Jose Castro House

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Jose Castro House

Castro Adobe.jpg

Jose Castro House
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Location S side of the Plaza, San Juan Bautista, California
Coordinates 36°50′40.78″N121°32′4.86″W / 36.8446611°N 121.5346833°W / 36.8446611; -121.5346833 Coordinates: 36°50′40.78″N121°32′4.86″W / 36.8446611°N 121.5346833°W / 36.8446611; -121.5346833
Area 1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built 1841 (1841)
Architect José Antonio Castro
Architectural style Monterey Colonial, Other
Part of San Juan Bautista Plaza Historic District (#69000038)
NRHP reference # 70000141 [1]
CHISL # 179
Significant dates
Added to NRHP April 15, 1970 [1]
Designated NHL May 15, 1970 [2]
Designated NHLDCP April 15, 1970
Designated CHISL March 6, 1935 [3]

Jose Castro House, now known as the Castro-Breen Adobe, in San Juan Bautista, California, USA, is a historic Monterey Colonial adobe home built by José Antonio Castro in 1840. Castro was Commandant General of Alta California. In 1848 Castro sold the house to Patrick Breen, survivor of the ill-fated Donner party of 1846, and the Breen family lived in the house until 1935. They sold it to the State of California who adapted it as a museum and incorporated it into the San Juan Bautista Plaza Historic District.

San Juan Bautista, California City in California, United States

San Juan Bautista is a city in San Benito County, California, United States. The population was 1,862 at the 2010 census, up from 1,549 at the 2000 census. The city of San Juan Bautista was named after Mission San Juan Bautista. San Juan is primarily an agricultural town.

United States Federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Monterey Colonial architecture

Monterey Colonial is an architectural style developed in Alta California. The style is characterized by two stories, continuous surrounding porches on both levels, a hip roof, and adobe walls. The first known example of the style was the Alpheus Thompson house in Santa Barbara, California, built in 1834 and demolished in 1913. The second example is the Larkin House in Monterey, California, built by Thomas O. Larkin in 1835. The largest example of the style is the Rancho Petaluma Adobe, begun by Mariano Vallejo in Petaluma, California in 1836.

Contents

Origins

José Antonio's father José Tiburcio Castro was a soldier, member of the diputacion (Alta California legislature), [4] administrator of Mission San Juan Bautista after it was secularized, and grantee of Rancho Sausal. The elder Castro used his position to obtain land grants for relatives and friends. His son was granted land on the San Juan Bautista plaza, where he built an adobe house in 1841. Jose Antonio Castro used the house as an administrative base for his military operations (soldiers' barracks were next door) and let his secretary use it as a residence. [5]

Mission San Juan Bautista

Mission San Juan Bautista is a Spanish mission in San Juan Bautista, San Benito County, California. Founded on June 24, 1797 by Fermín Lasuén of the Franciscan order, the mission was the fifteenth of the Spanish missions established in present-day California. Named for Saint John the Baptist, the mission is the namesake of the city of San Juan Bautista.

Rancho Sausal was a 10,242-acre (41.45 km2) Mexican land grant in the Salinas Valley, in present day Monterey County, California given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to José Tibúrcio Castro. An additional grant was made by Governor Pío Pico in 1845. The name is Spanish for "willow grove". The grant encompassed present day Salinas.

Architecture

The house, also known as the Castro-Breen Adobe, is a two-story Monterey Colonial-style adobe, and includes the characteristic full-length covered porches on both long sides. The style of architecture originated in California, blending Spanish colonial architecture with New England style. Massachusetts native Thomas O. Larkin built the first known Monterey-style house in 1835 in Monterey, California. Adding a wood frame in the adobe walls allows for more windows than traditional adobe construction, and can support a second floor. In the Monterey style, the porches and extended roof eaves protect the adobe bricks and outer shell from water damage. The pane glass windows beside the front door of the José Castro House are not typical of Monterey architecture and reflect the influence of Greek Revival architecture, which was also popular in the mid-19th century. Today, the José Castro House property includes a half-acre orchard and garden. [5]

Thomas O. Larkin American businessman

Thomas Oliver Larkin was an early American businessman in Alta California, and was appointed to be the United States' first and only consul to Mexican Alta California. After the Mexican–American War ended in 1848, Larkin moved to San Francisco, and was a signer of the original California Constitution.

Current uses

San Juan Bautista State Historic Park uses the José Castro House as a fully furnished museum, where visitors are welcome to explore and see what the inside of the house looked like in the mid-19th century. Several other historic buildings in the plaza that are part of the San Juan Bautista Historic District are also open to the public. These buildings include the San Juan Bautista Mission, Plaza Hotel, and Zanneta House. The park offers guided tours of the plaza, a gift shop in the Plaza Hotel, costumed re-enactments every first Saturday of the month, and activities for children. The San Juan Bautista Mission is a stop on the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail. [5]

Landmark status

The Jose Castro House was declared a California Historical Landmark in 1935 [3] and a National Historic Landmark in 1970. [2] [6] It is part of the San Juan Bautista Plaza Historic District, which is itself a National Historic Landmark District. The house has been open to the public since 1935. [1]

California Historical Landmark buildings, structures, sites, or places in California determined to have historical significance

California Historical Landmarks (CHLs) are buildings, structures, sites, or places in the U.S. state of California that have been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance.

National Historic Landmark formal designation assigned by the United States federal government to historic buildings and sites in the United States

A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Of over 90,000 places listed on the country's National Register of Historic Places, only some 2,500 are recognized as National Historic Landmarks.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 "Jose Castro House". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
  3. 1 2 "Castro House". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 2012-10-11.
  4. ↑ Killea; Lucy Lytle (October 1966). "Journal of San Diego History". San Diego Historical Society. sandiegohistory.org. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 "José Castro House San Juan Bautista, California". U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  6. ↑ James Dillon (April 5, 1976). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination:" (pdf). National Park Service. and Accompanying 2 photos, exterior, from 1968.  (465 KB)

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