36 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM HISTORY the survivor Valparaiso Park, in Fair Oaks, an area known for its ample trees that would later bear his name. Atherton’s peers followed suit and soon estates were cropping up everywhere. Nearby estates included Linden Towers, a “white castle” of cupolas and turrets, as well as Fennwood, with gilded detailing, a stained-glass skylight and a two-bedroom “guest tower.” Our Colonial Revival, nicknamed Gateways, was completed in 1902 for Joseph Frank, a tanner who made his fortune churning out tons upon tons of leather hides from his factory each month. Sadly, he barely had time to settle in. After Joseph’s death two years later, the property passed to the Weir family. It was their daughter, Eleanor Weir Tilden, and her girlfriends who hosted the first Menlo Though most homes don’t survive a century, giving way to the bulldozer of progress, a precious few endure, bearing witness to bygone eras. One such gem, a Colonial Revival beauty built in 1902, stands as a testament to the intriguing history of Atherton. But before meeting the house itself, it helps to step back into the world that shaped it. At the turn of the 20th century, the Peninsula was experiencing a remarkable shift from its wilder ranch roots to an era of grand country estates. Before the affluent descended on San Mateo County with an appetite for pastoral luxury, large swathes of the region—including the future town of Atherton—belonged to a 35,000-acre parcel of land called Rancho de las Pulgas where the Arguello family raised cattle and horses. By the mid-1800s, however, the family began selling off portions of land to San Francisco’s early elite, city dwellers eager to swap foggy urban cityscapes for lavish summer homes. They craved a setting where they could spend sun-drenched afternoons in their sprawling gardens and on long idyllic horse rides through the countryside. One of the first to make the move was Faxon Dean Atherton, a Massachusetts-born merchant with a thriving shipping business. He built his estate, christened {punchline} ORIGINAL PHOTO COURTESY OF: DONNA MCMASTER / THIS IMAGE WAS ENHANCED WITH AI RENDERING.
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