Los Angeles's oldest standing residence, built in 1818, where preservationist Christine Sterling died and reportedly still lingers
10 E Olvera St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free admission. The Adobe is operated by El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Ground floor accessible. Olvera Street is a pedestrian market street with cobblestone and brick surfaces.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1818 · Oldest surviving residential structure in Los Angeles · California Historical Landmark No. 145 · Site of Olvera Street preservation movement · Home of preservationist Christine Sterling
Francisco José Avila constructed the adobe in 1818, when Los Angeles was a Mexican pueblo of fewer than 700 residents. Avila served twice as alcalde of the pueblo, and his home — a thick-walled structure built from sun-dried adobe brick — sat at the top of what would eventually become Olvera Street. The U.S. Army used the building as a headquarters for a brief period following the American occupation of California in 1847.
By the early 20th century the building had been subdivided and rented as tenement housing, its original form obscured under decades of modification. A 1971 earthquake had cracked the main walls, and by the late 1920s the structure was in serious disrepair. The city of Los Angeles condemned the building in 1926.
Christine Sterling, a civic organizer originally from San Francisco, became aware of the building's condition in 1928. She mounted a campaign to restore it and simultaneously to transform the surrounding alley — then a deteriorated commercial corridor — into a Mexican market. Working with limited city funds and private donations, Sterling directed the restoration of the adobe and oversaw the creation of Olvera Street as a public attraction, which opened in April 1930. She lived in and around the adobe for the remainder of her life.
Sterling died in the Avila Adobe on January 7, 1963, at the age of 76. She had devoted 35 years to Olvera Street and the surrounding El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument. The adobe operates today as a free museum under the city's Department of Recreation and Parks, furnishing rooms to reflect circa-1840 conditions.
Sources
Christine Sterling spent 35 years bound to this building — living in it, fighting for it, and shaping the neighborhood around it. She died in the adobe in 1963. The claim that her ashes were scattered in the garden behind the main structure comes through oral tradition among Olvera Street vendors and has been repeated in paranormal accounts, though the city has not confirmed the specifics.
Paranormal investigators and ghost tour operators who have included the Avila Adobe in their research describe a pattern of cold spots localized to the rear garden and the doorway between the garden and the main house. Visitors have reported a sudden and pronounced drop in temperature without corresponding air movement, and several accounts describe a feeling of being observed from the main bedroom window — a room that is now furnished with period pieces but was Sterling's private space for decades.
Occasional reports describe a female figure in early-20th-century dress near the garden entrance, visible briefly before disappearing. These are uncorroborated accounts collected by tour operators rather than archival documentation. What the stories reflect, at minimum, is the unusually personal quality of Sterling's relationship with the building: she did not simply restore it, she made it her home, and it was the place where she died. The adobe's paranormal reputation runs less on violence than on attachment — the idea of someone who never really left.
Notable Entities
The Avila Adobe is open to the public as a museum within the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument. Visitors walk through period-furnished rooms depicting life in Mexican-era Los Angeles circa 1840. The garden behind the main structure — where legend holds Christine Sterling's ashes were scattered — is accessible from the courtyard.
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