The José Castro House ( es, Casa José Castro), sometimes known as the Castro-Breen Adobe, is a historic

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

home in

San Juan Bautista, California San Juan Bautista (Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist") is a city in San Benito County, in the U.S. state of California. The population was 2,089 as of the 2020 census. San Juan Bautista was founded in 1797 by the Spanish under Fermín de Lasu� ...

, facing the Plaza de San Juan. The Monterey Colonial style house was built 1838-41 by General

José Antonio Castro José Antonio Castro González (born 11 August 1980) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a right-back. He gained notoriety for his performances with Club América and at the 2006 FIFA World Cup for Mexico. He is often refer ...

, a former Governor of Alta California. It was later sold to the Breen family, who lived there until 1933, when the house became a museum as part of

San Juan Bautista State Historic Park San Juan Bautista State Historic Park is a California state park encompassing the historic center of San Juan Bautista, California, United States. It preserves a significant concentration of buildings dating to California's period of Spanish and ...

History

José Antonio Castro's father José Tiburcio Castro was a soldier, member of the ''Diputación'' (the legislature of

Alta California Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...

), administrator of

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 presen ...

after it was secularized, and grantee of

Rancho Sausal Rancho Sausal was a 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 i ...

. The elder Castro used his position to obtain land grants for relatives and friends. His son was granted land facing the Plaza de San Juan, where he built an adobe house in 1841. José 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. In 1848, José Antonio Castro sold the home to Patrick Breen, a survivor of the

Donner Party The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in th ...

. His family occupied the home until 1933, when it was declared a

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...

and purchased by

California State Parks The California Department of Parks and Recreation, more commonly known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. The system administers 279 separate park units on 1.4 million acres (570,000 hectares), with over 280 ...

, which incorporated it into the

. Currently, the park uses the José Castro House as a fully furnished

house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a v ...

, displaying a snapshot of how domestic life was in mid-19th century California. The house was made a

National Historic Landmark 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. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1970. and

Architecture

José Castro House is a two-story

home, completed in a Monterey Colonial style. The home is clad in stucco and includes a second-story full-length covered porches on both long sides, characteristic of Monterey Colonial architecture. 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. Nowadays, the José Castro House property includes a half-acre orchard and garden, open to the public as part of the state historic park.

References

''This article incorporates content in the public domain from the U.S
National Park Service
''

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Castro, José, House History of San Benito County, California Adobe buildings and structures in California San Juan Bautista, California Pre-statehood history of California National Historic Landmarks in California Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in California Historic American Buildings Survey in California Houses in San Benito County, California Historic house museums in California Houses completed in 1840 Museums in San Benito County, California National Register of Historic Places in San Benito County, California

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links