Heywood Building

Southeast corner of Second and J Streets

Built 1857

Restoration

From butcher to banker, this building has a varied history. Pioneer butcher and livestock raiser, Joseph Heywood, built the structure in 1857. His business partner, John McNulty, bought the building in 1860. Many different businesses operated here throughout the 1860s and 1870s. Opticians, gunsmiths, and jewelers number among them. Governor Leland Stanford founded The Pacific Mutual Insurance Company here in 1868. Pacific Life remains among the largest insurance firms in the West.

In 1865, McNulty sold the building to the D.O. Mills banking firm. The firm’s founder, Darius Ogden Mills, started his business in 1849. It was one of the first banking and exchange offices in California. Mills needed more space for his growing business. The newly named National Bank of D.O. Mills & Company operated out of the Heywood Building from 1865 until 1912. In 1912, the business moved to a new structure on J Street.