#18: Lopez Adobe (San Fernando)

October 26, 2021

The retirement home of one of the San Fernando Valley’s OG power couples

Added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 6, 1971

The charming Lopez Adobe was built for Catalina & Gerónimo Lopez – spouses, second cousins, business partners and just really effing adorable old people.

Built in 1882 by Catalina’s brother Valentin, Lopez Adobe is one of the two oldest still-standing homes in the SFV, and the only surviving remnant of San Fernando’s early boom. It’s a unique building, a rare example of an extant two-story adobe that combines Monterey stylings with Victorian features – the hand-cut railings and balustrades are something else, and the turquoise paint (also echoed on the inside) give this a sense of whimsy I haven’t seen in other adobes.

By any account, Gerónimo led an eventful life. Born in Los Angeles in 1828 (when LA was under Mexican rule), he was educated at a private school operated by the Feliz family, the same folks that gave Los Feliz its name. He served with the Californios under Andrés Pico in the Mexican-American war – in fact an 18-year-old Gerónimo was the messenger assigned to communicate with the American forces about Mexico’s impending capitulation.

  • Detail of the balustrade at the Lopez Adobe.
    Detail of the balustrade at the Lopez Adobe.
  • Multiple generations of Lopez women, pictured in the Lopez Adobe. The cabinet in the background is still there.
    Multiple generations of Lopez women, pictured in the Lopez Adobe. The cabinet in the background is still there.
  • That cabinet in the background was there back in the Gerónimo & Catalina days!
    That cabinet in the background was there back in the Gerónimo & Catalina days!
  • This bookcase is also original - inside are some of the books that the Lopezes used at their school, the first English-language school in the San Fernando Valley.
    This bookcase is also original – inside are some of the books that the Lopezes used at their school, the first English-language school in the San Fernando Valley.
  • Couldn't resist a bathroom shot. Original chamber pot???
    Couldn’t resist a bathroom shot. Original chamber pot???
  • I saw a whoooole lot of Junipero Serra during my travels in San Fernando.
    I saw a whoooole lot of Junipero Serra during my travels in San Fernando. Don’t get the idea from that sly smile that I’m a big fan or anything.
  • Backside of the Lopez Adobe.
    Backside of the Lopez Adobe

Catalina grew up at the San Fernando Mission and spent time in the LA pueblo before marrying Gerónimo. After a decade living with Catalina’s father Pedro, the couple set off on their own and played an important role in the development of San Fernando. Back in the 1860s, two decades before the Lopez Adobe was built, they built “Lopez Station,” a stop on the Butterfield stagecoach route (the mail service in the years before the railroad arrived). At various times they operated the first general store in the Valley, the first English-language school and the first post office out of Lopez Station.

The Lopez Adobe, then, was Catalina and Gerónimo’s retirement home after a life of service to a variety of communities that crossed multiple ethnic and national boundaries. Though they died in 1918 and 1921, respectively, their descendants lived here until the early ‘60s.

This was my first guided tour since the pandemic began – what a treat to talk to actual people about history!

Recommended Reading

+Lopez Adobe website

+Lopez Adobe @ NRHP website

+Lopez Adobe on Facebook

Pioneers & Settlers
Etan R.
  • Etan R.

  • Music omnivore, student of LA history, beer snob and amateur father. Working my way through the canon.