Built in 1817, the Covarrubias Adobe you face at 715 Santa Barbara Street is one of the oldest houses in the city. This L-shaped, four-room adobe became California State Historical Landmark No. 308 on September 12, 1939 and is also a Santa Barbara City Landmark. Notice the footprints of its history: Don Domingo Carrillo used local Chumash Indians' labor to build the house for his wife Concepción Pico Carrillo (Jan.
09, 1797 - ?). Concepción and Domingo married on October 14, 1810; she was the sister of Pío Pico, the last governor of Alta California. In the 1830s Domingo Carrillo was a leader of the Santa Barbara Presidio — the presidio Spain built in 1782 to defend the Spanish missions in California in New Spain.
The adobe is named for a later occupant, José María Covarrubias, who came from France to California in 1834 and married Carrillo’s daughter María that same year. After Carrillo’s death in March 1837, his wife continued to live here until her death. Imagine the original Spanish tile roof, later replaced, and the daily life these rooms held.
Notice the L-shaped form of this house and its street setting.