Edwards, Plunkett & Howell - a prolific architectural firm which organized the day after the catastrophic 1925 earthquake in Santa Barbara - designed this building in the Spanish Colonial Revival Style. It opened as the Copper Coffee Pot in 1927.

In 1932, Edwards, Plunkett & Howell designed an addition.

In 1946, a remodel compromised the architectural integrity of the building.

In 1987, the exterior was restored to its original exterior.

For almost sixty years, the Janssens-Orella-Birk Building was a center of social activity for Santa Barbara's literati and local celebrities.

This site has been occupied since the 1850s when Augustin Janssens built an adobe here. The adobe was the Orella family home until the construrion of the Copper Coffee Pot restaurant. Birk was the last owner and operator of the restaurant.

Hence the Janssens-Orella-Birk building.

Source: Adapted from the NRHP nomination submitted in 1987.

The interpretive marker reads:

When we photographed the building in March of 2017, it was vacant.

Historic Adobe Buildings