El Cortez Apartment Hotel
About this property
El Cortez is a condominium building in San Diego, California. Built from 1926 to 1927, El Cortez was the tallest building in San Diego when it opened. It sits atop a hill at the north end of downtown San Diego, where it dominated the city skyline for many years and became a landmark hotel. The building is the 40th tallest building in San Diego, based on its height of 310 ft (94 m). From its opening in 1927 through the 1950s, it was a renowned apartment-hotel in San Diego. The large "El Cortez" sign, which is illuminated at night, was added in 1937 and could be seen for miles. In the 1950s, the world's first outside glass elevator was built at El Cortez. During the late 1960s and 1970s, El Cortez fell on harder times. El Cortez closed as a hotel in 1978 when it was purchased by evangelist Morris Cerullo to serve as an evangelism school. Cerullo sold the property in 1981, and El Cortez was threatened with demolition until the San Diego Historic Site Board designated it as a historic site in 1990. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. Many of the original elements remain in place, though substantial interior modifications have been made.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about El Cortez Apartment Hotel
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Questions about this property
When was El Cortez Apartment Hotel listed on the National Register?
El Cortez Apartment Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 17, 2002.
What type of historic resource is El Cortez Apartment Hotel?
El Cortez Apartment Hotel is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for El Cortez Apartment Hotel?
The period of significance for El Cortez Apartment Hotel is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near El Cortez Apartment Hotel?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near El Cortez Apartment Hotel will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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