Casa del Oro

The Casa del Oro features thick, white adobe walls and a broad, wooden balcony that hangs over the corner of Olivier and Scott Streets. Built in eighteen forty-four, this building served as a storehouse for gold miners. Thomas Larkin, the first and only United States consul to Mexican California, owned the structure. During the gold rush, merchants kept their dust and nuggets locked inside these heavy walls, relying on the solid adobe to secure their fortunes against bandits and thieves.