Project Name: Montanez Adobe
Project Owner: City of San Juan Capistrano
Project Location: San Juan Capistrano, CA
Year Completed: 2010
Awards / Recognition:
2012 California Preservation Foundation Design Award
2012 San Diego AIA Award (Divine Detail for reconstructing an Earthen Floor)
Project Description: Historical restoration and seismic retrofit.
History: This two room adobe in the City of San Juan Capistrano is one of few remaining historic building left. Polonia Gutierrez, born in 1829, is the first recorded deed holder of the Montanez Adobe on Los Rios Street. Sometime before 1850, Polonia married a man by the name of Montanez and shortly thereafter became a widow. She married Francisco Canedo in 1853 and after his death in 1870; Polonia married Isadore Simard, a doctor. Polonia lived in the Montanez Adobe for most of her married life and retained the deed to the land. Polonia was one of four midwives in the village and was also in charge of the religious education of the children when there was no priest at the Mission.
