William A. Whifler House

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. 21 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1892.

From the record

One of 63 National Register listings published here for San Mateo County · listed in 2016 · category: Building.

Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Listed as. Whifler, William A., House - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
Address. 1544 Drake Ave., Burlingame, 94010
When was it listed? March 2016
Category. building
Census division. South San Francisco
National Register reference number. 16000096 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.

Then and now

1892 to 1997

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 105 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering William A. Whifler House, surveyed 1997

Topographic sheet covering William A. Whifler House, surveyed 1892

Fires near this property

270 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 270 fires within 5 miles of William A. Whifler House between 1992 and 2020, burning about 144 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 25 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	151
Smoking	32
Equipment and vehicle use	30
Arson/incendiarism	25
Misuse of fire by a minor	13
Debris and open burning	8
Power generation/transmission/distribution	5
Natural	3
Recreation and ceremony	3

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 September 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	not named
9 September 1999	Natural	under an acre	San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit	PILARCITOS
7 September 2009	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	not named
7 September 2007	Smoking	under an acre	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	not named
4 September 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.1 acres	San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit	BEL AIRE RD THE_HIGHLAND
3 September 2009	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	not named
29 September 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit	CRYSTAL
28 September 2011	Smoking	under an acre	San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit	not named

Every fire recorded in San Mateo County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 18 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of William A. Whifler House: 10 past producers, 8 producers. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Magnesite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Brumley-Donaldson Co.	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Marine Magnes Div.	Magnesite	Producer
Marine Magnes Div.	Magnesite	Past Producer
Marine Magnesium Co. Seawater Plant	Magnesite	Producer
Pacific Coast Aggregates, Inc.	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Rockaway	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Casey	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Casey	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
H. P. A.	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer	Sedimentary
H. P. A.	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer

Every working recorded in San Mateo County

Storms near this property

3 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Burlingame, the town this property stands in, in 3 storm reports between 2018 and 2026: 2 flood, 1 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
January 2026	Flood	Burlingame	-	One lane of northbound Interstate 280 was flooded at Trousdale Drive.
February 2019	Flood	Burlingame	-	Approx 3 feet of water on off ramp of I-280 S and Trousdale Dr.
February 2018	Hail	Burlingame	-	Several reports via social media of small hail around Millbrae/Burlingame. Hail size around or smaller than peas.

Every storm recorded in San Mateo County

Maps showing this location

21 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1892 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500
1896 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500
1899 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500 - 6 printings
1915 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500 - 6 printings
1939 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500 - 3 printings
1943 USGS San Mateo quadrangle1:62500
1947 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
1948 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
1949 USGS Montara Mountain quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings
1955 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
1956 USGS Montara Mountain quadrangle1:24000 - 5 printings
1956 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000 - 4 printings
1957 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
1960 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
1961 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
1964 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
1971 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
1978 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings
1985 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
1993 USGS Montara Mountain quadrangle1:24000
1997 USGS Montara Mountain quadrangle1:24000

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Kohl Mansion	0.4 miles	1982
Southern Pacific Depot	0.9 miles	1978
Howard-Ralston Eucalyptus Tree Rows	1.1 miles	2012
Newhall Estate	1.1 miles	2007
Burlingame Railroad Station	1.9 miles	1978
Carolands, The	2.3 miles	1975

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 16000096 in Record Group 79.
San Mateo County	All 63 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.