San Juan Bautista Plaza Historic District | |
 ThePlaza Hotel houses the state park's entrance and a museum | |
   | |
| Location | 2211 Garden Road, San Juan Bautista, California |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 36°50′44.02″N121°32′4.4″W / 36.8455611°N 121.534556°W /36.8455611; -121.534556 |
| Area | 6 acres (2.4 ha) |
| Built | 1797 (1797) |
| Architectural style | Colonial |
| NRHP reference No. | 69000038 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | December 8, 1969[1] |
| Designated NHLD | April 15, 1970[2] |
San Juan Bautista State Historic Park is aCalifornia state park encompassing the historic center ofSan Juan Bautista, California, United States. It preserves a significant concentration of buildings dating to California's period of Spanish and Mexican control. It includes thePlaza Hotel, theJosé Castro House, and several other buildings facing the historic plaza. It became a state park in 1933.[3]
The park is part of the San Juan Bautista Plaza Historic District, along with the adjacentMission San Juan Bautista and theJuan de Anza House southeast of the park. The district was declared aNational Historic Landmark in 1970.[2][4] It is also a site on theJuan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail.
.jpg)
Mission San Juan Bautista was founded in 1797, as the 15thSpanish mission in what is now California. It was well sited for its intended purpose, the conversion of area Native Americans toRoman Catholicism, and was highly successful. The present mission church, still an active Catholic parish, was built in 1803–12, and is one of the largest of California's mission churches. The mission isnot part of the state park but is adjacent to the plaza whichis part of the state park.[3]
Across the plaza from the mission is thePlaza Hotel, which was originally built in 1814 as a barracks for Spanish soldiers. Its second story was added in 1858, giving it aMonterey Colonial flavor.[4] The hotel now houses a museum and the state park's entrance.[3]
Following the independence of Mexico, the Spanish missionswere secularized in 1833, and the village around the mission became apueblo. On the southwest side of the plaza standsthe adobe of interim GovernorJosé Antonio Castro, one of the most important figures in California's Mexican period between 1835 and 1846. Built 1839–41, it is an architecturally important example of theMonterey Colonial style, and now functions as a museum within the state park.[3]
One block southeast of the park is theJuan de Anza House, an adobe whose construction predates the rise of the Monterey Colonial style.[4]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)The following buildings in the district are documented in theHistoric American Buildings Survey:
| Topics | |
|---|---|
| Lists by state |
|
| Lists by insular areas | |
| Lists by associated state | |
| Other areas | |
| Lists of specific structure types | |
| Related | |
