Cleaning, repairs to begin at Alamos Long Barrack, one of the oldest structures in Texas – San Antonio Express-News

Repairs and cleaning of the Alamos Long Barrack will soon begin as conservation experts determine the best way to preserve one of the oldest buildings in Texas.

Roof repairs at the mission-era structure began Monday and are expected to be completed by Friday. Cleaning of the exterior walls will begin later this month, as early as Feb. 15. But the state-owned Alamo complex will remain open to the public.

Just like when caring for artifacts like historic documents and artwork, the Long Barrack needs cleaning every so often, Alamo conservator Pamela Jary Rosser said. We will use the gentlest methods possible to clean the stones in the Long Barrack walls, using skilled masonry cleaners, and will not perform any repairs that pose a risk of damaging the structure.

On ExpressNews.com: Work to determine if Alamo church exterior was painted in mission era

During recent archaeological investigations in the Long Barrack, the Alamo preservation team discovered blisters in its replacement roof, installed in 1975, resulting from cracks in a roof membrane added in 2014. Parts of the roof have bulges up to 12 inches high from moisture infiltrating the membrane, which is under warranty. Areas where blistering has occurred are being repaired this week.

The long, rectangular building is less celebrated than the iconic Alamo church. But it was among the first structures built after the site became the third and final location of San Antonios first permanent mission in 1724. Much of its west and south walls are of original mission-era construction.

The Long Barrack was built by Spanish craftsmen and indigenous people living near the Mission San Antonio de Valero. It was completed by the 1740s as a two-story convento, where Spanish friars lived and worked. Later, as part of a fort, it housed a jail and, on the second floor, the first hospital in Texas, dating to 1805.

The Long Barrack also is the location where a high concentration of Texian and Tejano Alamo defenders are believed to have died in hand-to-hand fighting in the early morning battle of March 6, 1836.

Decades after the battle, the building was part of a grocery and liquor store. It was threatened with demolition by a hotel developer when Clara Driscoll and Adina de Zavala worked to save it in 1903, starting a new era of Alamo custodianship by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. The DRT renovated the building to house museum exhibits in 2005.

The building has been closed to the public in recent years for archaeological digs conducted to preserve the church and Long Barrack. Excavations in the Long Barrack have unearthed 1800s musket balls and other artillery, and a piece of earthenware believed to date from 1650 to 1725. Archaeologists also found, about 5 feet below the surface, what they believe is the base of the Long Barracks original mission-era west wall, the oldest intact structure at the Alamo, with a foundation dating to the 1720s.

On ExpressNews.com: Early mission era artifact unearthed at Alamo in downtown San Antonio

In the weeks ahead, masons will clean the exterior limestone walls with water, specialized soap and soft-bristle brushes to remove dirt and black and dark green biological growth so the preservation team can assess the condition of the stones and mortar for a long-term repair and treatment plan.

In a YouTube video posted by the Alamo, Rosser explained that a very gentle cleaning process will remove the growth materials and contaminants that visually obscure details and conditions of the stone and grout.

And then the building will be preserved in the best manner possible, she said.

shuddleston@express-news.net

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Cleaning, repairs to begin at Alamos Long Barrack, one of the oldest structures in Texas - San Antonio Express-News