News - Suspicious fire destroys historic house in San Jose

News - Suspicious fire destroys historic house in San Jose:

Suspicious fire destroys historic house in San Jose

By Leslie Griffy

SAN JOSE -- A 126-year-old house built for a member of the Donner party went up in flames Thursday morning, turning centuries worth of California and San Jose history and at least a decade worth of contentious redevelopment wrangling into smoke.

The 'highly suspicious' blaze fully engulfed the Houghton Donner House on North Fourth and East St. John streets by the time firefighters arrived shortly before 4 a.m., fire Battalion Chief Jose Guerrero said.

Today, history buffs and developers will see if any portions of the 5,000-square-foot home's charred facade can be saved and incorporated into other buildings.

The house is considered by some to be 'the most historic building in San Jose,' Guerrero said.

Fire crews will stay at the site to douse any flare-ups for the next couple of days, Guerrero said. The investigation into what sparked the blaze is ongoing.

The house was built in 1881 for Eliza Donner -- a survivor of the Donner party, a group of early California settlers caught in a deadly blizzard in 1846 trying to cross the Sierra -- and her husband, Sherman Otis Houghton, San Jose's fourth mayor, a lieutenant colonel during the Civil War.

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