DePue, Grace Blair, House and Indian Museum
Why it's listed
This property on Court Street in Jackson, California, combines a Mother Lode house with a small museum building. Edward Muldoon, a saloon keeper and cattle man, built the original frame house in 1872. Isaac Peiser, a dry goods merchant, bought it in 1874. The Blair family added five rooms, porches and a gabled wing in 1900, giving the house the form it largely keeps today. Grace Blair DePue later inherited it along with the Jackson Water Works. She worked among local Miwok people and gathered thousands of baskets, ornaments and tools, along with pieces from other tribes and regions. In the 1930s she built a masonry museum with a Spanish tile roof beside the house to display them, partly for fire protection. Her collection went to the University of California at Berkeley after her death in 1944. The house was altered in the 1950s and restored in 1980. It is valued for its local architecture and for her philanthropy.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the property is locally significant for Grace Blair DePue, a prominent business person and philanthropist whose collection of Native American artifacts preserved aspects of Miwok cultural heritage. It also holds that the house is a typical Mother Lode residence, with porches, shutter-trimmed double-hung windows and French glass doors. The house was also home to early local business people such as Edward Muldoon and Isaac Peiser.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 82002169, listed May 7, 1982. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 215 Court St., Jackson |
|---|---|
| County | Amador County |
| Listed | May 7, 1982 |
| Reference number | 82002169 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1800-1899 and 1900- (specific dates 1872; 1900; 1930) |
| Architect / builder | Unknown (form lists builder/architect as Unknown; original house built by Edward Muldoon) |
| Architectural style | Mother Lode residential style; the Indian Museum Building is described as unique |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Exploration/Settlement, Architecture, Social History |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Occupied as a private residence; the house was restored in 1980 to its 1900 appearance, and the Indian Museum Building is now a residence. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 38.34941, -120.77141 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 82002169.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikidata Q133258483
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.