By Commander Don Hubbard, USN (Retired)

This old house was built in 1894 for Mr. Benjamin L. Muir. Muir was born in Memphis, Missouri in 1859 and came to San Diego in 1886. This was the year of the great auction sale of Coronado lots. He entered the real estate business and sold much property here in Coronado. In May of 1887, he married Lizzie Barber, which was the first wedding in Coronado. The ceremony was performed at the Hotel Del Coronado by the Reverend E. S. Chase, pastor of the First Methodist Church of San Diego. Some 150 guests attended, so it must have been some bash.

1022 was built as a beach house seven years after the Muir’s were married, only being occupied by the newlyweds during the summer. For the rest of the year, the home was rented out.

The house itself is a genuine Victorian structure (Queen Anne Style). Features like the eyebrow window, the oval window on the second floor, the changing shingle pattern, and the broad cedar floor planks attest to this. The original exterior color was a medium chocolate brown, which is now painted white. Many of the brass fittings that are still in the home are from England. It was alleged to me by Captain Hudson, who did the modernization of the house in 1973 that the original wiring was done by Thomas Edison when he was in town wiring the Hotel Del Coronado.

There was no garbage pick-up in the early days of this city, so residents buried their trash in the backyard. I have come across a number of these burial locations and found interesting pieces of broken china, a small intact perfume bottle, and an array of meat bones as well as sea shells. Digging exploratory trenches can become an interesting hobby.

For a comprehensive picture history of Coronado dating back to the period of earliest exploration to the present time, “Images of America: Coronado” by Leslie Hubbard Crawford (our daughter), Acadia Publications is available at Bay Books, 1029 Orange Avenue. Leslie also has a website devoted to Coronado: www.WelcometoCoronado.com

“THE 1022 CREW”