The Hotel del Coronado, also called The Del, is a beachfront hotel in Coronado, across San Diego Bay from San Diego. It is a rare surviving wooden Victorian beach resort. It became a California Historical Landmark in 1970 and a National Historic Landmark in 1977.
In November 1885 five investors bought Coronado and North Island, about 4,000 acres, for $110,000. E. S. Babcock and Hampton L. Story created the Coronado Beach Company and hired architect James W. Reid. When the hotel opened in 1888, it was the largest resort hotel in the world.
The company also ran ferries, piped fresh water under the bay and built a railroad. The hotel had one of the state's largest electrical power plants, which served the whole town until the 1920s.