Sonoma - Termites have whittled away wooden window frames outside Mission San Francisco Solano along the historic plaza. Roof tiles lie broken. Insects have pockmarked an altar carving.
Like 20 other Spanish missions established in California decades before American statehood, the 178-year-old Sonoma building has suffered from years of natural deterioration and underfunded neglect.
But historians see new hope in a $2.6 billion parks bond approved by voters in March, which could provide up to $25 million for the historic structures.
While mission proponents acknowledge it is an odd time to ask the state for help - California faces a $15 billion budget shortfall - they said that without immediate repairs, centuries-old buildings and artifacts could be lost to a major earthquake or flood. "It is absolutely desperate," said state Sen. Bruce McPherson, R-Santa Cruz. "A big storm, and it could be a really bad scene. Either we preserve them, or we'll have to forget that part of California history."
McPherson is floating a blueprint to assist the missions as soon as next summer, conceding that money may be unavailable this year. His plan would establish a special missions fund devoted to restoration, preservation and maintenance. Such an account, he said, could tap into $267.5 million in historic preservation funds that were part of the March parks bond.
The measure, SB 2084, might become part of another bill by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, that would establish a seven-member historic preservation board responsible for allocating the bond funds. A Senate committee will review both proposals next week.
The missions are a popular California tourist destination, attracting an estimated 5.3 million visitors last year. And they have become synonymous with the state's fourth-grade curriculum: Students famously build mission models and write research reports as part of California history lessons.
Spanish priests and settlers established the 21 missions between 1769 and 823, starting with Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Farming communities sprouted around the villages, largely dependent upon labor from local American Indians. The structures themselves are recognized today for their tile roofs and adobe walls, which have been replicated in architecture throughout the state.
While some see the missions as a cherished landmark of California's Spanish colonial past, others consider them reminders of a European conquest that decimated Indian populations through disease and captivity.
By the end of the 19th century, the mission buildings fell into disrepair. A series of watercolor paintings on display at Mission San Francisco Solano capture the buildings as they appeared in 1903 and 1904 - with crumbling walls, fallen roofs and vacant rooms.
Publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst led an effort at the time to restore the missions. Subsequent efforts have relied largely on donations, said Rich Ameil, president of the California Missions Foundation, a non-profit organization started in 1998 to obtain funding for new restoration projects.
So far, the foundation has secured $4 million form private donors to help the missions, Ameil said. All told, the missions need an estimated $50 million, with $39 million for structural repairs, he said. The group seeks $20 million to $25 million from the state and a similar amount from federal sources.
Visitors often assume that missions are state-funded historic sites, but only two are actually part of the California parks system. The Catholic Church still owns most missions and cannot afford to adequately restore the properties, said Brother Guire Cleary, curator at the Mission San Francisco de Asís in San Francisco.
At Cleary's mission, powder post beetles three years ago attacked a wall of wooden statues and artwork. Rain and ground moisture have weakened the building's adobe walls. A valuable 18th Century mural painted by Ohlone Indians is flaking away.
"To remediate the damage done by beetles would cost upwards of $700,00, which for a poor, working-class parish like Mission Dolores is out of the question," Cleary said, using the mission's nickname. "On the other hand, we feel like we have this duty to protect and preserve this priceless treasure for all Californians."
Several months ago, the state parks system assigned $150,000 to Mission San Francisco de Asís for a damage assessment, Cleary said. But when state coffers went dry, the parks department retracted its offer.
At Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, one of two state park missions, the parks department will pay for roof repairs, said Carol Dodge, the mission's curator. But restoration of wooden window slabs and 18th century artwork is unlikely without help from the foundation, which estimates total damage at $950,000.
Recent passage of the parks bond has given mission supporters new confidence. Dodge and Cleary only hope help will come soon enough.
"I think we're in a window of opportunity of only about five years, and if we pass that, and there is any sort of serious earthquake, the oldest intact mission church in California " - Mission Dolores - "could come down," Cleary said.
