German immigrant and an early Sacramento founder Julius Wetzler built this beautiful Italianate in 1871. It’s in a super random place that we had to get to via an alley, but located in a neighborhood that was once filled with judges, governors and big-wig businessmen.

Wetzler was associated with Sam Brennan in the CC Smith and Co. store, located at Sutter’s Fort before the Gold Rush. He later came to hold several blocks of Sacramento real estate, and worked as an insurance broker, real estate agent, trustee of Sacramento Valley Bank and manager of Home Mutual Insurance Co.

By 1880, the house had been sold to Stephen Boutwell, a retired sheep raiser and farmer and a member of the Sacramento Pioneer Association. Judge Samuel Denson was its owner in 1889. Denson was a legislator and district attorney in Nevada prior to his Sacramento election as City Superintendent of Schools and president of the first City Library Board. In 1880, he became a Superior Court Judge.

Amos Catlin, an attorney and eartly State Senator, became owner in 1891. Catlin is important for his introduction of the 1854 bill to make Sacramento the permanent state capitol. He was also a large real estate owner in Sacrmento. A well-known lawyer, Catlin practiced througout the state, served on the Board of Equalization and was a longtime editor of the Sacramento Record-Union.

The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.