Google has bought the Silicon Valley garage where the internet search colossus was born, the company said overnight.

The garage came with a house, yard and outdoor hot tub where Google's famed founders Larry Page and Serge Brin were known to soak as the company took shape in late 1998.

Google did not disclose how much it paid for the property just a few kilometres from the company's campus in Mountain View, California.

"We were pleased to have the opportunity to purchase the place where Larry and Serge did early work," Google spokesman Jon Murchinson said. "We bought it to preserve it as part of our legacy."

Mr Brin and Mr Page were students working on doctorate degrees at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, when they rented the garage from Susan Wojcicki so they could begin building Google.

Mr Brin and Mr Page were leaving the security of university life to brave it in the business world, the company said.

The pair have yet to finish their doctorate degrees at Stanford, where they crafted Google's page-ranking formula before getting a million dollars in venture capital and setting up shop in the garage, according to the company.

Ms Wojcicki reportedly dated a friend of Mr Brin's and rented out her garage to help pay her mortgage. She is now a Google vice president.

Mr Brin and Mr Page worked out of the garage for about five months, mostly focusing on hiring employees for their fledgling search engine firm.

Google's launch from a garage was in keeping with a Silicon Valley tradition.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak made Apple Computer blossom from a garage some 30 years ago and one served as an incubator where William Packard what is now Hewlett-Packard computer titan in Palo Alto.

Google said it planned to use the house, a popular site for technology-oriented tourists, as a place for guests to stay during visits to the company.

SOURCE