Coronado - Hotel del Coronado

Coronado's only building of interest, but one which is well worth seeing, is the Hotel del Coronado, built in 1888. Its mixture of Spanish and Mexican styles is unique in America today since, in spite of its wooden construction, it is still used as a luxury hotel (almost 700 rooms including those added on).

Predominantly Chinese workers with no previous knowledge of building techniques completed the hotel in less than eleven months. The main four-story building, over 100 years old, has had no structural alterations of any kind during that period, although the guest-rooms have been renovated several times. It was the largest building outside New York to be fully served by electricity at that time. Thomas Edison himself supervised the electrical installation. No fewer than thirteen American presidents, film actors, Charles Lindbergh, and many other VIPs have been guests in this famous hotel. Numerous films have also been made here, including "Some Like it Hot" with Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis.

Perhaps the most interesting room in the hotel is the 30ft/9m-high dining-room, in the construction of which not a single nail or any kind of supporting beam was used; the pine ceiling is held together by wooden dowels.

The gabled 700 room seaside hotel called "The Del" by locals was acquired by the Travelers Group in 1996. It is one of the largest all-wood structures in the United States.