Audio tour dining room

Dining Room

The dining room and kitchen are lean-to constructions that are typical of the period. A lean-to is a simple three-walled structure added to one side of an existing building, usually with a sloping roof that gives it a leaning or slanting appearance. They are often built of board and batten siding, which are alternating wide and narrow wood planks.

Although the adobe has a formal dining room, most meals were served outdoors because of the southern California climate. The fireplace in the dining room was the only source of heat in the house. The lovely sideboard standing against the adobe wall is similar to what the family had during their occupancy. 

The dining room floors are nothing more than exposed hard-packed dirt, also typical in adobe homes of the period. Maintenance and cleaning of the dirt floors took place a couple of times a year. Women of the household would wet the floors with water and sweep them smooth with a stiff broom. 

A water cooler, like the one near the exterior door, is one of the items listed in the estate inventory. To the left of the exterior door, an unpainted patch of wood can be seen against the original whitewashed surface.

Leonis Adobe Museum Historic Home and Ranch
  1. The Leonis Adobe House
  2. Miguel Leonis, The Big Basque
  3. Espiritu Chijulla Leonis
  4. Marcelina Leonis
  5. Juan Menendez
  6. Living Room
  7. Corner Cabinets
  8. Piano
  9. Dining Room
  10. Kitchen
  11. Cellar and Pantry
  12. Upper Rear Hallway
  13. Menendez Room
  14. Espiritu's Bedroom
  15. Sewing Room
  16. Front Upstairs Veranda
  17. Outdoor Oven or Horno
  18. Oak Tree
  19. Poultry and Doves
  20. Guinea Hens
  21. Turkeys
  22. Barn and Blacksmith Shop
  23. Carriages and Buggies
  24. Miguel's Land and Property Map
  25. Bath House
  26. Laundry Area
  27. Well and Windmill
  28. Tank House and Water Tank
  29. Orsua Room
  30. Vineyard
  31. Fruit Trees
  32. Vegetable Garden
  33. Longhorn Cattle
  34. Merino Sheep
  35. Nubian and Angora Goats
  36. Percheron Draft Horses
  37. Farm Implements
  38. Wagons
  39. Outhouses
  40. The Plummer House