Upham House

Carpenter Gothic Revival with Neo-Classic overtones built around 1898, an example of transitional building patterns between the end of the Victorian era and beginning of Classical Revival period. Early occupants were railroad employees H.S. Trousdale (1904) and John Mathlers (1912) and S.L.O. pioneer businessman and banker J.P. Andrews in 1914 at age 90.

The house at 779 Buchan is an interesting example of a vernacular rendition of the late Carpenter Gothic with Neo-Classic overtones reflecting the tendency for architectural hybridization in the Central Coast. The structure incorporates elements of Carpenter Gothic and other Victorian motifs. The alternate shingle and wood siding on the gable exterior and Gothic style elongated windows are attributes of Victorian designs on the first floor. The classic proportions of the windows with Ionic columnns flanking the porch entry are features of Neo-Colonial architecture. Built in the 1890s or at least before 1903, this house is an illustration of transitional building patterns that occurred between the close of the Victorian era and the beginning of Classic Revival. Of histori­cal importance is the fact that one prominent 19th-century pioneer businessman in San Luis Obispo, J.P. Andrews, resided here in 1914 at the age of 90. At that time he was a boarder at what was then the home owned by W.A. Rideout, Secretary and Treasurer of the Cosmopolitan Garage and Machine Co. Andrews had built the landmark Andrews Building downtown and had resided most of his adult life at an old adobe known historically as the Andrews Adobe. John Mathlers, a gas agent for the Pacific Coast Railroad, lived here in 1912. In 1904, this was the residence of Mrs. Mary L. Elliott, and later S.Q. Darling.

Page 54 of the 1904 San Luis Obispo Fireman Souvenir book.