The herald., 1896-11-18
THE LANDMARKS CLUB
Annual Meeting of the Organ
ization Last Night
OLD OFFICERS REELECTED
What Has Been Accomplished Toward
Preserving the Old Missions
The Annual Report of the Secretary
Shows That the Club is in Very
Good Shape

| "A
was present at the first annual meeting
| of the Landmarks club held In the rooms
, of the Friday Morning club on South
Broadway last night. The meeting was
for the election of officers and the hear
| ing of reports.
Charles F. Lummis. president of the
club. gave brief history of its organi-
zation and the work accomplished dur
ing the year. He referred to the work
done by the Old Mission Preservation
Society, which is indebted for its exist
ence to the efforts of Miss Tessa Kelso.
formerly city librarian. He also re-
ferred to the work accomplished by
Rev. Father O'Keefe of san Luis Rey,
and also stated that the club was greatly
indebted to Bishop Mora for ten years
lease of the San Juan Capistrano mis-
sion.
On motion of Mrs Davis the secretary
was unanimously instructed to cast
ballot for the reelection of the old oiii-
GERS in recognition of their services dur
ing the past wear. The following is the
board of directors declared duly elected:
Mrs. NJ. c. Graham, Mrs. Nj. E. Stilson'
Air. Charles f. Lummis. Mr.. Frank a.
Gibson. Mr.. Henry O'Melveny, MI AT
thur b. Benton, Mr.. Sumner +. hunt
Rev. j. Adam.
The secretary Mr.. Arthur B. Benton.
read his annual report. as follows:
Mr.. President. Ladies and Gentlemen.
I have the honor to submit my nrst an
nual report as secretary or the LaHu
marks Club. The club was organized
about a year ago for the purpose OF
preserving from decay ana rum .ns
landmarks of Southern California, ana
while it succeeded to the work and re-
ceived the hearty cooperation ana sup
port of many who had been active mem
bers of the Mission Preservation Soc1e-
ty. it was organized as an entirely new
society and. to enable it to hold prop
erty. was duly incorporated under the
laws of California. OF the crying need
for such society no one familiar with
the rapid progress of destruction by neg
ect and vandalism of the ancient mis-
sion buildings and who has even
small amount of sentiment in his make
up can for a moment question.
Much of beauty and historic worth has
disappeared in the last twenty years
and most that remains, unless repaired
and protected, will in another twenty
years have fallen into heaps of rubbish
That buildings which have withstood
the elements for century should be in
danger of immediate and utter deStruc-
ton may to some seem highly improb-
able. but the reason for this seeming con-
tradiction is found in the peculiar ma
ture of adobe constructions. Walls built
of this material have almost unlimited
permanence when protected from wet,
but when subjected to the action of
water melt rapidly away.
In these later years the roofs have in
| many cases been denuded Of their tiles
| and where these remain the support " e
| timbers are SO decayed as to threaten
| total collapse.
The club has confined its work to the
mission of San Juan Capistrano, deem
| ing 1t better to do thoroughly the work
in hand than by scattering its energies
| to fail of doing well that which it at
tempted. In the buildings at Capstrano
was found an object well worthy the
| attention of the antiquarian. the artist
the student. Founded in 1776 and built
almost entirely by Indian labor. it ex-
cells in architectural design and in mag
nitude any building of The colonial pc
riod of the Atlantic states. In it's con-
struction was used very conSidera Bile
| amount of brick and stone. which should
have insured its preservation, but which
by reason of their value as building ma
terial in some measure hastened its ruin.
as many hundred carloads were sold
and carried away
That so much remains is unuuestion-
ably due to the untripg watchfulness
for many years of Judge Richard Egan.
In all the work of the club his aid has
been simply invaluable without which,
but a small part of what has been ac-
complished could have been performed
with the resources at our command
L deeply regret that it is impossible
to recite in detail the part he has per-
formed in the saving of Capistrano.
he mas enlisted the generous aid of his
friends and neighbors, securing free use
OF teams and men whenever required
and not content with giving his time to
a DprcOnll icin ,,f
| with his own hands removed and replac-
| ed nearly all of the tiles on the immense
area OF roof restored by the club. So,
while 1T is not the purpose of your Sec
retary to unduly magnify any one mem
Der OF the club. he has thought it emf
nently right and proper to thus publicly
recognize the services of the protector
and restorer of San Juan Capistrano.
| When work was begun by the club at
Capistrano the roof to all but a small
| section of the cloisters was entirely gone,
| the roofs of the kitchen wing and the old
adobe church were badly broken and
| great cracks in walls and vaults gave
notice of approaching and speedy ruin.
The amount of work requiring instant
| attention was so great and difficult as to
| dismay the committee of directors and
architects to whom the work or repair
was delegated. Those of you who have
| read the monthly reports of the progress
of work published in the clubs official
organ, 1.-The Land of Sunshine" know
| how vastly improved is the condition
of the mission today. Four hundred
| feet in length of the noble cloisters have
| been re-roofed with plank and asphalt
| tum as al first. all of the principal build
! ings have been stayed and propped and
re-roofed so as to insure their preserva-
| ton, with but slight care and outlay, for
| generations. The shattered buttress
supporting the remaining vaults of tho
| stone church has been underpinned with
| solid concrete, while tons of unsightly
rubbish have been removed from the
buildings.
| To do this has cost much in material
and labor and to you, the members of
the club whose generosity has made pos
sible this good work. are due the thanks
of all who have any appreciation of the
| architectural beauty or of the historical
value of these ancient missions, and
even those to whom utility is the rule of
! life, whose invariable query is, "Is there
| money in it?" should not withhold from
the club something of praise and appre-
| citation. For as our president has en-
phatically and repeatedly asserted, there
is money in it, for these same missions
serve now and will continue in an ever
increasing ratio in the future to attract
| the best class of tourists, to whom Cali
fornia must look for no small part of hel
| material advancement. The aggregate
amount of money and materials received