 |
|
|
Historic
Timeline |
|
|
|
 |
ARCHITECTURE |
|
|
 Monterey is remarkable among California?s cities for having preserved more than 40 buildings from all periods in its long history. As Spain?s northernmost outpost for many years, founded in 1770 by Captain Gaspar de Portola and Father Junipero Serra, Monterey?s cornerstones were military and religious. And while little original building remains of the Presidio, it is possible to walk where the Franciscan friars did. Simply visit the Royal Presidio Chapel (also called San Carlos Cathedral, it dates primarily from 1791) and Mission San Carlos Borromeo (its cornerstone laid in 1772), just outside the neighboring town of Carmel.
The foundations of the Custom House were put in place, and the families constructed the first buildings of adobe (dried mud) bricks. Cooper-Molera and Alvarado, Larkin and Merritt houses survive from this period.
The cattle boom of the 1830s-1840s and the eve of American assumption of sovereignty saw the construction of the Old Whaling Station, Pacific House, and Colton Hall, which was used for California?s Constitutional Convention in 1849.
Once freely open to American trade, Monterey commerce thrived, and fine homes appeared on the hills. And that trade was more secure thanks to the beacons of Point Sur Lightstation and Point Pinos Lighthouse.
At many of our historic buildings, special care has been taken to set the buildings in a historically appropriate garden or yard. The Historic Garden League has been instrumental in helping the Historic Monterey properties regain an authentic atmosphere, whether by roses, fruit trees, chamomile lawns or cottage garden flowers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
