VIDEO: San Gorgonio Inn, 1884-2011

Destruction of the condemned San Gorgonio Inn commenced Monday morning in Banning.

A diesel-driven Caterpillar excavator with a two-section boom and steel jaws tore into the north side of the inn just after 8 a.m.

The growling machine methodically ripped, chewed, pushed and crushed sections of roof, facade and a cluster of palm trees near the north entrance of the inn.

"Beginning about 1884, the earliest version of the structure was known as 'the Bryant House' and/or 'the Banning,' and consisted of a two-story wood frame hotel with an attic built in a Victorian style," Banning Mayor Barbara Hanna said in a prepared remarks before the Caterpillar driver went to work.

In 1915 and 1917, the state began paving paving roads through the San Gorgonio Pass, Hanna said. With increased vehicle traffic, bungalows were added along the west and east sides of the original building.

"In approximately 1924, the name of the property was changed to 'The San Gorgonio Inn,' " Hanna said. "In 1930, due to fire damage, the building was rebuilt and the exterior style was changed to reflect the fashionable Spanish Eclectic style."

The remodel included stuccoing the exterior walls, adding clay tile roofs, and adding two distinctive pointed arch windows on the north elevation, Hanna said.

Major additions to the structure were made in 1956, 1959, 1962 and 1982. These additions added about 2,400 square feet to the ground floor, Hanna said. Most of the additions predated the adoption of the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act.

By late 1962, the 1930-31 version of the San Gorgonio Inn had been extensively remodeled, leaving only a section of the northern facade intact, Hanna said. The central, stuccoed portion of the building, second floor and tile roofs remain from the 1930s.

"The additions severely damaged the original historical structural integrity of the inn, replacing sections of the original walls and roofs with more modern material styles," Hanna said.

The inn building remained open as a business under several different owners until 2007, Hanna said.