Sacramento’s most notorious boarding house is trading crime scene tape for tour wristbands this fall. The former home of convicted killer Dorothea Puente will be one of six stops on Preservation Sacramento’s 50th Annual Historic Home Tour on Sept. 20. The house, where investigators unearthed human remains in 1988, joins four other 19th-century residences and two commercial buildings in the Old and New Washington School districts for a self-guided, docent-led walk through neighborhood history. Longtime residents and the home’s current owners say the property’s dark past still pulls in onlookers, even as the surrounding blocks evolve.
Tickets, date and where to start
Preservation Sacramento has opened ticket sales for the 50th Annual Historic Home Tour, set for Sunday, Sept. 20. Tickets are priced at $30 for members and $40 for the general public. The tour covers the Old and New Washington School historic districts and will open four homes built in the 1890s along with two commercial buildings that are typically off-limits to the public. Wristbands, which serve as tour passes, can be redeemed at the street-fair ticket booth near Washington Elementary School Park on F Street, where a free street fair will run during tour hours.
Why the house draws attention
John Cabrera, the retired Sacramento Police lead detective on the 1988 case, remembers what it was like to walk back into the house after the bodies were discovered. That investigation uncovered seven bodies buried in the yard and led to Puente’s conviction on three murders. As reported by The Sacramento Bee, she was sentenced to life in prison and died in custody in 2011. Cabrera told the paper that when he later returned during an earlier tour, much of the house felt eerily frozen in time.
The current owners, Barbara Holmes and Tom Williams, bought the property at auction in 2010 for $227,000 and have not shied away from its reputation. They have opened the doors for tours before and say the true-crime curiosity never really lets up. “We're keepers of the house, and we just - it definitely does not die down,” Holmes told The Sacramento Bee, describing the constant stream of people who stop by for selfies or to ask for interviews. The couple accepted Preservation Sacramento’s invitation to include the home in this year’s lineup and plan to let docents take the lead as visitors move through the property.
Neighborhood context and art
Program notes from Preservation Sacramento say the tour will also spotlight other neighborhood landmarks, including the newly reopened Washington Neighborhood Center and a mural by the Royal Chicano Air Force that reflects the area’s deep Chicano arts roots. The organization’s listing notes that three of the tour houses sit along F Street and that four of the homes date to the 1890s. Two commercial buildings that are usually closed to the public are also on the schedule. Preservation advocates say the mix is designed to showcase the neighborhood’s architecture and the “untold stories” of long-term residents, not just the most infamous address on the block.
If you go
What: Preservation Sacramento’s 50th Annual Historic Home Tour. When: Sunday, Sept. 20, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cost: $30 for members and $40 for the general public. Tickets are on sale now and can be redeemed at the tour’s street fair and ticket booth in the Washington School park area.
