Coronado ยท Coronado
Hotel del Coronado
The Reid Brothers' 1888 Queen Anne resort on Coronado Beach. Only the original building is historic, so ask for a room in The Victorian.
- Built
- 1888Foundations dug from January 1887; opened in February 1888 (HHA: 'Original Property Opened in 1888'). OHP's landmark text says 'built in 1887'. Only the original Victorian building is historic: the Cabanas, the Views towers, Beach Village (2007) and Shore House (2022) are later construction.
- Style
- Queen Anne / Victorian
- Architect
- James, Merritt and Watson Reid (Reid Brothers)
- Type
- Resort
- Area
- Coronado
- Credentials
- National Historic Landmark; Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; Local landmark; Historic Hotels of America member
The story
Elisha Babcock Jr. and Hampton L. Story bought the Coronado peninsula, sold town lots to fund the hotel, and hired the Reid Brothers, who designed a Queen Anne resort around a central garden courtyard; it opened in 1888. John D. Spreckels, who had bankrolled construction, took control in the 1890s and his family held it for about six decades. Billy Wilder used it as the ‘Seminole Ritz’ in Some Like It Hot, and in 1970 Richard Nixon hosted a state dinner for Mexico’s president in the Crown Room. The resort finished a six-year, $550 million restoration in June 2025.
The ghost story
Guests and staff report that Kate Morgan, a 24-year-old guest who died at the hotel in 1892, never left; her room, 3327, is reported to be the hotel's most requested, and Room 3519 is also the subject of ghost stories. HHA has named The Del to its Most Haunted list every year from 2021 to 2026.
Source: www.historichotels.org
Good to know
- Breakfast: available
- Parking: on-site paid
- Elevator
- Pets welcome
- Address: 1500 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA 92118
Things to do
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Sources (4)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.