The Hawthorne Inn was built in 1900 by Henry Neale and R. A. Graham for Dr. Edward Butler and his wife.

The first advertisement for the inn appeared on November 2, 1900:

The Hawthorne....Highest grade family hotel....New building, new furnishings, steam heat throughout, finest vies of the ocean and harbor in the city....First Street electric cars pass the door.

It is one of San Diego's few remaining large wood frame inns from this period, and one of the few San Diego buildings of any type from the early 20th century that has not been revised or remodeled.

The Hawthorne Inn speaks directly yo us of its era. Its unsophisticated, robust design reflrcts the quality of life of the common men and women who perhaps had just come west and were its original occupants,

Source: Adapted from the NRHP nomination submitted in 1982.