Stevenson House
Also known as: Monterey State Historic Park
Why it's listed
This two-story house on Houston Street in Monterey began as an adobe residence built around 1836 by Don Rafael Gonzalez, customs administrator at the Port of Monterey. Merchant Juan Girardin ran a general store on the ground floor from 1856 through the 1870s, with family rooms and inexpensive boarding rooms upstairs, and frame additions were made in that period. Walls are partly chalk rock in mud mortar and partly wood frame, covered in limestone plaster under a bracketed, shingled roof. The cheap room and board drew Robert Louis Stevenson in autumn 1879, when he lived here while courting Fannie Osbourne, later his wife. During the stay he began, planned or wrote works including An Amateur Emigrant, The Pavilion on the Links and Prince Otto. The house is State Landmark No. 352 and is now a museum holding a large collection of Stevenson material, with part of the interior furnished as in the Girardin and Gonzales years.
Significance in brief: The house is tied to Robert Louis Stevenson's roughly three-month stay in Monterey in autumn 1879, which the nomination calls one of the most decisive periods of his life. He courted Fannie Osbourne here and worked on several writings. The house holds what is described as the world's largest collection of Stevenson material and is State Landmark No. 352.
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 72000239, listed January 7, 1972. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Houston St. between Pearl and Webster Sts., Monterey |
|---|---|
| County | Monterey County |
| Listed | January 7, 1972 |
| Reference number | 72000239 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 19th Century |
| Architect / builder | Don Rafael Gonzalez (original adobe, circa 1836) |
| Architectural style | Spanish Colonial |
| Areas of significance | Literature, Education |
| Level of significance | National |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Owned by the state Department of Parks and Recreation and used as a museum and park; condition marked fair and altered. Part of the house is furnished as in the Girardin and Gonzales family periods. |
| Acreage | 0.5 |
| Coordinates | 36.59754, -121.89404 (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 72000239.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q110910537
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.