Clapboarded wood over coquina gives the González–Álvarez House, known as The Oldest House, the two-story shape you see on St. Francis Street. Its construction history dates to about 1723, and it is believed to be the oldest surviving house in St. Augustine. You can sense layers of time here: the house is an important example of St. Augustine's Spanish colonial architectural style, later modified by English owners, with evidence of Spanish, British, and American occupations.
The building was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1970. Owned by the St. Augustine Historical Society, it is open for public tours as part of the Oldest House Museum Complex. You are standing in a residential area south of downtown, on the north side of St. Francis Street between Charlotte and Marine Streets.
The two-story form tells the story in its materials—the first floor built of coquina, the upper level framed in wood with a clapboarded exterior, and a hip roof finished with wooden shingles. The structure reflects multiple periods of alteration and enlargement during different periods of colonial administration. Picture Spanish, British, and American hands each adding their mark: coquina below, clapboarded wood above, and a wooden-shingled hip roof over St. Francis Street between Charlotte and Marine.