At the place of the hotel prior to 1925 there were two hotel buildings , one constructed in 1916 ( No. 17 , belonging to Charles Maas , the first commercial property at Haley Street ) and another one in 1922 ( No. 23 , belonging to Freas Hayman ) . The buildings were connected on the upper floors . They were badly damaged by the 1925 earthquake which destroyed the city center of Santa Barbara . Generally , the downtown of Santa Barbara was rebuilt in the Colonial Revival style , and the Virginia Hotel is considered to be one of the best representatives of the style in the city . The Virginia Hotel was one of the first buildings approved by the Architectural Advisory Committee , and actually one of the first ones to be constructed . This is one of the few survived buildings which had their facade completely re-designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style right after the earthquake
1925 earthquake
1925 Santa Barbara earthquake
Virginia Hotel (Santa Barbara, California)