Hotel del Coronado

In late 1886, founders Elisha Spurr Babcock Jr. and Hampton L. Story retained Canadian-born architects James W. Reid and Merritt J. Reid to design what Babcock envisioned as a seaside hotel that would become "the talk of the Western world." With Southern California completely lacking an industrial timber industry, the Reid brothers established a monumental Pacific maritime supply line: fleets of steam schooners sailed down the coast loaded with millions of board feet of virgin old-growth redwood from Humboldt County and dense Douglas fir from Puget Sound.

Ground was broken in March 1887. Under the supervision of James Reid, a dedicated labor force of between 250 and 300 Chinese immigrant carpenters, masons, and laborers worked alongside Anglo craftsmen in around-the-clock shifts. At night, the construction site was illuminated by towering bonfires and roaring gas flare lamps. In just eleven months, the colossal 400-room Queen Anne Victorian palace was completed. When the hotel formally opened its doors on February 19, 1888, guests gasped at its soaring crimson turrets, open-air sun porches, and lush garden courtyard filled with exotic palms and blooming jasmine.

When Hotel del Coronado opened in 1888, it stunned the global hospitality industry by eschewing dangerous gas lamps in guest rooms in favor of incandescent electrical lighting. Engineered directly under the consultation of Thomas Alva Edison, the hotel installed the largest private commercial lighting plant on Earth outside of Manhattan.

Steam-driven Mather dynamos located in a powerhouse across the street powered 2,500 carbon-filament bulbs. Because electric lighting was completely unfamiliar to Victorian guests, management installed printed instruction cards beside each door: "This room is equipped with Edison Electric Light. Do not attempt to light with match. Simply turn key on wall by the door. The use of electricity for light is in no way harmful to health, nor does it affect the soundness of sleep."