In 1872, Samuel Calvert Foy (September 23, 1840 – April 24, 1901) purchased the property from Los Angeles Mayor Thomas Foster for $1,000.

[2] At the time of the property's sale in 1919, the new owner announced its plan to start construction immediately of a six- or seven-story structure on the site at a cost of $450,000.

Though there are varying accounts as to the date (either 1906,[10] 1918,[11] or 1920[5]), the Foy House was moved to its second site on 631–633 South Witmer Street, just north of Wilshire Boulevard and across from Good Samaritan Hospital.

For more than 30 years from 1951 to at least 1981, the house served as the headquarters for Magma Power Co., one of the pioneering companies in the field of geothermal energy.

[4] In 1974, Magma Power restored the house at a cost of $50,000, using the services of four-time Oscar-winning set designer, F. Keogh Gleason, for the interior renovation.

In 1992, the Good Samaritan Hospital reached an agreement with James Prager, an attorney who owned a Victorian home in the Carroll Avenue historic district in Angelino Heights.