The Victorian house at 127 Elder Street is one of the oldest buildings still standing in the Fallbrook area. Originally known as the Shipley Residence, it is recognized in the Fallbrook Historic Registry.

It was built in 1884 by Elmer Shipley, a West Fallbrook farmer. Recently arrived from Kansas, Sipley erected his home as part of a friendly three-man contest as to who could build the best home for only $3,000. He built a clapboard, two story Victorian house. Shipley did not win the contest, but his is the only one of the three houses still standing. Gables, rooms, and side wings have been added to the rambling farmhouse since it was first built for the lowest possible cost.

The Shipley residence originally stood in the vicinity of where the Berry Bell & Howell Mortuary is located today. Shipley’s property in 1894 was bordered east/west by Orange Ave and Vine Street and north/ south by Ivy and Juniper Streets (now E. Mission Rd.), (1) The large Shipley family lived here for many years.

Victor Westfall, a merchant, bought the Shipley house and moved the building to his property on Elder St. near the Santa Fe tracks, about 1923 when he renovated a house and sunk a well on this property.(2)
Mr. & Mrs. Westfall probably did not reside here on Elder St., next to the railroad tracks. They mostly lived in the old Westfall family home up on the hill at 210 S. Vine St. (originally known as Dr. Pruett’s Residence).

Dr. Pruett also once had a drug store and medical office at the corner of Elder & Main in 1889. (3) However, that old structure, if it was still standing, would have been cleared away in 1916 for the Santa Fe railroad tracks. Vic Westfall had to place the Shipley house and any other improvements far enough back out of Santa Fe’s right-of way. Westfall did plant a vineyard plus other fruits and vegetables around the old Shipley house on Elder. As Victor Westfall was occupied with managing his hardware store on Alvarado and Main, a series of caretakers likely cared for the Elder Street farm property.

Victor Westfall passed away at age 76 at his Vine Street home in 1961. The Elder Street house continued to be rented out. In 1970, the Elder St. house became a boarding house. The exterior stairway was first added at that time.(4) From 1971 to 1978 Walter Hammond was listed as the resident, or at least the only one with a telephone. (5) The building was unoccupied in 1979.

In 1980, new owner Charles McKay of Los Angeles did an exhaustive renovation of the Elder St. building to turn it into Grandma’s Restaurant. McKay found a high-water mark two feet high all around the ground floor, proof that gentle Fallbrook Creek which runs behind the old building had occasionally flooded the house before flood control measures were developed around Fallbrook streets in the 1990s. McKay raised the floor over four feet from the ground, putting in a new foundation, plus rebuilt the walls and the roof.

Grandma’s House Restaurant, was in business here from July 1982 thru 1983. The Fallbrook Inn Restaurant opened here in March 1984. The Fallbrook Inn was open Tuesday thru Sunday, with a surf and turf menu. There was a Sunday Brunch and dancing to live music Thurs, Fri, and Saturday evenings. (6)

In November 1985, the Fallbrook Inn changed its name to Tolini’s Italian American Restaurant to reflect a new menu. Tolini’s closed in late 1987 and was succeeded by the Elder House Restaurant in 1988 until about 1990. (7) In 1991 the historic building was vacant, vandalized and in disrepair. (8) For the remainder of the 1990s, portions of the building were rented as office space. In 1992, Straub Construction had its headquarters here. The building was unoccupied for much of the 1990s.

In the year 2000, the Fallbrook Country Day School, a pre-school, operated here. In 2003 the preschool became known as the Fallbrook Montessori School. (9)
In 2008, Cheryl Spelts Photography occupied the upstairs offices. In 2009, the Village News was headquartered here in the downstairs offices, sharing the building with Spelts photography until 2011 when Spelts moved out.

To clarify a minor point; the Fallbrook Village News was the first and only newspaper to be a tenant on this property. An incorrect report, repeated by several writers is that one of Fallbrook’s pioneer newspapers was once located on this property. The Fallbrook Union newspaper that briefly ran 1892-1893 was not here, it was actually located in a small building on Main Ave, north of Alvarado Street. This can be seen in the 1892 Sanborn-Perris map of Fallbrook. (10) The Village News on the ground floor of the Shipley building was here from 2009 thru 2012. (11)

The 127 Restaurant opened here in 2015. The restaurant was badly damaged in a fire in April 2016, (12) but it was rebuilt and re-open for business in mid-2018.

    Tom Frew,
    FHS Historian


    • 1) Fallbrook Historic Resources Inventory September 1991, prepared for San Diego County by Susan H. Carrico and S. Kathleen Flanigan. Copies at the Fallbrook Historical Society Museum.
    • 2) Fallbrook Enterprise November 9, 1923, and February 8, 1924.
    • 3) 1890 Sanborn-Perris map on file at Library of Congress and copies at the Fallbrook Historical Society Museum.
    • 4) Maie Ellis, a Pictorial History of Fallbrook.
    • 5) Telephone directories of Fallbrook 1970-1980.
    • 6) Fallbrook Enterprise January 31, 1985, published menu.
    • 7) Fallbrook Enterprise, January 31, 1985, Herb Torrens.
    • 8) Fallbrook Historic Resources Inventory September 1991, Carrico & Flanigan
    • 9) Telephone directories of Fallbrook 2000-2003
    • 10) 1890 Sanborn-Perris map on file at Library of Congress and copies at the Fallbrook Historical Society Museum.
    • 11) Telephone directories of Fallbrook 2008-2012
    • 12) Village News April 7, 2016.