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Mission San Fernando, Californi [sic]

 
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Title
Mission San Fernando, Californi [sic]
Description
Angled view of the long, two-storey Convento building of Mission San Fernando, with its row of 21 arches. In the foreground there is a dirt road with a car on it.
Format Extent
1 postcard : Color ; 9 x 14 cm.
Subject
Spanish mission buildings--California--San Fernando; Religious Architecture--California--San Fernando;
Note
Mission San Fernando, Rey De Espana was founded in 1787 by Father Lasuen as a stopping place between Missions San Gabriel and San Buenaventura. Due to its placement along the route to the fast-growing community of Los Angeles, the mission received so many visitors that the padres had to build several additions to the hospice in the Convento wing, with the result that it became known as the "long building" of El Camino Real. The mission was badly damaged during the 1818 earthquake. The church was repaired, but after secularization, the roof tiles were removed for use on later buildings, leaving the adobe walls exposed and hastening their deterioration. Further damage occurred when gold was discovered near the mission in 1842, and prospectors dug up parts of the mission's floors in the search for buried treasure. In the years that followed, the church and hospice were used as a warehouse and stable, while the quadrangle became a hog farm. In 1863, the mission became the property of the Catholic Church once more, but it did not become a working church again until 1923. Various attempts had been made to restore the buildings, but restoration did not begin in earnest until the 1940s when the Hearst Foundation donated a large sum of money. The buildings were badly damaged again in the 1971 earthquake, and the subsequent repairs were completed in 1974.
Collection
Werner von Boltenstern Postcard Collection
Type
Geographic Location
San Fernando (Calif.)
Language
eng
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