{"nrhp_refnum":"72000261","name":"Pena Adobe","other_names":["The Pena Adobe on Los Putos Rancho"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2 mi. SW of Vacaville on I-80","address_restricted":false,"city":"Vacaville","county":"Solano County","state":"CA","lat":38.337089838000054,"lon":-122.01534668,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-01-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A restored adobe dwelling about 2 miles southwest of Vacaville, Solano County, California, built in 1842 or soon after on the Los Putos Rancho land grant. It is now a city-owned museum set within Pena Park.","why_significant":"The adobe is a rare surviving house from the Mexican-era Los Putos land grant settled by Juan Felipe Pena and Juan Manuel Vaca. It was restored in 1965-66 using traditional methods and materials. The grant is tied to the naming of the city of Vacaville, and the site was once a rancheria of Ulatis Indians.","narrative":"Built in 1842 or soon after, this adobe house southwest of Vacaville was the home of Juan Felipe Pena, who came from New Mexico with Juan Manuel Vaca to settle a 44,383-acre land grant known as Los Putos. The house measures about 18 by 50 feet, with three rooms, thick walls on a cobblestone foundation, and a half-story attic once used for storage and reached by an outside stairway. Redwood siding added before 1870 helped protect the walls, and a frame addition from the 1870s was later moved nearby. A 1965-66 restoration, costing $33,000, used sun-dried bricks and hand-split redwood. Vaca's own adobe was destroyed in the 1892 earthquake, leaving the Pena house as the survivor. Vacaville takes its name from Vaca. The site also holds a former Ulatis Indian rancheria, and artifacts are displayed in the museum. It stands in about 27 acres of Pena Park and is furnished in period style.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":"Restoration directed by engineer Merle Curtice; original builder not named beyond owner Juan Felipe Pena","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Restored in 1965-66 and open to the public as a museum with a resident curator on duty; condition listed as good.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.970464-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/72000261.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000261/39971711a3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000261/39971711a3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Brian Irwin","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pena_Adobe_-_Vacaville,_CA.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Brian Irwin</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pena_Adobe_-_Vacaville,_CA.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123862021","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pe%C3%B1a_Adobe","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q38251609"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/solano-county/pena-adobe-72000261/"}