The Endangered 8: 2025
San José's Most Threatened Architectural and Cultural Landmarks
Learn More and Take Action!
Donate to History San Jose's Sakauye Farmhouse Fund.
Read a May 2025 joint statement from History San Jose, the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, and PAC*SJ.
Read the Historic Resources Evaluation for the Sakauye Farm site and learn more about the approved project now under construction to replace it.
Learn more about Eiichi Sakauye in these profiles:
The Californian (1982)
CalToday (1982)
California Pioneers (2005)
Densho Archive (Eiichi Sakauye interviews and film footage of Heart Mountain)
Sakauye Farmhouse
Location:
2620 Seely Avenue
Date:
Built c.1935
Architect:
Unknown
Threat:
Redevelopment
In February 2025, bulldozers razed the 11-acre farmstead and orchards of Eiichi Sakauye (1912-2005), a second-generation Japanese-American farmer and horticulturalist whose incarceration in the Heart Mountain concentration camp during WWII inspired a lifetime of civic leadership and education to redress the injustices of the internment. Preservation advocates negotiated with the City of San José and the developer Hanover Company to temporarily spare one building on the site, the farmhouse that Eiichi built in the 1930s, reclaimed following internment, and lived in for the remainder of his life. However, it must be relocated off-site to History Park by November 2025 or it too will be erased forever. PAC*SJ is now working closely with History San José and the Japanese-American Museum of San José to raise the estimated $600,000 still needed to move and restore the house at History Park, where it can host educational programs and exhibits honoring Eiichi Sakauye’s legacy as a farmer and educator.
MEDIA COVERAGE
San Jose Spotlight, "Housing in North San Jose is underway on former Japanese farmland," May 16, 2025
San Jose Spotlight, "San Jose park to replace historical Japanese farmhouse," May 5, 2025
Mercury News, "Preservationists and councilmember plead with San Jose to help relocate historic Japanese farmhouse," May 2, 2025
Costar.com, "Can this old house be part of new apartment complex? Officials try a new development approach," Sept. 11, 2024.
KPIX/CBS News Bay Area, "Preservationists hope to preserve historic Silicon Valley farm from development," Sept. 3, 2024
AsAm News, "Historic Japanese American home may be saved from demolition," Aug. 30, 2024.
NBC Bay Area, "Historic San Jose home faces uncertain future," August 22, 2024.
San Jose Spotlight, "Historic Japanese farmhouse in San Jose will be saved," August 20, 2024.
KQED, "San José Council OKs Development of Historic Japanese American Farm for Housing," August 14, 2024.
KQED, "Historic Japanese American Family Farm is About to Fade into Much-Needed Housing in San Jose," August 9, 2024
San Jose Spotlight, "San Jose development advances despite historical significance," July 2, 2024
Nichi Bei News, "Redevelopment of Sakauye farm could demolish potentially significant farm house," March 5, 2024