Bob Vint

Historic San Xavier mission lacks funds to complete repairs; tough economic times clip White Dove’s wings

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The upper reaches of the east bell tower of Mission San Xavier del Bac shows its age next to the restored west tower. (Photo: Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star)

[Source: Doug Kreutz,  Arizona Daily Star 3-28-2010] — A prominent feature of Mission San Xavier del Bac, which has graced the desert southwest of Tucson for two centuries, faces unchecked decay now that critical funding has been cut.  Work to repair and restore the mission’s deteriorated east bell tower was supposed to be under way this spring, but not a dab of new mortar has been applied.

A previously approved $150,000 grant from the Arizona Heritage Fund to kick-start the project was abruptly canceled last year.  Persistent efforts to get the funding restored have failed, so the bell tower will languish for the foreseeable future — making eventual restoration ever more costly, said Vern Lamplot, executive director of the Patronato San Xavier.  The group oversees fundraising and restoration for the mission, which attracts 200,000 visitors annually.

Restoration of the tower was to be the last major step in more than two decades of work that has included repair of walls, renovation of the west tower and meticulous cleaning of religious art inside the mission.  [Note: To read the full story, click here.]

Restoration of historic Arizona mission south of Tucson advancing

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[Source: The Associated Press] – – The White Dove of the Desert is living up to its nickname again, its west tower refurbished, resplendent in a dazzling white finish once more.  The tower at Mission San Xavier del Bac emerged just before Christmas from the scaffolding that restoration workers had being using _ like a butterfly shedding its cocoon, said architect Bob Vint, who spearheaded the five-year, $2.5 million project.  Now, it’s on to restoring the east tower of the 226-year-old Roman Catholic church, which is still an active parish for southern Arizona’s Tohono O’odham Indians. Its towers are visible for miles, and their restoration is intended to ensure that the structure remains intact.

“The interior of the mission is what it’s all about,” said Vint. “All of this exterior work is being done to protect the interior.”  The mission, sometimes called “the Sistine Chapel of the United States” and the “White Dove of the Desert,” is considered the finest example of Spanish colonial architecture in the country. The walls of its Byzantine-influenced interior are ablaze with frescoes, a religious gallery of work painted directly on its walls by missionaries two centuries ago. [Note: to read the full article click here.]

Tucson’s second-oldest building undergoes repairs, improvements: La Casa Cordova will reopen to public about December

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[Source: Tucson Citizen, Teya Vitu} – – The wood viga and saguaro lath ceilings at the historic La Casa Cordova, 173 N. Meyer Ave., will be visible for the first time in more than 30 years when the second-oldest known building in Tucson reopens to the public, likely in December. La Casa Cordova, built some time before the first Tucson map was drawn in 1862, was closed in June to replace electrical systems, upgrade drainage and make the adobe structure more accessible to the disabled, said Meredith Hayes, spokeswoman for the Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block, which manages the house.

Since Labor Day, a 10- to 14-foot-wide brick walkway has been installed in the courtyard so those in wheelchairs will no longer have to roll through dirt to get to the seven rooms in the L-shaped structure. The bricks cover about one-fourth of the dirt courtyard, and a new rock water catch basin fills one corner in the courtyard. Inside, a false ceiling has been removed to reveal the original viga-and-lath ceiling from which track lighting will be suspended as a new electrical and lighting system is installed, said Bob Vint, a downtown architect who specializes in historic preservation. “It was really inadequate,” Vint said. “They did it on a shoestring in the 1970s. They had stuff like extension cords plugged into extension cords.” [Note: to read the full article click here.]