Monterey Old Town Historic District | |
Location | Monterey, California |
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Coordinates | 36°35′59″N 121°53′37″W / 36.59972°N 121.89361°W |
Area | 80.3 acres (32.5 ha) |
Built | 1776 |
Architect | Thomas O. Larkin |
Architectural style | Colonial |
NRHP reference No. | 70000137 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | April 15, 1970[1] |
Designated NHLD | April 15, 1970[2] |
Monterey State Historic Park is a historic state park in Monterey, California. It includes part or all of the Monterey Old Town Historic District, a historic district that includes 17 contributing buildings and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970.[1][2] The grounds include California's first theatre, and the Monterey Custom House, where the American flag was first raised over California.
The park is a group of restored historic buildings. The exhibited houses display the cultural diversity that guided California's transition from a remote Spanish outpost in Las Californias province, to an agricultural Mexican Alta California territory, to U.S. statehood. These influential adobe houses made up California's earliest capital and were the site of the state's first constitutional convention.
Today the historic buildings retain their rich heritage, preserving an important part of Californian as well as Spanish, Mexican, and American history.[3] Added to the adobe houses is the park's Interpretive Center and the Pacific House Museum.