The HP Garage is a private

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

where the company

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

(HP) was founded. It is located at 367 Addison Avenue in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

. It is considered to be the "Birthplace of

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

". In the 1930s,

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and its Dean of Engineering Frederick Terman began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay in the area instead of leaving California, and develop a high-tech region. HP founders

Bill Hewlett William Redington Hewlett ( ; May 20, 1913 – January 12, 2001) was an American engineer and the co-founder, with David Packard, of the Hewlett-Packard, Hewlett-Packard Company (HP). Early life and education Hewlett was born in Ann Arbor, Mic ...

and David Packard are considered the first Stanford students who took Terman's advice. The garage has since been designated a

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. Though not open for public tours, the property can be viewed from the sidewalk and driveway.

History

The home, originally designated as 367 Addison Avenue, was first occupied in 1905 by John Spencer, his wife Ione, and their two adult daughters. John Spencer became Palo Alto's first mayor in 1909. In 1918, the house was divided into two separate apartments, numbered 367 and 369. In 1937, David "Dave" Packard, then 25 years old, visited William "Bill" Hewlett in Palo Alto and the pair had their first business meeting. Both men attended

, where its Dean of Engineering Frederick Terman encouraged his students to establish their own electronics companies in the area instead of leaving California. In 1938, newly married Dave and Lucile Packard moved into 367 Addison Ave, the first-floor three-room apartment, with Bill Hewlett sleeping in the shed. Mrs. Spencer, now widowed, moved into the second-floor apartment, 369 Addison. Hewlett and Packard began to use the one-car garage, with $538 () in capital. In 1939, Packard and Hewlett formed their partnership with a coin toss, creating the name Hewlett-Packard. Hewlett-Packard's first product, built in the garage, was an audio oscillator, the HP 200A. One of Hewlett-Packard's first customers was Walt Disney Studios, which purchased eight oscillators to test and certify the sound systems in theaters that were going to run the first major film released in

stereophonic sound Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

, '' Fantasia''. File:367-369 Addison Ave., Palo Alto front.JPG , 367-369 Addison Avenue File:HP garage nat'l historic landmark plaque.JPG , California Historic Landmark plaque File:TheGarage2.jpg, Garage as seen from front walk

Historical designations

* California registered landmark, 1987 *

, 2007

References

External links

Rebuilding HP's Garage
{{National Register of Historic Places Buildings and structures in Palo Alto, California Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in California Hewlett-Packard History of Silicon Valley Houses in Santa Clara County, California National Register of Historic Places in Santa Clara County, California Tourist attractions in Santa Clara County, California