Preservation Projects
Recent Research Leads to Re-analysis of Rare Religious Medal
by Michael Imwalle, Robert Hoover, and Anne Petersen In 1994, a small religious medal was recovered from the Northwest Corner of the Santa Barbara Presidio quadrangle during the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Archaeological Field School. Dr. Robert Hoover directed the excavation, which was intended to identify the location of the bastion on the Presidio’s [...]
Pearl Pays for Painting the Pico!
by Mike Imwalle Sorry, I could not resist an alliteration like that. Thanks to a generous grant of $2,000.00 from the Pearl Chase Society, the recently re-roofed Pico Adobe was given another lift last week when it was painted by Channel Coast Corporation (CCC). Thanks in part to a generous grant of $5,000.00 from the [...]
SBTHP and Getty Conservation Institute Continue Information Exchange
by Mike Imwalle My first exposure to the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) was at an adobe workshop in Lincoln, New Mexico in September 1993. The workshop was co-sponsored by the Getty Conservation Institute and New Mexico State Monuments. Reconstruction Supervisor Ken Ruiz, Maintenance Supervisor Ray Straw, and Restoration Specialist Eduardo Vallin Garcia attended the workshop, [...]
Cate School Volunteers Touch Up Presidio’s Northeast Corner
by Mike Imwalle On Wednesday, February 8, thirteen energetic volunteers from Cate School assisted SBTHP Maintenance Supervisor Eduardo Garcia with putting the final coats of whitewash on the Presidio‘s Northeast Corner complex. Ed has been working with Santa Barbara County Probation Department workers and volunteers for months patching and repairing the hundreds of feet of [...]
Adobe Brick Making at El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park
by Mike Imwalle During the week before Christmas, SBTHP director and maestro adobero Tim Aguilar began preparing the Presidio site for making a large batch of adobe bricks for the reconstruction of the Northwest Corner defense wall. Crews immediately began sifting dirt for the adobe mixture and grading the site flat for laying out the [...]
Northwest Corner Reconstruction Project: Rebuilding a Defense Wall, one brick at a time!
by Mike Imwalle After more than four years of intensive archaeological investigation, in 2003 SBTHP embarked on its most ambitious reconstruction effort since the organization’s founding almost fifty years ago. The Northwest Corner Project included the construction of new public restrooms, four adobe rooms to house a new Visitor’s Center, and more than 235 linear [...]
Pico Adobe Roof Project
by Mike Imwalle The Buenaventura Pico adobe is a hidden gem within El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park. The Mexican-period adobe is unique in that it was designed with a relatively steep-pitched shingle roof rather than the typical low-pitched tile roof popular in the Spanish period adobes that preceded it. Despite the fact [...]
Adobes just need a little (ok, A LOT of) TLC.
by Michael H. Imwalle Eduardo Vallin Garcia, maintenance supervisor for the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation can often be seen around SBTHP-managed properties performing the duties of carpenter, blacksmith, plumber, electrician, gardener, groundskeeper, adobe brick maker, and when we are lucky, master griller and bartender. More often than not however, Ed is working hard [...]
