Rare Historic Success in Bgame

Saving historic buildings in Burlingame is a tough row to hoe.  We have lost so many and saved so few that when one is saved we should rejoice.  And so we shall regarding the Murphy house.  The Daily Journal did a piece on the house a week ago, but I wanted to wait for photos of the actual move until posting about it.

One of Burlingame’s oldest houses is about to get a new home — again.  The Murphy House at 1128 Douglas Ave. is slated next week to be moved about a half a mile away to a location on Oak Grove Avenue as part of a team effort to preserve a piece of the city’s history.

The house is slated to begin being moved Thursday, Sept. 17, to make way for the construction of a five-story apartment complex, which officials approved in 2017. But noting the historic relevance of the site’s current structure, the development team agreed to relocate and preserve it elsewhere....it will mark the second time that the house has been moved. It was first relocated in 1914 from its original location on Burlingame Avenue, when it was displaced to make space for the downtown business district to bloom.

Note the DJ article has the address off by one--it's really across the street at 524 Oak Grove which was an empty lot.  We'll all enjoy seeing the house put back together as it was cut in half for the move.  Here are a couple pics of it crossing the Caltrain tracks last night around 10 pm.  It was a tight fit getting under the tree branch too.  Nice work all around!

Comments

[resident]

What a time trip. I don't mean this move, but the first one off of Burlingame Avenue.

[Joe]

The DJ had similar photos today on the front page, but this letter to the editor from our very own Jennifer Pfaff caught my eye in today's edition. I'll translate it in a way that Jennifer herself would never do: "You don't know what the hell you are talking about, Wackerman".
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Editor,

Thank you for covering the relocation story about the James R. Murphy home, on Douglas. In a letter published on Sept. 15, Bob Wackerman (S.M.) has incorrectly asserted the owner-developer merely “chipped in” to move the home while the taxpayers of Burlingame are left footing the bill. Nothing could be further from the truth, as the developer has paid for the entire move (at considerable cost), as well as costs involved to reconstruct the home at its new location, with a new, period-appropriate addition.

As is frequently the case when relocating historical structures in this era, the structure was carefully documented on site, and then deconstructed in sections to make the move possible across the railroad tracks. If the letter writer is truly interested in the criteria used to determine if this (or any) property rises to the level of historical significance, such information is readily available from the State Office of Historic Preservation. Specifically for this property (1128 Douglas Ave.), one need only search on the web under “James R. Murphy residence” where there are several references available, as well as the official recorded survey (Primary Record) and assessment by Page & Turnbull, Inc.

Jennifer Pfaff

Burlingame
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Note: Page & Turnbull are the main consultants the city uses for assessing historical merit. I've found fault with their work in the past, but others in the know are happy with them.