El Presidio de Santa Bárbara’s Northeast Corner Project was under way in the 1990s in this photo looking east across Santa Barbara Street. All of the adobe bricks were made on site, while wood beams were harvested from fire-damaged trees in Los Padres National Forest. 
Tim Aguilar, right, was in charge of adobe making for the presidio’s Northeast Corner Project. 
The presidio’s completed northeast corner with a two-story tower in a 1998 photograph. The original stone foundations were intact and adobes were laid on top of them, with concrete and rebar pylons added to provide support for the tower. 
From center left, Kenny Ruiz, Northeast Corner Project reconstruction supervisor; Tim Aguilar, who was in charge of adobe making; and Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation CEO Jarrell Jackman lay bricks in the presidio’s comandancia. 
A historic presidio aqueduct was discovered during the comandancia excavation. 
An 1820 site map of the Santa Barbara presidio confirmed that the fort had a two-story observation tower on its northeast corner, and that a bell tower still stood in front of the Presidio Chapel. 
A ground plan of the Northeast Corner project depicts the site’s location relative to the intersection of Canon Perdio and Santa Barbara streets. 
A plaque marks the site of the aqueduct that supplied the presidio with water drawn from what is now known as Mission Creek. 
The rebuilt presidio comandancia was dedicated in a 1992 ceremony.
[Noozhawk’s note: One in a series. Click here for previous columns.]
For all that the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation accomplished in the 1980s, I was happy to make the transition to the next decade at El Presidio de Santa Bárbara.
We moved beyond the political tensions to building a state historic park — in its many dimensions — in the heart of downtown.
Plus, we expanded our commitments to a full restoration of Casa de la Guerra and to creating a new park at Santa Inés Mission Mills.
The 1990s were for me the halcyon years. Adobe reconstruction and restorations were central to the work of SBTHP, but key presidio area properties were also acquired during this time; many publications in the form of books, historical pamphlets and brochures were published; our Soldados del Presidio de Santa Bárbara, officially the city’s colonial militia, were formed; and with them and other volunteer programs our living history activities thrived.
Not to mention, we had a visit in 1995 from the future king of Spain, Felipe, Prince of Asturias, and now King Felipe VI, to our presidio — the last Spanish fort built in America. I emphasize the latter point because I believe that what is essential about the presidio is its being the founding site of our city, but also connected to the wider world that elevates its importance as a historical landmark.
In this column, I will focus on our “creative mudslinging” of the period. One of the great events in SBTHP history took place even before the Park General Plan was completed in 1988.
Presidio champion and longtime board member Garvan Kuskey proposed that we demolish the Shalhoob building next to the Presidio Chapel in the 100 block of East Canon Perdido.
Embroiled in a political battle as we were at that time, I was skeptical that the City of Santa Barbara would approve such a request, but I followed the board’s direction and asked and then followed a process that ended up at the City Council. Even opponents of the presidio project were willing to let it happen.
The council voted unanimously to allow the demolition; state parks officials, after we did some recording of the building, were on board as well.
And then, one day in 1987, the two-story brick building was gone, and there stood the recently rebuilt chapel now dominating the corner of Canon Perdido and Santa Barbara streets.
It was an amazing turning point in the history of the presidio project. I rate it as one of the top 10 events in my tenure at the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation.
What followed was an archaeological investigation of the footprint of the comandancia adjoining the chapel. Happily, the lower courses of the foundations were still intact.
And then one of the great discoveries to that date was made: a section of the original aqueduct that brought water from Pedregoza Creek, later renamed Mission Creek, to the presidio.
Historical records showed that water flowed through the aqueduct by 1783. An engineer on the SBTHP restoration committee determined that, by its size, it provided all the water the presidio needed. It also provided water to make the adobe bricks for the permanent fort, which began in 1784.
By 1992, the presidio comandancia was rebuilt, and a dedication ceremony took place on Oct. 12 that year — the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the New World.
Connecting our celebration with Columbus did not seem as politically incorrect then as it does today, and in the event, there was clearly a historical link to our Spanish fort, which traced its roots back to 1492. We may not now view the consequences of Europe’s coming to America as all positive, but that in no way diminishes its importance.
In fact, SBTHP was ready to move on to its next reconstruction, to the so-called Presidio Northeast Corner project across Santa Barbara Street. That undertaking aimed to restore 10 rooms, counting the two-story tower and a free-standing kitchen and storage room, and quarters of soldiers and an officer.
After the 1812 earthquake damaged the original comandancia, the comandante took up residence in these rooms. This included Don José de la Guerra and his family, who lived there from 1815 to 1825 before moving into his sprawling adobe home that today is called Casa de Guerra, at 15 E. De la Guerra St.
In addition, a significant section of the defense wall was to be rebuilt during this phase — all out of adobe. Eventually the two sides of Santa Barbara Street would be connected by stonework across the roadway, recreating the footprint of the comandante’s bedroom. Nonhistoric glass windows were installed on each side of the street to allow visitors to visually connect the buildings.
Archaeology on the northeast corner, led by Mike Imwalle, now the trust’s associate executive director of cultural resources, had begun before 1992 and had revealed just how rich the remains were as the site was gradually uncovered.
While some of the foundations had been destroyed by later construction, most were still there, and some of the original stone foundations were intact.
In fact, the two-story tower foundations can be seen today, with the rebuilt adobe building above them. The tower was identified in an 1820 plan of the presidio, and archaeology confirmed its thicker foundations to hold the weight of the tower.
Architect Wayne Donaldson, FAIA and a future state historic preservation officer, and his engineer came up with a system of pylons on the corners of the building that allowed the preservation of the foundations. This was a great innovation over our previous method of removing foundations and replacing them with poured concrete.
The 30,000 adobe bricks needed for this project were all made on site, taking up the front- and backyards of the presidio.
By this time, Tim Aguilar, a third-generation “adobero” (adobe maker), was in charge of making the mud blocks, which had to dry in the sun for roughly three weeks.
Soil was used from the archaeological excavations and supplemented with imported soil that had to be sifted. Local builder Kenny Ruiz was in charge of a crew of mostly Mexican nationals, and tackled the project by “time and materials,” not on a fixed contract. At no time did we have to slow down or stop the project due to lack of funds.
Project funding came from various sources. Then-City Councilman Hal Conklin was able to earmark money in a city account for the presidio for the effort. A large bequest from the estate of Julia Forbes was crucial. And Robert Erburu, a presidio descendant, cousin of board member Elizabeth Hvolboll and former chairman and CEO of Times Mirror Co., the then-owner of the Los Angeles Times, was able to secure grants from The Ahmanson Foundation, on whose board he served.
A booming stock market allowed SBTHP to use some of its own operating funds as well, and many other individual donors and grants, large and small, came in.
This great project was finally finished in 1998, another fantastic achievement of the SBTHP.
We, the Mud People, had something new to be proud of, especially considering we were also engaged at the same time in a major restoration of Casa de la Guerra, about which the reader will learn in a future column.
— Jarrell Jackman is the former executive director of the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation. After receiving his Ph.D. in history from UC Santa Barbara, he taught for six years in Europe and Washington, D.C. In 2015, he was honored as a knight of the Royal Order of Isabel la Católica by Spain’s King Felipe VI and was named an honorary state park ranger by the California State Park Rangers Association in 2016. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.