Sneak Peek: The Brick Hotel, Restoring An Oceanside Original

OCEANSIDE, CA — There are only a few original historic buildings still standing from Oceanside's founding in 1888. The oldest three-story building is known as the Schuyler building. Built by John Schuyler, one of Oceanside's early founders, it was originally home to the Schuyler Hardware store.

Over the years the building located at 408 Pier View Way changed owners many times and the original brick exterior was tragically covered by a stucco façade more than 50 years ago. The historical significance of the building was all but forgotten by most locals. That is until a local family purchased the property with the intention of restoring as much of the original building as possible. The Schuyler building will be remade into The Brick, a historic boutique hotel with restaurant and rooftop bar.

There is no doubt it would have been easier to tear down the building and start from scratch, but Oceanside would have lost an irreplaceable part of its history. The Aldrich family wanted to ensure that this important piece of Oceanside history was preserved when they purchased the building in 2017. The family engaged Kristi Hawthorne, President of the Oceanside Historical Society, to conduct a historical assessment of the building. It was Kristi's exhaustive research that uncovered just how deep Oceanside's roots run through this 133-year-old building.

History of the Schuyler Building at 408 Pier View Way

In 1883 Andrew Jackson Myers received a homestead grant for land which is now downtown Oceanside. Myers is credited with being the founder of Oceanside. The first known record of the property was filed In The Office of The County Recorder of San Diego County, July 1, 1885.

John and Ann Schuyler moved to Oceanside in 1887 and started a hardware business on Second street (now Mission Avenue) which he purchased from Andrew Jackson Myers. In 1888 he built a two story brick store on Third street (now Pier View Way). It was originally 26 x 85 feet, two stories high, and had a glass partition which divided the hardware store from his shop. Schuyler was the founding member of the Odd Fellows Lodge in Oceanside and his storefront also bore the lodge emblem. The building also hosted the lodge meetings.

(Schuyler Building in 1900. Photo courtesy of the Oceanside Historical Society)

A prominent and active citizen, Schuyler served as president of the board of trustees of the City of Oceanside, a mayoral position in today's terms. He also served on Oceanside's volunteer Fire Department and built a small building to store the city's fire equipment. John Schuyler deeded his hardware store building to his three children in 1894. He died in 1917 and his body was returned to Oceanside where he was buried in the I.O.O.F Cemetery (now called Oceanview Cemetery).

In April of 1903 the property was sold to John H. Buchanan, who in turn sold the property later that year to Peter J. Brannen. Brannen came from Los Angeles to Oceanside and continued operation of the hardware business. In 1905 he reportedly remodeled the interior portions of the building and opened it as a boarding house. Also in 1905 he helped to form the First National Bank of Oceanside along with D. G. Harrington, C. J. Walker and others.

In 1913 the property and building was conveyed to Oceanside resident Mary J. Walbridge who in turn deeded the property to her sister, Ara Lee d'Hemecourt that same year. She sold the property to James B. and Ella Kolb in 1920. James Kolb was the son of Jonathon and Frances Kolb, who first settled in Pala and later Fallbrook. The Kolb family had ties to Oceanside as early as 1884 and son Jesse Kolb established the Oceanside Garage on Hill Street. It is likely at this time that James Kolb leased the building to Refugio and Madge Romo, who operated the Romo boarding house for several years.

James and Ella Kolb sold the property to Thomas Russell Harriman of Pasadena in 1923. Harriman improved the property in 1927 and that year the Oceanside News reported:

The Harriman building, adjoining The News office, an old landmark in the city, will soon be a modern building... The brick building, which is now two-stories, will be made into a three-story building. The two upper floors will be made into a rooming and apartment house and will contain 22 rooms. The ground floor occupied by Contreras & Gelpi, grocers, will be lowered to the street level and the old wooden floor will be replaced by a cement floor. The cost of reconstruction is said to be $15,000.

This building was one of the first brick blocks constructed in the city. It was a beauty in its day, but is now hopelessly out of date. When reconstructed it will be one of the handsomest buildings in the city and one of the few three-story building.

After the building's third story was added, the 2nd and 3rd floors became a hotel, rather than a boarding house. In the early to mid 1930s, Hotel Tours was managed by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph and Julia Liggett and later Charles and Luella Cundiff. The name was later changed to the Avon Hotel in the 1940s.

Harriman's widow, Josephine, sold the building in 1941 to Berta Witzemann who deeded to the Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association in 1951. In the 1950s the first floor was leased to Bill's Military Store and later Big 7 Military Store, while the upper floors continued to operate as the Avon Hotel. Bank of America held onto the property until it was sold to Saul H. and Sophie Collen in 1970. In 1975 the property was quitclaimed to Leo and Lynne Greenspan.

In 1979 the building was sold to Edmond William Dominguez of Encinitas. Dominguez made alterations to the building in 1981, removing the fire escape, and changing out the windows of the front façade on the second and third floors. In 1994 the property was conveyed to his niece, Marie Davies, owner of Pollos Maria restaurants in Oceanside and Carlsbad. The property was sold to the current owners in 2017. (From THE HISTORICAL BUILDING ASSESSMENT FOR 408 PIER VIEW WAY, OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA, 92054 by Kristi S. Hawthorne)

Now that you know the background of this historic old building, stay tuned this weekend for Part 2 of "The Brick Hotel, Restoring An Oceanside Original", and discover the painstaking efforts the Aldrich Family is taking to maintain the past while reimagining the property for the future.

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