Black and white image of a vintage house on a street corner with trees, wires, and cars parked nearby.

Caring for Historic Resources

The Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties

Historic Preservation is a core component of our work. With many historic properties under our management, preservation is ongoing, and often transformative. We have a long history of successful preservation projects in Santa Barbara County.

Current Restoration Projects

  • Sketch of a small restaurant or cafe with outdoor seating area, trees, and a parked car nearby, drawn on brown paper.

    Moullet House Landscape Project

    SBTHP is currently working with the City on the permitting process for this project to improve the landscaping at the 1896 Moullet House. The Moullet, located in El Presidio SHP, is a Santa Barbara City Structure of Merit and was built as a residence, although it has been used for commercial purposes for many years.  SBTHP will restore the planter and light fixture, add paving to the north side of the property and construct a trash enclosure. 

  • White historic building with a sloped tiled roof and small window, with Mexican and Spanish flags outside, identified as El Cuartel-Guards House at Santa Barbara State Historic Park.

    El Cuartel

    El Cuartel, constructed in 1788, is the only remaining intact portion of the Santa Barbara Presidio and is the oldest building in Santa Barbara.  SBTHP received Prop 68 funds to restore the correct pitch to the roof, conduct a seismic retrofit to protect the building from earthquake damage and construct an accessible ramp.

  • A historic white building with a tiled roof and wooden support beams, decorated with Mexican and Spanish flags, featuring a porch with benches and decorative ironwork, set against a rustic outdoor setting.

    Cañedo Adobe

    The Cañedo Adobe contains original adobe material from the Santa Barbara Presidio and was remodeled by Elmer and Barbara Whittaker in 1948.  Prop 68 funds will be used to replace the roof and porch of the structure and the adjacent reconstructed Padre’s Quarters, as well as remove a non-historic outbuilding at the rear of the structure.  

  • A pink, wooden house with a front porch and two trees in front, on a street with parked cars and a curb.

    Rochin Adobe Porch

    SBTHP has begun the excavation phase of the Rochin Adobe porch reconstruction.  This Santa Barbara City Landmark built in 1856 is part of El Presidio SHP and currently houses the offices for Anacapa School.  Due to its fragility and because of its age the porch much be reconstructed to provide safe access to the structure.  First, SBTHP is conducting an archaeological excavation of the porch to better understand its construction and salvage any artifacts.   We will then create plans to restore the porch and begin construction.

  • Black and white photo of a brick house with a picket fence, two women, and a man in a horse-drawn carriage in front of the house.

    Cota-Knox House

    EST. 1871

    Our next restoration project will be this 19th-century brick building, constructed when María de Jesus Olivera de Cota’s adobe home was torn down to make way for the City’s new street grid. After Maria’s passing, the Knox family purchased the home. One of Santa Barbara’s earliest physicians, Dr. Knox operated his medical practice out of the building. The Cota-Knox House project entails a new roof, seismic retrofit, plumbing and electrical upgrades, and a restored façade. You can read more about the project and support it here.   

TREATMENT APPROACHES

Like many local, regional, state and private agencies nation-wide, the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation uses the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties to guide our preservation work. The Standards are the Secretary of the Interior’s best advice on how to protect a wide range of historic properties and are intended to promote responsible preservation practices that help protect irreplaceable cultural resources. The Standards are intended to provide guidance to historic building owners and building managers, preservation consultants, architects, contractors, and project reviewers prior to treatment.

The four treatment approaches outlined in the standards are Preservation, Rehabilitation, Restoration, and Reconstruction, outlined below in hierarchical order.

Preservation, Rehabilitation, Restoration, and Reconstruction

  • Two workers installing new roof tiles on a small house with a sloped roof in a residential area.

    Preservation


    Focuses on the maintenance and repair of existing historic materials and retention of a property's form as it has evolved over time. Examples of SBTHP preservation projects include the Cañedo adobe (1786), El Cuartel (1788), Pico Adobe (circa 1840s), Rochin Adobe (1856), and the Santa Inés Mission Mills (1818-1820). A current preservation project is the condition assessment and stabilization of a painted figure at the Santa Inés Mission Mills property.

  • A house undergoing renovation with peeling wooden siding, two ladders leaning against it, and a person working near the windows.

    Rehabilitation


    Acknowledges the need to alter or add to a historic property to meet continuing or changing uses while retaining the property's historic character. For the last decade SBTHP has been working on the redesign and rehabilitation of the former Santa Barbara School of the Arts property. Examples of SBTHP rehabilitation projects include the Alhecama Studios (1926) and the Presidio Research Center (1928).

  • Interior of a building under construction with brick and stone walls, wooden scaffolding, and stacks of bricks on the dirt floor.

    Restoration


    Depicts a property at a particular period of time in its history, while removing evidence of other periods. Casa de la Guerra (pictured above, during the 1996 restoration of the East Wing) is the best example of an SBTHP restoration project. Following years of detailed archaeological and architectural investigations the house was restored to the period of 1820s-1850s. This was accomplished by carefully removing architectural features and layers of fabric added to the building after the 1850s and faithfully restoring original architectural features based on archaeological evidence. You can view an online exhibit about SBTHP’s restoration of Casa de la Guerra here.

  • People working on a brick construction site, laying bricks for a wall.

    Reconstruction


    Re-creates vanished or non-surviving portions of a property for interpretive purposes. Examples of reconstruction projects within El Presidio de Santa Barbara SHP include the Padre's Quarters (1979), Chapel (1985), Comandancia (1992), Northeast Corner (1996), Chapel Bell tower (2001), and the Northwest Corner Visitor's Center (2009). Since 2009, SBTHP's reconstruction efforts have been focused on the completion of the massive outer defense wall surrounding the Northwest Corner of the site.