Huff House was constructed in the late 1920s for Frank L. and Mamie Levin Huff.

See a brief article about the construction from the August 2, 1929 Mountain View Register-Leader:
- article "Darrah Will Build New Home for Huff"
- full page (small), with notes on other stories of the day
- full page (large), so you can read the whole page

The house sat on eighteen acres on Levin Avenue near Stevens Creek. It was built to last, with a redwood frame, and a one-inch layer of concrete in all the exterior and interior walls. The exterior is finished in stucco, with a Spanish tile roof.

The Huff family owned the home for over forty years. Frank died in 1938 (see next column) and Mamie lived in the home until her death in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

At about the time of her death, a decision was made to sell the land to prominent Bay Area real estate developer Eichler Homes. Eichler made plans to demolish Huff House and develop streets and new homes on the property.

At one point, Eicher Homes had contacted the Mountain View Fire Department, asking if they would like to burn it down as a "practice fire." After inspecting the house, the Fire Department declined, citing the concrete-and-stucco construction and concluding, "it won't burn."

In the meantime, the Belshaw family, long-time Mountain View residents, were living on a piece of property near Huff House. The parents gave to their son Wayne a lot next to their own home. Wayne was familiar with Huff House and had known Mrs. Huff. When he learned that Eichler intended to demolish Huff House, he contacted Eichler, eventually reaching an agreement under which Belshaw would move the house from the Eichler property to his new lot, a distance of about one thousand feet.

Eichler was in a hurry, though, insisting that the land be vacated quickly during late 1962. Once the house was lifted onto seven 14"-by-14" beams for moving, the moving company told Belshaw it weighed 94 tons, and they would not be able to move it across the thousand feet of damp earth as planned. Belshaw ultimately brought in enough 6"-by-6" timbers to build a thousand-foot long road, which was then used to move the house.

The house was moved in one piece. A separate garage building was added in the 1960s.

The Belshaws lived in the home in its new location until the late 1980s. Wayne's parents sold their own lot, and their house was moved several blocks away in the early 1990s. The current occupants of Huff House have owned it since 1994.

Frank L. Huff was the son of James A. Huff (of Michigan) and Emily Gard Huff. The Huffs came to California by wagon train in 1863. Their first two children died during the five-month voyage. Frank, one of seven more children, was born in Mountain View on March 24, 1867.

Frank attended Whisman School in Mountain View and Washington College in Washington Township (now Fremont), where he then served as a head of the Department of Business. He entered Stanford University's first class (the "Pioneer Class") when Stanford opened in 1891. Frank and Mamie, daughter of Joel Levin and Mary Swall Levin, were married in 1898.

After 1900, Frank served the community in many ways. He was principal of Mountain View Grammar School for eighteen years, and principal at Washington Grammar School in San Jose for two years. He ran an orchard near here and another in Hollister. President Warren G. Harding appointed him Mountain View postmaster in 1922, a role he held until 1933. He continued to farm near here after his retirement.

On September 23, 1938, Frank was killed in an automobile collision with a Union Pacific train on Rengstorff Avenue.

See an article about his death and lifetime from the Sptember 26, 1938 Mountain View Register-Leader:
- article "Frank Huff Killed by Train Buried Today"
- full page (small), with notes on other stories of the day
- full page (large), so you can read the whole page

See a tribute to him from the October 3, 1938 Mountain View Register-Leader:
- article "Pays Tribute"
- full page (small), with notes on other stories of the day
- full page (large), so you can read the whole page

Mamie lived in the home until her death in the late 1950s or early 1960s.

Frank and Mamie's only child William E. Huff said in 1968 of his father, "I remember him as a man with great love of country, posessed with an intense loyalty to his community, dedicated to and loving his family, a man of great capacity for friendship, a teacher who anticipated much that is modern in education, a poet and a philosopher, one with faith in mankind and having a deep conviction that the capabilities of the individual are vast and rarely sufficiently nurtured.

Local landmarks named for people related to the house include Frank L. Huff Elementary School, Levin Avenue and Belshaw Court.