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Nastonum
Username: Nastonum
Registered: 11-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, November 30, 2008 - 8:51 am: | |
Historical preservation is a sticky problem. I had many occasions to discuss the issue with Wilfred VonderAhe, prior owner of what had been the Trabucco estate, consisting of the warehouse, Fremont Adobe, Mariposa Mine and much of historic downtown Mariposa. There are many conflicting priorities at play. Strict historical integrity? This culminates eventually in a ruin. One proposal for the warehouse prior to its demise was to dismantle, retain and reconstruct the facade in front of a seismalogically safe and ADA compliant building that could have provided an economically viable tourist attraction.
The adobe is a much tougher problem. Eventually all the adobe will break down and the building will collapse. My suggestion, which will ring of heresy to some, would be to reverently dismantle the building, exhaustively documenting the process and then reconstruct it from durable materials in as close to its original construction and appearance as possible. This would allow it to survive as living commentary on the past, accessible to future generations.
Susie an I got to visit the ancient Mayan city of Tulum a few years ago, and even saw the Medieval city of Carcasonne a few decades ago. Neither had truly been "preserved" but rather had been reconstructed and maintained in a way that encouraged tourists to come and spend money to learn what history had been like.
That is what I believe the potential of Mariposa's history is. The issues are whether we have the leadership to build concensus that this is the direction we should go and whether we have the commitment to pursue it to conclusion? |
Jerry
Username: Jerry
Registered: 7-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, November 30, 2008 - 10:55 am: | |
I could go along with that idea of taking apart and redoing the building, if everything else is considerd way too expensive.
What I fear is that this building is going to collapse,then bulldozed and another modern structure built in it's place.
How it fell apart so fast I do not know, as I was told that building was in use not that many years ago.
Also a fire could possibly jeopardize that area of Mariposa. I am told that a fire-wall separates the building from Yosemite Gifts. Talking to Sue Carney the owner of Yosemite Gifts she is very nervous about that building being attached to hers.
Other business owners in Mariposa, who work so hard to keep their property looking nice, are concerned about the Adobe, as it highly distracts from the downtown.
Park in the parking lot on 5th street and that is almost the first building you see.
Apparently the County is A-OK with this structure. Although the other day the 'Orange Fence' was re-attached and a four foot piece of chain link fence was put on the front of the 'Patio'.
The best thing that can be said is that someone has put some holiday greenery on the front doors of the building.
Last Tuesday we emailed all the Mariposa County Supervisors for their views on the Fremont Adobe.
We are still waiting for a response from any of the them.
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