Barstow Harvey House

Barstow Harvey House
Location	685 North 1st Avenue Barstow, California 92311 United States
Coordinates
Owned by	City of Barstow/BNSF
Line(s)	BNSF Railway
Platforms	1 side platform (others out of service)
Tracks	Only 1 passing siding and 1 through track remaining
Construction
Parking	Free
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	Amtrak code: BAR
History
Opened	22 February 1911
Traffic
Passengers (2015)	3,436  11.9% (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station Victorville toward Los Angeles Southwest Chief Needles toward Chicago   Former services   Victorville toward Los Angeles Desert Wind Discontinued in 1997 Las Vegas, NV toward Chicago Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Victorville toward Los Angeles Main Line Daggett toward Chicago Dearborn Station San Bernardino toward Los Angeles Main Line Major stations Needles toward Chicago Dearborn Station Hinkley Trackage rights via Southern Pacific Railroad toward Oakland Oakland – Barstow Terminus
Harvey House Railroad Depot
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
California Historical Landmark #892
Location	Santa Fe Depot, Barstow, California
Area
Built	1911
Architect	Francis W. Wilson
Architectural style	Other, Santa Fe
NRHP Reference #	75000458
CHISL #	892
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	April 3, 1975
Designated CHISL	1976
Location

Barstow Harvey House, also known as Harvey House Railroad Depot and Barstow station, is a historic building in Barstow, California. Originally built in 1911 as Casa del Desierto, a Harvey House hotel and Santa Fe Railroad depot, it currently serves as an Amtrak station and government building housing city offices, the Barstow Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, and two museums.

History and architecture

Casa del Desierto shortly after construction

The Casa del Desierto station and hotel was built in 1911 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to replace an earlier one built in 1885 that burned in 1908. The Santa Fe closed the station in 1973. It became derelict until bought by the City of Barstow, and rebuilt following heavy damage in a 1992 earthquake.

The building is a synthesis of Spanish Renaissance and Classical Revival architecture styles, with a Moorish feeling as well. The concrete frame is faced with red tapestry brick and beige artificial stone. Majestic arcades and colonnades line the facade, providing shade from the desert sun. Red clay barrel tiles are used to cover the roof. Towers at the building's corners, and those of the central projecting bay facing the tracks, are capped with pointed roofs or painted domes.

Francis W. Wilson is the architect credited by the Historic American Buildings Survey of the National Park Service. Amtrak's Great American Stations site says that "according to contemporary accounts, the Casa del Desierto ... was designed by Francis W. Wilson of Santa Barbara, Calif." Earlier Wilson had designed the Fray Marcos hotel in Williams, Arizona, and El Garces in Needles, California for the Santa Fe and Fred Harvey.

The historic structure is the finest remaining depot-hotel in California, an elegant presence in the Mojave Desert beside the intermittent Mojave River.

Landmark

Casa del Desierto was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, and designated as a California Historical Landmark in 1976.

Restoration and museums

The City of Barstow obtained the station in 1990. After restoration and more than $8 million in repairs to earthquake damage, several city offices moved into the building. The Barstow Area Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center also operates out of the former Harvey House. Other public institutions located here are the Western America Railroad Museum on the east side and the Route 66 "Mother Road" Museum on the north side.

Platforms and tracks

1-2	■ Southwest Chief	toward Los Angeles (Victorville)
	■ Southwest Chief	toward Chicago (Needles)

See also

• Fred Harvey (entrepreneur)
• Kelso Depot - Visitors Center
• El Garces Hotel - Needles, California

External links

• Amtrak – Stations – Barstow, CA
• Amtrak California
• Amtrak Stations Database
• Barstow Route 66 "Mother Road" Museum
• Barstow Area Chamber of Commerce