The light atop the 150-year-old Old Point Loma Lighthouse, dark for the last month while the lantern’s copper-dome roof and railed gallery were dismantled, restored and resealed, is about to be relit, following completion of restoration work at Cabrillo National Monument (CNM), the only national park in San Diego.
The work is expected to be completed this week, according to Karl Pierce, CNM chief of interpretation and park spokesman. This was to be the year for repainting the lighthouse exterior, last done in 2001 as part of CNM’s cyclical maintenance program. Priorities changed when CNM’s Chief of Maintenance Charles Schultheis noticed drips on the historic Fresnel lens and water leakage through the domed roof during last year’s heavy rains.
“The water was not cascading in, but I felt (the repairs) needed to be done now,” Schultheis explained. The lantern roof and gallery were last restored in 1982.
Park staff were able to postpone the painting and redirect the $27,000 toward more urgent roof repairs. With support from regional National Park Service (NPS) officials who view drainage, water tightness and roof leaks as maintenance priorities, park Superintendent Terry DiMattio and Schultheis cobbled together the extra $92,000 needed for lantern repairs from a competitive grant from NPS’ Cultural Cyclic Maintenance funds and other sources. This special fund, along with CNM’s annual budget, has been hit by a 1 percent across-the-board cut imposed on NPS to help repair damage from Hurricane Katrina. This reduction has also limited resources available to non-hurricane-impacted facilities. The Old Point Loma Lighthouse was opened in 1855, one of eight standardized Cape Cod-style lighthouses built along the west coast. In this design, Schultheis explained, the lighthouse-keeper’s “dwelling is integrated with the tower.”
After the lighthouse was decommissioned in 1891, following construction of the New Point Loma Lighthouse sited at a lower elevation more visible to ships in fog, ownership was transferred to the War Department for the Army’s use. The semi-abandoned lighthouse gradually deteriorated.
“From 1891 to 1933 the Army did some minor restoration work so it could be used as a radio station,” Pierce said.
By the time NPS took over the lighthouse in 1933, much of the lantern structure and other features had disappeared. In 1935, NPS undertook a total restoration, using the Monterey Peninsula’s Point Piãos Lighthouse “” one of the original eight west coast lighthouses, now a museum “” as a model to replicate missing elements. NPS officials also drew on memories of Point Loma residents who recalled details of the lighthouse while it was in service. Most of the lighthouse features now under repair date from that 1935 restoration. Schultheis explained they are cleaning and recoating rather than replacing most of the existing materials which are in good condition.
For this project CNM engaged Joseph Murphy Construction of Alameda, whose parent company, Reva Murphy Associates, specializes in historic preservation and has experience repairing copper dome roofs at historic sites, including the John Muir House in Martinez. They had also restored the searchlights along the bayside trail at CNM in 2004.
“We look for a company that understands that they’re working on a cultural resource of national significance. They understood that the lighthouse had to remain open for visitation,” he said.
Repairing increasingly-rare copper roofs is fairly complex. What persuaded park staff that they had found the right company for the job was their plan first to put a protective wooden box around the fragile and irreplaceable Fresnel lens. They also understood that their scaffolding could surround but not touch the lighthouse structure.
“If a hammer drops it falls on the box and not on the lens,” Pierce said.
Dave Lamb, project manager for Oakland-based Reva Murphy Associates who is overseeing the lantern restoration, has worked on diverse historic preservation projects for the company, including the recent seismic retrofit of the Bottle House, in the Nevada ghost town of Ryolite.
“It’s a house made out of glass bottles which is now a state park. We put in a steel framework to support it,” he said. Lamb said that the project has been straightforward, with “no major unexpected problems.”
Working with paint suppliers, he was able to identify a more durable marine industrial grade paint to apply to the gallery decking and rails than previously used. NPS protocols permit use of newer materials in restoration if they are reversible and in compliance with NPS standards and environmental regulations, Schultheis explained.
That’s why they can use a modern paint formulation on the metal lantern gallery, rather than the original toxic-powdered red lead paint used in the 19th century. The copper dome has already been reassembled. Lamb and Schultheis expect the gallery railings, which were sandblasted and painted at the R. W. Little facility on Pacific Highway, to be replaced and the scaffolding dismantled this week, on schedule. For Pierce and Schultheis the benefit of the extra care taken for a project such as this is clear.
“What we do now is going to preserve for the future what is an icon of San Diego,” Schultheis said.
“The American people own these parks. They need to understand what we’re doing to take care of their property. We all have a responsibility to the people who aren’t here yet,” Pierce added.
For additional information, call CNM at (619) 557-5450, or visit their Web site at www.nps.gov/cabr.