One of San Diego’s oldest surviving buildings—once rumored to host secret poker games led by Al Capone—has entered a bold new chapter.
Formerly the Leland Hotel, the 138-year-old Victorian Italianate structure at Fifth Avenue and Island in the Gaslamp Quarter has been meticulously restored and reopened as The Beau, a boutique hotel and gathering place that embraces its colorful history while stepping confidently into the future.
Built in 1886 by early San Diego developers D.C. Reed and Aaron Pauly, the three-story building originally opened as the Rand-Pauly Building. The upper floors housed the Leland Hotel, while the ground level was home to commercial tenants. At the time, the area was still known as New Town San Diego—a far cry from the bustling entertainment district the Gaslamp Quarter is today.
Through the decades, the building evolved with the times. In the 1950s, a modernization effort stripped away much of its historic charm: ornate window moldings were removed, and the brick façade was covered in stucco. Still, the bones of the original building remained intact beneath the surface.
By the late 1990s, however, the once-grand structure had fallen into disrepair. In 1999, preservationist A. Leon Herrick purchased the property and began restoring it. He renamed it Beaumanor, after his ancestral family home in Leicestershire, England, deeded to the Herricks by Queen Elizabeth I in 1595. His initial focus was on seismic retrofitting and structural preservation…