Casa de Estudillo facts for kids
|
Estudillo House
|
|
Main entrance
|
|
 Location in San Diego
Location in San Diego County, California
Location in California
Location in the United States
|
|
| Location | 4000 Mason Street, San Diego, California |
|---|---|
| Built | 1827 |
| Architectural style | Spanish Colonial |
| NRHP reference No. | 70000143 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
|
| Added to NRHP | April 15, 1970 |
| Designated NHL | April 15, 1970 |
The Casa de Estudillo, also known as the Estudillo House, is a very old adobe house in San Diego, California. It was built in 1827 by José María Estudillo and his son José Antonio Estudillo. They were important early settlers in San Diego.
This house was once thought to be one of the best homes in Mexican California. Today, it is part of Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. It is recognized as both a National Historic Landmark and a California Historical Landmark.
The Estudillo House is one of the oldest examples of Spanish building style in California. It became very famous because of a popular novel called Ramona. This book was written by Helen Hunt Jackson in 1884. The Casa de Estudillo is one of three National Historic Landmarks in Southern California linked to the Ramona story. The novel was about life for Californio people after America took over California.
Contents
What the House Looks Like
The Estudillo House is shaped like a large "U". The front part is about 113 feet (34 meters) long. Each side wing is about 98 feet (30 meters) long. It is built in the Spanish Colonial style. This means its 13 rooms are placed one after another. They are connected by an outside covered walkway called a corredor, not by inside hallways.
The main entrance faces west. To the left of the entrance is a chapel. To the right is a schoolroom. These rooms were made larger during a restoration in 1910. The north wing has two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a dining room for servants. The south wing has three bedrooms and the family dining room. On top of the house is a small tower called a cupola. From here, people could watch events in the nearby plaza.
The Story of Ramona
How the House Became Famous
José Antonio Estudillo passed away in 1852. His family lived in the house until 1887. Then, they moved to Los Angeles and left a caretaker in charge.
Around this time, the novel Ramona became very popular. It told a romantic story about life in Southern California. This book made many people want to visit the region. Also, new train lines made travel cheap. So, lots of tourists came to Southern California to see places from the novel. The author, Helen Hunt Jackson, died in 1885. She never said where the real places in her book were. This led to a lot of guessing.
In 1887, a newspaper called the San Diego Union said the Estudillo home was "Ramona's Marriage Place." This was not true, as the author had never visited the house. But in the novel, Ramona was married in an old adobe building. Even though the novel was fiction, visitors believed the house was the real place. A tourist had even carved "Alessandro" (Ramona's husband) into a wall. The caretaker started selling pieces of the house as souvenirs. Because of this, the building quickly began to fall apart.
The 1910 Restoration
In 1906, a rich San Diego citizen named John D. Spreckels bought the damaged house. He owned the Union newspaper and the San Diego Electric Railway Company. Spreckels wanted the house to be a major tourist attraction connected by his railway. He hoped this would help San Diego grow and make money for his company.
He hired an architect named Hazel Wood Waterman to fix up the house. She made it look more like the descriptions in the Ramona novel. The original cupola and balcony were removed because they weren't in the book. Some doors and windows were also moved. Waterman wanted the building to look old and charming, like it was built by "half-skilled Indian hands." But she also added modern things like electricity and indoor plumbing. When it was finished in 1910, it was promoted as a Ramona tourist spot. It stayed popular for many years, drawing thousands of visitors.
Spreckels hired Tommy Getz to manage the property. Getz made the house even more famous for its Ramona connection. He sold many small items labeled "Ramona's Marriage Place." More postcards were printed for this adobe than any other Ramona attraction. Because of its link to Ramona's wedding, the house even hosted real weddings. Getz bought the adobe from Spreckels in 1924.
The house was so strongly linked to the novel that its application for National Historic Landmark status was called "Casa Estudillo/Ramona's Marriage Place." Some historians believe that without the novel's influence, the old buildings in Old Town San Diego might have been torn down. For a while, people almost forgot the Estudillo family's real connection to the house.
After Getz died in 1934, his daughter continued to run the business for 30 years. She sold it in 1964. The house was then donated to the State of California in 1968.
The 1968 Restoration
The state Park Service then restored the house to how it looked before the Ramona fame. This included putting the missing cupola back. Today, the house is a museum. It is furnished as it would have been when the Estudillo family lived there, but with a kitchen added.
For a time, the state seemed to avoid mentioning the novel. The old "Ramona's Marriage Place" sign was taken down. Brochures from the 1970s did not mention the book at all. But by the 1990s, the state started to recognize the house's long history with the novel.
The novel Ramona is not as popular today as it once was. It is believed that only about 1% of visitors to the Casa de Estudillo now know about its ties to the book.
Photo gallery
-
Inner courtyard
-
The main bedroom had nice furniture. The bed canopy helped keep heat in and pests out.
-
Many families in Alta California lived with relatives. The Casa de Estudillo had many rooms like this one.
-
Dining room
-
One room was used as a temporary chapel for religious services.
-
Spinning wheel
-
Kitchen—this was added later. Originally, the kitchen would have been outside.
-
Outdoor oven
-
The bell tower
.jpg)
See also
In Spanish: Casa de Estudillo para niños
