Project to Help Church Stand Up to More Quakes

Officials at Camarillo’s St. Mary Magdalen Chapel credit God and good architecture for keeping their church unharmed for 88 years, but now the Catholic parish is spending $1.5 million to ensure it continues standing through future quakes.

The chapel was closed on Jan. 1 to allow for extensive earthquake retrofitting--a project scheduled for completion this summer. In the meantime, the 300 parishioners worship at the parish’s second location, St. Mary Magdalen Church, on Las Posas Road. The original chapel’s location in the Old Town section of the city didn’t allow for expansion, so a second church was built in 1975 to accommodate the growing congregation.

“Everyone--from the engineers to the architect--is amazed at the stoutness of the facility and its survivability,” said Joe Esseff, the parish’s business administrator. “It’s a miracle there hasn’t been more earthquake damage.”

The retrofit project has been in the works for more than two years, beginning with structural designs created by Los Angeles engineering firm Nabih Youssef and Associates. Workers began boring holes in the building’s outside walls early last year to determine where to place steel reinforcements to tie the wall cavities together. This exterior work allowed the chapel to remain open in 2001.

Brent Nuttall, company vice president, said the retrofit had to be approached differently because of the historic nature of the structure. The chapel was designated county landmark No. 22 in March 1972, so the fixes had to comply with state historic building codes, as well as the city of Camarillo’s seismic strengthening ordinance.

The chapel has a rich historical significance in the county. It began as the private chapel for the Camarillo family, owners of the 10,000-acre Rancho Calleguas upon which many city landmarks were built.

Construction began in 1912 at the behest of Juan Camarillo Jr., a devout Catholic. The building was completed the next year and dedicated in 1914. The chapel was built in honor of Camarillo’s parents, Juan and Martina. The three are buried--along with city founder Adolfo Camarillo and other family descendants--in a crypt that remains on chapel grounds. The chapel became a parish through the Los Angeles Archdiocese in 1940.

“Our goal is to maintain the historical integrity of the church,” Esseff said. “Luckily, we’ve had a very innovative construction crew and engineering firm that have had to use a lot of flexibility and creativity.”

Financed through the church’s building fund and reserves, the project involves securing the roof with steel bolts to the supporting walls, adding a new foundation and concrete walls to the bell tower, sandblasting the outside of the chapel and repainting.

Eventually, the church plans to refurbish its pews and flooring and replace an outdated sound system.

Greg Courselle of Dan Courselle Construction said no major earthquake damage has been discovered during the course of retrofitting.

That comes as no surprise to Msgr. John Hughes, a member of the parish staff since 1969, who attributes the building’s sturdiness to its builder, A.C. Martin.

“They built excellent buildings, not just ours but the old courthouse in Ventura too,” said Hughes, who is retired from administrative duties at the chapel but continues to celebrate Mass. “Considering that they weren’t into retrofitting at the time it was built, it’s actually one of the more modern buildings of its day,” said Hughes.