Palo Alto Stanford Heritage |
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| Inventory photo | Photo taken June 2, 2015 |
The following is from the Historic Buildings Inventory as revised in 1985:
This vernacular house presents an illusionist façade whose shallow planes imply greater depth than actually exists.
This façade successfully embodies a very skillful visual idea. The house was the last residential survivor on the even-numbered side of the block, and houses of comparable age across from it were long ago converted from residential to commercial uses. (In 1997 it opened as the restaurant Zibibbo.)
It was built for Mrs. Jennie W. Mahaney, wife of Henry Wade-Mahaney (see 640 Fulton Street). among its earliest occupants were David A. and Celia Smith (1901-1928), who had come to the city in 1898. their daughter, Nelly May, married James Stroner, and the Stroners owned the house until the early 1950s. Stroner came to Palo Alto in 1893 and was, for many years, the city's leading painting contractor. He and his wife were the first couple to be married in the First Baptist church, which in 1900 was at the northeast corner of Hamilton Avenue and Bryant Street. Items with the Stroner name on them were found in the garage by Wallace and Evelyn McMills who bought the house in 1975 from Harvey Nixon (1950-1975), who was in the glassware business.
Note: From 1997 until April, 2014, this was the home of the popular Zibibbo restaurant.
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| HRB photo taken 1985 | Location map |
This house was built in 1897 and is a Category 3 on the Historic Buildings Inventory. The builder was H. L. Upham. The property measures 50 by 112.5 feet.
Sources: Palo Alto City Directories; Palo Alto Times 12/31/97, 4/1/11, 11/10/33, 12/25/50, 1/28/52; interview 1985, Evelyn McMills
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