San Deigo Historic Site 65 THE WHALEY HOUSE

The oldest brick house in Southern California, this building was constructed in 1856 by Thomas Whaley, a pioneer merchant. He made the bricks from local clay, burning them in a kiln he constructed. The plaster and mortar, also ofhis own manufacture, he processed from ground sea shells. Woodwork and hardware he had brought around Cape Horn by sailing vessel.

Besides being the home of five generations of Whaleys, this venerablebuilding has been a dairy, a general store, funeral parlor, a theater,a saloon, San Diego's first Sunday school, a court house, hall of records,and meeting place for the Board of Supervisors.

One of the stirring episodes in San Diego history was the removal, by stealth, in 1871, of the county records to New San Diego, in the face of the armed resistance and wild threats of the people of Old Town.This is the only mansion of the American style of the mid-Nineteenth Century to be seen in San Diego.