California's first two-story house, built in 1835 by the only U.S. Consul to Mexican California — where Rachel Holmes Larkin is said to still walk the halls.
464 Calle Principal, Monterey, CA 93940
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free admission; guided tours available Fridays and Saturdays. Call ahead for current schedule.
Access
Limited Access
Two-story adobe with period interior staircases; limited accessibility on upper floor.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1835 · First Two-Story House in California · National Historic Landmark · California Historical Landmark #106 · Monterey Colonial Architectural Style
Thomas Oliver Larkin arrived in Monterey in April 1832, joining his half-brother Captain John Cooper in the merchant trade. Within three years he had established himself as the town's leading American businessman and built the house on Calle Principal — the first two-story structure in Monterey and likely in all of California. To construct it, Larkin combined a New England-style wood frame with adobe brick walls, creating the hybrid that architects later named Monterey Colonial. The building also featured the first indoor staircase and first chimney of any California residence.
Rachel Holmes Larkin arrived in Monterey aboard the same vessel as Thomas, having traveled from New England to join her sea-captain husband. After her first husband died in Peru, she and Thomas married in 1833. She became the first Anglo-American woman to settle permanently in Alta California and managed portions of the Larkin trading operation while raising their children in the house.
By 1844, Thomas Larkin had been appointed United States consul to Mexico in Monterey — the only such post in all of California. In that capacity he worked to encourage American settlement and gathered intelligence for the Polk administration during the run-up to the Mexican-American War. His signature appears prominently on the 1849 California constitution drafted at Colton Hall, two blocks away.
Larkin sold the house in 1849 before relocating to San Francisco. His granddaughter Alice Larkin Toulmin purchased and restored it in 1922, furnishing it with period antiques. Toulmin donated the property to California State Parks in the 1950s, where it is now maintained as a museum and National Historic Landmark.
Sources
The Larkin House ghost tradition is one of the quieter entries in Monterey's paranormal catalogue. The figure most described is a woman attributed to Rachel Holmes Larkin, who lived in the house from 1835 until Thomas sold it in 1849 and whose life in Monterey was bound closely to this specific address.
Visitors and docents report cold spots in the main rooms and a sense of being observed, particularly on the upper floor. Footsteps in hallways with no visible source are the most-repeated claim. The accounts do not run to dramatic apparitions or threatening presences — the general character of the reports is of a former resident who hasn't quite vacated.
The house's long use as a social hub — Thomas Larkin hosted government officials, merchants, and military officers through the 1840s — has contributed to a folk tradition that more than one spirit remains attached to the building. Ghost tour operators covering Monterey's old adobes include the Larkin House as a secondary stop, with Rachel as the named entity.
Notable Entities
Free guided tours through California's first two-story house, covering Thomas Larkin's role as U.S. Consul to Mexico, the Monterey Colonial architectural style he pioneered, and the extensive collection of period furniture and antiques donated to the state by Alice Larkin Toulmin in the 1950s.
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