Poirier House - Oakland

Poirier House (1872) ¹

The Poirier House was "the estate of Jean Baptiste Poirier, a member of Fils de Liberté who entered exile from Canada after the rebellion of 1837. He settled on land acquired from Vicente Peralta at what is now 6149 Shattuck Avenue. The first structures were built in 1851 and are visible at the left of the main house. The compound was demolished in 1954 for construction of an apartment building. The elder Poirier's widow, the former Rose De Lima, stands behind the picket fence, her daughter Eugenie beside her and son, Andrew F., between the horses in the foreground. Telegraph cables are visible aloft."

Poirier Tract of Mrs. DeLima Poirier (1878)²Oakland Tribune 19321905 map of Poirier Tract⁷

1911 Sanborn excerpt1950 Sanborn excerpt

The area on the 1911 and 1950 Sanborn maps, and I assume the small rectangle near the water tank and windmill is the original 1852 house—note that it's smaller than the garage and cow shed!

2023 CC SA-BY Our Oakland

Remaining Poirier home in 2023, built by one of the sons. 6149 Shattuck Ave. Zillow, et al, say it was built in 1912, but it appears on the 1911 Sanborn map.

grave marker ³

The family lived/owned the land for 92 yrs.

Timeline of the family members. The children did not marry nor have descendants. Andre/Andrew was the last surviving member: ⁶

1852 JB Poirier obtains title of the land
1864 JB Poirier, age 55, dies
1905 Rose Poirier, age 69 yrs, subdivides parcel for development.
1912 Rose Poirier, age 76 yrs dies
1927 Eugenie Poirier, daughter, age 68 yrs, dies
1931 JB Poirier, Jr, son, age 74 dies
1944 Andrew Poirier, son, age 83, last of the family, dies.

U. C. Gifts Amount to $755,000

Gift of $668,482.86 to the University of California from the estate of the late Andrew Francois Poirier of Oakland was reported by President Robert Gordon Sproul at a meeting of the Regents this afternoon in San Francisco. The bequest brought the total gifts to the University for the month of December to approximately $755,000. Poirier, who died March 11,1944, was a native of Oakland, born in the house on the farm of his father, Jean Baptiste Poirier, now at 6149 Shattuck Ave. The elder Poirier came to California in 1849 and in 1851 took up a homestead of 160 acres between Shattuck Ave. and San Francisco Bay, which be farmed until his death, and the son continued the farming. Later it was subdivided and sold. Andrew-Francois Poirier always was interested in farming and in the work of the University's College of Agriculture. Unable to attend the University, he followed the work of the College of Agriculture closely, and read all its bulletins and other publications. Also, according to Mrs. Elizabeth K. Biehs, his housekeeper for 30 years and to whom he left the Shattuck Ave. property, he was a constant attendant at public meetings on the Berkeley campus. ⁵

NB: the eponym tag should be on the family, not the house, but there isn't a page for them yet