The Larkin House is a two-story mud adobe brick home built during Monterey’s Mexican period (c. 1834) by Thomas O. Larkin, a New England merchant. Larkin (1802-1858), financier, a confidant of California officials, and United States Consul to Mexican California, not only exerted great influence on the political history of California, but he also influenced the development of Californian adobe buildings.

In the 1830s, the Larkin House became the prototype of Monterey Colonial architecture. Monterey Colonial buildings mix New England and Southwestern building techniques. They are constructed with wooden frames and mud bricks to make leaner, sturdier adobe buildings than ones made primarily from mud and straw. The greater stability of Monterey buildings allows for a large second-story and long covered porch compared to single-story adobes. The covered second-story porch also protects the adobe façade and walls of the house from water damage. By adapting an east coast building form to materials available in California, Larkin created a style that synthesized elements of two very different cultures: the Spanish and Mexican colonists and the Americans moving into California.

As one of the first two-story houses in Monterey and likely the first home in California to have an interior chimney/fireplace, the Larkin House marks a turning point in the development of California adobe buildings. The distinctive broad roof that overhangs the second-floor windows and the second-story balcony became the standard for adobe buildings of the period. Larkin made the first-floor rooms in the house interconnecting, which was different from the Spanish-Mexican adobes, where rooms generally opened only out onto a patio. On the second floor, Larkin followed the traditional adobe floor plan of providing access to the rooms only from the outside. Widely imitated throughout Monterey and California, the Larkin House represented a cultural middle ground where the blending and adaptation of cultural norms created something entirely new.

In 1850, after the Mexican War, Larkin sold his Monterey house and moved to San Francisco, where he built the first brick building in the city at 1116 Stockton Street. The Larkin House in Monterey passed through many owners until 1922, when Larkin’s granddaughter, Alice Larkin Toulmin, purchased the home as a private residence. In 1957, she donated the historic house to the State of California. Today, the house is filled with early 19th-century antiques from all over the world. Visitors can tour both floors and learn about Thomas O. Larkin and his role in the history of California. The house is included in the Monterey Old Town Historic District, part of Monterey State Historical Park.