{"nrhp_refnum":"77000346","name":"El Paseo and Casa de la Guerra","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"808--818 State St., 813--819 Anacapa St., and 9--25 E. de la Guerra St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Santa Barbara","county":"Santa Barbara County","state":"CA","lat":34.42060004600006,"lon":-119.69941696399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-02-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Literature","Politics/Government","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A complex of one- and two-story buildings occupying about two-thirds of a block in downtown Santa Barbara, California. It centers on the Casa de la Guerra adobe (built 1819-1827) and the Spanish Colonial Revival shopping complex El Paseo, built around it in the 1920s.","why_significant":"Casa de la Guerra was the home of Don Jose de la Guerra y Noriega, fifth Comandante of the Santa Barbara Presidio, and is described as the most prominent private residence in Santa Barbara in the first half of the 19th century. El Paseo, designed by James Osborne Craig for Bernhard Hoffmann, helped start the Spanish and Spanish Colonial architectural revival and is said to be the first pedestrian shopping center west of the Mississippi. The complex also includes two late 19th-century brick mercantile buildings.","narrative":"In downtown Santa Barbara, a block-sized complex joins one of the city's oldest houses with a 1920s shopping district. Casa de la Guerra, an adobe built between 1819 and 1827 by Indians from Mission Santa Barbara, was the residence of Don Jose de la Guerra y Noriega, commander of the Santa Barbara Presidio. It served as the town's leading private home for much of the 19th century and was visited by Richard Henry Dana. Two brick mercantile buildings from 1860 and the 1870s sit alongside it. In 1920 Bernhard Hoffmann bought the adobe and, using plans by architect James Osborne Craig, built El Paseo around it. The courtyards, arcades and the Street in Spain recall Andalusian village forms. The project was an early attempt to make preservation self-supporting and helped spread Spanish Colonial architecture across southern California. The complex still holds shops, a restaurant and offices, and a nonprofit trust has owned it since 1971.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899, 1900-","architect_builder":"James Osborne Craig (architect, El Paseo); Bernhard Hoffmann (developer); adobe built by Indians from Mission Santa Barbara for Don Jose de la Guerra y Noriega","architectural_style":"Spanish Andalusian / Spanish Colonial (El Paseo); adobe (Casa de la Guerra)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in use as shops, restaurants and offices; owned by a non-profit trust, with the adobe described as substantially unchanged from the original.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.402972-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/77000346.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000346/c2bd223c22-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000346/c2bd223c22-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ymblanter","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Casa_de_la_Guerra_right_side.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ymblanter</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:Casa_de_la_Guerra_right_side.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861585","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_de_la_Guerra","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5047931"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/santa-barbara-county/el-paseo-and-casa-de-la-guerra-77000346/"}