Stanford Barn History
Stanford Barn Home |
Floor 1 |
Floor 2 |
Floor 3 |
Stanford Barn History
1876
Governor Leland
Stanford bought his first 650-acre farm on the San Francisco
Peninsula that would become his celebrated Palo Alto Stock Farm and
later the site of Stanford University. On his final total of 8,727,64
acres in the area, the first parcel, known as the Mayfield Grange
Farm, was adjacent to San Francisquito Creek, the boundary between San
Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. It had been the country home of
George Gordon, prominent developer of early San Francisco. The
Gordon-Stanford house served as the original Children's Hospital at
Stanford.
1886
Having planted fine quality varietal grapes on large parts of the farm
in the summer of 1886, Stanford began constructing near his home a
handsome three-story brick winery which was completed in June 1888.
The lower of the three floors of the winery was devoted to cellerage,
the second was a fermenting room, and the third floor was used for
crushing. Grapes were carried from the ground to the third floor by a
chain elevator for crushing. The juice and skins were taken by chutes
to the second floor for fermentation. The new wine was then pumped to
first floor aging tanks. The machinery for these operations was run
by a steam engine housed in the small brick building 65 feet to the
rear of the winery. The high quality aged wines were sold under the
Palo Alto trademark and were also in easy access to the Stanfords'
dining tables. Stanford saw wine as a positive factor in the promotion
of health, relaxation, and temperance. "Its general use among the
people as a beverage in the family, on the dining table, is beneficial
rather than detrimental."
1891
Stanford University opened its doors to 400 students. While President
Benjamin Harrison was visiting the new campus, the winery was one of
the features of his tour.
1906
The winery was so solidly built that it survived the great earthquake
undamaged while many of the nearby aesthetic stone and concrete
University structures and the brick addition to the Stanfords' home
crumbled into heaps of rubble. On the second floor, there were rows of
beautifully carved, highly polished oak puncheons, each carrying 84
gallons of wine. Their weight alone would have caused any but the
stoutest and best designed beams and posts to collapse. But the casks
were undisturbed by the earth's severe tremors.
1915
Due to the lack of profits and the ratification of the 18th Amendment,
the vines were uprooted and the vineyard was leased for growing hay,
tomatoes, strawberries, and flowers.
1916
At the closing of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San
Francisco, Herbert Fleishhacker, Sr. acquired a prize exhibition herd
of Holstein cows. For his Carnation Milk Company Fleishhacker leased
over 200 acres of land surrounding the winery for grazing and hay land
and converted the idle winery into a milking barn. This was convenient
for Fleishhacker since he also summered in nearby Atherton and the
lease provided a good place to keep his riding horses.
1932
The Stanford Barn was leased by R.W. Krobitzsch, and the famed herd of
about 200 cows of the Troutmere Dairy Farm were moved from La Honda.
Such care was taken to place in the brick structure every possible
modern convenience and improvement that the regular government
inspectors declared it to be singularly outstanding. The Troutmere
cattle, known as the aristocrats of cowdom, were purebred Guernseys,
which meant that the ancestry of each animal could be traced back to
the original stock of the Channel Islands of England. The Stanford
Barn thus became the home to Topsy, the largest milk producer in the
U.S., and her son, Troutmere Lindberg, the grand champion bull.
1941
Peninsula Creamery took over the facility in 1941, supplying its
product from The Barn to the burgeoning Peninsula until urban
encroachment dictated their moving.
1948
The American Breeders Association established its national
headquarters at The Stanford Barn and made possible an important
upgrading of the American cattle industry. The Association used The
Barn to stable an array of the country's prized bulls for the
scientific breeding service and research.
1954
The Stanford Shopping Center was opened nearby, starting a new trend
throughout the country in suburban centers. (The closest Center
neighbor to the Stanford Barn, Saks, opened in 1963, and Bullocks
joined the ranks in 1972. The Bullocks has since become a Nordstrom.)
The Stanford University Medical Center was under construction on the
other side of the Stanford Barn for a 1959 opening, and this rapid
growth proved too much for the breeders who moved their headquarters
to rural Wisconsin. For a brief period, The Barn stood vacant or was
used nominally for storage. Planners sought ways to utilize the
historic building, but they began to consider razing the fine old
structure.
1961
The Stanford Barn was rescued from its dormant, endangered stage by
architect John Boles, his assistant John Drum,and investors who
long-term leased the building and surrounding four acres from Stanford
University and converted it to a shopping facility featuring an
international variety of food stalls, a meat market, a banking house,
and a stock brokerage firm. It was a pioneering effort among those
making adaptive commercial uses for structurally sound, beautiful old
buildings. Within the following decade, such practice would become the
popular thing to do in restoration and recycling.
1975
Following a succession of owners, property managers and tenants, Bruce
Ricks now of Palo Alto and Alan Becker of San Francisco formed
Stanford Barn Enterprises and acquired the 31-year leasehold in the
Stanford Barn property until 2006. The year 19756 was spent in
architecture, planning, and tenant analysis.
1976
In the centennial of Leland Stanford's purchase of his farm on the San
Francisco Peninsula, Stanford Barn Enterprises conducted a renovation
and revitalization of this historic property. Built as a winery, used
as a dairy barn and headquarters for a breeders association, and then
a food, retail, and financial center -- in 1976, the Stanford Barn
created even more attractive shops and dining in a historic setting.
Now managed by Bruce Ricks of Capital Solutions, Palo Alto (322-0555),
the Stanford Barn contains many tenants to entice Stanford University
students and staff. Tenants include: California
Cafe, Stanford Barn Gourmet Deli, Haagen Dazs, Wells Fargo Bank,
Paquette Optical Lab, Lane Travel, Alexandra Huntington Florists,
Stanford Barn Cleaners, Station House Candies, Kay Beamont Skin Care,
Shear Indulgence Hairstylists, and Alternative Textbooks