Preserving Our History

One House at a Time

Rockhead and Quarry specializes in saving and restoring historic houses in the San Francisco East Bay area. Our houses are all pre-1910 homes that are in largely original condition, but with updated systems.

Our Expertise

We have restored bungalows, victorians, foursquare and chalet style houses. We have moved houses to new locations, and done extensive restorations. Our rental properties are houses with a great deal of history, where families have lived for many years – yours can too.

Kenney Cottage Update

The Kenney Cottage, an 1887 “kit” house, that was temporarily located on University Avenue, has been disassembled. The Kenney Cottage was designed by William R. Elford (1841–1903), who created a method of assembling houses from old-growth redwood.

The Kenney Cottage is now safely stored where it is dry and protected. When a new lot is identified, we will reassemble the house on that site.

Although attributing the house to the wrong kit house designer, there is  more of the fascinating history of this unassuming yet amazing house on the BAHA website.

The Kenney Cottage, preparing to move again

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“These old buildings do not belong to us only, they belong to our forefathers and they will belong to our descendants unless we play them false. They are not in any sense our own property to do with as we like with them. We are only trustees for those that come after us.” -William Morris

“He who loves an old house never loves in vain.” -Isabel La Howe Conant

“A building does not have to be an important work of architecture to become a first-rate landmark. Landmarks are not created by architects. They are fashioned by those who encounter them after they are built. The essential feature of a landmark is not its design, but the place it holds in a city’s memory. Compared to the place it occupies in social history, a landmark’s artistic qualities are incidental.” -Herbert Muschamp