Construction Begins on Hotel del Coronado

In March 1887, ground was officially broken along the ocean dunes of Coronado for the construction of Hotel del Coronado. Founders Babcock and Story selected brilliant Canadian-born architects James and Merritt Reid to draft blueprints for an opulent Queen Anne Victorian wooden resort that would be "the talk of the civilized world." Because San Diego lacked a sufficient local labor pool and manufacturing base, the construction effort required extraordinary logistical ingenuity.

The Coronado Beach Company recruited a diverse workforce of over one thousand skilled laborers, including hundreds of experienced Chinese immigrant woodworkers and artisans who had recently completed work on transcontinental railroads. Working seven days a week in around-the-clock shifts under gaslights and seaside bonfires, these master craftsmen framed the gigantic wooden structure by hand with incredible precision.

Millions of board-feet of virgin California redwood and Douglas fir were shipped down the Pacific coast on lumber schooners, unloaded at Coronado docks, and cut on an on-site steam sawmill. Despite the immense complexity of the design, with its sprawling wings, vaulted ceilings, and ornate ocean verandas, the entire resort hotel was completed and ready for guests in just eleven months, an architectural and construction achievement that remains legendary.