Full Review: Rengstorff House

This historic house and garden is located within Shoreline Park.  There are three nearby free parking lots.  One is adjacent to the house, one is off of Shoreline Road behind Michael’s restaurant and one is near Shoreline Lake. 

 

Henry Rengstorff grew up in Bremen, Germany.  He was lured to California by stories of the Gold Rush. Rengstorff left home at the age of 21 in 1850 to find gold in California.  He was a little too late to join in the Gold Rush, so he took a shipping job on a bay steamer traveling between San Francisco and Alviso.  Later, Rengstorff decided to work as a farm laborer in Santa Clara Valley, where he saved enough money to buy land and manage his own farm.  In 1864, Rengstorff bought the 164 acres of land (currently Shoreline Park) where he built the Rengstorff House. The house was restored in 1991. 

 

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 Entrance to Rengstorff house and parking lot

 

It is an example of Victorian Italianate architecture. 

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                               The Rengstorff house

 

The house hosts antique furnishings and wall & ceiling treatments by Bradbury & Bradbury.  There are beautiful gardens surrounding the home where you can stroll or sit and relax on benches.

 

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      Bench in the garden