Yuma Building

Construction of the Yuma Building began on April 4, 1882 on a Fifth Avenue lot owned by Captain Alfred Henry Wilcox, a maritime entrepreneur whose Colorado River steamboat operation supplied the Yuma, Arizona port — the source of the building's name. Local newspapers described the planned structure as a substantial brick edifice furnished with gas, water fixtures, and large drainage pipes, distinguishing it as one of the first all-brick commercial buildings in downtown San Diego.

Wilcox died in 1883 with the building still a single story. His widow, Maria Antonia Arguello de Wilcox, eventually settled the estate and commissioned a major expansion. Architects Armitage and Wilson designed a two-story addition completed in June 1888 that included sixteen office rooms with bay windows and a large skylight, producing the three-story Victorian Italianate form that survives today.

Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the upper floors of the Yuma Building, like many of its Fifth Avenue neighbors, were used at various times for offices, lodging, and — during the Stingaree era — a brothel. The Stingaree District was the name applied to the rough port-side blocks of downtown that by the 1900s had concentrated saloons, gambling rooms, and prostitution businesses. On November 10, 1912, San Diego authorities launched the Great Raid of 1912 to clear the district; the Yuma Building was among the first establishments closed.

Throughout the twentieth century the ground-floor commercial space cycled through tenants including a Japanese bazaar, medical offices, and dry-goods stores. The building was preserved through the Gaslamp Quarter Historic District designation and remains a contributing structure to the National Register district. In November 2024, Ruth-Ann Thorn of the Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians acquired the property, marking the first Native American ownership of property in the Gaslamp Quarter.