The land next door to the Wyant-Smith Funeral Home at 160 N. Sunnyvale Avenue used to host the former guesthouse for Joshua Hendy Iron Works. This parcel is now slated for development, but due to intervention from the city of Sunnyvale, the house has avoided the wrecking ball. It has instead found a new home around the corner on California Avenue, with a Sunnyvale resident intent on preserving the home's history.

"I've owned it since 1969," says Dick Smith, owner of the Wyant-Smith Funeral Home. "But I'm 65, and I kept thinking that I should be doing something with that land."

About two years ago, Smith began looking into the possibility of building homes on the parcel, which measures 50 feet by 285 feet.

But before the city would sign off on the proposal, it requested a study on the house to determine its historical value. All that Smith knew was that his business partners had bought the house and surrounding property in 1956 after the house had had a string of owners that was eventually traced back to the Hendy family.

The study showed that John Hendy, the nephew of the Hendy Iron Works founder, bought 12 lots of the Crossman Park subdivision in 1907. After the iron works moved to Sunnyvale from San Francisco, Hendy and his wife, Albertie, moved into a house they built on the Crossman property in 1913, which was then known as 158 N. Sunnyvale Ave. This street was one of the more glamorous locales in Sunnyvale at the time and was just around the corner from the iron works.

At some point before 1920, the Hendys built a smaller house on the same property, known as 158¹/2 N. Sunnyvale Ave. Records show that at various times, the family allowed relatives to live in the house or rented it out. Albertie Hendy and her daughter, Gladys, inherited the property upon John Hendy's death in 1920. Gladys sold the guesthouse in 1945, and before Howard Wyant bought it in 1956, it served both as a residence and as the Sunday school building for the First Assembly of God of Sunnyvale.

When Smith took over the funeral home, he also bought the guesthouse. After 1956, the address was adjusted from 158¹/2 to 160 N. Sunnyvale Ave. "I've babied this thing for 40 years," Smith says. For most of that time, Smith has rented the house out.

After receiving the historical report, the city requested that Smith try to find someone to take the house for free. "I posted it for 60 days and got hundreds of calls," Smith says. "I got calls from Idaho; I got calls in the middle of the night." But none of those leads worked out, until Terry Hawkins walked down Sunnyvale Avenue on his way to lunch downtown in late April. Hawkins lives just around the corner on California Avenue—and owns the vacant lot next door.

"I deliberated for a few months, but I didn't know if I wanted a 90-year-old home and the risk associated with moving it," Hawkins says. While the house was free, he had to pay for moving costs.

"But I caught the vision—the old guesthouse belonged in the neighborhood," he says.

Combining the two lots required a lot-line adjustment and a General Plan amendment, which took place in 1995 when Hawkins first thought of putting another structure on his property. He just had to clear away trees and shrubs, accidentally knocking down a streetlight in the process.

But his neighbors are supportive of the move, and Hawkins plans to restore the house with a complete remodel on the interior. "[I want to] make it the next heritage bachelor pad," he says. "I definitely plan to celebrate its 100th birthday in style."

As for the old lot, construction will soon get under way for four homes, each measuring 1,800 to 2,100 square feet. Much as he did with the previous residence, Smith will put the space up for rent.