Centinela Adobe

By Cozette Vergari

Westchester is home to many interesting locations with historical significance. There’s Hangar One, LAX’s oldest building, built in 1929 when it was still Mines Field. Then there are the area’s historic theaters, which are now offices–the Paradise Building and Loyola. But did you know that hidden right on the eastern edge of town is the oldest residence in the area that now comprises the communities of Westchester, Playa del Rey and Playa Vista, as well as the cities of Inglewood, El Segundo, Hawthorne, Manhattan Beach, Lawndale and Hermosa Beach?

Built nearly 200 years ago, the Centinela Adobe is one of only 43 surviving adobes in Los Angeles County. The adobe had a rich and impressive line of owners for more than 100 years before being rescued from demolition in the initial housing development in Westchester during the early 1940s.

In 1822, Spanish rule of the area ceded to Mexico, following the Mexican War of Independence. Mexican soldier Antonio Ygnacio Avila petitioned and was granted a Mexican land grant for Rancho Sausal Redondo, 44,000 acres in Alta California, then a part of Mexico. In the late 1820s Ygnacio Machado, who under Spanish rule had been a New Spain “leather jacket soldier,” began cultivating a portion of the rancho.

Circa 1829, Machado received permission to build an adobe house on the land. He was also granted a small portion of Rancho Sausal Redondo. His 2,220 acre land grant became known as Rancho Aquaje de la Centinela. 

Machado’s adobe, built in 1834, was located in the 44,000 acre region and became known as La Casa de la Centinela. Ygnacio Machado owned Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela only briefly, trading it in 1844 for a keg of whiskey and a small home in the Pueblo de Los Angeles. The trade was with Bruno Avila, giving Bruno and his brother Antonio adjacent ranchos and the property back to the Avila family.

The Spanish Colonial style adobe house was built just 16 years before California became a state in 1850 and will celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2034. The smaller Rancho Aguaje de la Centinela changed hands several times in the 1850s. Eventually it was sold to Scotsman Robert Burnett, who purchased the rancho for $3,000 in 1860. A portion of the larger Rancho Sausal Redondo, which had stayed in the Avila family, was also acquired by Burnett. By 1872, Burnett owned a 25,000-acre ranch that encompassed all of the land along the coast from what is now Playa del Rey to Redondo Beach and inland from Baldwin Hills to Lawndale and northwestern portions of Torrance.

In 1873, Burnett returned to Scotland, leasing the ranch to Daniel Freeman, a recent arrival from Canada. Freeman paid $7,500 per year in rent and also had an option to purchase the ranch for $150,000. Freeman raised sheep and planted more than 10,000 trees, including 7,000 orange and 2,000 almond trees on the ranch. When a drought led to the death of 22,000 of his sheep, Freeman turned to growing barley, and eventually was producing a million barrels a year. In 1885, Freeman exercised the option to buy the ranch for $140,000 in gold. Freeman amassed a fortune farming barley, olives, lemons, limes, and almonds on the ranch and named his expansive land holding Inglewood, after his birthplace in Ontario. In 1887, Freeman sold off 11,000 acres in small parcels as a settlement that became the City of Inglewood. In 1888, Freeman built and moved to a large mansion there, and in 1889, he built the land sales office that now sits on the grounds of the Centinela Adobe. Eventually, all 25,000 acres of the ranch were subdivided, and the only remaining portion of the ranch that remains today is the one-acre site on which the Centinela Adobe is situated in Westchester on Midfield Ave.
In the late 1940s, the adobe was threatened with demolition when the remaining land was subdivided to make room for new affordable homes being built to house WWII defense industry employees. Preservation-minded women in the City of Inglewood raised money to purchase the property in 1950 and deeded it to the City of Inglewood, which still maintains the adobe through the Parks and Recreation Department. The Centinela Adobe Complex has been described as the historical centerpiece of the area known as Centinela Valley– the lands extending from Baldwin Hills to Palos Verdes. The grounds also include a heritage and research center which opened in 1980. The research center includes Freeman’s library, safe and furniture, as well as articles and photos about the history of the area.

Today, the adobe is managed by the Historical Society of Centinela Valley, which gives tours on Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m. If you’ve never visited, it’s definitely worth a trip to check out the history and what life was like in the late 19th century.

Learn more local history at wphistoricalsociety.org and stop by the Westchester/Playa Historical Society’s Discovery Center (6207 W. 87th Street in Westchester) this month on Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to noon.

Cozette is a lifelong resident of Westchester and is the President of the Westchester/Playa Historical Society. Together with a group of dedicated volunteers, the organization is working on creating new programming and events to celebrate the history of the area and engage the community in preserving it for future generations.