Overview

Los Angeles's first developer, Jonathan Temple, erected this two-floor, Monterey Colonial adobe at the intersection of Spring, Main and Temple Streets in Downtown Los Angeles.

Building History

Jonathan Temple (1796-1866) relocated from the Hawaiian Island to San Diego, CA, in 1827 and later that year moved to the Pueblo de Los Angeles, setting up its first general store. He acclimated quickly to the local Mexican culture, changing his name to "Juan," and marrying into the prominent Cota Family. After marrying Rafaela Cota (1812–1887), he settled into a life of managing multiple businesses, including a cattle ranch, general store and a real estate business.

A Los Angeles Daily News advertisement of 1866, posted about six weeks before his death, detailed "John" Temple's real estate activites. He offered five residential and commercial properties for sale, four residential and one commercial, on behalf of Ignacio Gracia. Two of the buildings were brick construction, the other three made of adobe. (See “Valuable Real Estate,”Los Angeles Daily News, 04/17/1866, p. 3.) With all of his business interests, Temple had become, by the time of his death, one of wealthiest men in Southern CA.

PCAD id: 22545