88‐01 14495 Big Basin Wy.Hutchinson Building (1884)Pioneer a,e
6 6 HP‐88‐01 14501‐14503 Big Basin
Way
Cloud‐Smith Building (1884, 1896)Decorative Pioneer/
Neo Classical
a,b,e
7 7 HP‐88‐01 14510‐14540 Big Basin
Way
J.E. Foster House (c. 1882)Pioneer Cottage a,e
8 8 HP‐88‐01 14519 Big Basin Wy.Green Store Building (c. 1890)False‐front Pioneer a,e
9 9 HP‐88‐01 14521 Big Basin Wy.Grover House (c. 1895)Pioneer Cottage a,e
10 10 HP‐88‐01 14605 Big Basin Wy.Pettis Livery (c. 1898)Pioneer a,c,e
11 11 HP‐88‐01 14605 Big Basin Wy.Erwin T. King House (c. 1875)Colonial/Salt Box a,b,c,e
12 12 HP‐88‐01 14630 Big Basin Wy.
John Henry House (1869)Pioneer Cottage a,b,e
13 13 HP‐88‐01 14669 Big Basin Wy.
Fabretti House (1881)Pioneer Cottage a,e
14 14 HP‐88‐01 20900 Big Basin Wy.
Maclay Cottage (c. 1890)Queen Anne a,c
15 15 HP‐88‐01 21000 Big Basin Wy.
Hakone Gardens (1917‐1918)Japanese a,c,d,e,g
16 16 HP‐88‐01 20150 Bonnie Brae James Richards House (c. 1910)Craftsman Bungalow
a,b,c
17 17 HP‐88‐01 20601 Brookwood Lane
F.B. Willard House (1916)California Craftsman a,c
18 18 HP‐88‐01 20611 Brookwood Lane
Henry Jarboe House (1858)Pioneer a
19 HP‐99‐01 19050 Camino Barco Colonel Barco Residence (1925)Pioneer Farmhouse
c, e
20* HP‐98‐01 14288 Chester Avenue
(formerly 19101 Via
Tesoro Court)
El Tesoro ‐Dr. Clemmer Peck
Residence (1935 & 1967)
Adobe b,c,e
21 20 HP‐88‐01 19161 Cox Avenue Joseph Cox House (1915)Craftsman a,b,c
22 21 HP‐88‐01 14445 Donna Lane Webster‐Sutro House (1916)Dutch Colonial a,c
23* 24 HP‐88‐01 HP‐3
Fruitvale/Saratoga Ave.Central Park Orchard
n/a a,g
24 26 HP‐88‐01 14251 Fruitvale Ave.Novakovich Ranch (c. 1890)
Queen Anne a,c,g
25 27 HP‐88‐01 14500 Fruitvale Ave.Odd Fellows Home
(1912)
Mission Revival a,b,c,d
26 28 HP‐88‐01 14711 Fruitvale Ave.Ellis House (1885)Folk Victorian a,e
27 HP‐91‐01 14901 Fruitvale Ave.Sunshine Williams (pre 1900)Pioneer Cottage a,b
28 29 HP‐88‐01 15095 Fruitvale Ave.Fair Oaks (1905)Prairie/Classic Revival
a,b,c
29 30 HP‐88‐01 19490 Glen Una Dr.Carter House (1925)Spanish Colonial a,c
Original # HPC Resolution/
CC Ordinance
Address
Historic or Common Name Architectural Style Criteria
30 HP‐99‐02 20201 Hill Avenue Frederick Wessels Residence
(1926)
1920’s Eclectic c,e
31 31 HP‐88‐01 20252 Hill Avenue La Mirada ‐Hale Estate (1930)Mediterranean a,b
32 32 HP‐88‐01 18888 Hayfield Ct.
Hayfield House & Caretaker
Cottage (1920‐1921)
English Country a,c,d
33 HP‐91‐01 20250 La Paloma Av.Fontaine or Heid Residence (1924)
Tudor/Normandy b,e
34 HP‐97‐02 20271 La Paloma Av.
Un‐named (1916)Craftsman c,d
35 33 HP‐88‐01 HP‐16
20600 Lomita Avenue Hannah McCarty House
(c. 1890)
Pioneer/Greek Revival
a,b,c
36 HP‐91‐01 Madrone Hill RoadMadrone Hill ‐Scannavino
Residence
Mediterranean Gardens
c,g
37 HP‐91‐01 20570 Marion Road Stamper House (1892)Pioneer Cottage a,c
38 34 HP‐88‐01 20731 Marion Road Pollard House (c. 1892)Queen Anne a,b
39 HP‐91‐01 18500 Marshall Lane Bellicitti Ranch (c. 1870)Pioneer a,c,e,f,g
40 35 HP‐88‐01 20271 Merrick Drive Rev. Pollard Ranch House
(c. 1880)
Pioneer a,b
41* 36 HP‐88‐01
HP‐2
15400 Montalvo Road Villa Montalvo (1912)Italian Villa a,b,c,d
42* 37 HP‐88‐01
HP‐23
14475 Oak Place Almond Hill (1910‐1912)Shingle Craftsman a,b
43* 38 HP‐88‐01
HP‐9
14410 Oak Street Village Library (1927)Mission Revival a,b,c
44* 39 HP‐88‐01
HP‐12
14488 Oak Street Saratoga Volunteer Fire Bell (1903)n/a a,b
45 HP‐91‐01 14524 Oak Street Hanchett House (c. 1886)Pioneer Cottage c,e
46 40 HP‐88‐01 14534 Oak Street Lundblad’s Lodge (1905)Craftsman Shingle a,c,e
47 41 HP‐88‐01 14592 Oak Street Saratoga Grammar School
(1923‐1924)
Spanish Colonial
Revivial
a,e,f
48 42 HP‐88‐01 14666 Oak Street Congregational Church Parsonage
(c. 1886)
Pioneer/Greek Revival
a,b
49* 43 HP‐88‐01
HP‐5
14672 Oak Street William King House (c. 1877)Pioneer/Colonial
Revival
a,b
50* 44 HP‐88‐01
HP‐13
14683 Oak Street Missionary Settlement House
(c.1897)
Queen Anne a,b,c,e
51 45 HP‐88‐01 14690 Oak Street Van Arsdale House (c. 1900)Queen Anne a,c
52 HP‐91‐01 14701 Oak Street Hainich Residence (c. 1900)Pioneer Cottage e,g
53 HP‐91‐01 14739 Oak Street Hayes House (c. 1906)Pioneer Cottage e,g
54 46 HP‐88‐01 14766 Oak Street Madronia Cemetery (c. 1850)n/a a,b,g
55 47 HP‐88‐01 20390 Park Place Saratoga Federated Church (1923
w/add)
Mission Revival a,b,c,d,e
56* 48 HP‐88‐01
HP‐1
20399 Park Place Saratoga Foothill Club (1915‐1916)
Bay Region/Craftsman
a,b,c,d,e
Original # HPC Resolution/
CC Ordinance
Address
Historic or Common Name Architectural Style Criteria
57 49 HP‐88‐01 15320 Peach Hill Road
Carey House (1929)Monterey Colonial a,c,d
58 50 HP‐88‐01 14754 Pierce Road Paul Masson Lodge (1936)French Chateau a,b,c
59 HP‐91‐01 13089 Quito Road Mitchell Residence (1909)Craftsman a,c,f,g
60 HP‐91‐01 13939 Quito Road Brandenburg House (1890)Colonial Revival a,c
61* 51 HP‐88‐01
HP‐14
15231 Quito Road Casa Tierra (1941‐1943)Southwest a,b,c
62* 53 HP‐88‐01
HP‐15
18490 Ravenwood Dr.
Brandenburg House (1888)Decorative Pioneer a,c
63 HP‐19 Saratoga Avenue
(Fruitvale to Hwy. 9)
Heritage Lane n/a a,e,f,g
64 54 HP‐88‐01 13631 Saratoga Ave.Rawdon Dell Ranch (1916)California Bungalow a,c
65 HP‐91‐01 13741 Saratoga Ave.Rowen House (c. 1903)Craftsman c,e,f
66 HP‐91‐01 13855 Saratoga Ave.Lanphear House (c. 1910)Craftsman c,e
67 55 HP‐88‐01 13915 Saratoga Ave.McGrew‐Atkinson House (1880)
Pioneer a,c
68 HP‐91‐01 13935 Saratoga Ave.Great Lakes Nursery (c. 1904)Bungalow a,e
69 56 HP‐88‐01 13991 Saratoga Ave.Meason House (c. 1880’s)Pioneer a,c
70* HP‐91‐01
HP‐20
14065 Saratoga Ave.Florence Cunningham Residence
(c.1930)
Craftsman Bungalow
b,c,e
71 57 HP‐88‐01 14075 Saratoga Ave.E.M. Cunningham House (1882)Decorative Pioneer a,b,c,e
72 59 HP‐88‐01 14189 Saratoga Ave.Thomy House (c. 1870)Pioneer a,c
73 HP‐91‐01 14199 Saratoga Ave.Four Pines (c. 1890)Pioneer Bungalow c,e
74 60 HP‐88‐01 14275 Saratoga Ave.Higinbotham House (1920)California Craftsman a,c
75 61 HP‐88‐01 14280 Saratoga Ave.Luther Cunningham Stone House
(1924‐1926)
Period Revival a,b,c,e
76 62 HP‐88‐01 14300 Saratoga Ave.Francis Dresser House (1870)Neoclassic a,c
77 HP‐91‐01 21060 Saratoga Hills Bonney‐Abernathy House
(c. 1913‐1920)
Craftsman a,c
78 63 HP‐88‐01 Saratoga‐Los Gatos Rd./
Saratoga Ave.
Memorial Arch and Landmark
Plaque (1919)
Spanish Colonial Revival
a,b,c,d,e
79 HP‐91‐01 19220 Saratoga‐Los
Gatos Road
Spinaza Ranch (c. 1890)Craftsman Shingle c,f
80 64 HP‐88‐01 19221 Saratoga‐Los
Gatos Road
Tibbett House (1910)Craftsman Bungalow a,c
81 HP‐91‐01 20280 Saratoga‐Los
Gatos Road
Seven Oaks (c. 1920)Mediterranean
w/Craftsman details
c,e
82* 65 HP‐88‐01
HP‐17
20330 Saratoga‐Los
Gatos Road
The Deodars (1912)Mediterranean Villa a,c
83 66 HP‐88‐01 20360 Saratoga‐Los
Gatos Road
Bellgrove (1904)Spanish Colonial a,c
84 67 HP‐88‐01 20375 Saratoga‐Los
Gatos Road
Woodleigh (1911)Greek Revival a,c,e
Original # HPC Resolution/
CC Ordinance
Address
Historic or Common Name Architectural Style Criteria
85 68 HP‐88‐01 20400 Saratoga‐Los
Gatos Road
T.S. Montgomery Stone Wall (c.
1913)
n/a a,b,d
86* 69 HP‐88‐01
HP‐7
20450 Saratoga‐Los
Gatos Road
Saratoga Historical Museum
(c. 1904‐1905)
False‐front Pioneer a,c,e
87* 70 HP‐88‐01
HP‐10
20460 Saratoga‐Los
Gatos Road
McWlliams House (1850’s)Pioneer Cottage a,c,e
88 71 HP‐88‐01 20490 Saratoga‐Los
Gatos Road
Methodist‐Episcopal Church (1896)Pioneer a,b,e
89 HP‐92‐01 12795 Saratoga‐
Sunnyvale Road
Miller House (1909‐1911)Craftsman a,c,f
90* 72 HP‐88‐01
HP‐22
14051 Saratoga‐
Sunnyvale Road
Neil Carmichael House (1914)Neoclassic a,b
91 73 HP‐88‐01 14421 Saratoga‐
Sunnyvale Road
B. Grant Taylor House (c. 1906‐
1907)
California Craftsman a.b,c,d
92* 74 HP‐88‐01
HP‐11
14650 Sixth Street Nardie House (c. 1895)Queen Anne a,c
93* 76 HP‐88‐01
HP‐21
13495 Sousa Lane
Moved to:
13777 Fruitvale Ave.
Warner Hutton House (c. 1896)Queen Anne a,c
94 77 HP‐88‐01 20640 Third Street Sam Cloud Hay & Feed Warehouse
(c.1890)
Pioneer a,b,c,e
95 78 HP‐88‐01 12239 Titus Avenue Andersen House (c. late 1880’s)Pioneer a,c
96 79 HP‐88‐01
HP‐24
11995 Walbrook Dr.Hyde House (1895)Craftsman Bungalow
a,c
97 HP‐91‐01 21120 Wardell Road Anna Bee House (c. 1902)Traditional “Pyramid”
or Princess Anne
c,e
98 80 HP‐88‐01 20770 Wildwood Wy.Springer House (c. 1851)Pioneer a,b
* Properties marked with an asterisk are also Designated Heritage Landmarks.
During this Inventory Update it was determined that thirteen historic resources (including two Historic Sites)
no longer exist. Resources were demolished for various reasons. They have been removed from the
Inventory. Below is a list of those resources. Documentation of these sites historical background is kept in
the City’s files.
1. Cherrymount 19474 Burgundy Way HP-88-01
2. Crowell House 19855 Douglass Lane HP-88-01
3. Reynolds Ranch 13616 Fruitvale Ave. HP-88-01
4. Saso Herb Gardens 14625 Fruitvale Ave. HP-91-01
5. Winslow House 20391 Park Place HP-97-01
6. Sterne-Andres House 20105 Rancho Bella Vista HP-88-01
7. José Moya Del Pino Mosaic 13150 Saratoga Ave. HP-91-01
8. Dr. Hogg Residence 14024 Saratoga Ave. HP-91-01
9. Professor Smith Residence 13850 Saratoga Ave. HP-91-01
10. J.C. Cunningham House 14120 Saratoga Ave. HP-88-01
11. Nelson Gardens 20851 Saratoga Hills HP-91-01
12. St. John’s Episcopal Church 14700 Sixth St. HP-88-01
13. Hayfield Garage 14315 Douglass Lane HP-88-01
These resources were allowed to be demolished for a number of reasons. The following list gives some
history on the removed resources and reason they no longer exist.
Saratoga Heritage Resources
Demolished Resources
December 2009
Original
#
HPC
Resolution
Name Address History
19 HP‐88‐01 Cherrymount 19474
Burgundy Way
Farm and residence of Archibald Beatty Brolly and later his son,
Archibald Hard Brolly. Buildings were demolished and land was
subdivided in 1990’s into four large residences. Approved to be
demolished by HPC in February 1992.
24 HP‐88‐01 Crowell House 19855
Douglass Lane
An 1880’s era 10‐acre farm owned by the Crowell family with a
two‐story residence in a park‐like setting. One of Saratoga’s
earliest fruit ranches. By the 1980’s it was owned by the Sister’s
of Mercy. Approved to be demolished by HPC in February 1997
for subdivision.
26 HP‐88‐01 Reynolds
Ranch
13616
Fruitvale Ave.
The 11‐acre property was continually owned by the descendants
of the Reynolds and Kerwin families. Sometime after 1988, the
house was demolished and property subdivided with numerous
new residences built on a newly named street, Kerwin Ranch
Court. No data found on demolish date.
29 HP‐97‐01 Saso Herb
Gardens
14625
Fruitvale Ave.
The 4‐acre property was originally owned by Rev. Merriam B.
Davenport, who built a residence in 1914. Approved to be
demolished by HPC in December 2001 since resource was proven
not to be historically significant.
60 HP‐97‐01 Winslow House 20391 Park Pl. 1920’s Winslow House. Approved for demolition by HPC in
September 1997 for subdivision.
67 HP‐88‐01 Sterne‐Andres
House
20105 Rancho
Bella Vista
By 1988, the farmhouse and outbuildings were completely
surrounded by new construction on ½ acre lots. Approved for
demolition by HPC in September 1994 due to deteriorating
condition.
70 HP‐91‐01 Jose Moya Del
Pino Mosaic
13150
Saratoga Ave.
Created in 1959 by artist Jose Moya Del Pino, the tile mosaic was
installed in the John Bolles designed Paul Masson Champagne
Cellars that year. Approved for demolition by HPC in January
1989 for Highway 85.
73 HP‐91‐01 Prof. Fred
Smith
Residence
13850
Saratoga Ave.
The residence on this property was constructed about 1910; by
the 1920s it was owned by Fred Smith, a professor at San Jose
State College. Approved for demolition by HPC in August 1993 for
new construction.
78 HP‐91‐01 Dr. Hogg
Residence
14024
Saratoga Ave.
The house was constructed in 1904 by local physician, Dr Robert
Hogg, who purchased the land in 1900 from John Hourecan.
Approved for demolition by HPC in February 1994 for
construction of new construction.
81 HP‐88‐01 J.C.
Cunningham
House
14120
Saratoga Ave.
Constructed in 1889 by Joseph Carson Cunningham, a member of
the local Cunningham family, the house remained in the
Cunningham family until at least 1988. Approved for demolition
by the HPC in February 1995 for new construction.
87 HP‐91‐01 Nelson
Gardens /
Shumer Ranch
20851
Saratoga Hills
Originally part of Shumer Ranch, this 5.1 acres parcel was
purchase in 1930s by Frank and Florence Nelson. The original
Shumer farmhouse was demolished prior to 1988 for subdivision.
No data found on demolish date.
104 HP‐88‐01 St. John’s
Episcopal
Church
14700 Sixth
Street
In 1896, the Episcopal congregation purchased the property and
built a simple board and batten church on the site. The first
services were held that year and the building functioned as a
church until it was sold and converted to residential use in 1919.
Approved for demolition by the HPC in April 2000 due to lost of
historic integrity.
23 HP‐88‐01 Hayfield
Garage
Buildings
14315
Douglass Lane
The Spaich Subdivision / Hayfield Estates were approved in March
1998. The original Hayfield garage had been demolished prior to
the subdivision, but no exact date can be found.
City of Saratoga – DESIGNATED LANDMARK STRUCTURES
Original # Resolution Address
Historic or Common Name Architectural Style Criteria
1 4 HP‐88‐01 HP‐18
14421 Big Basin Wy.Saratoga Bank Building (1913)Classic Revival a,c,e
2 24 HP‐88‐01 HP‐3
Fruitvale/Saratoga Ave.Central Park Orchard
n/a a,g
3 36 HP‐88‐01
HP‐02
15400 Montalvo Road Villa Montalvo Italian Villa a,b,c,d
4 37 HP‐88‐01
HP‐23
14475 Oak Place Almond Hill (1910‐1912)Shingle Craftsman a,b
5 38 HP‐88‐01
HP‐9
14410 Oak Street Village Library (1927)Mission Revival a,b,c
6 39 HP‐88‐01
HP‐12
14488 Oak Street Saratoga Volunteer Fire Bell (1903)n/a a,b
7 43 HP‐88‐01
HP‐5
14672 Oak Street William King House (c. 1877)Pioneer/Colonial Revival
a,b
8 44 HP‐88‐01
HP‐13
14683 Oak Street Missionary Settlement House (c.1897)
Queen Anne a,b,c,e
9 48 HP‐88‐01
HP‐1
20399 Park Place Saratoga Foothill Club (1915‐1916)
Bay Region/Craftsman
a,b,c,d,e
10 51 HP‐88‐01
HP‐14
15231 Quito Road Casa Tierra (1941‐1943)Southwest a,b,c
11 53 HP‐88‐01
HP‐15
18490 Ravenwood Dr.
Brandenburg House (1888)Decorative Pioneer a,c
12 HP‐91‐01
HP‐20
14065 Saratoga Ave.Florence Cunningham Residence
(c.1930)
Craftsman Bungalow
b,c,e
13 65 HP‐88‐01
HP‐17
20330 Saratoga‐Los
Gatos Road
The Deodars (1912)Mediterranean Villa a,c
14 69 HP‐88‐01
HP‐7
20450 Saratoga‐Los
Gatos Road
Saratoga Historical Museum
(c. 1904‐1905)
False‐front Pioneer a,c,e
15 70 HP‐88‐01
HP‐10
20460 Saratoga‐Los
Gatos Road
McWlliams House (1850’s)Pioneer Cottage a,c,e
16 74 HP‐88‐01
HP‐11
14650 Sixth Street Nardie House (c. 1895)Queen Anne a,c
17 76 HP‐88‐01
HP‐21
13495 Sousa Lane
Moved to:
13777 Fruitvale Ave.
Warner Hutton House
(c. 1896)
Queen Anne a,c
18 72 HP‐88‐01
HP‐22
14051 Saratoga‐
Sunnyvale Road
Neil Carmichael House (1914)Neoclassic a,b
19 79 HP‐88‐01
HP‐24
11995 Walbrook Dr.Hyde House (1895)Craftsman Bungalow
a,c
20 108
HP‐98‐01
14288 Chester Avenue
(formerly 19101 Via
Tesoro Court)
El Tesoro ‐Dr. Clemmer Peck
Residence (1935 & 1967)
Adobe b, c, e
Brainard Map #12 - Quito, February 1886
Brainard Map #24 – Saratoga Park, May 1888
USGS Palo Alto 7.5 minute quadrangle – surveyed in 1895 and printed in 1899.
Saratoga property map from 1903, prepared by surveyor J. G. McMillan for the County of Santa Clara.