Antonio De Mesa, a Royal Treasury guard, made this one-room coquina house his family's shelter around 1740, and you know it now as the De Mesa-Sánchez House. Around 1740 Antonio De Mesa, a Royal Treasury guard, came to St. Augustine and made this one-room, one-story coquina house his family’s shelter. He lived here with his wife and seven children during the First Spanish Period, when many local homes were built of coquina between 1565 and 1763.
In 1763 the British took control of East Florida, and during the British Period, 1763–1783, this building served as a governmental office. Owners in that era included William Walton, head of an export company in New York City, the British crown, and Joseph Stout, and several rooms were added to the original one-room plan. When Spain regained East Florida in 1784, don Juan Sánchez, a master caulker of the Royal Works, bought the house and added a second floor and a detached kitchen; he later purchased the Pellicer-De Burgo House on St. George Street to rent out.
Picture Juan Sánchez adding a second floor and detached kitchen after buying this house when Spain regained East Florida in 1784.