San Luis Obispo County CA Archives Photo Place.....Parker-Davis House, Arroyo Grande 
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THE PARKER-DAVIS HOUSE 
Arroyo Grande, California

History and Description:

Local history tells us that Edgar W. Steele came from Monterey, California,
around 1885 and purchased land contained in four Mexican land grants:  Corral de
Piedra, Arroyo Grande, El Pismo, and Bolsa de Chamisal.

Charles Allan Pitkin, with his wife, Henrietta, and children came from Hartford,
Connecticut, and purchased some of this property and built a 14-room house.
Apparently Mr. Pitkin was a builder and built homes in the community and
probably built Arroyo Grande's first school.  The Edgar Conrow family lived in
the house for the next fifty years.

The property was purchased in 1957 by Ben W. Colburn, rancher and businessman,
of Tulare and Lindsay, California. Time, weather, and wind had taken its toll
and six thousand man hours went into the necessary painting, papering and
construction.  Mr. and Mrs. Colburn put much effort into planning, gathering
furniture, pictures, musical instruments and many other historical items.

Colburn's plans were to make the house into a historic museum, supplemented by
his unusual collection of coaches and carriages, also on the grounds.  He had
collected these for several years in parts of Europe and Canada.

Mr. and Mrs. Chris H. Parker moved into the now impressive and majestic home in
June, 1959, and carried on the Colburn plan of showing this generation how
people lived in the days of the early settlers.  The house contained marble
topped walnut bedroom furniture, organ, square grand piano, spinning wheel,
brass bed, velvet draperies, and other reminders of the past.

A barbeque steak house was constructed on the rear of the house in 1961. A huge
fireplace of native rock contains the grill from which steaks and lobster are
cooked in the tradition of the past.

Located in Arroyo Grande, on Valley Road between Highways 1 and 101, the
Parker-Davis House is obvious to any passerby on the street.  It sits along the
edge of the road, surrounded by a flat field, the only structure for miles on
its side of the street.

The home is three stories and has a basement inside its brick masonry base.  It
is all of timber, painted yellow with gray and red trim.  The fancy gingerbread
trimming of the house, once weathered and dilapidated, has been replaced by the
San Luis Mill and Lumber Company, which fashioned the original trim in 1886.

A flat, one-story restaurant portion has been added to the rear.  It has a
natural stone fireplace and a balcony on its roof.  Behind the house are four
structures, including servant quarters and storage sheds and barns.

Sources:
Telegram-Tribune, December 21, 1957
The Parker House—Antique Show Place, Santa Maria Library


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Discovering San Luis Obispo County
by
Carleton M. Winslow


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