Petaluma’s oldest standing structure, and the world’s largest example of California’s signature adobe architecture, is slowly falling to pieces. The Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park has been chipped away by birds and bats, but this week some of the largest cracks were repaired thanks to a new grant and a group of conservation volunteers.
“We’re filling holes this week - lot’s of them,” said Jim Carr, a member of the Sonoma/Petaluma State Historic Parks Association board, which oversees the adobe.
Carr explained that, after hearing about the risks posed to the structural integrity of the building, the Sonoma County Landmarks Association provided a $12,500 grant to address the most pressing needs. Under the direction of architect Gil Sanchez, the state’s leading expert in adobe restoration, a group of student volunteers from the California Conservation Corps got to work, using a traditional slurry seal to patch the areas where birds had pocked the 178-year-old mud bricks.
“These kids get job training working in conservation,” Carr said, explaining that the volunteer labor allowed the state park to stretch the grant funds even further.
In addition to filling the cracks, the team fully restored a small section of the adobe’s crumbling wall, complete with a coat of traditional lime-white paint, to demonstrate what the iconic building would have looked like when it was first constructed at the order of Gen. Mariano Vallejo in 1836. It also demonstrates what the board hopes to accomplish on the rest of the building, a project that is expected to cost upwards of $400,000.
“This is the first phase,” Carr said of the work this week. “We’ll have to do the rest as the funding becomes available.”
After the building was stripped of its protective but cracked slurry seal in the 1950s, the mud bricks were left exposed to moisture and pests. The board is working to raise the funds needed to replace the plaster to keep the building from falling into disrepair.
(Contact Emily Charrier at emily.charrier@argus courier.com)
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: