>> A FUN LIST OF 10 ODD THINGS STANFORD OWNS, FROM A GOLF COURSE TO A FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT HOUSE.
As Santa Clara County’s biggest property owner, Stanford University boasts some remarkable sights within its borders — and some that are downright strange. Here are 10 highlights:
10 >> THE RED BARN
Built between 1878and 1880, the Red Barn is one of the few surviving remnants of the horse farm Leland Stanford originally operated here. That farm made history in 1878when photographer Eadweard Muybridge, using brand-new photographic technology, sought to answer the question of the day: When a horse gallops, does it momentarily lift all four feet off the ground at once? The answer is yes, and Muybridge’s experiments in Stanford’s paddock set the stage for the invention of the motion picture 10years later. Today the historic barn houses the Stanford Equestrian Team.
9 >> THE DISH
It’s a local icon and a favorite destination for hikers, but what does it do? Built in 1961 on Stanford land in the foothills outside campus, the Dish is a giant radio telescope that has been used to research the Earth’s atmosphere and transmit signals to NASA space probes. It’s still in use.
8 >> HERBERT HOOVER’S HOUSE
President Herbert Hoover, who graduated with Stanford’s inaugural class in 1895, returned in 1919with his wife, Lou Henry Hoover, and had a house built on campus. Today the house is the home of the president of Stanford.
7 >> STANFORD GOLF COURSE
The 18-hole course is open to members, as well as Stanford students, faculty, staff — and alumni such as Tom Watson, Michelle Wie and Tiger Woods.
6 >> FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT HOUSE
The Hanna House was built by the famous architect in 1936for Stanford Professor Paul Hanna and his wife. Today the house is a private residence, but it’s occasionally open to the public for limited tours. The next tour dates have not yet been announced.
5 >> MARK ZUCKERBERG’S OLD HOUSE
Before the Facebook founder was such a big shot that he could drop $30 million to scoop up the four
houses on either side of his Palo Alto home, Mark Zuckerberg rented a house in the College Terrace neighborhood a stone’s throw from Stanford. The university bought the house on Amherst Street for $3.65million in 2016, according to MLSListings.
4 >> THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE
More than 1,000acres of what is now Stanford land once belonged to Frenchman Peter Coutts — a political dissident whose real name was Jean-Baptiste Paulin Caperon. He bought the land surrounding Palo Alto’s College Terrace neighborhood in the 1870s to build a dairy farm. Today, his lasting imprint includes two odd relics. In Frenchman’s Park, there’s a brick bridge that crosses nothing but grass but once likely spanned part of a reservoir. And there’s the medievallooking brick tower off Old Page Mill Road, which may have been part of an irrigation system, or a library. To make it even stranger: The tower has no doors.
3 >> JAIL RUINS
While researching how to make part of their lands more hospitable to the threatened California redlegged frog, Stanford biologists and archaeologists in 2017 came upon an unexpected find: the ruins of an old county jail. Built off what is now Old Page Mill Road in the early 1900s, the jail housed petty criminals who were forced to mine basalt from nearby quarries to pave El Camino Real and other streets. Historians say it appears Leland Stanford’s wife, Jane Stanford, leased the land to the county for the jail’s construction.
2 >> ANCIENT PETROGLYPHS
The Muwekma Ohlone Native Americans lived on what is now Stanford land for 7,000years. Archeologists have discovered eight ancient village sites on university property in unincorporated Santa Clara County, including petroglyphs and mortars carved into the bedrock. Good luck finding these ancient treasures. Their locations are confidential per federal and state law.
1 >> THE REMAINS OF THE STANFORD FAMILY
The bodies of Stanford University founders Leland and Jane Stanford and their son, Leland Jr., are interred on campus. Their stone crypt, near Palm and Campus drives, was built in 1888 to house 15-year-old Leland Jr., who died of typhoid fever and inspired his parents to build a university in his name. His parents eventually were laid to rest there, too. Today, students visit the tomb both to engage in raucous Halloween festivities and to drop off prayers written on the back of class assignments.