The Peralta Adobe (), also known as the Luis María Peralta Adobe or the Gonzales-Peralta Adobe, is the oldest building in

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 ...

. The

adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...

was built in 1797 by José Manuel Gonzeles, one of the founders of San Jose, and is named after

Luis María Peralta Luis María Peralta (1759 in Sonora, New Spain – August 26, 1851) was a Californio ranchero and soldier in the Spanish Army. Peralta received Rancho San Antonio, one of the largest of the rancho grants in California, covering 44,800 acres ...

, its most famous resident.

History

José Manuel Gonzeles (an Apache Indian), his wife, and their five children accompanied the Spanish Anza Party to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in 1776. He was one of the founders of the Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe, the first municipal government in California, established in 1777.Luís María Peralta Adobe Timeline
''Historysanjose.org'' This was the second house that González lived in, the first site was untenable due to winter flooding. In 1804, González died and the adobe went to

Luís María Peralta Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

in 1808. Peralta was a sergeant in the Spanish Army, commissioner of the Pueblo of San José, and owner of Rancho San Antonio of the

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Wi ...

, one of the largest ranchos in

Alta California Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva California () among other names, was a province of New Spain formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but was made a separat ...

. Peralta divided the house into two rooms, built a porch, a kitchen and a chimney. He died in August 1851, leaving the adobe to his two daughters. The house was the property of María Josefa Peralta until July 1862, then it passed to María Dolores Peralta until 1866, and then to Baltazar Peralta (grandson of Luís María Peralta). During the 1870s and 1880s, the adobe was used as a storage facility by Zeffiro Bastiani, Giovanni Spinetti, and later Lorenzo Scatena. In 1949, to make way for the construction of the Lusardi building in the adjoining lot, Giuseppe Bacchio had 17inches of the north-west exterior corner of the adobe removed. Purchased by the City of San Jose in 1966, the adobe building was restored, and the surrounding park completed in 1976. The Peralta Adobe is San Jose's Historic Landmark #1,

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

#866, and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. In addition, the adobe was the first site certified as a component of the

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail The Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail is a trail extending from Nogales on the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, through the California desert and coastal areas in Southern California and the Central Coast region to San Francisco.

.NPS: Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail
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Gallery

File:PeraltaAdobePlaque-cropped.jpg, The

plaque File:Luis María Peralta Adobe (cropped).jpg, Front File:Peralta Adobe exterior - San Jose, CA - DSC03801.JPG, Side File:San Jose, CA USA - The Peralta Adobe - panoramio.jpg, Close up of the side File:Peralta Adobe interior - San Jose, CA - DSC03812.JPG, Inside File:Peralta Adobe interior - San Jose, CA - DSC03813.JPG, Inside File:Peralta Adobe detail - San Jose, CA - DSC03808.JPG, Woodwork inside File:Peralta Adobe detail - San Jose, CA - DSC03804.JPG, Historical artefacts

Museum

The Peralta Adobe is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that is preserved as a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a variety of ...

, available for tours by appointment.History San José (nonprofit)
The building covers an area of 20 feet by 41 feet (6 x 12.4 m), and has two connecting rooms of approximately equal size. The walls are about thick, and made of adobe blocks that are 22 inches by 11 inches by 4 inches (56 x 28 x 10 cm). The adobe is furnished inside as it would have been 200 years ago. Outside is an

outdoor fireplace An outdoor fireplace is a place for building fires outside of the home. Similar in construction to an indoor fireplace, an outdoor fireplace is usually added to a stone, brick, or concrete patio. It often consists of a Firebox (architecture) ...

oven (''horno''). The adobe and the Thomas and Carmel Fallon House across the street from it are within The Peralta Adobe & Fallon House Historic Site, on San Pedro Square in downtown San Jose, operated by the local nonprofit History San José. The Fallon House was built in 1855 in the Victorian style.

References

External links

History San José: The Peralta Adobe & Fallon House Historic Site
— ''tour information''. {{San Jose and Silicon Valley attractions Adobe buildings and structures in California Museums in San Jose, California Historic house museums in California History of San Jose, California California Historical Landmarks Downtown San Jose Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in California National Register of Historic Places in Santa Clara County, California Buildings and structures in San Jose, California Houses in Santa Clara County, California Houses completed in 1797 1797 establishments in The Californias

History

Gallery

Museum

Related pages

References

External links