"Perhaps the grandest prefab in town, the home was originally designed and built by Andrew Jackson Downing, a notable architect in New York in the early 1850s, for John Nelson Webster and Caroline Webster (hence the name). It was later broken down for its voyage to the Bay Area on a ship that rounded Cape Horn, as the Panama Canal wouldn't be completed for another 60 years years. According to the Library of Congress, the journey could "easily take five months.""
"The most recent owners converted 1238 Versailles Ave. back to a six-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom single family home with a detached studio situated on a roomy 6,608-square-foot lot. Conveniently located near restaurants and shops on Park Street, the home is also a nature lover's paradise. "The large front yard and mature trees offer quiet, privacy, and cooler temperatures in the summer, and houses a variety of adorable squirrels and birds," wrote seller Roger Billerey, who moved away for professional opportunities, in an email to SFGATE."
The Webster House, built in 1854, is a Gothic Revival cottage in Alameda and is considered the city's oldest home. The prefab design originated with architect Andrew Jackson Downing in New York and was disassembled and shipped around Cape Horn to California, a voyage that could take about five months. The house suffered two fires in the late 1800s and early 1920s and operated as a bed and breakfast in the 1990s and 2000s. Recent owners restored the property to a single-family layout with six bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, and a detached studio on a 6,608-square-foot lot. Mature trees, a large front yard, and proximity to Park Street shops add privacy and convenience.
Read at SFGATE
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