Sanchez Adobe
Sanchez Adobe Historic Site
Excerpted From: Steve Deitz, 1974, 1979 & F.M. Stanger, 1953
The valley in which Don Francisco Sanchez built his house more than a century ago, was then already a historic site. It was the location of an aboriginal Indian village and the agricultural outpost of the Mission Dolores. The historic importance of these sites was recognized on April 13, 1976 when the Sanchez Adobe
and the five acres surrounding it was accepted for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. The Adobe itself had already been listed on the Historic American Building Surve, and as a California Historical Landmark, Number 391.
The Sanchez Adobe is the finest example of its type of architecture now existing in San Mateo County .The adobe has, during its existence, mirrored all activities which have taken place regionally and locally. It is believed that a portion of the adobe was constructed with adobe bricks taken from the mission outpost. In 1978, an archeological survey showed that the adobe was built on a section of the old outpost foundation.
Tne original adobe structure,as constructed by Francisco Sanchez
from 1842 to 1846, consisted of three rooms in each of its two stories with an open wall area, probably the kitchen, at the north end of the lower floor. Balconies were originally along the south and north sides but were of a different style than those existing today. The building was then surrounded by a 8926 acre land grant.
Subsequent to the onset of the American period the home of Sanchez was sold to an American soldier, General Edward Kirkpatrick, in 1879. Wood frame rooms were added in about 1880 on the west end of the structure, as was an interior stairway from the first to the second floor. By 1905 the adobe had been converted to use as a hotel to accomodate passengers of the Ocean Shore Railroad which had been built through the mouth of San Pedro Valley. When the railroad went defunct in the 1920's, the adobe came into use as a farmworkers house and artichoke storage shed, a direct reflection of the valleys rebirth toward agricultural production.
The County of San Mateo purchased the adobe and its surrounding property in 1947 and restoration of the building took place in 1953. Wooden portions, and adobe wing walls at the north side of the adobe were removed at this time, as were the interior stairway, and other additions.
The outpost of the Mission Dolores is the only known remains of a series of outposts that were established on the San Francisco peninsula. The remains of the outpost, which were discovered during archaeological excavation in 1974 and delineated in 1978, are in
the form of cobblestone and limestone foundations. These foundations mark a quadrangle which measured ll5 feet by ll0 feet as a whole and included two granaries, priest's quarters, a chapel, foreman's quarters, a kitchen, storage rooms, and an entrance hall.
Begun in 1786, work continued on the outpost through 1791. In 1792, activities at San Pedro were drastically reduced, due perhaps to an epidemic and or compounded by hostility with Indians along the southern Coast and the establishment of a mission at Santa Cruz which reduced the need for a chapel on the coast below San Francisco. The mission outpost did continue to exist after 1792 as an important agricultural center. While the outpost at one time supplied all of the food resources for the Mission Dolores, the food production around the outpost switched to cattle raising. Mission cattle, numbered in the thousands, ranged the hills as £ar south as San Gregorio. By 1834 the buildings were no longer in use.
The aboriginal Indian site is one of only two remaining archaeological sites in the north coast region of San Mateo County and is the only known ethnographic village in the region. Most importantly, the site is directly associated with the remains of the mission outpost.
A large number of Indians are recorded in the mission records as having been baptized at the site and used as a labor force for the outpost. The social organization and ethnohisiory of the Ahlone-speaking people of San Pedro Valley is presently being reconstructed from information in the registers at Mission Dolores.
The Sanchez Adobe, ethnographic village, and mission outpost remains represent every period of human occupation that has taken place in the State of California. Beginning with the Costanoan Indians and continuing through the Mission, Mexican, Spanish and American periods, the structure and remains within the Sanchez Adobe Historic Site have been directly involved with each of these times.
1000 Linda Mar Boulevard. An adobe home, completed in 1846 by Francisco Sanchez who owned the Rancho San Pedro, an area encompassing all of present day Pacifica.
The adobe was built on top of foundations of an earlier Mission Dolores Ranch complex. The Adobe was altered by subsequent owners but has been essentially restored to its original condition.