{"nrhp_refnum":"10000118","name":"El Toyon","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"211 Brook Rd","address_restricted":false,"city":"Auburn","county":"Placer County","state":"CA","lat":38.896514026000034,"lon":-121.06111811599999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2010-03-31","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"El Toyon is a three-story single-family Shingle Style residence built in 1889 at 211 Brook Road on the east edge of Auburn, Placer County, California, on the rim of the American River Canyon. It sits on 1.6 acres of landscaped grounds.","why_significant":"The nomination argues El Toyon is significant at the local level under Criterion C as the most significant example of Shingle Style architecture in Auburn. It shows the style's continuous wood shingle sheathing, irregular massing, turrets, bays, verandas and restrained classical detailing, and reflects First Bay Tradition ideas of natural materials and integration with the site. The estate setting still conveys the feeling of an 1889 country estate.","narrative":"El Toyon is a three-story Shingle Style house completed in 1889 on the eastern edge of Auburn, overlooking the American River Canyon. Colonel Walter Scott Davis, a mining operator from a Boston family, and his wife Ellen built it on land purchased in 1887, choosing a style closely tied to New England. Wood shingles wrap the corners and unify a complex form of turrets, bays, porches, balconies and cross gables, while detailing stays minimal, with classical columns and plain trim. The house rests on a brick and masonry foundation, and the grounds now cover 1.6 acres of gardens, ponds and heritage trees. Alterations in the 1920s and a restoration in the 1990s left the original footprint largely intact. The property was listed for its architecture, as the most significant Shingle Style example in Auburn, where other shingled houses are mostly later bungalows. Its grounds and canyon views still suggest the country estate the Davis family created.","period_of_significance":"1889","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Shingle Style","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Restored in the 1990s; remains in domestic use as a residence, with two modern noncontributing buildings (a four-car garage and a guest house built in 2009) on the grounds.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:29.646742-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/10000118.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000118/8b54f06b61-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000118/8b54f06b61-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"liannadavis","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:El_Toyon_2012-09-16_16-42-51.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">liannadavis</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:El_Toyon_2012-09-16_16-42-51.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123860392","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q133411827"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/placer-county/el-toyon-10000118/"}