The Castro Adobe: Grandest of All Adobe Buildings

The grandest of all adobe buildings representing Northern California's rancho period is the two-story Castro Adobe near Watsonville. This hacienda features a spacious fandango room on the second floor and an original one-story cocina, one of of only five such Mexican kitchens remaining in the state. With its long, two-story proportions and full-width open balcony, it is a distinctly Monterey-Colonial building that demonstrates the expansion to the countryside of this celebrated architectural form from its original urban setting, at the end of the Mexican era (1821 - 1848). Read a short history of the Castro Adobe.

Help Restore the Castro Adobe The restoration of the Castro Adobe will take several years. Your donation today to Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks will help make it happen. Donate to the Castro Adobe Fund

The Hansen family in front of Rancho San Andres Castro Adobe "lumbered up" on the south end. Note solid shutters on front, wood floor under balcony, low roof pitch of original roof, high balcony balustrade. Barns are visible at right. Circa 1890. Myrtle Jensen Collection