Only two walls will be left standing of this historic Fresno adobe. ‘It’s heartbreaking.’
The small adobe house near Shaw Avenue in Fresno west of Highway 99 was meaningful to Anne Gonzales irrespective of its historic importance.
That’s because several members of Gonzales’ immediate family — first her grandparents, Alfonso and Tomasa Campos, then her mother, Rosemary Campos, and finally her uncle, Albert Campos — lived in the small adobe house between the late 1950s and 2009. They not only lived there, but Gonzales’ grandfather and uncle both died there, too.
“So many memories,” Gonzales said. “Even our family dogs are buried on that property.”
Which is why Gonzales, an elementary school principal, was “extremely disappointed and heartbroken” to find out the Jose Garcia Adobe is slated for demolition — except for two original walls that will be incorporated into a new larger building within a subdivision of luxury townhomes.
A revised building application submitted by the developer of Casa di Fortuna that preserves only the two most historically significant walls instead of the entire two-room structure was unanimously approved April 25 by the city of Fresno’s Historic Preservation Commission.
Built between 1923-37 from adobe bricks with mud mortar (one of the rooms is made from chunks of hardpan with traditionally fired bricks set into the walls and window frames), the Garcia Adobe is the city’s last remaining example of such traditional construction methods. In 1997, it was placed on the Local Register of Historic Resources.
But instead of being protected and preserved, the house was allowed to deteriorate after it became unoccupied in late 2009. Vandals spray-painted the walls and cannibalized materials. Illegal cockfights were even held there, according to a 2011 report by the city’s historic preservation specialist.
The neglect continued until last year when the developer of Casa di Fortuna built Phase 1 of the townhome project while ignoring agreed-upon mitigation measures to protect the historically listed structure. There was no 50-foot buffer zone from surrounding construction, nor was the building internally stabilized against weather or seismic forces.
To concerned commission members, it felt like a case of demolition by willful neglect.
“It really does seem like a situation where they’re looking for it to fall down so they don’t have to deal with this,” commissioner James Sponsler said during the November 2021 meeting.
By the time the city undertook its own analysis in January, the Garcia Adobe was determined to be structurally unsound. One of the issues, according to HPC chair Jason Hatwig, was that an attached porch added to the original two rooms sagged and pulled on the adobe brick walls, causing them to lean.
“The bulk of the structure was simply too far gone,” Hatwig said. “That was a huge disappointment, and we approved the revised application with mixed emotions.”
‘Best we can do in bad situation’
In the original proposal, the adobe house was to be used as a storage facility and feature a historical exhibit on the outside. Now, only its south- and east-facing walls will remain standing as part of a 5,075-square-foot coffeehouse/clubhouse. The rest of the building will be knocked down.
The revised permit was initially presented to the commission at its February meeting. Members asked structural engineer Rick Ransom and architect Ian Robertson to make certain design changes that enhanced the historic walls’ prominence and visibility. They agreed and presented a new floor plan during a March workshop that was ultimately approved in April.
Plaques and interpretive storyboards will be placed near each original wall to explain their historical significance. The commission has final approval over their design and contents.
“This is the best we can do in a bad situation,” commissioner Don Simmons said.
Those words aren’t much solace to Gonzales, who never stopped visiting the property after her uncle died, sometimes bringing along her mother and three grown children.
Gonzales understands the halcyon days of her youth are long gone. Her cherished memories of picking walnuts, walking along the canal and feeding pheasants at a neighboring farm are just that. Times change. But what the Fresno resident and principal of Central Elementary in Lemoore can’t understand is why no one cared enough about the Garcia Adobe to prevent its demise.
“There are very few places to turn to in Fresno and the Valley that have that kind of historical significance,” she said. “It’s kind of upsetting this is what it comes down to.”
The list of irreplaceable buildings in Fresno shortens by the day. Through every fault of our own.
