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

adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) 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 use ...

home in

San Juan Bautista, California San Juan Bautista (Spanish language, Spanish for "John the Baptist, Saint John the Baptist") is a city in San Benito County, California, United States. The population was 2,089 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. San Juan Bautista ...

, facing the Plaza de San Juan. The Monterey Colonial style house was built 1838-41 by General José Antonio Castro, 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 Parks, California state park encompassing the historic center of San Juan Bautista, California, United States. It preserves a significant concentration of buildings dating to Californi ...

History

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

Alta California Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva 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 was made a separat ...

), 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 de Lasuén of the Franciscan order, the mission was the fifteenth of the Spanish missions established in ...

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 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 interim government, 1846-1850, California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent ...

. 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 the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

and purchased by

California State Parks California State Parks is the state park system for the U.S. state of California. The system is administered by the California Department of Parks and Recreation, a department under the California Natural Resources Agency. The California State ...

, 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 is preserved as 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 variety of ...

, 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 National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

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 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