The Weilheimer House
By Nick Perry MVHA Vice President
The City Council will soon be asked to decide the fate of one of our city ’ s most notable historic structures , the Weilheimer House , located at 938 Villa Street . Today , the house is known throughout the region as Chez TJ , one of the Bay Area ’ s most notable fine-dining establishments . But its history stretches far past the arrival of any Michelin stars in Mountain View .
To understand the significance of the Weilheimer House , we need to go back all the way to the original founding of Mountain View in the 1850s and share the history of the Weilheimer family , one of Mountain View ’ s leading pioneer families and one of the few Jewish families to settle in the region during its earliest era of development .
The Weilheimer House as featured on the front page of the Mtn . View Register on March 5 , 1905 .
In the 1850s , the primary mode of travel on the Peninsula was stagecoach and the most popular route traversed El Camino Real , then known as the San Francisco-San Jose Road . A natural stopping point was where the road forded Stevens Creek and a stagecoach stop was established . Throughout the 1850s and 1860s , a diverse group of enterprising pioneers opened businesses near the stagecoach stop and named their town “ Mountain View .”
Among those original pioneers were brothers Seligman and Samuel Weilheimer . Seligman arrived in the area in 1852 from Dossenheim , Germany . His brother followed three years later and together they opened a general merchandise store in Mountain View . In 1856 , Seligman married Sophie Baer . After their wedding in San Francisco they took the stagecoach to their new home in Mountain View , where Sophie helped the brothers run their general store .
When the newly constructed railroad ( today ’ s Caltrain ) bypassed Mountain View in 1864 , a “ New Mountain View ” emerged near the train depot . Castro Street became the new community ’ s downtown . The Weilheimers were among the first merchants to set up shop on Castro Street ; they opened a second branch of their general store ( Mountain View ’ s first “ chain ” store !) at 124 Castro Street in 1870 . It was originally known as the “ Farmer ’ s Store .” The one-story Italianate commercial building is still there today ; likely now one of the oldest commercial buildings standing in northern Santa Clara County .
The Weilheimers expanded their businesses in New Mountain View . As noted in Milestones : A History of Mountain View ,
The Weilheimers ’ Farmer ’ s Store ( left ) and the Weilheimer ’ s Hotel ( right ) were two of the first buildings on Castro Street .
The Weilheimer House as it appears today .
“ A visitor stepping off the train in Mountain View would immediately see Weilheimer ’ s Hotel with its adjacent livery and horse corral that faced Front Street [ now Evelyn Avenue ].” In 1882 , Samuel and his family moved to San Francisco . Seligman remained and continued to run the family businesses and also became the town ’ s Wells Fargo agent .
Seligman and Sophie ’ s children were among the very first generation to be born and reared in Mountain View . Their son Julius grew up to become one of the town ’ s earliest civic leaders . From 1886 to 1889 , he served as the town ’ s postmaster . Upon his father ’ s death in 1899 , Julius took over operation of the general store . During that same year , Julius married Fannie Ickleheimer . The town ’ s affection for Julius is evident in the article recounting their wedding in the Mountain View Register :
“ Our popular young merchant Julius Weilheimer and Miss Fannie Ickleheimer married in San Francisco last Sunday . Julius Weilheimer , ‘ our Julius ’, who has for so many years succeeded in running the gauntlet of brighteyed maidens and disiguiing [ sic ] mamas , capitulated and joined the army of more or less happy benedicts , by leading to the altar Miss Fannie Ickleheimer of San Francisco .”
Julius Weilheimer
The paper went on to note that the Weilheimers would , “… go at once to their new home , which has been furnished and fitted
... Continued on Page 5 4 4