The Old Yellow House: Orinda's Railroad-Era Historic House
At 209 Moraga Way stands one of Orinda's oldest buildings. The Old Yellow House dates to the 1890s and may be the oldest structure in town after the Moraga Adobe.
Built for a railroad
The house was built as a bunkhouse for the California & Nevada Railroad, beside the line's old track bed, and painted the railroad's station yellow. The Orinda Historical Society credits a Captain Jenkins with building it in 1894. The railroad went bankrupt before any crew moved in.
The mystery of the two front doors
Ever noticed it has two front doors? Railroad buildings in the West often had separate spaces for different groups of workers. That history makes the two doors of the Old Yellow House a plausible, if unconfirmed, remnant of that segregation.
A family refuge from the 1918 flu
In 1918 Charles and Karen Nelson moved their family here from Albany to escape the Spanish flu, which had killed their infant son. The house had no heat, plumbing, gas or electricity, and Moraga Road was a dirt wagon road. The Nelsons farmed the land and kept the house until 2009.
Yellow, then pink, then yellow again
Ezra's sister Mabel repainted the house salmon in 1991. Architect James Wright bought it in 2012, sought Historic Landmark status, restored the original yellow, and rebuilt it as a net-zero energy home. By 2022 he was turning it into a museum of sustainability.
Next time you pass 209 Moraga Way, look for the two front doors.
Sources
Old Yellow House, catalog entry, Orinda Historical Society
Keeping an Eye on the Old Yellow House, Lamorinda Weekly, June 2012
Old Yellow House Progresses through Historic Landmark Designation Process, Lamorinda Weekly, November 2012
Old yellow house opens to public for fourth Fandango, Lamorinda Weekly, August 2017
Four pillars of Orinda honored by trees planted at the Old Yellow House, Lamorinda Weekly, March 2022
Chinese Labor and the Iron Road, National Park Service
** Image courtesy of Orinda Historical Society
