Monterey's Presidio Chapel

The other day I had my first good close-up look at the restored San Carlos Cathedral in Monterey, also known as the Royal Presidio Chapel. It's an impressive restoration, most of which was completed between 2007 and 2009, at a cost of $7.5 million. The church is still collecting money to pay for the work, which exceeded original cost estimates by a bunch.

In a class and tour conducted by Dr. Julianne Burton-Carvajal, professor emerita of UC Santa Cruz, my eyes were opened to the fascinating story of the church, which is the oldest stone building in California. It was also the first church in California to be designated a cathedral in the oldest continuously operating Roman Catholic parish in the state. Until Mexico won its independence from Spain, the king's appointed governor worshiped in this church, hence the "Royal" part of the name. Impressive enough.

When the Spanish settled Monterey in 1770, 168 years after Sebastian Vizcaino first said it would be a good idea, the soldiers built their presidio right in this place, supposedly two cannon-ball shots away from the harbor but beside the old estuary that admitted small boats before it was closed up to form the current El Estero lake. Father Junipero Serra decided early on that the Carmel River would be a better place for his mission to the native people, so he had a new church built there and moved in the early 1770s. Meanwhile, back in Monterey, the presidio took shape under military commanders, with a number of adobe buildings put up in a presidio square, the front wall of the garrison lining up a block or so in front of the current church building. During the first 21 years, three churches stood on the site before the fourth and final building went up between 1791 and 1794. The last major addition came in 1858 when the transept was added.

Oddly, during the restoration work it was found that the 1794 walls were in better shape than the transept and apse walls. Aside from reinforcement, the building also underwent major interior decoration to restore the original patterns and colors of the church, which were found when plaster was scraped away. In neat little plexiglass windows set into the walls, you can now see samples of what the original walls looked like and compare them to the current ones.

Although the Custom House, Pacific House and other adobe buildings around Alvarado and the wharf get more visitors today, it's indisputable that the San Carlos Cathedral and the area around it actually comprised the first permanent settlement in Monterey County, and -- except for San Diego, which got in under the wire a year earlier -- the first in Alta California. -- D.D.