Shoup House First Los Altos Property on National Register of Historic Places

The “Father of Los Altos”, Paul Shoup, would be proud: the home he and his wife Rose lovingly built in 1910 and raised their family in is now officially on the National Register of Historic Places—the first property in Los Altos to achieve such status.

Tricia and Bill Jennings, the home’s current owners, learned on Friday that their many years of planning, restoration and application to the Department of the Interior had paid off with the designation.

The program identifies places and structures that are considered important national historic or archeological resources worthy of preservation. Paul Shoup is credited for his role in the expansion of the Southern Pacific Railway throughout California and the Western United States, his promotion of California through Sunset Magazine, and as one of four founders of Los Altos in 1907, among many other accomplishments.

The Jennings bought the Craftsman home at 500 University Avenue in 2003 when it was already on the city’s list of historic resources.

“We moved in and thought it would be great to get on the national register,” Tricia Jennings said Monday.

What followed were several years of planning to strip down the house to its original look and feel from a century ago. Construction began in 2009, removing layers of modern flooring, sheetrock, and paint to reveal beautiful details, such as the original narrow-plank wood floors.

In just one example of the restoration process, the original color of the home’s woodwork—painted over with white lead paint at one point—was found in an interior closet. The paint was stripped, and the woodwork was stained to match the original hue.

Flooring, lighting and other details added around 1990 were removed, and treasures such as the original fireplace—which had been relocated in an earlier renovation—and mantel were restored their former luster.

To celebrate completion of the construction last November, . They invited Paul’s and Rose’s descendents to stay in the house the night before.

The couple also invited to the party the family of Shoichi Kagawa, the Shoup’s on-site gardener and caretaker for many years, until the family of eight was relocated to a Japanese internment camp in 1942.

The Jennings are raising their four children in the home on the shore of Adobe Creek, where the three Shoup children and six Kagawa children once played.

Their reward for all their hard work of getting permits, restoration, and applying for the designation as a national historic place? They get to buy their very own plaque to display on the home, Tricia Jennings said.