The Leonis Adobe :: essays research papers

The Leonis adobe brickThe Leonis Adobe was built in stages however, who and when the original portion of it was built is facilitate under(a) research. At first, there appears to have been a simple adobe farm hold with whitewashed walls. This original portion of the house is believed to date back to 1844, and if this is so it is almost certain that Leonis did non build it. In any event, round 1880 he extensively magnified and remodeled the house into the gracious Monterey style theatre you see today, and he and Espirtu moved into it and made it their home. The building of this project was not an easy sensation. A great deal of research and studying along with skillful work went to the restoration of this mansion. But there is one or two exceptions. For instance, the present support means was in the beginning two rooms, a parlor and backing room, separated by a wall scarcely to the right of the prior door. The wall was removed around 1925 and has not bee replaced in orde r to provide a large room for group meetings.When Leonis enlarged and remodeled the house, he sheathed the outside front of the house, and paneled the interior living room walls with wood. He walled-in the rear and northeast side porches, both on a higher floor and downstairs, to add more rooms. He added the Victorian fretwork balcony along the front of the house, and other enhancing details and features. The bright colors that highlight the house were discoer under many layers of paint, and presumably were the ones Leonis used. The paint used to repaint the house was c befully matched to achieve the exact feeling the Leonis Adobe brings. The present living room, the family portraits hang on the wall where they used to hang, but the mirror originally hung where the dining room door now is. This door was cut with in the 1920s. Before that, as in many of the California houses, one walked along the porch to reach the dining room.Both the kitchen and the dining room are board and bat ten construction added during Leonis remodeling. The adobe dirt floors were discovered under modern wood flooring that has been removed. The fireplace in the dining room and stove in the kitchen provided the only heat in the house. The stove, while not original to the house, carries a date of 1875.Out side, at the northwest box seat of the house, a large Mexican beehive oven with a shed over it for protection from the rain, was used to bake bread.