Louis Bank of Commerce, San Diego

The Louis Bank of Commerce is a historic building which dates back to 1887. During San Diego’s boom years of the 1880s, German-born real estate entrepreneur Isidor Louis commissioned well-known architect John Bills Stannard to design headquarters for his bank of commerce. The bank specialized in business loans, so this granite edifice, the first of its kind in the city, proved to be a perfect fit.

On the ground floor, Louis opened the Maison Dorée, featuring an oyster bar and an ice-cream parlor. As San Diego did not have an ice plant at the time, ice for the parlor had to be brought in from Lake Tahoe.

The oyster bar was said to be the favorite hangout of Wyatt Earp, a famed lawman and gambler in the American West, and his wife Josie. The Maison Dorée was touted as the finest restaurant in San Diego, and as such was frequented by all the wealthy folk, providing Wyatt with a cadre of future patrons for his gambling enterprises.

Reputed to be the most photographed building in the Gaslamp, this stately, four-story, twin-towered Queen Anne (Baroque Revival)-style structure possesses so many noteworthy and elaborate architectural features that it has been nicknamed “The Queen of the Gaslamp.”

What sets it apart from the rest is the rather ornate nature of the trim work. Of special note are the four large, three-sided bay window projections on the second and third level façades elaborately decorated in cast terra cotta and wood. Stone spandril panels between the second and third floors have a carved radiating motif.

The bank left the building in 1893. At the turn of the 20th century, the upper floors, consisting of 33 rooms, were rented out as lodging quarters and offices. Among them was the so-called Golden Poppy Hotel, a famous house of ill repute that was run by fortune teller and psychic Madame Cora. Part of what made it so famous was that the girls would wear dresses that matched the color of the room they used to service their clients.

In 1971, the building housed Ratner’s Electric store owned by Seymour and Woodrow Ratner, selling TV sets, radios, lamps and lighting fixtures, which earned it the nickname, “House of 1,000 Lights.”

Prior to 1971, the two grand towers extending above the parapet were taken down, but were later replaced.