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The Moraga Adobe is located at 24 Adobe Lane in
Orinda, California Orinda is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census is estimated at 19,514 residents. History Orinda is located within four Mexican land grants: Rancho La ...
. It was built by Don Joaquin Moraga who was the grandson of Jose Joaquin Moraga an early Spanish explorer in California who founded the city of
San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...
. In 1835,
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granted , El Rancho Laguna de los Palos Colorados, to Joaquin Moraga and his cousin Juan Bernal. Six years later in 1841, Joaquin built this house, which is the oldest of the five surviving adobe houses in Contra Costa County. The adobe sits on a knoll at the center of the property of what is left of the original land grant. The house has been restored and remodeled twice since it was photographed for HABS, first in 1941 when Katharine Brown White Irvine of
Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...
purchased the old adobe, making additions such as adding three bedrooms and a veranda, and covering the adobe walls and again in 1964 when it was incorporated into a private home. The house is not accessible to the public and it is fenced off. However, it was photographed in 1922 for the Historical American Building Survey (HABS). Today, the Moraga Adobe is privately owned and unoccupied. The overall condition of the original adobe section and the more modern addition is neglected, but the building appears sound. The surrounding property was recently purchased, and the new owners have boarded up the windows to prevent vandalism and trespassing. The Moraga Adobe has been designated as a Historical Landmark by the City of Orinda and the State of California. A campaign has been started to purchase the property and restore the house to its 1848 configuration, to be used as a museum and educational site.


See also

* National Register of Historic Places listings in Contra Costa County, California


References


External links


Friends of the Moraga Adobe
* History of Contra Costa County, California Houses in Contra Costa County, California National Register of Historic Places in Contra Costa County, California Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in California Historic American Buildings Survey in California Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California 1841 establishments in Alta California Houses completed in 1841 Orinda, California Adobe buildings and structures in California {{ContraCostaCountyCA-NRHP-stub