Vernon-Brannan House

112-114 J Street

Built 1853

Restoration

This property offers an interesting view of real estate and business naming rights in Gold Rush Sacramento.

City pioneer Samuel Brannan purchased this lot for $12,000 in 1849. Soon after, H.E. Robinson ran the city’s first land-based post office from this site. In 1853, Robinson purchased the lot from Brannan. He paid Brannan one dollar for the lot. Robinson then built a 3-story brick structure for $32,000. Robinson named it the “Jones Hotel.” The Sacramento Society of California Pioneers also founded their organization here in 1854.

In 1855-1856, Miss O.J. Clark operated a boarding house at this site. She re-named the building, “The Vernon House.” In 1865, the property’s original owner, Samuel Brannan, purchased the lot for $7,000 from H.E. Robinson. Brannan raised the building for the street-elevation project. He, then, re-named the building, “The Brannan House.” Women proprietors operated boarding houses at the site throughout the rest of the 1860s and the early 1870s.