{"nrhp_refnum":"78000747","name":"Robinson Hotel","other_names":["Julian Hotel or Julian Gold Rush Hotel"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2032 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Julian","county":"San Diego County","state":"CA","lat":33.07792002600007,"lon":-116.60100703499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-06-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story hotel at 2032 Main Street in Julian, San Diego County, California, begun in 1897 by Albert and Margaret Robinson. It was built by contractors C.R. Wellington and F.L. Blanc.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as one of the oldest operating hotels in Southern California and the sole survivor of Julian's gold-rush era, when the town had 15 hotels. It is tied to Albert Robinson, a former slave, and his wife Margaret, who built it. It also reflects the plain country building style of the early settlers.","narrative":"Built in 1897 at 2032 Main Street in Julian, this two-story redwood-sided hotel was the project of Albert and Margaret Robinson. Albert Robinson was a former slave who had come to the San Diego area and worked as a cook. The couple started a bakery and restaurant on the site after gold was found nearby, then built the hotel with contractors C.R. Wellington and F.L. Blanc. After Albert died in 1915, Margaret ran it until 1921, when she sold it to mining engineer Martin Jacob, whose family kept it for fifty-three years. It was renamed the Julian Hotel. Plain in design, it has twelve small upstairs guest rooms that remain unaltered, a southern wing added in 1941, and enclosed porches from the early 1920s. When the gold rush faded, Julian had fifteen hotels; this is the only one that survives. It is described as one of the oldest operating hotels in Southern California.","period_of_significance":"1897","architect_builder":"C.R. Wellington and F.L. Blanc (contractors and builders)","architectural_style":"Old-style country dwelling with little ornamentation, treated in a conventional style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as one of the oldest operating hotels in Southern California; second-floor guest rooms are rented nightly and the former dining hall is used as a gift shop.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.584901-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/78000747.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000747/84234feec1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000747/84234feec1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Allan Ferguson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robinson_Hotel.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Allan Ferguson</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:Robinson_Hotel.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123860961","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Gold_Rush_Hotel","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9069968"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-diego-county/robinson-hotel-78000747/"}