The Old Adobe:
Coronado’s First Attempt at Historic Preservation by Vickie Stone, CHA’s Curator of Collections
In 1887, the construction of the Hotel del Coronado was well underway. The Coronado Beach Company, in preparation for the hotel’s opening, was beginning to develop other attractions to entice guests to visit this budding resort town. Elisha Babcock, one of the founding partners of the Beach Company, was especially adamant about creating experiences that celebrated the romanticism of the West. Inspired by the history of Spanish colonization, California’s missions, and indigenous design, Babcock commissioned the construction of an adobe building at the center of Coronado’s East Plaza, known today as Spreckels Park. Construction began in early 1887 and largely consisted of bricks made near Otay Mesa by Mexican laborers. After Coronado incorporated, the City took over maintenance of the building from the Beach Company. However, Babcock remained devoted to his vision for the adobe building. He was able to source and obtain “time-marked” tiles from Mission Viejo and the mission at San Juan Capistrano to cover the roof of the building. In 1891, he presented the tiles to the city’s Board of Trustees as a gift to give the building “historic value” (San Diego Daily Bee March 26, 1891). The small, unimposing building was intended to be a museum of “a collection of curiosities,” according to the earliest reports
Children stand in front of the old adobe building. Date unknown. Coronado Historical Association Collection. by the San Diego Daily Bee in May 1887. However, by the time the building was
Diego’s Natural History Museum. By 1903, the “Old Adobe” was solidified
completed, there was no more mention of
as one of Coronado’s laid back attractions.
a museum. The building simply stood “as a
As advertised in Tent City News,
relic of early times in Southern California”
“Down on Orange avenue on either side
and was “being preserved as a curiosity”
of the car line are two exquisite little parks
(San Diego Daily Bee June 2, 1887 and
which are the most delightful resting places
Coronado Mercury March 21, 1888).
possible. In the centre of one is an old adobe,
Aside from simply standing, the building did function as a community space for a short time. One special event was when
vine-covered and surrounded by trees, palms and foliage which cast the deepest shade.” In later years, the building’s appeal faded
the building housed Charles R. Orcutt’s
and it was used as a tool shed and for a
collection of cactus. The collection, claimed
time, and in 1914, the building served
to be the second largest cactus collection in
as the location of the local dog pound.
the United States with over 500 specimens,
Maintenance declined and the building fell
was gathered by the naturalist from across
into disrepair.
Southern California and Baja California. Orcutt was later a founding member of San
Coronado Magazine | P55
In 1915, City Trustee Newton S. Gandy, a relative newcomer to Coronado at that
