Charles Beasley designed this red brick office building embellished and formalized with High Victorian Gothic motifs. It is one of the few 19th century red brick commercial buildings with original facades remaining in Stockton, a city once noted for its brick architecture.

The front half of the building was constructed in 1888; the rear half, which is almost identical to the original, was added in 1917. The courtyard garden retains its original palms, orange tree, circular central fountain and decorative ironwork fence.

Austin Sperry and George Lyon were the pioneer grain millers in the San Joaquin Valley. In 1852, they founded a small barley and graham flour mill to supply horse-drawn freight wagons and pack trains to and from the gold mines.

In 1892, Sperry and Company merged with five other mills in northern and central California. Incorporated as the Sperry Flour Company, the firm was the largest flour milling operation in California.

Source: Adapted from the NRHP nomination submitted in 1982.