{"nrhp_refnum":"79000504","name":"Palmer, Judge Augustus C., House","other_names":["Palmer House","The Elms"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1300 Cedar St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Calistoga","county":"Napa County","state":"CA","lat":38.57731896000007,"lon":-122.58046147199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-01-31","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story wood-frame Second Empire residence at 1300 Cedar Street in Calistoga, Napa County, California, built in 1873-74 by Judge Augustus C. Palmer for himself. Also known as The Elms.","why_significant":"It is one of the earliest formal Second Empire houses in Napa County and the only example of that style in wood in Calistoga. It reflects the prominence of its owner-builder, the town's first judge and a lumber yard operator, and the prosperity of Calistoga in the 1870s and 1880s. It also keeps a high degree of integrity in materials, setting and feeling after exterior restoration.","narrative":"Built in 1873-74 at 1300 Cedar Street in Calistoga, this three-story frame house was constructed by Augustus C. Palmer, the town's first judge, as his own residence. Its Second Empire design includes a concave mansard roof with decorative shingles, dormers with semicircular arched windows, wooden corner quoins, and a long front porch with pierced brackets. A fine three-story spiral staircase survives inside. Palmer ran a large lumber yard across the Napa River and stables serving the Lakeport Stage Line, and he is known to have completed the interior carpentry himself. He sold his Calistoga holdings in 1880 and left the area. Later owners added bays to the sides between 1890 and 1901, and recent renovation restored the exterior to its early 1900s look. It is the only wood example of the style in Calistoga and one of the earliest in Napa County. A stone Second Empire house nearby, built in 1886, complements it.","period_of_significance":"1873-74","architect_builder":"Builder: Augustus C. Palmer","architectural_style":"Second Empire","criteria":[],"status_note":"Private residence in excellent condition; the exterior was restored to its early 1900s appearance and the interior renovated.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.42485-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/79000504.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000504/a2fb182f15-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000504/a2fb182f15-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Missvain","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Judge_Augustus_C._Palmer_House_-_December_2022_-_Sarah_Stierch.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Missvain</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Judge_Augustus_C._Palmer_House_-_December_2022_-_Sarah_Stierch.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123860074","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q133307956"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/napa-county/palmer-judge-augustus-c-house-79000504/"}