California adobe architecture

Hand distressed doors and beams were an added feature. Adobe homes are all unique, below are some examples. The beams and massive iron tie-in plate of an entryway rotunda of a Patterson adobe… And the spiral staircase and floor underneath.

Flooring materials in adobe buildings have varied from earth to adobe brick, fired brick, tile, or flagstone called "lajas" , to conventional wooden floors.

Adobe surfaces are notoriously fragile and need frequent maintenance. To protect the exterior and interior surfaces of new adobe walls, surface coatings such as mud plaster, lime plaster, whitewash, and stucco have been used.

Such coatings applied to the exterior of adobe construction have retarded surface deterioration by offering a renewable surface to the adobe wall. In the past, these methods have been inexpensive and readily available to the adobe owner as a solution to periodic maintenance and visual improvement. However, recent increases in labor costs and changes in cultural and socioeconomic values have caused many adobe building owners to seek more lasting materials as alternatives to these traditional and once inexpensive surface coatings.

Traditionally, adobe surface coatings that protected the fragile adobe building fabric were renewed every few years. Women are seen here recoating an adobe wall with mud plaster mixed with straw at Chamisal, New Mexico. Mud plaster has long been used as a surface coating. Like adobe, mud plaster is composed of clay, sand, water, and straw or grass, and therefore exhibits sympathetic properties to those of the original adobe.

The mud plaster bonds to the adobe because the two are made of the same materials. Although applying mud plaster requires little skill, it is a time-consuming and laborious process.

Once in place, the mud plaster must be smoothed. This is done by hand; sometimes deerskins, sheepskins, and small, slightly rounded stones are used to smooth the plaster to create a "polished" surface. In some areas, pink or ochre pigments are mixed into the final layer and "polished. Whitewash has been used on earthen buildings since before recorded history.

Consisting of ground gypsum rock, water, and clay, whitewash acts as a sealer, which can be either brushed on the adobe wall or applied with large pieces of coarse fabric such as burlap.

Initially, whitewash was considered inexpensive and easy to apply. But its impermanence and the cost of annually renewing it has made it less popular as a surface coating in recent years. Lime plaster, widely used in the 19th century as both an exterior and interior coating, is much harder than mud plaster. It is, however, less flexible and cracks easily. It consists of lime, sand, and water and is applied in heavy coats with trowels or brushes. The grooves are filled with a mixture of lime mortar and small chips of stone or broken roof tiles.

The wall is then covered heavily with the lime plaster. In the United States, cement stucco came into use as an adobe surface coating in the early 20th century for the revival styles of Southwest adobe architecture. Cement stucco consists of cement, sand, and water and it is applied with a trowel in from 1 to 3 coats over a wire mesh nailed to the adobe surface.

This material has been very popular because it requires little maintenance when applied over fired or stabilized adobe brick, and because it can be easily painted. It should be noted however, that the cement stucco does not create a bond with unfired or unstabilized adobe; it relies on the wire mesh and nails to hold it in place. Since nails cannot bond with the adobe, a firm surface cannot be guaranteed.

Even when very long nails are used, moisture within the adobe may cause the nails and the wire to rust, thus, losing contact with the adobe. These have included items such as paints oil base, resin, or emulsion , portland cement washes, coatings of plant extracts, and even coatings of fresh animal blood mainly for adobe floors.

Some of these coatings are inexpensive and easy to apply, provide temporary surface protection, and are still available to the adobe owner. When preservation or rehabilitation is contemplated for a historic adobe building, it is generally because the walls or roof of the building have deteriorated in some fashion—walls may be cracked, eroded, pitted, bulging, or the roof may be sagging.

In planning the stabilization and repair of an adobe building, it is necessary:. General Advice: There are several principles that when followed generally result in a relatively stable and permanent adobe resource.

The following are some common signs and sources of adobe deterioration and some common solutions. It should be cautioned again, however, that adobe deterioration is often the end-product of more than one of these problems. The remedying of only one of these will not necessarily arrest deterioration if others are left untreated.

There are several common structural problems in adobe buildings, and while the results of these problems are easy to see, their causes are not. Many of these problems originate from improper design or construction, insufficient foundations, weak or inadequate materials, or the effects of external forces such as wind, water, snow, or earthquakes.

Solutions may involve repairing foundations, realigning leaning and bulging walls, buttressing walls, inserting new window and door lintels, and repairing or replacing badly deteriorated roof structures. There are many tell-tale signs of structural problems in adobe buildings, the most common being cracks in walls, foundations, and roofs.

In adobe, cracks are generally quite visible, but their causes may be difficult to diagnose. Some cracking is normal, such as the short hairline cracks that are caused as the adobe shrinks and continues to dry out. More extensive cracking, however, usually indicates serious structural problems.

In any case, cracks, like all structural problems, should be examined by a professional who can make recommendations for their repair. Generally, adobe buildings deteriorate because of moisture, either excessive rainwater or ground water. Successful stabilization, restoration, and the ultimate survival of an adobe building depends upon how effectively a structure sheds water.

The importance in keeping an adobe building free from excessive moisture cannot be overestimated. Photo: NPS files. The erosive action of rainwater and the subsequent drying out of adobe roofs, parapet walls, and wall surfaces can cause furrows, cracks, deep fissures, and pitted surfaces to form. Rain saturated adobe loses its cohesive strength and sloughs off forming rounded corners and parapets.

If left unattended, rainwater damage can eventually destroy adobe walls and roofs, causing their continued deterioration and ultimate collapse. Standing rainwater that accumulates at foundation level and rain splash may cause "coving" the hollowing-out of the wall just above grade level. Ground water water below ground level might be present because of a spring, a high water table, improper drainage, seasonal water fluctuations, excessive plant watering, or changes in grade on either side of the wall.

Ground water rises through capillary action into the wall and causes the adobe to erode, bulge, and cove. Coving is also caused by spalling during the freeze-thaw cycles.

As water rises from the ground into the wall, the bond between the clay particles in the adobe brick breaks down. In addition, dissolved minerals or salts brought up from the soil by the water can be deposited on or near the surface of the wall as the moisture evaporates.

If these deposits become heavily concentrated, they too can deteriorate the adobe fabric. As the adobe dries out, shrinkage cracks usually appear; loose sections of adobe bricks and mud plaster may crumble.

A water-tight roof with proper drainage is the best protection against rainfall erosion. Adobe wall and roof surfaces properly maintained with traditional tiles or surface coatings generally resist the destructive effects of rainwater. Roof drains should be in good repair and sufficient to carry rainwater run-off from the roof. In an effort to halt the destructive effects of rainwater, 19th century builders often capped parapet walls with fired bricks.

These bricks were harder and better suited to weather the erosive action of rainwater; however, the addition of a brick cap to an existing parapet wall creates a drastic change in a structure's appearance and fabric.

The use of traditional lime mortar with the fired brick is advised because it is more watertight and compatible with the harder brick. Rainwater that has accumulated at adobe foundations should be diverted away from the building. This may he done by regrading, by building gravel-filled trenches or brick, tile, or stone drip gutters, or by any technique that will effectively remove the standing rainwater.

Regrading is perhaps the best solution because defective gutters and trenches may in effect collect and hold water at the base of the wall or foundation. In repairing "coving," the damage caused by rain splash, adobe bricks stabilized with soil cement might be considered. On the other hand, concrete patches, cement stucco, and curb-like buttresses against the coving usually have a negative effect because moisture may be attracted and trapped behind the concrete.

Cement stucco and cement patches have the potential for specific kinds of water related adobe deterioration. The thermal expansion coefficient of cement stucco is 3 to 10 times greater than that of adobe resulting in cracking of the stucco.

Cracks allow both liquid water and vapor to penetrate the adobe beneath, and the stucco prevents the wall from drying. Love Poems of Rumi Jun 20, Mar 24, Feb 24, Feb 14, Feb 13, CalEarth Featured on Innovation Nation. Feb 8, Flag was flown over the Custom House in Casa Soberanes Adobe -- With its thick walls, interconnecting rooms, cantilevered balcony and lovely garden, Casa Soberanes tells the story of life in Monterey from its Mexican period beginnings to more recent times.

Location: Pacific Street. Colton Hall s -- California's first Constitution was hammered out in ardent debate in Colton Hall in The beautiful second floor assembly hall has been restored to appear as when the 48 delegates of the first Constitution Convention met there. Cooper-Molera Adobe -- First occupied by the Cooper family in and owned by descendants until , the Cooper-Molera tells the story of Monterey through the life and times of John Rogers Cooper, a New England sea captain, his half brother Thomas O.

It was here that Commodore John Drake Sloat raised the American flag in July of , claiming over , square miles of territory for the United States. Doud House -- One of the best examples of a local wooden house of the early American Period. Location: Van Buren Street.

First Brick House -- Inhabited by its builder, Gallant Dickenson, the First Brick House represents the kiln fired brick construction brought to California by settlers in the early American period. Location: Adjacent to the Old Whaling Station.

First Theatre -- This old adobe is unique on two counts: its architectural design and its history as a theater setting. Fremont Adobe -- Althoughthis two-story adobe is generally recognized as the headquarters of John C. Fremont, memoirs confirm that the title is a misnomer. Actual ownership of the little adobe has been traced through several Monterey families. House of Four Winds Adobe -- La Casa de Los Cuatro Vientos has been so called since the mids because it was the first house with a weathervane.

It also enjoys the distinction of having been the first Hall of Records for the newly formed County of Monterey. Jose de la Torre Adobe -- This attractive adobe was probably built around by the original grantee, Francisco Pinto. After passing through several owners, in it became the home of Jose de la Torre, youngest son of the old Spanish-born soldier, Jose Joaquin de la Torre.

La Mirada Adobe -- La Mirada is one of the region's most significant historic structures as well as one of the most beautiful, with its lovely landscaped gardens overlooking Lake El Estero to the north and Lagunita Mirada to the east. Lara-Soto Adobe s -- Built in the s, legend has it that the magnificent Monterey cypress in the front yard was planted as a seedling over the grave of the occupants' first child who died in infancy.

Records indicate that the property was first granted as a town lot to Dona Feliciana Lara on September 18, It was one of the few lots granted directly to a woman, and was once owned by John Steinbeck.

Larkin House Adobe and Garden -- The Larkin House is a reminder of the influence Thomas Oliver Larkin exerted on California's political history and on secular architecture during the first half of the 19th century. James Episcopal Church, the first protestant church in Monterey.