Convento Building (Mission San Fernando)

The Convento Building, known for its iconic arched portico

Portico

A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...

or colonnade

Colonnade

In classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building....

, was built between 1808 and 1822 and is the only original building remaining at the Mission San Fernando Rey de España

Mission San Fernando Rey de España

Mission San Fernando Rey de España was founded on "The Feast of the Birth of Mary" , 1797. The settlement is located on the former Encino Rancho in the Mission Hills community of northern Los Angeles, near the site of the first gold discovery in Alta California.-History:Mission San Fernando Rey de...

in the Mission Hills

Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California

Mission Hills is a suburban community in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California.It is located near the northern junction of the Golden State Freeway and the San Diego Freeway . The Ronald Reagan Freeway bisects the neighborhood. Mission Hills is the northern...

section of San Fernando Valley

San Fernando Valley

The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...

in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It was also the largest adobe

Adobe

Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...

building in California and the largest original building at any of the California missions

Spanish missions in California

The Spanish missions in California comprise a series of religious and military outposts established by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order between 1769 and 1823 to spread the Christian faith among the local Native Americans. The missions represented the first major effort by Europeans to...

The building

The Convento is a large two-story building, measuring approximately 243 feet (74.1 m) long and 50 feet (15.2 m) wide. It has four-foot-thick adobe walls and was built in stages between approximately 1808 and 1822. The long portico, sometimes referred to as the colonnade, in front of the building has 20 arches and is the most recognized image of the Mission San Fernando. It was and is the largest adobe structure in California and is also the largest original building in California's missions. The Convento also has a library with 1,760 volumes, dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

History

During the days of the Mission, the Convento was used as a residential building for the missionaries, including temporary accommodations for the missionaries as they traveled between the missions along the Camino Real

El Camino Real (California)

El Camino Real and sometimes associated with Calle Real usually refers to the 600-mile California Mission Trail, connecting the former Alta California's 21 missions , 4 presidios, and several pueblos, stretching from Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego...

. California's first bishop, Diego Garcia, lived at the Convento from 1820 to 1835.

In 1846, the Mexican government confiscated the missions and secularized the properties. Pio Pico

Pío Pico

Pío de Jesús Pico was the last Governor of Alta California under Mexican rule.-Origins:...

became the owner of the Mission San Fernando, selling it in 1846 to Elogio de Chelis.

When John C. Fremont

John C. Frémont

John Charles Frémont , was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder...

led an American military force into California in 1847, he occupied the Convento and used it as a base of operations. Between 1857 and 1861, the Convento was used as a station for the Butterfield Stage Line

Butterfield Overland Mail

The Butterfield Overland Mail Trail was a stagecoach route in the United States, operating from 1857 to 1861. It was a conduit for the U.S. mail from two eastern termini, Memphis, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri, meeting Fort Smith, Arkansas, and continuing through Indian Territory, New Mexico,...

between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The Los Angeles Times visited the Mission in 1883 and found it "rapidly going to decay." The one building that was reported to be in fair shape was the Convento, which the Times described as follows:

"The priest's quarters is a large structure, about three hundred feet long by fifty wide, with a broad portico or porch, supported by brick pillars, and extending the whole length of the building. The rafters are rough poles, thatched over with wild cane, and over this is a roof of burnt tile. ... This large building is in a fair state of preservation, and is tenanted by several Spanish families. Some carpenters (Spanish) are fitting up one end of the place for a Catholic church ..."

For most of the last half of the 19th Century, the Convento was left to decay. In 1896, the Landmarks Club (led by Charles Fletcher Lummis

Charles Fletcher Lummis

Charles Fletcher Lummis was a United States journalist and Indian activist; he is also acclaimed as a historian, photographer, poet and librarian....

) signed a ten-year lease on the Mission, planning to restore it. A celebration attended by 500 people was held on the Mission's centennial in 1897. The Times reported at that time that the "old convent" building, "being strongly built," had "withstood more successfully the ravages of time." The Times report continued:

"The convent itself is in fairly good repair. The building is 240 feet (73.2 m) long by 60 deep, and is entered by doors from the corridor that runs its whole length. The tiled roof is nearly intact, and the window gratings and heavy doors are still strong enough to defy hostile entry. The floor of the corridor is simply the packed earth that has been trodden by thousands of feet, and its outer wall is pierced by a succession of low arches, in the familiar style of mission architecture."

In 1963, the church undertook a restoration of the Convento, including removal of the roof, waterproofing of the structure, and replacement of the beams and original tile. During the 1963 restoration, workers found the old beams "firmly tied with strips of tough rawhide, revealing the craftsmanship of the Shoshone Indians who worked on the landmark in the early 1800s."

In February 1971, the Mission sustained major damage from the 1971 San Fernando earthquake. The Mission's chapel was completely destroyed, and a massive fireplace in the center of the Convento shook loose and cracked several interior walls. Though the chapel was beyond repair, the Convento was restored in 1973, making it the only original building remaining from the original mission. As part of the repair process, the Convento was also reinforced, replastered, and painted inside and out. As the only original building remaining at the Mission San Fernando, the Convento was singled out in 1988 for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

The building

History

See also