Castro Adobe

We have a friend who is a volunteer for the Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks. He has been working on a project at the Castro Adobe in Watsonville. He was given permission to lead a tour of the project. A couple of weeks ago, he invited Barbara and I to participate on the tour. He told me that he thought that we would be very impressed with their work. We knew nothing more about the project, but we were curious and several other friends were going on the tour, so we agreed to go. Unfortunately, Barbara was not feeling well that day, so I went on my own.

In the mid-1800's the Castro family settled in the area. At the time, they owned 11,000 acres, which ran along the coast. They built an adobe house on the property. For a variety of reasons, the Castro family lost most of their land over time. At the current time, the house stands on about 1 acre of land. The adobe was badly damaged in the 1906 earthquake and repaired in a haphazard way. The owners continued to reside in the house up until the 1989 earthquake, which badly damaged the house. Finally, the California State Park system purchased the house in 2002 and they asked the Friends of the Santa Cruz State Parks to see if they could restore the adobe.

When the volunteers first arrived, they were dismayed at the condition of the house. Some felt that it would have to be completely torn done and start from scratch. One of the big challenges was to restore the house in an authentic way that still met the current building codes. Adobe homes are not especially earthquake resistant. Finally, they came up with a design that met the building codes and retained as much of the character as possible.

The volunteers began by constructing 2000 adobe bricks by hand! Each brick was 90 pounds apiece. They first had to find clay that matched the original construction. A neighbor has the right type of clay, but was not enthusiastic about them digging up enough clay to make 2000 bricks. Less than a mile away, they found someone who had the right type of clay and was willing to donate it to the cause. Then the volunteers proceeded to hand build the forms, build the bricks, cure the bricks and store the bricks for the winter.

When returning the following spring, they decided that they did not have to completely tear down the walls, they could use some of the walls and build up from there. The volunteers tore out the damaged portion of the walls and rebuilt them with the newly constructed bricks. Once the walls were reconstructed, they added a new roof.

When our tour took place, the roof was partially re-constructed. When you walk up to the house, it looks completely rebuilt with a new roof being put on. I got the idea that they were almost done. However as you enter the house, you find that the interior has been largely untouched. It was fascinating to tour the grounds and the house. The guide had some great stories of the people who lived in the house. The house has a fandango room and an cocina (kitchen). There are only a few of the original cocina still left in the state.

Once the roof is in place, the next phase is to design, refurbish and furnish the interior. The volunteers’ eyes light up when they talk about this next phase. They are very excited about investigating and designing the interiors. We have been promised another tour when the project is farther along. When the project is finished they hope to open the site to the public and give tours to elementary schools.

Every year the Castro family has a reunion on the site. Relatives come from all over the country. For the first time since the 1989 earthquake, they will be allowed back into the house. (Side note – Castro Street in San Francisco is named after the same family.)

More information on the Castro Adobe project can be found here.

I took a few pictures that can be found here.