Category Archives: Landmarks

The Golden West, 1913

720 Fourth Avenue, northwest corner of G Street Architect :   John Lloyd Wright Prairie Style of Architecture- Modern As one strolls through the Gaslamp, most notice that although each building has its own unique characteristics, most are basically what can be termed “Victorian.”  The exception is the Golden West Hotel.  It is devoid of the ornate […]

Everybody Loves a Lover……

Keating Building, 1890 Architects:  Reid Brothers Architectual Style: Romanesque Revival Everybody loves a good love story, and San Diego is no exception.  The Keating building, a lovely Romanesque Revival gem on the northwest corner of 5th and F St., boasts two. George and Fannie Keating arrived in San Diego from Kansas in 1886.  As Mr. […]

From Silver Screen to Sundaes: Casino Theater

Prior to 1904 , the property between 643 and 651 Fifth Avenue was nothing more than a series of small wooden buildings housing a shoemaker, a jeweler and a cigar and cigarette merchant.   In 1904, George J. Chambers , father of famed Olympic swimmer Florence Chambers, purchased the property from L.G. Pratt for the unlikely sum […]

Two Buildings, Same Time, Different Stories

Although they were built only a year apart, the Nanking Cafe and the Manilla Cafe have very little in common. However, they both displayed the growing ethnic diversity prevalent in the Gaslamp Quarter in the early 20th century, and which continues today. They also both used local materials in their respective construction, illustrating the growing […]