"Western White House" (Hillsborough, California)

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The Hillsborough mansion was the legacy of George Hearst - eldest son of publishing giant William Randolph Heart, who had commissioned the Hearst Castle. In 1930, the younger Hearst turned to Julia Morgan to redesign the Hillsborough property, which had been seriously damaged in a major fire three years earlier.

Before that the Hillsborough home was owned by the Crocker family - starting with silver baron Charles Frederick Crocker who in the 1870s bought the house from the estate of cattle rancher William Henry Howard. According to records from the San Mateo County Historical Association, Howard built the colossal house in 1878 using stone carvers from Italy and using a saw mill on site to make the wood shingles on the Swiss Chalet-like design.

The home was passed down through the Crocker family and sold to Burlingame contractor Charles Lundgren who physically moved the home a quarter mile away to El Cerrito Street in 1915. The relocation was to take advantage of the lush landscaping and the creek on El Cerrito Street.

Hailed as an engineering achievement, the house move was written up in Popular Mechanics magazine

It is difficult to separate lore from fact after Hearst purchased the property. Hearst purportedly intended to give the Western White House to the U.S. Government or some sort of trust for presidents to use when they visited California.

That never happened and Hearst sold the house without ever living in it.

In the 1940s, the home was purchased by a shoe tycoon family, the Gallencamps, and Nancy Ann Abbot of Storybook Doll notoriety lived in the home in the 1950s. She filled the home with presidential mementos.

Since then five different families have lived in the home, including T. Jack Foster, the founder and developer of Foster City and savings and loan heiress Nancy Burris.

According to an old newspaper account in the San Mateo Times, John and Yoko Lennon intended to buy the house in the early 1970s but they backed out of the deal at the last minute.
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