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The Granger Building in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter is undergoing a very big change. The historic downtown office building, erected in 1904, is being converted into an elegant hotel.

Those who walk past the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue can view the construction now in progress. Surprising graphics along the sidewalk advertising the soon-to-open Granger Hotel really catch one’s attention, however. Why are there old-fashioned images of a monkey, tiger and giraffe?

Because the basement of the Granger Building once held zoo animals!

Before I get to the unusual explanation, you might wonder: why is it called the Granger Building?

This web page explains how Ralph Granger made his initial fortune from the Last Chance Silver Mine in Colorado. When he came to San Diego in 1891, he settled in National City, where, in a addition to a mansion, he built the architecturally important Granger Music Hall. (Those who drive down Interstate 805 can easily see the notable but dilapidated building. I once blogged about the Granger Music Hall here.)

Granger would then hire renowned architect William Quayle to design an office building in downtown San Diego: the Granger Building. The Romanesque style structure, built for $125,000, was steel framed and constructed of pressed bricks. It is five stories high and features embossed metal ceilings, gas lights and a manually operated elevator. The first floor would be home to the Merchant’s National Bank, with the son of President U.S. Grant the initial Director. In 1924, the bank became the Bank of Italy, the forerunner of the Bank of America.

But what about those zoo animals in the building’s basement?

Well, Dr. Harry Wegeforth was a physician who happened to have his practice in the Granger Building. He was also founder of the Zoological Society of San Diego and the San Diego Zoo. You might recall how he was inspired to start the zoo when he passed animals that had been displayed during the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park and heard a lion roar.

In the early days of the expanding San Diego Zoo, as Dr. Harry Wegeforth acquired new animals, he kept some of them in the basement of the Granger Building!

Guests of the new Granger Hotel will be staying in a property that is full of surprising history. Past tenants of the old office building have also included C. Arnholt Smith, owner of the Pacific Coast minor league Padres, and Joseph Jessop, our city’s most famous jeweler.

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.