The Centinela Adobe, also known as La Casa de la Centinela, is a Spanish Colonial style

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

house built in 1834. It is operated as a

house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a v ...

by the Historical Society of Centinela Valley, and it is one of the 43 surviving adobes within

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

. The Adobe was the seat of the

Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela was a Ranchos of California, Mexican land grant in present-day Los Angeles County, California given in 1837 to Rancho La Ballona#Machado family, Ygnacio Machado. The name means "Sentinel of the Waters" in Spanish ...

, a Mexican

Alta California Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...

-era land grant partitioned from the Spanish

Las Californias The Californias (Spanish: ''Las Californias''), occasionally known as The Three Californias or Two Californias, are a region of North America spanning the United States and Mexico, consisting of the U.S. state of California and the Mexican stat ...

era

Rancho Sausal Redondo Rancho Sausal Redondo (Round Willow-grove Ranch) was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given in 1837 to Antonio Ygnacio Ávila by Juan Alvarado Governor of Alta California. ''Rancho Sausal Redondo'' covered ...

centered around the

Centinela Springs The Aguaje de Centinela, or Centinela Springs, was a valued source of local spring water for Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela and what is now southwest Los Angeles and Inglewood in Southern California. Monuments California Historical Landmark marker ...

. The Centinela Adobe, which is the Centinela Valley's oldest residence, was built by Ygnacio Machado in 1834. Since then, farmers, ranchers, a Scotsman, and Inglewood's founding father, Daniel Freeman, have lived in the structure. It is the oldest building in the area and has been called the "Birthplace of Inglewood".

History of the Ranchos and Centinela Adobe

Antonio Ygnacio Avila

In 1822, after the

Mexican War of Independence The Mexican War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia de México, links=no, 16 September 1810 – 27 September 1821) was an armed conflict and political process resulting in Mexico's independence from Spain. It was not a single, co ...

brought freedom for

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, Antonio Ygnacio Avila received a

Mexican land grant The Spanish and Mexican governments made many concessions and land grants in Alta California (now known as California) and Baja California from 1775 to 1846. The Spanish Concessions of land were made to retired soldiers as an inducement for ...

for Rancho Sausal Redondo in

, where he grazed cattle. The rancho's lands encompass the present day cities of Redondo Beach, Inglewood,

Hawthorne Hawthorne often refers to the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne may also refer to: Places Australia *Hawthorne, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane Canada * Hawthorne Village, Ontario, a suburb of Milton, Ontario United States * Hawt ...

, El Segundo, Lawndale, Manhattan Beach, and

Hermosa Beach Hermosa Beach (''Hermosa'', Spanish for "Beautiful") is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California, United States. Its population was 19,728 at the 2020 U.S. Census. The city is located in the South Bay region of th ...

Ygnacio Machado - Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela

In the early 1830s, Ygnacio Machado, son of one of the "leather jacket soldiers" who escorted the original settlers of Los Angeles, began cultivating a portion of the rancho. Ygnacio Machado's brother Augustin Machado owned the nearby

Rancho La Ballona Rancho La Ballona was a Mexican land grant in the present-day Westside region of Los Angeles County, Southern California. The rancho was confirmed by Alta California Governor Juan Alvarado in 1839, to Ygnacio and Augustin Machado and Felipe ...

, as well as the Rancho La Laguna and Rancho Santa Rosa. Ygnacio Machado became the grantee of a portion of Rancho Sausal Redondo, the

and built the 'Centinela Adobe' in 1834 “of adobe brick upon foundation of field stones. Subsequent additions were built of wood frame with vertical wood sheathing…the original roof has been replaced with wood shingles.” Ygnacio Machado owned Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela only briefly, trading it in 1844 for a keg of whiskey and a small home in the

Pueblo de Los Angeles In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

Robert Burnett

The rancho changed hands several times in the 1850s, including a sale in 1859 for $930. Joseph Lancaster Brent bought the rancho the same year for $3,000, but when the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

commenced in 1860, Brent returned to his home in the Southern states, where he served in the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

. Scotsman Robert Burnett purchased the rancho from Brent for $3,000 in 1860. Burnett added to the ranch, acquiring old

for $29,500. By 1872, Burnett had a ranch that encompassed all of the land from what is now known as

Playa del Rey Playa del Rey (Spanish for "Beach of the King") is a seaside community in the Santa Monica Bay and the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It has a ZIP code of 90293 and area codes of 310 and 424. As of 2018, the community had a populat ...

to Lawndale and Redondo Beach.

Daniel Freeman

In 1873, Burnett returned to Scotland, leasing the ranch to Daniel Freeman, a recent arrival from

Simcoe, Ontario Simcoe is an unincorporated community#Canada, unincorporated community and former town in Southwestern Ontario, Canada near Lake Erie. It is the county seat and largest community of Norfolk County, Ontario, Norfolk County. Simcoe is at the junct ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Writer Charles Nordoff stayed at the ranch in 1874 and wrote an article about

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

ranch life for Harper's ''

The New Monthly Magazine ''The New Monthly Magazine'' was a British monthly magazine published from 1814 to 1884. It was founded by Henry Colburn and published by him through to 1845. History Colburn and Frederic Shoberl established ''The New Monthly Magazine and Univer ...

'' saying: "I looked around with some curiosity for this was the first time I had had an opportunity to see how the old Californians of wealth live." Nordoff found the adobe style of living "poor and simple" with a mix of "squalor and splendor." Freeman paid $7,500 per year in rent, and also had an option to purchase the ranch for $150,000. Freeman raised sheep and planted more than 10,000 trees, including 7,000 orange and 2,000 almond trees on the ranch. When a drought led to the death of 22,000 head of his sheep, Freeman turned to growing barley, and he eventually was producing a million barrels a year. In 1885, Freeman exercised the option to buy the ranch for $140,000 in gold. Freeman amassed a fortune farming barley, olives, lemons, limes, and almonds on the ranch and named his expansive land holding Inglewood, after his birthplace in Ontario. In 1887, the

California Central Railway The California Central Railway was incorporated on April 23, 1887, with headquarters in San Bernardino, California. George O. Manchester was the President of the corporation. At its peak it operated of rail line with 14 steam locomotives, 14 ...

laid tracks to Redondo Beach, and Freeman sold off in small parcels as a settlement that became the city of Inglewood. In 1888, Freeman built a large mansion in Inglewood, and in 1889, he built the land office that now sits on the grounds of the Centinela Adobe. Eventually, all of the ranch were subdivided, and the only remaining portion of the ranch that remains is the site on which the Centinela Adobe is situated.

Centinela Adobe Museum

Adobe saved from demolition

The Centinela Adobe Complex has been described as the historical centerpiece of the area known as Centinela Valley, the lands extending from the Baldwin Hills to Palos Verdes, which comprised the Centinela Ranch. Yet, in the late 1940s, the adobe was threatened with demolition when the remaining land was subdivided to make room for new homes. Preservation-minded citizens raised money to purchase the property in 1950 and deeded it to City of Inglewood, which still maintains the adobe through the Parks and Recreation Department. The Centinela Adobe Complex, and Freeman's land office that was moved to the grounds, are available for

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de conf ...

-led tours

Adobe museum

The adobe has been restored and is operated jointly by the Historical Society of the Centinela Valley and the Inglewood Department of Parks and Recreation. The adobe and museum are located at 7634 Midfield Ave., a residential street abutting the

405 Freeway Interstate 405 (I-405) is a major north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in Southern California. The entire route is known as the northern segment of the San Diego Freeway. I-405 is a bypass auxiliary route of I-5, running along the s ...

. It is open on Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m. Admission is free, and docents are available to provide tours. The adobe can be toured for groups or special occasions at other times by calling the Historical Society. The adobe is furnished with period furniture and artifacts from the late 19th century. In a 2001 profile of the museum in 2001, the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' wrote:

"The long, low, white stucco adobe with its porch and shingle roof looks as if it is sitting right in the middle of the 19th Century. But it's not, as the nearby San Diego Freeway visibly demonstrates. It's really a kind of time warp: the telltale sign of a modern metropolis on one side and the oldest home in the Centinela Valley on the other-still serene, still peaceful amid lawns, shrubs and shade trees."

Freeman Land Office

The Freeman Land Office, built in 1887 for the Centinela-Inglewood Land Company and originally located on Florence Avenue east of Eucalyptus Avenue, is also accessible as part of the tours. The building was used to sell plots of land for what became Inglewood. The building has been moved twice, most recently in 1975 to its present site next to the adobe. The land office building is well preserved and contains many artifacts and photographs.

Heritage and research center

The grounds also include a heritage and research center which opened in 1980. The research center houses items from the Daniel Freeman mansion, which was demolished in 1972. Items on display in the research center include Freeman's library, safe, and furniture, as well as articles and photos about the history of Centinela Valley.

References

*John R. Kielbasa's book, "Historic Adobes of Los Angeles County," includes a chapter on the Centinela Adobe, which is accessible online @
laokay-Centinela, Adobe
'.

Notes

External links

Historical Society of Centinela Valley California
Online Web Site
Centinela Adobe - Historical Society of Centinela Valley California
- City of Inglewood site

* ttp://www.laokay.com/halac/CentinelaAdobe.htm Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela and the Centinela Adobe: a historybr>Westchester Branch Library: vintage Docent Sheet for Centinela AdobeNational Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary: "Early History of the California Coast"blogging.la: William Campbell, Civility Rubbottom & The Centinela AdobeMap of old Spanish and Mexican ranchos in Los Angeles County
{{Registered Historic Places Adobe buildings and structures in California Historic house museums in California Historical society museums in California Museums in Los Angeles Westchester, Los Angeles California Historical Landmarks Houses completed in 1834 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles History of Los Angeles 1834 establishments in Alta California Spanish Colonial architecture in California