Tanforan cottages

Tanforan cottages (so called because of the family that lived here) are the oldest surviving residential structures in the neighborhood. They were built in 1853 and survived the 1906 earthquake and fire, allowing us to imagine what the streets here looked like before they were burned down to ash and rebuilt. There are only ten or so buidlings of this age surviving in the city. Toribio Tanforan was a gaucho from Chile who claimed to be a Spanish Grandee. He had a ranch in San Bruno and dealt in cattle. This piece of land has belonged to him since 1846. He built the two cottages for his daughter Mary, and they were handed down in the family for a century.