THE STORY. twists and surprises. The story of the Casa Thank you for your interest in Old Town de Estudillo is no different and is still being LLa Casa de San Diego State Historic Park, part of the a C La Casa de Estudillo was a social and retold today. California State Parks system. Inquire at the EEstudillo.asa political center of San Diego during California’s Robinson-Rose Visitor Information Center stu de Mexican Period, 1821-1846, and into the early or visit our website to fi nd additional ways di American Period. Besides serving as the town to experience California’s history. (The Estudillol House.)lo house of the Estudillos when they were not The Estudillo Museum.. on one of their four ranches, the house served as a business offi ce, schoolroom, chapel, 4002 Wallace St. and even as a place of refuge for women and San Diego, CA 92110 children during the American invasion of 1846. 619-220-5422 The Estudillo Family occupied the house for some sixty years. After José Antonio passed www.parks.ca.gov/oldtownsandiego away in 1852, his widow rented rooms to others outside the family, including Benjamin Hayes, a Democratic Party district judge and THE PEPEOPLE.OPLE. historian, and David Hoffman, a surgeon and Democratic Party Assemblyman. José Antonio Estudillo, a The popularity of Helen Hunt Jackson’s wealthy rancher, held many public offi ces book, Ramona, helped launch historic tourism in San Diego. He and other family members and a romanticized perception of San Diego acquired extensive land holdings in the history. Hazel Waterman’s reconstruction county. His wife, María Victoria Domiguez completed in 1910 was to refl ect an idealized was noted for her many charities. Within the upper status Californio home and did not walls of this house, they had twelve children restore exactly the original Estudillo home. of their own and adopted several more. The The entrepreneur and showman, Tommy family descendents moved to Los Angeles in Getz, welcomed visitors for years telling highly 1887 and left the house with a caretaker. embroidered stories of an idealized and While mostly hidden, the stories of fanaticized past. Indian people must never be forgotten or The story of the Casa de Estudillo is like many overlooked. Kumeyaay people probably old stories; it gets better as it is repeated. The built the Casa de Estudillo, including collecting Date Built: Circa 1830. old adobe has had several makeovers and the cobblestones from the river for the Interpretive Period: Mexican. interpretations. Hazel Waterman wrote of the foundation, making the adobe bricks, and Original Structure rehabilitated in 1910 frustrations of her foreman during the 1910 carrying pine timbers from the Cuyamaca & 1972. restoration, “No two openings, either doors or forest. They served as cooks and domestics. California Historical Landmark windows, were found to be of the same height They were the vaqueros and sheepherders on Number 53. or dimensions. To keep these irregularities whose labor the economic life of California was a great trial to our Scotch foreman; up to REGISTERED NATIONAL HISTORICAL depended. They are still among us and they the end of the job he complained, “There’s not LANDMARK. are the First People. a straight thing here!’” All good stories have Illustrations by Megan Curtis. THE BUILDING. a lingering romanticized perception of San Garden. The garden you see here today was Diego’s early history. originally planted as a romantic setting for Capitan José María Estudillo, a military “Ramona’s Marriage Place.” Historically, the MYSTERIES. commandant of the San Diego Presidio, born in inner courtyard was an open gathering place Spain, began construction of the casa (house) for family parties, christenings, and feast day • What happened to the furnishings in 1827 on a parcel of land granted to him by celebrations. The courtyard was also a place after the family moved away? Did Governor José María Echeandía. Upon José’s where Indian servants tended children, spun the caretaker take care of them or death in 1830, construction of the house cotton and wool, hung clothes, and groomed take them away? continued under the direction of his son, horses. Vaqueros deposited freshly butchered • Is the ghost said to haunt the house? Lieutenant José Antonio, and his son’s wife, meat from the ranchos in the corral behind the • Does the crossed knife and fork on María Victoria Dominguez de Estudillo. rear patio. Here it was cut into long sinewy the dining room table really mean Like many adobe homes, this one probably strips and placed on a low adobe wall to dry that it is safe or not safe to freely began with two rooms. Wings were added in the sun. talk about politics or religion? overtime to create the U-shaped building. On Kitchen. The kitchens of adobe homes the roof was a turreted balcony, accessible were usually built separate from the house DID YOU KNOW? by a stairwell. Seated here, family and friends La Sala. The large sala (living room), was the because of heat. However, this reconstruction center of activity for family and social functions shows an interior kitchen and elements of watched the bullfi ghts, horse races, and fi estas • Water shortages were always a of a well-to-do Californio family. food preparation. Just outside the kitchen is a on the plaza. problem in early San Diego. Porous The portrait on the wall facing the doorway reconstruction of a horno (oven). Once the walls About eighteen years after the Estudillos lava rock water filters as seen on the is a contemporary portrait of Capitan José María of the beehive-shaped oven were suffi ciently abandoned the house, John D. Spreckels of corredor (corridor) were used to clear Estudillo, based on descriptions given by family heated, the coals and ashes were raked out. the San Diego Electric Railway Company sediment and debris from water members. Enough heat would be retained to bake food, bought and rebuilt the house to be a tourist obtained from a well or the nearby Study. The next room is arranged as a typical such as bread, roasts, casseroles, etc. attraction at the end of a streetcar line. Most of San Diego River. The “R.H.” carved study. The maps and wall charts refl ect Capitan Dining Room. The dining room refl ects the reconstruction we see today was the work onto the wooden cover stand for Estudillo’s early military career. Many Chinese California’s wealth from the thriving hide and of Hazel Waterman. The alterations included “Ramona’s House.” goods, such as the rug on the wall, were brought tallow trade in the 1830s. Ships loaded with fi ne indoor fi replaces, rusticated interior woodwork, • The 24” to 40” thick walls are made to Alta California by trading ships. glassware, china, carpets, furniture, and other and a courtyard garden with fountain, brick of sun-baked adobe bricks built on Master Bedroom. The canopy on the bed goods from far away places visited San Diego’s pathways, arbors and a “wishing well” that large river cobble foundations. never existed when the Estudillos lived in the helped to retain heat as well as keep pests off harbor regularly. Exotic spices, tea, chocolate, house. The casa became part of the California that may have fallen from the ceiling above. macaroni and other foodstuffs were also traded, CAN YOU FIND? State Park System in 1968 and was restored as Bed Rooms. Early Californio families lived as well as everyday items. in large extended families, requiring many Storage Room. Families with townhouses a house museum identifi ed with the Estudillo • A large copper dish on a floor used Family. It has been described as the fi nest bedrooms for children, extended family, needed a place to store items that arrived on the travelers, priests, and friends. trading ships until they could be transported to to burn charcoal for heat. example in the United States of a large Mexican • Children’s toys. adobe townhouse. Workroom. Due to the mild climate, the their ranchos. Estudillos’ servants usually worked outdoors. Chapel and Priest’s Room. One room of • Chinese items, such as porcelain, With assistance from the National Society of storage chests, etc. the Colonial Dames of America, the house was In this reconstructed workroom area, you can the casa was turned into a temporary chapel for furnished in the 1970s with representative items see tools from their typical day. Floor tiles religious services. In addition, the visiting priest from the 18th to the 20th century intended were taken from the old San Diego Mission was provided with a bedroom for longer stays. to refl ect an upper class Californio family. The dam and brought to the house during the 1908 choices made were strongly infl uenced by restoration.