Newsom Will Move Family To California Governor's Mansion In Sacramento

Updated 6 p.m.

(AP) — Gavin Newsom will move his family to Sacramento when he takes over as California governor next week, bringing children to the historic home for the first time in half a century.

The decision announced Friday ends speculation about whether the new first family would take up residence in the recently remodeled governor's mansion a few blocks from the state Capitol. Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, had equivocated about whether to move, citing concerns about uprooting their young children. The family lives in Marin County near San Francisco.

Outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown and his wife, Anne Gust Brown, moved out of the 142-year-old Victorian mansion on Friday. They're moving to their ranch in Colusa County, where they built a home.

Newsom's four children will be the first gubernatorial kids to live in the mansion since Brown's sister, Kathleen, lived there as a teenager during the administration of their father, Pat Brown, in the 1960s.

The Newsoms will also bring two family dogs and a bunny rabbit with plans to stay at the home "for the immediate future," Newsom's spokesman, Nathan Click, said by email.

"They look forward to getting to know their new neighbors and becoming an active part of the larger Sacramento community," Click said.

The state of California bought the home in 1903 for $32,500, according to a history published by California State Parks.

The mansion housed 13 California governors until Ronald and Nancy Reagan moved to a private home in East Sacramento in 1967. Most of his successors lived in a ranch home in the Carmichael neighborhood of Sacramento, although Arnold Schwarzenegger preferred a hotel.

The Browns moved back in 2015 following a $1.6 million renovation of electrical, heating and fire safety systems to make it suitable for residency again.