ALVARADO ADOBE
This adobe was built in the 1830s by Don Juan Bautista Alvarado, the first Monterey-born Governor of California. A direct descendent of Captain Cortez, he was the son of Don Jose Francisco Alvarado and Josefa Vallejo. His home is one of the oldest structures in Monterey.
Originally a three-room structure with a tule-reed roof, the adobe illustrates several characteristics of design customary of the period. Dwellings faced the east so the occupants could take full advantage of the morning sun at the front of the house. Each room opened directly to the outdoors, either onto gardens or a porch. Walls were 24 inches thick, of adobe bricks laid up with adobe-mud mortar and supported on a heavy chalk-rock foundation.
Manuel Dutra purchased the adobe in 1842. It remained in the Dutra family until they sold it in 1946. Casa Alvarado is now a unit of Monterey State Historic Park and is in use as a private residence.
Alvarado Adobe
510 Dutra Street
Monterey, CA 93940
831-649-7118
Ownership: California State Parks
Open: Leased to a private tenant,
not generally open to the public.