HISTORIC BUILDINGS AND SITES

El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument is listed of the National Register of Historic Places as the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District. It was listed in 1972. There are twenty-six (26) historic buildings and sites in El Pueblo, most of which are contributing structures to the National Register District. The buildings and sites, in addition to the year they were completed, are as follows (in chronological order), in addition to their pictures and a brief history of each building:

	ÁVILA ADOBE (1818) is the oldest building in Los Angeles, having been built by Don Francisco Ávila, a wealthy ranchero. It became Commodore Robert Stockton's military headquarters during the Mexican-American War in 1847. It was saved from demolition in 1926 by Christine Sterling and today houses an excellent museum depicting what it would have looked like in the 1840s.
	LA IGLESIA DE NUESTRA SENORA DE LOS ANGELES (1822) is the oldest church in Los Angeles and the oldest building in Los Angeles still used for its original purpose. It was made from adobe by local residents. It is also known as La Placita. It has undergone many restorations over the years, and is still a very active and busy church. with over 10,000 people attending masses each week.
	LA PLAZA (mid 1820s) was the center of social, political and business life during the Spanish (1781-1821) and Mexican (1821-1847) eras in Los Angeles. The present location is the third and final location, having moved there in the mid 1800s. While undergoing major changes over the years, today it is the center of many festivals and celebrations.
	PELANCONI HOUSE (1855-57) was built by Italian vintner, Giuseppi Cavacciand is the oldest brick house in Los Angeles. It was bought by Antonio Pelanconi in 1871. It has been used as a wine cellar and in 1930, Senora Consuelo Castillo de Bonzo took it over for a restaurant, known as La Golondrina, which is the oldest restaurant on Olvera Street.
	MASONIC HALL (1858) was designed as a meeting hall for Lodge 42 Free and Accepted Masons, the first American organization established in Los Angeles. A furniture store was located on the first floor. It is the oldest building in Los Angeles south of the Plaza. In the 1870s, its facade was changed to conform to the appearances of Merced Theater and Pico House to the north. The building has been a boarding house and a pawn shop. It was saved in the early 1950s from destruction as a result of the incoming Hollywood-Santa Ana Freeways and in 1981 was dedicated as the home of Los Angeles City Masonic Lodge 841.
	PICO HOUSE (1870), known as the "finest hotel in Southern California," boasted "bathrooms and water closets for both sexes" on each floor. Pio Pico, the last governor of Mexican California, sold his land in the San Fernando Valley to raise money for its construction. It was Los Angeles' first three story building. The hotel had 82 bedrooms, 21 parlors and two interior courtyards. A French restaurant was located on the ground floor. Pico lost the hotel by foreclosure in 1880. From 1892-1920 it was the National Hotel. Today it is being restored and the ground floor is used for cultural exhibits.
	MERCED THEATER (1870) is one of the oldest buildings in Los Angeles for dramatic performances, having been the center of theatrical activity from 1871-1876. The theater was built by William Abbot for his wife, María Merced Garcia. It was built in Italianate style, but more ornate than the Pico House next door. The first performances were mainly in English and the ticket price ranged from 50 cents in the balcony to $1.00 for "parquet chairs." When the Woods Opera House opened four doors south of the Merced in 1876, it marked the beginning of the decline of the Merced Theater. The building is currently undergoing restoration.
	PLAZA FIREHOUSE (1884) was the first fire house built in Los Angeles to store fire-fighting equipment and to house personnel. It was called Engine Company No. 1 and was the home for the first volunteer firefighters of Los Angeles. For 2 years it housed the first 38 volunteers, a horse cart and 3 horses. The Firehouse moved out in 1892 due to a legal dispute and was used as a saloon, boarding house, drugstore and vegetable market over the years. In 1953 it became part of El Pueblo and it was restored and opened as a museum in 1960, containing fire fighting equipment, photographs and maps from the 19th and 20th centuries.
	SEPULVEDA HOUSE (1887) was built in Senora Eloisa Martinez de Sepulveda in the Eastlake Victorian style at a cost of $8,000. It contained 22 rooms, 2 commercial businesses and 3 residences. The building has been restored and now contains the Visitors' Center, a museum and an 18-minute film on the history of El Pueblo de Los Angeles.
	VICKREY/BRUNSWIG BUILDING (1888) was built for commercial and residential use on land once owned by the Dominguez family. It housed the Braun Drug company in 1897, which became the Brunswig Drug Company in 1907. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department had its crime laboratory here from the 1940s-1960s. It was badly damaged in a fire in 1991. It is currently part of the soon-to-open Plaza de Cultura y Artes.
	GARNIER BUILDING (1890) was built by Philippe Garnier from Gap, France. It was the oldest and most important building of the original Chinatown which was located here. The building housed important Chinese businesses and associations. During the 1950s, the southern half of the building was demolished to make way for the Hollywood/Santa Ana Freeway. Much of the building now houses the Chinese American Museum.
	SIMPSON-JONES BUILDING (1894) is on land formerly owned by Mayor Cristobal Aguilar and Governor John Downey. It was built for light industrial use and to house Moline Engines. It eventually became the Diamond Shirt Company and the Soochow Restaurant. In 1959, half of the building was changed into a Mexican style bank and the other half was later occupied by Luz del Dia Restaurant.
	BRUNSWIG ANNEX (1897) was constructed on the site of the old Los Angeles Gas Company as a 2-story structure. In 1909, a third story was added. It originally was used by the Braun Drug Company as a showroom, and then the Brunswig Drug Company. The building was acquired by Los Angeles County in 1946, along with the Vickrey/Brunswig building next door. In the 1950s, it was used for Los Angeles County employees and a Sheriff's crime laboratory. After the 1971 earthquake, the County removed all the exterior ornamentation and the building subsequently deteriorated. It currently is part of the soon-to-open Plaza de Cultura y Artes.
	425 NORTH LOS ANGELES STREET (1898) was built by Sostenes Sepulveda for $300 to house Chinese tenants. It is known by its street address to avoid confusion with nearby Sepulveda House. It was used by Chinese, then Italians, then Chinese again. In 1953, it was acquired by El Pueblo.
	HELLMAN-QUON BUILDING (1900) was built on the site of Governor Pio Pico's adobe townhouse by Isaias W. Hellman., a prominent Los Angeles and San Francisco banker. It was sold to long time tenant and important Chinese businessman Quon How Shing in 1920, and acquired by El Pueblo in 1953. It is now the offices of Las Angelitas del Pueblo, the volunteer organization that offers free tours of El Pueblo de Los Angeles and the el Pueblo Education Center .
	PLAZA SUBSTATION (1903-4) was the largest and most significant of the 14 substations in Los Angeles. It was built by Henry Huntington, owner of the Los Angeles Railway Company to convert electricity from AC to DC so as to provide power for the operation of the city's yellow trolley cars. The electric street car system ceased operating in 1963, thus ending the need for the Substation's electric power.
	ITALIAN HALL (1908) is one of seven buildings in El Pueblo associated with the Italian community, which settled in Los Angeles between 1855 and the 1930s. It was used for political meetings, banquets, weddings and theatrical performances, in addition to commercial businesses. David Alfaro Siquieros painted "América Tropical" on the south exterior wall in 1932, which featured an Indian bound to a double cross, surmounted by an imperialist eagle and surrounded by pre-Columbian symbols and revolutionary figures. It was very controversial and ordered whitewashed. Today it is being restored and, plans are to reopen it with an interpretive center.
	HAMMEL BUILDING (1909) was constructed for $4,000 for light industrial shops, by Marie Hammel, who also built Italian Hall next door. The building was enlarged when Olvera Street opened as a "Mexican Marketplace" in 1930.
	MACHINE SHOP (ca. 1915), now occupied by Casa California, was built as a machine shop fronting onto Main Street. As its architecture resembles other commercial buildings in Los Angeles constructed in 1910, it is possible that it was built in that year. After Christine Sterling transformed Olvera Street into a Mexican Marketplace in 1930, the building was used for a short time as the Leo Carrillo Theater. Two of the three arched openings on the Main Street facade have been filled in with stucco walls. The central arch had vertical wooden boards and double doors with wrought iron bars.
	OLD WINERY AND EL PASEO INN (ca.1870-1914) was built by Antonio Pelanconi, who also owned the Pelanconi House (La Golondrina Restaurant) across Olvera Street. Pelanconi died in 1879 and his widow carried on the winery business. El Paseo Inn moved into the southern portion of the Winery in the 1930s. In 1984, excavations turned up artifacts relating to the Spanish and Mexican eras of Los Angeles' past. El Pueblo's administrative offices have been located in the Old Winery and now it houses an art gallery.
	BISCAILUZ BUILDING (1925-26) is located on the site of Juan Sepulveda's adobe. It had served as the United Methodist Church Conference headquarters, the Plaza Community Center and the Consulate-General of Mexico. In 1968, it was named after Eugene Biscailuz, a former Los Angeles Sheriff, who had helped Christine Sterling in her struggle to save this historic section of Los Angeles. In 1978, Leo Politi painted a mural on the south and east facades that depicts the Blessing of the Animals, a traditional event held annually in El Pueblo on Easter Saturday. It now houses El Pueblo's administrative offices.
	PLAZA METHODIST CHURCH (1925-26) was built on the site of the adobe once owned by Agustín Olvera, the first Judge of Los Angeles County, and after whom Olvera Street was named in 1877. The first Methodist missionary work among Hispanic and Chinese people was undertaken in Los Angeles, Pasadena and Santa Ana from 1880-1910. The church was remodeled in the 1960s and was designated a Methodist Historical Site in 1979.
	OLVERA STREET (1930) opened as a "Mexican Marketplace" due to the tenacious leadership of Christine Sterling. Ms. Sterling convinced the city's leaders to donate money to help finance the project, which used prison labor and donated goods to complete it. The most popular area of El Pueblo, it is now famous throughout the world and is the location of great restaurants, wonderful souvenir shops and frequent movie shoots.
	TURNER BUILDING (1960s) was built as part of a major rehabilitation effort in the Pico-Garnier Block during the 1960's. It was built in the style of a previous building on this site that had once been used by Chinese occupants. It is named after its architect, Burnett Turner, who was responsible for much of El Pueblo's architectural work from 1946-74.
	AVILA ANNEX (1977) was added to the courtyard of Avila Adobe to be used as an exhibit room or student classroom. It was designed by Bennett Turner. At the rear of the site, the land slopes down about 18 feet. Thus, the annex building is 2 stories high on the Alameda Street side. Between the offices are exhibits on the history of water in Los Angeles and Christine Sterling. The water exhibit starts upstairs, and winds down the staircase, leading to the Christine Sterling Exhibit on the lower floor.
	PLACITA DE DOLORES (1979) commemorates Mexico's call for independence. The "Bell of Dolores" replica was given to Los Angeles in 1968 by Mexico. It represents Mexico's bid for freedom in 1810 when Father Hidalgo rang the bell which started the Mexican revolution against Spain. The 44 foot long mural depicts Father Hidalgo's ringing of the bell on September 15, 1810. In 1980, president Jimmy Carter participated in the dedication of the Placita de Dolores.