{"nrhp_refnum":"77000342","name":"Griffin, Willard, House and Carriage House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"12345 S. El Monte Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Los Altos","county":"Santa Clara County","state":"CA","lat":37.361785344000054,"lon":-122.12501624099997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-04-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brown-shingled house and carriage house built in 1901 by Willard M. Griffin, a shipbuilder from Maine, on a former 98-acre estate in Los Altos Hills, Santa Clara County, California. The buildings now sit on the Foothill College campus.","why_significant":"The nomination cites architectural historians who call the house a fine and unusually intact example of early twentieth-century domestic design, combining Craftsman forms with steep roofs and tall dormers. It also records the property's link to the Griffin family estate and to the fruit-canning business that became part of the California Packing Corporation.","narrative":"Built in 1901 by Willard M. Griffin, a shipbuilder from Maine, this brown-shingled house and its carriage house were once part of a private 98-acre estate in the rolling hills of northwestern Santa Clara County. Two architectural historians quoted in the nomination praised the design. One described a combination of Craftsman forms with the steep roof and tall, thin dormers seen in George W. Maher's early work. The other called it a very fine example of Shingle-Modern style with period overtones. The exterior has seen almost no alteration, though the interior has been changed. The carriage house once held six work horses, two cows, a carriage, a workshop and a loft, and it later housed a fire department. Griffin also brought Japanese artisans to build gardens, a tea house and a bridge around a pond. After the family sold the estate, the Foothill Community College District bought it in 1959, and the buildings remain on their original site within the campus.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Wolfe & McKenzie","architectural_style":"Shingle-Modern with Craftsman elements (as described by quoted architectural historians)","criteria":[],"status_note":"The form lists the property as unoccupied and used for storage. It also says the carriage house serves as the Foothill Fire Department. The house is in good condition, with the exterior largely unaltered and the interior altered.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.449331-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/77000342.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000342/2c7dd70e3c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000342/2c7dd70e3c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Willard_Griffin_House,_12345_S._El_Monte_Ave.,_Los_Altos,_CA_6-3-2012_6-47-49_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:Willard_Griffin_House,_12345_S._El_Monte_Ave.,_Los_Altos,_CA_6-3-2012_6-47-49_PM.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861689","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Griffin_House_and_Carriage_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q123252700"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/santa-clara-county/griffin-willard-house-and-carriage-house-77000342/"}