The Pico House dominates the Plaza in old downtown Los Angeles, 1876 (photo taken from old
Fort
Moore)
The Pico House is a historic building in Los Angeles, California,
dating from its days as a small town in Southern California. Located on 430 North
Main Street, it sits across the old Los Angeles Plaza from Olvera Street and El Pueblo de
Los Angeles Historic Monument. Its geographic coordinates are 34°03′23.63″N, 118°14′22.07″W.
Pío Pico, a successful businessman who was the last Mexican Governor of Alta California,
ordered construction a luxury hotel in the growing town. The architect was Ezra F. Kysor, who also
designed the Cathedral of Saint Vibiana, and it was constructed between
1869 and 1870. The resulting Italianate three
story, 33-room hotel, dubbed Pico House (or Casa de Pico) was the most extravagant and lavish hotel in Southern
California, and its opening was cause for much celebration. It had a total of nearly eighty rooms, large windows, a small
interior court, and a grand staircase.
Its time in the spotlight did not last very long. By 1876 the Southern Pacific Railroad had linked the city with the rest of the country and more residents
and businessman began pouring in. Pio Pico himself started having financial troubles, and lost the hotel to the San Francisco
Savings and Loan Company. The business center of the city began to move south and, by 1900, the building began to decline. After
decades as a shabby lodging house, it finally passed into the hands of the State of California in 1953, and it now belongs to the El Pueblo de Los Angeles State Historic Monument. Parts of this building were
renovated in 1981 and 1992. The ground floor is occasionally used for exhibits and other events.
The Pico House is currently listed as a California Historical Landmark
(No. 159) and a National Historic Landmark as a part of the Los Angeles Plaza
Historic District (NPS-72000231).
Reference and external links
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