Cosmopolitan Hotel and Restaurant

Imagine Old Town San Diego in the 1830s – no trees, no grass, no wooden buildings – just a handful of adobe homes scattered around a dry, dusty plaza. Between 1827 and 1829, Juan Bandini had a U-shaped home built off one corner of the plaza. Compared to most of the other modest adobes, Casa de Bandini was a grand mansion and the social center of town. The rooms had thick, insulating adobe walls. The ceilings were covered on the inside with heavy muslin to trap insects, dirt and straw that fell from the thatch roof.