Mission San Fernando Rey de España, Spanish mission station in Mission Hills, Los Angeles, United States.
Mission San Fernando Rey de España is a mission station in the Mission Hills community of Los Angeles, California. Its pale yellow stucco church has a red clay tile roof, a dark rounded-top wooden door and a black lantern on the wall, where black painted text reads "Old Mission", "San Fernando", "Rey de Espana" and "1797". Red-flowering climbing plants cover the wall to the left, and a bell hangs from a post at the far left.
The founding took place in 1797 by a Franciscan friar during the Spanish colonial period in California. The site lost its original religious function after secularization in the mid-19th century and was later rebuilt.
The mission is named for Saint Ferdinand, and its name was later given to the nearby city of San Fernando and the San Fernando Valley. The grounds now serve as a museum, while the church remains a chapel of ease of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The site is a California Historical Landmark and a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.
The site sits north of downtown Los Angeles and is easily reached by car. A walking route leads through the different rooms and the courtyard with views of the long arcade front.
The mission was the fourth site founded by Father Fermín Lasuén between June and September 1797. Ten children were baptized on its first day, and the first marriage was recorded on October 8, 1797. The church was damaged by an earthquake in 1971 and completely rebuilt in 1974.
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