Yung See San Fong House
Why it's listed
Yung See San Fong, meaning "in the heart of the hills," is a hillside house on wooded acreage in Los Gatos, California. Playwright Ruth Comfort Mitchell and her husband, Sanborn Young, completed it in 1917, drawing inspiration from Mitchell's Chinese play The Sweetmeat Game. The narrow, four-story house follows the slope and combines Western massing and floor plan with Chinese roof forms, including flared eaves, decorative ridge beams and pagoda-like upper roofs. Walls are stucco, board and batten, and wood shingle. Inside, carved screens, columns, plaques and a elaborately detailed living room fireplace carry Chinese motifs. A bedroom wing and an added top story date from 1922, and large living room windows were installed in 1965. The property also includes a garage with matching Chinese styling and a hillside cave once used for storing milk. The house was a gathering place for notable visitors in the early twentieth century, and its original character has been well preserved. It was documented by a Historic American Buildings Survey team in 1979.
Significance in brief: The house is an unusual blend of Chinese decorative motifs and pagoda-style roofs with Western massing and plan. Its design was inspired by Mitchell's Chinese play The Sweetmeat Game (1916). It served as a gathering place for local and international celebrities in the early twentieth century, and its original fabric has been carefully maintained.
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 83001240, listed September 8, 1983. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 16660 Cypress Way, Los Gatos |
|---|---|
| County | Santa Clara County |
| Listed | September 8, 1983 |
| Reference number | 83001240 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architect / builder | Builder possibly Leo L. Nichols of Oakland (research ongoing); non-union labor used; carved interior woodwork supplied by craftsmen from San Francisco's Chinatown or China |
| Architectural style | Chinese-inspired (Oriental) eclectic, combining pagoda roofs and Eastern motifs with Western massing and plan |
| Areas of significance | Entertainment/Recreation, Literature, Politics/Government, Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Occupied as a private residence; condition described as excellent, with original site and some alterations. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 37.21597, -121.96103 (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 83001240.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q8061260
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.