{"nrhp_refnum":"73000446","name":"Johnston, James, House","other_names":["White House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Higgins-Purisima Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Half Moon Bay","county":"San Mateo County","state":"CA","lat":37.44979113100004,"lon":-122.42325673899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-05-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The James Johnston \"White House\" is a two-story redwood-frame salt-box house on Higgins-Purisima Road near Half Moon Bay, San Mateo County, California. It was built between 1853 and 1856 for rancher James Johnston.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it a very rare surviving example of the earliest Anglo-American architecture in California, since most Gold Rush era houses have vanished. It shows how eastern New England building traditions were applied in a region of mainly Hispanic culture. Spanish-influenced features such as a patio, a gallery and a chapel were blended into the salt-box form.","narrative":"Overlooking the coastal plain and the Pacific Ocean near Half Moon Bay, this weathered two-story house was built between 1853 and 1856 for James Johnston, a Scottish-born rancher who came to California in 1849. It is a salt-box, a form with a long rear roof slope, built with a hand-hewn redwood frame joined by mortise and tenon, set on sandstone blocks and covered in clapboard. The nomination describes it as a rare survivor of early Anglo-American architecture in California. Eastern design traditions were adapted to local conditions: the kitchen was a separate building, the rear section had chambers and an open gallery facing a patio, and the house held a Roman Catholic chapel. An inspection found the interior badly deteriorated and the exterior in poor condition, but the framing was sound, the walls plumb and the roofline straight. Restoration was judged feasible. The site retained open space and a view of the coastal plain.","period_of_significance":"c1853-56","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Salt-box type, with simple classic detailing suggesting Greek Revival origins","criteria":[],"status_note":"Unused and in deteriorated condition: windowless, gutted by vandalism and weathering, with missing flooring and partitions, though the frame is intact. Owned by San Mateo County.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:32.214137-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/73000446.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000446/4296756882-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000446/4296756882-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Johnston_House,_Higgins-Purisima_Rd.,_Half_Moon_Bay,_CA_10-30-2011_12-13-34_PM.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Sanfranman59</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:James_Johnston_House,_Higgins-Purisima_Rd.,_Half_Moon_Bay,_CA_10-30-2011_12-13-34_PM.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861522","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Johnston_House_(Half_Moon_Bay,_California)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q100332182"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-mateo-county/johnston-james-house-73000446/"}