Johnson House, Old Town San Diego

Johnson House is a reconstruction a historic building located on La Plaza de Las Armas at 2706 San Diego Avenue in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park in San Diego, California.

History

The Johnson House was former residence of George Alonzo Johnson in San Diego. He was a steamboat captain on the Colorado River and owner of the Colorado Steam Navigation Company and of the Rancho Santa Maria de Los Peñasquitos where he and his wife lived. He built the building on a vacant lot on La Plaza de Las Armas, in Old Town, purchased from Tomasa Pico de Alvarado, his mother-in-law in 1869.

Built in 1870 it was a wood-frame pre-fab style office building that was brought by ship to San Diego. It was typical of many American buildings of the period, it had a false front and full-length wooden porch. A few years after 1880, when the Johnsons lost their rancho to their creditors, they moved into this building on the plaza, where the captain died in 1903.

Today

The Johnson House was reconstructed in 1989 by California State Parks. The building located on the Plaza operates as a park concession.^[1]

References