Francisco Sanchez, commandante of the San Francisco Presidio, received Rancho San Pedro in 1839 and built an adobe in the San Pedro Valley between 1842 and 1846, on the site of the Mission Dolores outpost. It is widely believed he reused bricks from the outpost.
Edward Kirkpatrick bought the property in 1871 and enlarged the house to twenty rooms. It later served as a hotel, a Prohibition speakeasy and a farm building for artichoke growers. San Mateo County bought it in 1947 and completed a restoration in 1953. It is National Register site and California Historical Landmark 391, and the San Mateo County History Museum runs it as a free house museum. Each September it hosts Rancho Days.