The imposing, 4-story building was designed by the Quayle Brothers and their new partner, Charles Cressey, but actually constructed by an Oakland firm – Oliver Duval and Company. When the edifice was completed in 1913, it featured an open courtyard facing Broadway, which was later filled in.
Julian Produce Company Warehouse (1912) 679 J Street Contractors: A & H Brownlee Architectural Style: Italianate Revival /Commercial In the 1880s, San Diego experienced an exceptional land boom, which caused the population to expand from 5,000 to 40,000 in only a few years. However, a world-wide recession followed, and by 1890 the population numbered 16,000 […]
The theater, a truly remarkable building, was begun in 1911 and completed in 1912. At the time of its construction, it was the largest reinforced concrete building in California, and one of few truly modern structures in San Diego, both in its use of materials and in the overall design.
(Lewis Brick Block) (1885) 538 Fifth Avenue Architectural Style: Victorian Commercial Architect: Unknown This attractive little building came about through a carefully constructed party wall agreement between its two neighbors, Archibald H. Julian and Max Lowenstein. It came to sit snugly between the Lincoln Hotel and the Lowenstein Building (now known as The Field). A […]
The Santa Fe Depot has served residents and visitors to San Diego for more than a century!
By 1881, 800 Chinese were living in San Diego, most of them men who had come to work on the railroad at the request of Ah Quin. As they were far from home, marginalized and relatively poor, they needed resources by which they could have their basic needs met and also find individuals for friendship […]
It is important to include some of the historic sites that serve as a reminder of the important contributions in commerce, culture and architecture made by the Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and Hawaiian communities.
San Diego Lumber Company Building 1926 170 Sixth Avenue Architect: Unknown Architectural Style: Commercial/Spanish Revival The San Diego Lumber Company had a somewhat tumultuous beginning. On July 19,1872, Alonzo Horton transferred the title of the site to G.W.B. McDonald and W.B. Holcomb, who were previous owners of a lumber company known as McDonald and Company. […]
Pierce-Morse Building(1887) Sixth Avenue & F Street Architects: Comstock and Trotsche Architectural Style: Italianate / Commercial John Keats once said that “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” That might be said of the Pierce-Morse Building, an important part of the San Diego skyline of the late 1800s and the first part of the […]
The Woolworth Building (1922) 945 Fifth Avenue Architectural Style: Roman Neo-Classic Architect: Cass Gilbert of New York City Building Contractors: Allan Macdonald & Felix Kahn Gone are the days when one could get something of value for five or ten cents, but many of us remember roaming up and down the brightly lighted aisles of […]