Barstow Harvey House

Barstow Harvey House
Barstow Harvey House
General information
Location	685 North 1st Avenue; Barstow, California 92311; United States
Coordinates	34°54′17″N 117°01′29″W / 34.90472°N 117.02472°W
Owned by	City of Barstow/BNSF
Line(s)	BNSF Railway Southern Transcon
Platforms	1 side platform ; (others out of service)
Tracks	Only 1 passing siding and 1 through track remaining
Construction
Parking	Free
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	Amtrak code: BAR
History
Opened	February 22, 1911
Passengers
2017	3,509 11.3% (Amtrak)
Services
Former services
	Harvey House Railroad Depot
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	California Historical Landmark No. 892
Area	1.1 acres (0.4 ha)
Architect	Francis W. Wilson
Architectural style	Santa Fe
NRHP reference No.	75000458
CHISL No.	892
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	April 3, 1975
Designated CHISL	1976
Location
	Barstow Harvey House Location within California

Barstow Harvey House, also known as Harvey House Railroad Depot and Barstow station, is a historic building in Barstow, California. Originally built in 1911 as Casa del Desierto, a Harvey House hotel and Santa Fe Railroad depot, it currently serves as an Amtrak station and government building housing city offices, the Barstow Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, and two museums.

History and architecture

The Casa del Desierto station and hotel was built in 1911 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to replace an earlier one built in 1885 that burned in 1908. The Santa Fe closed the station in 1973. It became derelict until bought by the City of Barstow, and rebuilt following heavy damage in a 1992 earthquake.

The building is a synthesis of Spanish Renaissance and Classical Revival architecture styles, with a Moorish feeling as well. The concrete frame is faced with red tapestry brick and beige artificial stone. Majestic arcades and colonnades line the facade, providing shade from the desert sun. Red clay barrel tiles are used to cover the roof. Towers at the building's corners, and those of the central projecting bay facing the tracks, are capped with pointed roofs or painted domes.

Francis W. Wilson is the architect credited by the Historic American Buildings Survey of the National Park Service.^[5] Amtrak's Great American Stations site says that "according to contemporary accounts, the Casa del Desierto ... was designed by Francis W. Wilson of Santa Barbara, Calif." Earlier Wilson had designed the Fray Marcos hotel in Williams, Arizona, and El Garces in Needles for the Santa Fe and Fred Harvey.^[6]

The historic structure is the finest remaining depot-hotel in California,^[4] an elegant presence in the Mojave Desert beside the intermittent Mojave River.

Landmark

Casa del Desierto was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975,^[3] and designated as a California Historical Landmark in 1976.^[4]

Restoration and museums

The City of Barstow obtained the station in 1990. After restoration and more than $8 million in repairs to earthquake damage, several city offices moved into the building. The Barstow Area Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center also operates out of the former Harvey House. Other public institutions located here are the Western America Railroad Museum on the east side and the Route 66 "Mother Road" Museum on the north side.

Platforms and tracks

1–2	■ Southwest Chief	toward Los Angeles (Victorville)
1–2	■ Southwest Chief	toward Chicago (Needles)

References

^ "Barstow, CA (BAR)". amtrak.com. Amtrak. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.
^ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2017, State of California" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Harvey House". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 13 Oct 2012.
^ Survey, Historic American Buildings. "Casa Del Desierto, 685 North First Avenue, Barstow, San Bernardino County, CA". www.loc.gov. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
^ "Barstow, CA (BAR)". Retrieved July 19, 2019.

External links

Media related to Harvey House Railroad Depot at Wikimedia Commons

[BAR-1] "Barstow, CA (BAR)". amtrak.com. Amtrak. Retrieved 11 Jan 2014.

[2] "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2017, State of California" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.

[nris-3] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

[CHL-4] "Harvey House". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 13 Oct 2012.

[5] Survey, Historic American Buildings. "Casa Del Desierto, 685 North First Avenue, Barstow, San Bernardino County, CA". www.loc.gov. Retrieved July 19, 2019.

[6] "Barstow, CA (BAR)". Retrieved July 19, 2019.

[1]

[2]

[4]

[3]

[5]

[6]

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Topics	Architectural style categories Contributing property Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places Keeper of the Register National Park Service Property types
Lists by state	List of U.S. National Historic Landmarks by state: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
Lists by insular areas	American Samoa Guam Minor Outlying Islands Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico Virgin Islands
Lists by associated state	Federated States of Micronesia Marshall Islands Palau
Other areas	District of Columbia American Legation, Morocco
Related	National Historic Preservation Act Historic Preservation Fund List of jails and prisons on the National Register of Historic Places University and college buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places portal Category