The building at 935 San Andres Street, presently home to Shoreline Community Church, has a long, interesting lineage. The first owner of this property was a former U.S. Army surgeon, James Lycurgus Ord. Ord came to California as part of an artillery unit in 1847. He was the grandson of King George IV, the result of a secret marriage between the king and a Roman Catholic woman, Mary Anne Fitzherbert, in 1785. Fort Ord in Monterey County was named after one of his brothers, Edward O. C. Ord.
In 1856, Ord married Angústias de la Guerra, a daughter of José de la Guerra, one of California’s most distinguished citizens of the pre-American period. Her mother was a Carrillo, another august California name. Angústias de la Guerra Ord later dictated her memories of early California, which were published as Occurrences in Hispanic California.
James Ord practiced medicine here and also ranched. He was one of the first to attempt to raise avocados in California. He also served for a time as U.S. consul-general in Mexico. He was an officer of the Santa Ynez Turnpike Company, which built the main stagecoach road over the Santa Ynez Range by way of San Marcos Pass. During the late 1850s and early 1860s, Ord served as county coroner. He purchased the San Andres parcel in 1858. A tax assessment roll of the mid-1860s valued it at around $100 with a tax of a little less than $2.