Diane Cooley uses a hand trowel to set an 80-pound adobe brick Wednesday at the Castro Adobe house in Watsonville.

It’s been seven months since a team of volunteers helped build more than 2,500 adobe bricks to be used in the restoration of the Castro Adobe house.

Described by volunteers as backbreaking and exhausting, as well as exhilarating and exciting, the work was meant to approximate that of the original brick makers — loading mounds of thick adobe mud into wooden frames, all by hand. The work took three weeks.

Because winter rains set in sooner than anticipated, however, the restoration work had to be put on hold, and the 80-pound bricks have sat in piles, covered by plastic tarps.

Now, work has recommenced, and the walls are finally beginning to take shape. On Tuesday, about 40 volunteers who helped make the bricks had a chance to place one or more of the bricks into the historic building.

Trowels in hand, the volunteers took turns spreading thick sheets of adobe mud, which was sandwiched between the heavy bricks. When dry, the mud will hold the bricks in place.

“The people who helped build the bricks know their brick is somewhere in the building,” said Peg Danielson, executive assistant with the Friends of California State Parks. “But when you help set one, you can bring your grandchildren and say, ‘that’s my brick.’”

Organizers expect the walls to be complete by the end of the month. When complete, a specialty concrete cutting company will drill a series of 70 holes through the walls and into the ground, then insert steel beams into the holes. This will essentially form a “rib cage” around the walls, adding a rigidity that will help protect them from buckling during earthquakes.

“I like this work — there’s no adobe houses anymore,” said adobe expert Francisco Villa, 63, who is helping to train a team of four student interns from the California Conservation Corps.

Villa said he learned to make adobe at the feet of his grandfather in Mexico.

“This crew has been working ahead of schedule,” said Randy Widera, executive director of Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks. “They’re incredible workers.”

The rebuilding of the walls is only the first phase of the restoration. Next, the Castro Adobe will get a brand new roof, then workers will begin to restore the building’s interior. However, every step relies heavily on donations, said Kusz.

To help complete the restoration work, donors may sponsor one of the bricks for $100.

The 160-year-old structure has seen its share of history — when it was built, it had the only fandango room for miles, where visitors from far and wide would attend infamous dances and parties that lasted for days. The house also had one of only four indoor kitchens of any adobe structure in the state.

Set in a wooded lot in rural Watsonville, the deck reportedly had an unobstructed view of the ocean.

But more than a century of weathering and earthquakes — including the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake — have taken their toll on the structure. Cracks have appeared in places, marring the once whitewashed walls. In places, walls have collapsed entirely.

After the structure was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, owner Edna Kimbro tried for years to get it restored before selling it to the state in 2002. It’s now a National Historic Site and a California State Landmark.

“Just think about being a part of history,” said Jessica Kusz, staff program manager for Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks. “I think it’s an incredible community resource.”

For information, go to www.castroadobe.org

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*Photos by Tarmo Hannula*

(Published in 4/3/08 edition)

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