TUCSON — Mission San Xavier del Bac, the historic church that is one of Arizona’s most significant historical buildings, has begun a major restoration on the East Tower. Restoring this tower will help preserve the structural integrity of the building and further enhance its beauty. In the centuries since the Mission was built, cracking in the East Tower’s exterior has allowed water to migrate behind the stucco and wick into the interior adobe brick.
To date Patronato’s White Dove Campaign, the group that funds repairs to the Mission has raised more than $800,000 of the $3 million project goal to restore the East Tower. The West Tower was restored in 2009 after a five-year, $2.5 million project.
“We are shoring up the foundation of the East Tower right now. As funds allow, we will be removing concrete plaster from the entire tower, replacing bricks where needed, and then re-plastering the exterior with a mixture of lime, sand and a glue made from the juice of prickly pear cactus,” says Bob Vint, the Mission’s preservation architect for the past 25 years. “It’s the same finish we was used on the West Tower and other parts of the restored buildings.”
Unlike the concrete that was used in the 1950s and is being removed, the new finish allows the building to “breathe’’ and “move,” and protects the interior from rain and hail, heat and dust, and cycles of freezing and thawing.
Exterior restoration funded by Patronato began in 1988 with the rehabilitation of the roof and continued with the walls of the main church, the repair and conservation of the West Tower and more recently the Sacristy Arcade on the west side of the church courtyard. Work on the east tower was supposed to begin years ago, when the west tower was repaired, and the cost was expected to be half of what it is now. But during the recession, the project lost much of its funding, and restoration efforts were delayed.
“My family and our crew have a lot of pride and pour a lot of heart into making sure our work at the Mission lasts long after we are gone,” said Danny Morales, whose family company, Morales Construction & Builders, has done restoration work at the Mission for nearly 60 years. “We look forward to completing the East Tower project as much-needed funds are raised.”
“We are deeply grateful to the generous individuals, corporations, and foundations that have already stepped forward and contributed to the White Dove Campaign, including our initial corporate donors Snell & Wilmer and Freeport-McMoRan Inc.,” said Patronato San Xavier board president Chuck Albanese. “We now are turning to the wider community to fully meet our funding goal.”
Tax-deductible gifts can be made securely online at www.patronatosanxavier.org/donate/ or by mail: Patronato San Xavier, P.O. Box 31702, Tucson, AZ 85751