Incredibly Rare and Historic Collection of 1840’s Redwood Timbers

$300,000
Plus 9.625% San Mateo County sales tax

These pre-Gold Rush hand hewn timbers were salvaged from the first barn that was constructed at the first lumber mill built on the San Francisco Peninsula, in what is now Woodside. The barn was constructed by pioneer Charles Brown, who in 1839 built a small adobe cottage on what he called his “mountain home ranch” in Woodside. The cottage still stands today.

Mr. Brown is credited with having built the first lumber mill in the area on the banks of the Alambique Creek, which is on the site of what is now 3000 Portola Road. The original site purchased by Mr. Brown contained 2,880 acres—documented by a grand deed dated 1846—of what was the Spanish land grant “Rancho Canada de Raymundo” from British Naval Lieutenant John Coppinger. Mr. Coppinger had received the land grant from his good friend, Juan Bautista Alvarado, then the Governor of California.

It is estimated that the barn was built from first generation redwood trees growing on site and was completed sometime between 1840 and 1846. As indicated by the California state historic marker on the site (state registered landmark no. 478) the lumber mill was operational by 1847. The barn had a 10-foot first floor ceiling height where oxen were housed and fed. The second floor (designated “main hay/feed vault”) had 18-foot-high walls with a gentle roof pitch of approximately 4 x 12 feet. The overall height reached approximately 40 feet. The barn footprint was approximately 40 feet long x 30 feet wide.

It is rumored that one of the Big Four (Crocker, Huntington, Hopkins, Stanford) at one time owned the estate; this can be further researched by accessing Woodside’s Microfiche archive. Today, the site consists of 54 acres, and while just a fraction of Mr. Brown’s original purchase, is still one of the largest land holdings in Woodside. The site was purchased by its current owner, Tom Siebel, in the year 2000 and demolition permits were pulled in 2004 for all the structures on the site except for the original adobe cottage. The General Contractor was Martel Construction of Bozeman, Montana.

The original barn that housed the historic timbers was a fantastic historic example of timber frame construction in pre-Gold Rush California. However, sometime in the 1960’s it went through a dramatic remodel where it was made to replicate something akin to Noah’s Ark. The interior was covered in sheet rock and paneling, with insulation, electrical, plumbing, and serval flooring layers, obscuring what lay beneath the surfaces. Prior to issuing the demo permit in 2004, the Town of Woodside deemed it to be so altered as to no longer have significant historic value, and the new owners were granted permission to demolish it. In 2005, deconstruction expert Jim Steinmetz was granted salvage rights, and he led a team of five men to carefully removed the roof, siding, flooring, sheet rock, etc. to reveal the hand-hewn 12’ x 12’ timber frame super structure of the original barn. Steinmetz has been in possession of the timber ever since.

The inventory includes:

8 each, 12” x 12” x 10’ 1st floor wall posts
8 each, 12” x 12” x 18’ 2nd main floor wall posts
4 each, 8” x 12” x 20’ to 24’ wall plate caps
2 each, 8” x 12+” x 16’ to 18’ morticed wall plate ties
1 each, 12” x 12” x 18’ (some damage)
1 each, 8” x 12” x 10’ morticed plate
1 each, 12” x 12” x 7’ post

This is an all-or-nothing deal. The pieces are to remain together and not be parted out.