House and Garden 
VoL. XIV 
OCTOBER, 1908 
No. 4 
An Historical House of the West 
By CATHERINE ROBERTSON HAMLIN 
O NE of the oldest and one of the most pictur¬ 
esque and characteristic of early California 
houses is that of the de la Guerra family of 
Santa Barbara, California, which was built in 1826 
by Don Jose Antonio de la Guerra Noriega, who came 
to the Golden State in 1801 and in 1810 became 
military Commandante, under Spanish rule. 
The de la Guerra mansion, as it is called, the 
family having dropped the y Noriega after the death 
of the commandante, was built shortly after the 
famous Santa Barbara Mission, with which its his¬ 
tory is closely connected. The first de la Guerra 
was Syndico of the Franciscans and was honored by 
that order even in his death, for his tomb and those 
of his wife, the Sehora de la Guerra y Noriega; his 
son, Don Pablo; and his daughter, Anita de la 
Guerra y Noriega Robinson, of whose wedding 
Dana wrote in his “Two Years Before The Mast,” 
are within the Old Mission chapel, the only laymen 
interred there, although, even to this day, the de la 
Guerras are laid to their last rest in a great vault just 
outside the adobe Mission and within a few feet of the 
tomb where the heads of the Franciscan order repose. 
tier above tier, a brief Latin line giving their priestly 
name, the date of birth and death. This and a 
roughly lettered Requiescat in Pace, is all to tell 
whether they were brilliant or stupid and the one laid 
there is soon forgotten, for another takes his place and 
his name is never heard, unless in the prayers that go 
up for the repose of his soul. 
Visitors to Santa Barbara never fail to drive or 
walk past the mansion where the early history of the 
country was made and they find much of interest in 
the quaint, red-tiled roofs, the simple walls and the 
large court; the interior is never shown to strangers. 
This mansion is in the heart of the business center of 
Santa Barbara and no one of the fashionables of this 
day would think of building within a mile at least of 
that part of the little city. 
The tiles of the roof and those that form the floors 
of the wide porches running around three sides 
of the hollow square, are hand made, fashioned by 
Indian converts of the padres. The main house is 
built around the court, one side of which is open to the 
street, while on the three sides shallow steps lead down 
from verandas on which all the rooms of the house 
THE DE LA GUERRA HOUSE AS IT IS TO-DAY. COURT INCLOSED BY VINE-COVERED FENCE 
109 
Copyright, 1908, by The John C. Winston Co. 
