The Harvey House Railroad Depot in Barstow is one of the Fred Harvey Company hotels and restaurants, a chain described as “the greatest civilizing influence in the West.” Fred Harvey hotels and restaurants were a unique adjunct of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway that played an important role in improving the quality and service of food along the rail lines. Prior to the founding of the
first Harvey House restaurant, rail passengers often had to endure poor quality food and rushed service at the few eating-places available at railroad stops. The custom was to hold the train for a few minutes while passengers bolted for the nearest available fare of the day. The early Harvey Houses were built for a maximum of utility and a minimum of capital outlay. With new management of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, however, a noticeable change took place after 1900. As a manifestation of modernism and the rise of a regional consciousness, Harvey Houses began to be designed by professional architects to reflect the historical currents and architectural styles of the Southwest. They were given names to reflect the region’s history and conjure images of the Southwest. The Harvey House in Barstow was called “Casa del Desierto” (House of the Desert). Originally constructed in 1885, the Harvey House Railroad Depot in Barstow consisted of a wooden depot, restaurant, and hotel that later burned in 1908. Designed by Los Angeles architect Francis Wilson and constructed from 1910 to 1911, the present Harvey House portrays a regional sensibility in its design, a hybridization of Santa Fe 16th century Spanish and Southwest American Indian architecture. In general, this Santa Fe style is characterized by long and low buildings with horizontal façade lines and relief from roof beams, inset porches, arcades, and flanking buttresses. The Harvey House in Barstow also includes Moorish elements and motifs worked into an interesting combination of towers and archways.
