The Hostess House is a historic house in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...

. It was built in 1918 by the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

for members of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

to meet their relatives while they were still serving in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. With The Hostess House was originally located in

Camp Fremont Camp Fremont was a World War I-era military base located near Palo Alto, California. Construction started in July 1917 and the post closed in September, 1919. The post was named for John C. Frémont, a US Army officer and government official who was ...

The building operated as a hostess house from May through October 1918. The house was designed by architect

Julia Morgan Julia Morgan (January 20, 1872 – February 2, 1957) was an American architect and engineer. She designed more than 700 buildings in California during a long and prolific career.Erica Reder"Julia Morgan was a local in ''The New Fillmore'', 1 Febr ...

. It has been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

since July 30, 1976. The building moved locations after World War I ended and was repurposed into a municipally sponsored community center, the first in the nation.

Landmark status

The registration for the site of Hostess House home as a historic resource dates back to April 2, 1976. A commemorative plaque that designates this site as

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...

895 plaque commemorating the Hostess House at 27 University Avenue, Palo Alto, California. The plaque was placed by the

California State Parks The California Department of Parks and Recreation, more commonly known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. The system administers 279 separate park units on 1.4 million acres (570,000 hectares), with over 280 ...

in cooperation with the city of Palo Alto, on November 11, 1976. The inscription on the marker reads:

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in California National Register of Historic Places in Santa Clara County, California Houses completed in 1918 Clubhouses in California {{SantaClaraCountyCA-NRHP-stub