HOTEL DEL CORONADO GARDEN

San Diego, CA

Hotel del Coronado is one of the surviving examples of an American architectural genre: the wooden Victorian beach resort. When it opened in 1888, it was the largest resort hotel in the world. It is the second largest wooden structure in the United States. It has hosted presidents, royalty and celebrities through the years. In the mid-1880s during San Diego’s first real estate boom, it was common for developers to build grand hotels as an anchor in what would otherwise be a barren landscape. In November 1885, investors bought the city of Coronado, approximately 4,000 acres, for $110,000. The developer’s visions for the hotel were grand. They hired Canadian architect James W. Reid. The 399-room hotel would be built around a court with a garden of tropical trees, shrubs and flowers, and a pergola (the subject of this sketch), by Kate Sessions. Construction of the hotel began in March 1887, "on a sandspit populated by jack rabbits and coyotes". Lumber came from Eureka, California, and planing mills were built on site. Reid built a kiln to make brick and concrete, and constructed metal and iron shops. Chinese immigrants provided the labor. The Crown Room was Reid's masterpiece. Its wooden ceiling were installed with pegs and glue, and not a single nail. Hotel firsts: a sprinkler system, oil fired furnaces and electrical wiring inside the gas piping. The hotel opened in 1888, and closed March 23, 2020 due to Corona Virus.

This sketch was done during a fun get-away vacation to the hotel for the wife and myself.