Mission Puts Block Grants to Good Use

Construction crews are repairing the front adobe wall of Mission San Juan Capistrano that collapsed four years ago in heavy rains.

Masons have worked since Monday to rebuild a 57-foot portion of the mission’s rolling wall near the front gate. The repairs will restore the protective shield surrounding the “Jewel of the Missions.”

“It was like having your front teeth out,” mission administrator Jerry Miller said of the hole in the wall.

Using donated concrete blocks, masons reconstructed the 4-foot-high wall, laying a foundation, securing the blocks in cement with metal rods and then covering the outside with stucco to match the texture, color and appearance of the original wall. The repair work was expected to be finished this week, according to mission officials.

Miller said it took four years to replace the damaged wall because he was unable to secure disaster relief funds and other grants to pay for the estimated $60,000 to $100,000 project.

The mission could not afford the repair until Pointe Construction Inc. of Santa Ana, which is also working on the east wall of the mission’s Great Stone Church, came forward with an offer of free labor and Orco Block Co. of Santa Ana donated the concrete blocks.

“We’re very excited,” Miller said of the reconstruction efforts. “Finally we’re seeing some progress that’s visible.”

When the mission was built in 1776, a white picket fence surrounded the grounds. The adobe wall was not erected until about 1930 under the direction of Father John O’Sullivan, pastor of the mission from 1910 to 1933. Once the wall was in place, O’Sullivan, who has been dubbed by officials the “Great Restorer of the Mission,” began charging the public 10 cents admission fee to walk through the historic grounds.

Pointe Construction President Jack B. Wronka said that after watching the wall deteriorate before his eyes over the past year, he was more than happy to donate the time and skills of his masons to the mission.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to work on a job like this,” Wronka said. “It’s an opportunity to preserve a page in time.”