{"nrhp_refnum":"75000489","name":"Sonoma Plaza","other_names":["Ol Sonoma","Sonoma Pueblo","See Also:Vallejo Estate"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Center of Sonoma","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sonoma","county":"Sonoma County","state":"CA","lat":38.29352035100007,"lon":-122.45429012433976,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-04-03","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1960-12-19","areas_of_significance":["Military","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Sonoma Plaza is a historic district in Sonoma, California, centered on an eight-acre plaza laid out in 1835 by General Mariano Vallejo and surrounded by adobe, Victorian and later buildings, including the Sonoma Mission and Barracks.","why_significant":"The district marks the site of Sonoma Pueblo, the chief Mexican military base in Alta California from 1835 to the end of the Mexican period. It was the site where the Bear Flag was raised on June 14, 1846. Eleven Spanish-Mexican adobes survive near the plaza, which retains historical integrity and atmosphere. The document does not list formal criteria.","narrative":"Sonoma Plaza is the historic core of Sonoma, California, built around an eight-acre plaza that General Mariano Vallejo laid out in 1835. Sonoma Pueblo served as the chief Mexican military base in Alta California, established partly to check Russian expansion from Fort Ross. On June 14, 1846, the Bear Flag was raised on the plaza, and on July 9 the American flag replaced it. Eleven one- and two-story Spanish-Mexican adobes still stand around or near the plaza, among them the Sonoma Barracks, Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma, the Blue Wing Inn and the Salvador Vallejo Adobe. Victorian and more modern buildings are mixed among them. The plaza is now a city park with City Hall at its center. Several adobes are part of Sonoma State Historic Park and open to visitors, while others are privately owned and house shops, restaurants and homes. The area is described as relatively unaltered, conveying historical integrity and atmosphere.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"General Mariano G. Vallejo (founder, plaza and Sonoma Barracks); Captain Salvador Vallejo (Swiss Hotel, Salvador Vallejo Adobe); Antonio Ortega (Blue Wing Inn); Jacob P. Leese (Leese-Fitch Adobe)","architectural_style":"Monterey Colonial adobes, with Victorian Italianate, Classic Revival, Gothic Revival and Mission Revival buildings","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition marked good and relatively unaltered; the plaza is now a city park. Some adobes are state-owned and open to visitors as Sonoma State Historic Park, others are private and used as shops, restaurants and residences.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:32.274332-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/75000489.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000489/dea43bebb4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000489/dea43bebb4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":null,"credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sonoma_City_Hall.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown author</a>, <a href=\"http://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:Sonoma_City_Hall.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123862130","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonoma_Plaza","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7562188"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/sonoma-county/sonoma-plaza-75000489/"}