Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. 22 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1897.
From the record
“Holbrook-Palmer Estate, also known as Elmwood, is a historic estate and public park located at 150 Watkins Avenue in Atherton, California. The water tower (c.1883) and the carriage house (c.1897) were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 26, 2016.”
Wikipedia article Holbrook-Palmer Estate, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 63 National Register listings published here for San Mateo County · listed in 2016 · category: Building.
Architectural style. Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada, Colonial Revival architecture
National Register reference number. 16000663 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.
Then and now
1897 to 1997
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
18971997
Fires near this property
208 since 1992
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 208 fires within 5 miles of Holbrook-Palmer Estate, "Elmwood"
between 1992 and 2020, burning about 94 acres in total. None started naturally. 16 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
128
Equipment and vehicle use
26
Arson/incendiarism
16
Smoking
13
Misuse of fire by a minor
11
Debris and open burning
8
Recreation and ceremony
4
Other causes
1
Power generation/transmission/distribution
1
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
8 September 2010
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
under an acre
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
not named
6 September 2013
Equipment and vehicle use
1.2 acres
San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit
ALPINE
6 September 1993
Arson/incendiarism
under an acre
San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit
PIPE
5 September 2019
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
under an acre
San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit
not named
5 September 2011
Arson/incendiarism
under an acre
Santa Clara Unit
not named
5 September 2009
Debris and open burning
under an acre
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
not named
4 September 1992
Recreation and ceremony
1.0 acres
San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit
S.F. WATERSHED
30 September 2018
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
under an acre
California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
26 workings within 5 miles of Holbrook-Palmer Estate, "Elmwood": 11 producers, 9 past producers, 5 unknowns, 1 occurrence.
11 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Mercury, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Gypsum-Anhydrite. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Atherton, the town this property stands in, in 7 storm reports between 2014 and 2020: 5 flood, 1 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind.
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.
Heavy rain caused flooding of several trailer parks in Redwood City. The combination of standing water and a local creek flooding resulted in the need for residents to be evacuated from the Le Mar Trailer Park and RC Mobile Home Park on E Bayshore in Redwood City. 50 mobile homes were evacuated and residents were sent to shelters.
A tree fell on a house in the early morning in Atherton. A pine tree fell through the roof and into a bedroom. No injuries https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/Nobody-Injured-Christmas-Morning-After-Tree-Falls-13490931.php.
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.
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.
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.
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