After the Hayes family’s wooden mansion burned in 1899, Mary Chynoweth commissioned architect George Page in 1903 to build a fire-safe replacement large enough for three households. The estate was nearly self-sufficient, with its own power plant, post office, railroad station and chapel. Her sons Everis and Jay Orly Hayes helped build the valley’s fruit industry and published the San Jose Mercury; Jay founded the California Prune and Apricot Growers Association, which became Sunsweet.
The family sold the property in the 1950s and it fell into disrepair. The city bought it in 1985 and it reopened in 1994 as a meeting venue and hotel, set in the 20-acre Edenvale Gardens park. It is a California Historical Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.