The Amelia Vollers House: An 1891 Queen Anne Victorian in San Mateo.

Patricia McDaniel

The Courthouse Docket continues on April 26 at 1 p.m. as Patricia McDaniel, discusses the The Amelia Vollers House: An 1891 Queen Anne Victorian in San Mateo.

The Amelia Vollers House was built on one of many lots in the Western Addition of San Mateo, formerly part of the William Howard Estate. The land was purchased at auction in 1889 by Amelia Vollers, a Russian immigrant to the United States. The house, a Queen Anne Victorian, was built by James Tannahill in 1891, before San Mateo was incorporated as a city. The presentation will feature photos of the house, its distinctive architecture, and some of the work done to repair and restore it. The presentation will also include a discussion of how the history of the house was uncovered by the former owners, and how they attempted to preserve that history.

Patricia McDaniel is a former owner of the Vollers House, and a retired sociologist. When she and her spouse Brian purchased the house in 2010, no one knew exactly when it had been built. Searching for an answer to this seemingly simple question led them to various local archives and sparked an interest in knowing even more about the early history of the house. Patricia and Brian sold the house in 2021, and moved across the Bay to Oakland, California.

Previously on the Courthouse Docket

On June 7, 2024, Michael Flanagan presented LBGTQ+ Peninsula History from the Early 20th Century.

If you have questions about previous Courthouse Dockets, please email [email protected].

Cypress Lawn Heritage Foundation logo

The Courthouse Docket is a series of presentations held in the History Museum’s Historic Courtroom A. The Courthouse Docket Series is sponsored by Cypress Lawn Heritage Foundation.