Mission San Diego de Alcalá
Fr. Junipero Serra founded Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the first of the mission churches in California, on Presidio Hill in San Diego on July l6, 1769. In 1774, Serra moved the mission 6 miles to its present location. The first wooden church, erected in 1774, and other mission buildings were burned that same year. The second church, an adobe building built in 1777, was replaced by an even larger adobe building in 178O. Construction of the fourth and existing church was started in 1808 and completed in l813. It fell into disrepair after secularization in 1834. In 1931, architects J. E. Loveless and J. Marshall Miller undertook its restoration. In 1941, it was rededicated as and remains an active Catholic parish. It is a National Historic Landmark, a California Historical Landmark, a San Diego Historic Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
San Diego, San Diego County
Images by John Bare