Google’s original headquarters was at 165 University Avenue, Palo Alto.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin began Google as a Stanford research project in January 1996, initially calling the search engine BackRub. They incorporated Google in September 1998 and first operated from Susan Wojcicki’s garage in Menlo Park. In March 1999, the growing company moved to 165 University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto.
The address became an important early Silicon Valley landmark because Google shared the building’s startup ecosystem with companies such as PayPal and Logitech. Google did not remain there for long: in 2003, it moved to its larger Googleplex campus at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View.
A common mix-up is confusing Google’s first office with its later headquarters. The garage is associated with the company’s earliest operations, 165 University Avenue was its first formal headquarters, and the Googleplex became the famous long-term campus.