One of northern California’s oldest remaining buildings, an earthen, three room adobe, is on the market. High school students will create visionary stewardship ideas for this incredibly rare, heritage rich building to then be judged in an American Idol format.
Napa, CA, 05/16/09: Napa’s Old Adobe bar is now a lotto -clad, aluminum shuttered, satellite studded, neon blinking structure that has been lost in the shadows of Napa’s contemporary bustle. A project designed by Preservation Napa Valley called Envision Adobe: Pathways to the Future hopes that innovative stewardship templates designed by students will inspire and motivate potential buyers, city leaders, the general public and the Latino community of Napa.
Preservation Napa Valley has engaged high school students at New Technology High School to create sustainable, adaptive reuse ideas for the Old Adobe bar: the last remaining, 165 year old architectural vestige of what was once Mexico, once home to Napa’s Latino pioneer.
As part of Preservation Napa Valley’s annual school in-reach program, (programs that reach into local schools looking for innovative solutions to community preservation problems), the nexus of Napa County’s oldest, most heritage rich building on the real estate market and the opportunity to bring new thinking to its future was perfect. Students have become partners in preservation.
Eighth through twelfth grade students are being asked “What could the Old Adobe bar and restaurant be if it were not an bar?” These ideas will be shown through collaborative categories of art, environmental design, digital media and historical research.
Judging will be in an American Idolish format with the grand finals evening May 27, 6:30-8:45pm at Napa High School’s Little Theater. This festive, public- invited evening will feature Ballet Folklorica, food, a real time peoples choice award with the grand winner picked by a prestigious panel including elected officials, architects, historians and community leaders. All student works will then go on exhibit throughout Napa on a rotating venue basis.
The Old Adobe was built in 1840 by a Mexican sergeant, Don Cayetano Juarez. On an 8800 acre rancho land grant, land that was still Mexican territory, Juarez settled one mile south of the just budding town of Napa. Juarez played a crucial role in driving Napa’s early economy and identity. It was here that Juarez built his homestead, including a stalwart adobe… what we know today as the Old Adobe Bar and Restaurant.
Judges include Supervisor Brad Wagenknecht, Planning Commissioner Matt Pope, Don Juarez, (seventh generation Juarez descendent), Amelia Ceja, City Redevelopment director Cassandra Walker, Harry Price, City Planning Commissioners Gordon Heuther and Michelle Benevenuto, historian Rebeccca Yerger, architect Paul Kelley and City Council members Jim Krider and Mark Van Gorder.
Preservation Napa Valley is a nonprofit, historic cultural resources preservation organization based in Napa, CA. Through advocacy and innovative public education outreach programs, Preservation Napa Valley is helping Napa county conserve many of its defining cultural resources, from architecture to agrarian landscapes. Learn more about Preservation Napa Valley at www.preservationnapavalley.org