{"nrhp_refnum":"70000143","name":"Estudillo House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4000 Mason St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Diego","county":"San Diego County","state":"CA","lat":33.780978350000055,"lon":-116.96811345999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-04-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1970-04-15","areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large one-story, U-shaped adobe town house at 4000 Mason Street in Old Town San Diego, California, built in 1827-29 for Don Jose Antonio Estudillo, a captain in the presidial garrison.","why_significant":"The house is presented as a typical large Spanish-Mexican one-story town house, considered in its day one of the finest in Mexican California. It served the community as a chapel and school and as a refuge in times of revolution and war. It has been largely rebuilt through restorations in 1910 and 1968-69.","narrative":"Built between 1827 and 1829 for Don Jose Antonio Estudillo, a captain in the San Diego presidio garrison, this one-story adobe house wraps around three sides of a courtyard on the east side of the Old Town plaza. Its plastered walls average three feet thick, and the shed-type tile roof rests on hand-hewn timbers lashed with rawhide. All rooms open onto a veranda facing the patio. Estudillo, who later served as mayor and justice of the peace, was wealthy, and his house was ranked among the finest in Mexican California. A large hall served as the town chapel and school from the early 1830s until 1856, and women and children took shelter there in times of conflict. The family lived there until 1887, after which the house fell into ruin. John D. Spreckels financed a 1910 restoration, and the State of California carried out another in 1968-69. Much of the present fabric is rebuilt, and the house now operates as a museum.","period_of_significance":"1827-29","architect_builder":"Restoration architects Hazel Waterman (1910) and Clyde Trudell (1968-69); original builder not named","architectural_style":"Spanish-Mexican one-story adobe town house","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the State of California Department of Parks and Recreation, occupied, in good condition, altered and reconstructed, and used as a museum within Old Town State Historic Park.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.56878-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/70000143_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000143/42e28ad7d3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000143/42e28ad7d3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Mike Fitzpatrick from Annapolis, Maryland, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Casa_de_Estudillo_-_main_entrance.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Mike Fitzpatrick from Annapolis, Maryland, USA</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Casa_de_Estudillo_-_main_entrance.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858022","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_de_Estudillo","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q782631"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-diego-county/estudillo-house-70000143/"}