Tour information compliments of: Saratoga Historical Museum 20450 Saratoga-Los Gatos Rd., P.O. Box 172, Saratoga, CA 95071 (408) 867-4311 Open Wednesday thru Sunday 1-4 PM

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1. Saratoga Historical Museum
20450 Saratoga-Los Gatos Road
This Pioneer False-Front building is one of the oldest commercial structures in the city built about 1905 on the main street of Saratoga, Lumber Street (now Big Basin Way). Originally, it housed the Saratoga Drug Store, until the business moved next door in 1910. The building was moved to its present location to form Saratoga Historical Park and renovated by volunteers to be a museum. It was dedicated July 4th during the 1976 Bicentennial Celebration.

2. McWilliams House
20460 Saratoga-Los Gatos Road
This Pioneer Cottage is one of the oldest houses in Saratoga, probably built in the 1850's. Originally located on Lumber Street, it was purchased in 1865 from Henry Jarboe by James McWilliams, a blacksmith. The walls are of local redwood, but are painted and papered over as was the custom of the period. It was moved to its present location in 1973 and became part of the Saratoga Historical Park during die Bicentennial Celebration of 1976.

3. Chapel of the Saratoga Federated Church
20390 Park Place
This Mission Revival church was designed by the famous California architect, Julia Morgan, and was completed in 1923. It was built on land donated by David C. Bell and C. A. Wood. The church has been subsequently enlarged, but the chapel and Douglass Hall remain as originally designed by Morgan.

4. Saratoga Foothill Club
20399 Park Place
Julia Morgan was commissioned to design this women's clubhouse in 1915 by the ladies of the Foothill Study Club. It was built on land donated by Mrs. D. C. Bell and Mrs. C. .A. Wood. The architectural style is Bay Region/Craftsman and the interior is of natural redwood. The building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has been in continuous use as a women's club and for community events.

5. Memorial Arch
Saratoga-Los Gatos Road, next to firehouse
Designed by the landscape architect Bruce Porter, the arch was built in 1919 as a memorial to Saratoga men who lost their lives in World War I. Funds were raised by contributions from the community. It originally stood in the village plaza across the street, and was moved to its present location in 1965 when the state highway was widened. On the arch is the official plaque designating Saratoga as State Registered Landmark No. 435, which was dedicated in March, 1950, centennial of Saratoga's settlement.

6. Village Library
14410 Oak Street
This was Saratoga's first library building, built in 1927 with funds raised by a citizens' committee. The Mission Revival Building was designed by Eldridge Spencer, whose firm also designed the new Saratoga Library when larger facilities were needed.

7. Fire Bell
Oak Street
This bell was hung on a steel tower located directly over the town jail on 4th Street in about 1903. It was moved to the Fireman's Hall on Oak Street after the hall was built in 1949.

8. Lundblad's Lodge
14534 Oak Street
This is an excellent example of the Craftsman/Shingle style, built in 1905 for Mrs. Tabor. In 1918, Mr. and Mrs. Ludwig Lundblad purchased it for a lodge, and were later joined in their operation by their daughter Hazel Lundblad Bargas and her husband Joseph. Mrs. Bargas operated the lodge until her retirement in the 1970's, and it was a very popular place for Saratoga visitors. Actresses Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine lived here as young girls with their mother in the early 1920's. Mrs. Bargas' culinary skills earned Lundblad's a listing in Duncan Hines' restaurant guide.

9. Saratoga Grammar School
14592 Oak Street
This school building, the fourth built on the site, was constructed in 1923. The architectural style is Spanish Colonial Revival, and the school exterior has changed very little over the years. The first public school was housed in the Sons of Temperance Hall built on this site in 1854. The now-silent bell once summoned students to class at the old school building that dated from 1898. Perhaps the most famous of its students were Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine.

10. Congregational Church Parsonage
14666 Oak Street
This residence was built about 1886 for the use of the Congregational Church pastor. The church, home of the first permanent religious organization in Saratoga, stood on Oak Street adjoining the school grounds. The Pioneer Greek Revival appearance of the house has been maintained.

11. William King House
14672 Oak Street
Built in 1870 as the home of William King, co-founder with his brother, Erwin T. King of the Saratoga Paper Mill, this house is of redwood construction in the Pioneer Colonial Revival Style.

12. Missionary Settlement House
14683 Oak Street
This Queen Anne cottage was built in 1897 by Clarence George. The Saratoga Congregational Church purchased it in 1907 for use by visiting members of the Saratoga Missionary Settlement Group.

13. Van Arsdale House
14690 Oak Street
The Queen Anne cottage was built around 1900. The cottage and tank house are all that remain of a large residence that burned in the 1920's.

14. Madronia Cemetery
14766 Oak Street
Madronia Cemetery dates back to the 1850's, when Jose Ramon Arguello donated land for a burial ground. Arguello, son of a California governor under Mexican rule, acquired a large section of Rancho Quito, a Mexican land grant. The first burial in 1854 is believed to have been a small boy drowned in the creek. The McCartysville (former name of Saratoga) residents formed a non-profit cemetery association named Madronia, after the red-trunked madrone trees on the site. Among those buried here is Mrs. John (Mary) Brown, widow of Civil War abolitionist, John Brown.

15. St. John's Episcopal Church
14700 Sixth Street
The first services were held here September 20, 1896. Sometime after 1923 the property was sold and services were held in the new Federated Church. Money from the sale was deposited in the Bishop's Fund and subsequently used when the present church of St. Andrew's was established.

16. Nardie House
14650 Sixth Street
This remodeled Victorian house is of the era of the 1890's.

17. John Henry House
14630 Big Basin Way
The original owner and builder of this house was John Henry, an engineer at the nearby Saratoga Paper Mill. He purchased the land from Hannah McCarty and built his home here in 1869. The building is built with local redwood and square nails in the Pioneer style, commonly found in early Saratoga.

18. Erwin T. King House
14605 Big Basin Way
This classic Colonial Salt Box house is thought to have been built in 1875-76. It was owned by a wagonmaker and blacksmith, John Chrisholm, who rented it to Erwin King, the wealthy co-owner of the Saratoga Paper Mill. King occupied the house from 1876 until the paper mill burned in 1883. During the town's lusty lumbering era (1883-1893), the building housed a saloon. In 1893, the building became a stage-stop called the Oriental Hotel, under the management of Mr. M. E. Pettis. The house was in a state of disrepair when Barbara (Mrs. Walter) Caldwell bought it in 1958 and restored it.

19. Pettis Livery Stable
14605 Big Basin Way (rear)
Mr. W. W. Pettis (relative of M. E. Pettis) operated his Santa Clara stage line from this barn, built In 1898, and stabled horses here. The stage line took passengers to Los Gatos to connect with the South Pacific Coast Railroad. Stage service was discontinued when the interurban railroad was constructed in the early 1900's.

20. Grover House
14521 Big Basin Way
This Pioneer Cottage was built in 1895.

21. Kocher/Green Store Building
14519 Big Basin Way
This Pioneer False-Front building was built in 1890 on Lumber Street by Daniel McCarty, son of Martin McCarty, founder, of the original village.

22. Samuel Cloud House and Cloud/Smith
General Store
14501-14503 Big Basin Way
These two connected buildings were built at different dates and had different uses. The store was built in 1884 by John Hutchinson. Samuel Cloud bought it in 1893 and continued its operation as a general store on the first floor and as a social hall on the second floor. Churches and other community groups used the upstairs rooms, known as Cloud's Hall, for meetings. In 1896, Cloud added a residence to the building for his wife and daughter. Later, his daughter, Laura, married Thomas Smith, who carried on the business after Cloud died in 1907, and it became known as Smith's Store. The Saratoga News office was at 14503 Big Basin Way from 1955 to 1980.

23. Samuel Cloud's Hay and Feed Warehouse
14503 Big Basin Way (rear)
This old barn was built by Samuel Cloud behind his general store in the 1890's. The warehouse was a storeroom for farm and horse supplies, the loft held bales of hay and oats, while the basement served as a stable.

24. Plaque Marking the Vicinity of McCarty's Toll Gate
Third Street and Big Basin Way
In 1850, Martin McCarty built a road to Campbell's Saw Mill in the mountains and operated a toll gate to collect fares from the lumber wagons. He laid out the surrounding land as building lots. The settlement that grew up here as Tollgate later became McCartysville. In 1865, the residents of the village voted to rename it "Saratoga.'

25. The Bank
14421 Big Basin Way
This Classic Revival brick building was the first bank in Saratoga, built and managed in 1913 by a group of local men. Later it became a Bank of America Branch office for a number of years.

26. Methodist-Episcopal Church
20490 Saratoga-Los Gatos Road
This church building was constructed in 1895. It ceased to function as a church and it was sold to artist Theodore Wores in 1924, who operated it as a studio-gallery until 1939. The building served as headquarters for the Red Cross and Civil Defense during World War II.