{"nrhp_refnum":"82002178","name":"Romain, Frank, House","other_names":["The Romain Home"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2055 San Joaquin St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fresno","county":"Fresno County","state":"CA","lat":36.74162552000007,"lon":-119.79719554499997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-01-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, wood-frame residence at 2055 San Joaquin Street in Fresno, California, built in 1905 for packing executive Frank Romain to a design by E. Mathewson.","why_significant":"The house is tied to Frank Romain, an early figure in the San Joaquin Valley packing and canning industry, and to later owners who were funeral directors and prominent public figures, including state senator Hugh Burns. It is also one of the few remaining examples of a once-common local house form and one of the oldest residential structures still standing in the city.","narrative":"Built in 1905 at the corner of San Joaquin and Van Ness streets in Fresno, this two-story redwood-sided house was designed by E. Mathewson for Frank Romain. Romain helped establish the Griffin-Skelly packing plant in the late 1880s and later managed sixteen San Joaquin Valley plants for the California Packing Corporation. After his death in 1928, the house served as the Sullivan, Burns, and Blair funeral home until 1959, then as a funeral home under William Whitehurst. Owners included state senator Hugh Burns and, through the Whitehurst family, Fresno mayor Daniel Whitehurst. The house has a cross-hipped roof, a wraparound porch, brick foundation walls and a Greek Revival living room. Some windows, porches and interior features have been altered, but the original plan survives. The house is valued as a rare local example of a once-common house form and as an early residence built of local redwood, fir, pine and brick. Its conversion to offices was underway at the time of the form.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"E. Mathewson (architect); contractor unknown","architectural_style":"Individualistic style not categorized in style books; some Prairie School features and a Greek Revival living room interior","criteria":[],"status_note":"Sold in 1980 and being converted into professional offices; condition listed as good and altered, with the original plan largely intact.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.487063-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/82002178.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002178/afb12f659e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002178/afb12f659e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"R&amp;sbwn","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frank_Romain_House.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">R&amp;amp;sbwn</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:Frank_Romain_House.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858689","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q133260802"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/fresno-county/romain-frank-house-82002178/"}