A vanished city lives again...

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

The oldest building in Los Angeles?

Many have already heard about the emerging realization that the Sanchez Adobe in the Baldwin Hills may be the oldest building in Los Angeles.

Although the structure bears the Sanchez name, it is believed to have actually been built by unknown rancheros fifty years before the land was first deeded to Don Vicente Sanchez in 1843.

This 1840s map depicting the boundaries of "Rancho del Paso de la Tijera" shows the little cottage whose existence has now spanned four centuries.


Hispanic-Heritage Links at the National Archives.


The former Baldwin Ranch, circa 1926. The Sanchez Adobe is the taller white building to the left of center.


Courtesy U.S.C. Digital Library.


Casa de Sanchez, ca. 1924. At this time, the house was already 130 years old.


Courtesy U.S.C. Digital Library.


Another view of the Sanchez house (right) in the 1920s. Does the adobe outbuilding at left still survive? A modern aerial view suggests a possibility that it may.


Courtesy U.S.C. Digital Library.


Only a few years later, the two-storey Sanchez house was incorporated into a much larger modern structure that still stands today at 3725 Don Felipe Drive.


Courtesy U.S.C. Digital Library.