{"nrhp_refnum":"80000841","name":"Gaslamp Quarter Historic District","other_names":["Stingaree"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Bounded by RR tracks, Broadway, 4th, and 6th Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Diego","county":"San Diego County","state":"CA","lat":32.71195077300007,"lon":-117.16011669061744,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-05-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Community Planning and Development","Commerce","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 16-block historic commercial district in downtown San Diego, California, bounded by Broadway, 4th Avenue, Pacific Highway and 6th Avenue, covering about 38 acres. It is made up mainly of buildings erected between 1880 and 1910, once known as the \"Stingaree.\"","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district holds the only significant remnants of turn-of-the-century commercial buildings in San Diego. Buildings such as the Nesmith-Greely and Louis Bank of Commerce, both built in 1888, reflect the commercial entrepreneurs who turned San Diego from a frontier town into an urban commercial center between 1889 and 1910. Fifth Avenue was the commercial hub of the city by 1900.","narrative":"Sixteen blocks of downtown San Diego, bounded by Broadway, 4th Avenue, Pacific Highway and 6th Avenue, make up the Gaslamp Quarter, formerly called the \"Stingaree.\" Most buildings date from 1880 to 1910. They are typically two and three stories of common brick, built at the property line with tall ground floors, corbelled cornices, deep-set openings, inset entrances and bay windows. Notable examples include the Louis Bank of Commerce, Nesmith-Greely, Hubbell, Marston, Keating and Backesto buildings. Many facades were later stripped, stuccoed or covered with metal fronts, though some blocks remain largely intact. The district was nominated as the only significant remnant of turn-of-the-century commercial San Diego. Alonzo Horton's land purchases and wharf at the foot of Fifth Avenue encouraged investment, and by 1900 Fifth Avenue was the city's commercial hub, with electric streetcars and arc lamps. The nomination argues that the flavor of that first urban period is worth preserving.","period_of_significance":"1900-1999","architect_builder":"Clement & Stannard (Louis Bank of Commerce); Comstock & Trotsche (Nesmith-Greely Building); Hebbard and Gill (Van Waters & Rogers Building); William Templeton Johnson (Samuel I. Fox Building); George J. Keating, designer, with Reid Brothers as builders (Keating Building)","architectural_style":"Mainly Victorian-era commercial brick architecture, including Romanesque Revival and Baroque Revival or Second Empire buildings, with some Art Deco, Art Nouveau and Mission/Spanish Revival examples","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition varies by block: many buildings have been altered by stripping and stuccoing or false metal fronts, mostly in the 1950s, while others retain original detailing. Present uses are mixed, including commercial, entertainment and religious uses.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.656271-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/80000841.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000841/5fda7e7a38-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000841/5fda7e7a38-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Bernard Gagnon","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gaslamp_Quarter_01.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bernard Gagnon</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:Gaslamp_Quarter_01.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123860863","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslamp_Quarter,_San_Diego","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1495203"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-diego-county/gaslamp-quarter-historic-district-80000841/"}