A small adobe structure that has quietly educated generations of Coachella Valley History Museum visitors is now in need of preservation itself. After more than 30 years of exposure to the desert environment, the museum’s Adobe Demonstration Exhibit has begun to deteriorate, and without restoration this unique educational resource risks being lost. The museum is launching a community fundraising campaign to stabilize and restore the exhibit before further damage occurs.
The timing is especially fitting. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the historic Smiley-Tyler House, built in 1926 and now the centerpiece of the Coachella Valley History Museum. Standing beside the house, the Adobe Demonstration Exhibit helps visitors understand the traditional building techniques and desert-adapted architecture that shaped life in the early Coachella Valley.
Many visitors see the small adobe structure without realizing the important story it tells. Built in 1992 under the direction of respected longtime Indio resident Roy Salazar, the exhibit demonstrates the adobe brick-making methods used throughout the valley long before electricity and air conditioning.
Salazar was 80 years old when he supervised construction of the exhibit. Drawing on a lifetime of experience and local knowledge, he and a team of volunteers created approximately 400 handmade adobe bricks using native clay, water and straw sourced in Thermal. The exhibit they built was never intended to be simply a display. It was designed to be a hands-on educational tool, showing visitors how early desert residents used local materials and ingenuity to build homes that were naturally cool, durable and sustainable.
Its location beside the Smiley-Tyler House is no accident. The two structures complement one another, helping visitors connect the techniques of adobe construction with one of the valley’s oldest surviving homes. Every year, schoolchildren, local families, seasonal residents and tourists visit the museum to learn about the region’s history, and for many the Adobe Demonstration Exhibit provides their first opportunity to see traditional desert architecture up close.
Today, however, the exhibit itself has become a piece of history worth preserving. Restoring it will protect not only the legacy of Salazar and the craftspeople who built the valley but also an irreplaceable educational resource that connects architecture, history and sustainability.
If you have ever visited the museum, attended a school program or brought family and friends to experience the valley’s history, I hope you will consider becoming part of this effort. As we celebrate the centennial of the Smiley-Tyler House, we also have an opportunity to preserve the traditional building knowledge that made homes like it possible.
You can learn more about the Adobe Brick Demonstration Exhibit restoration project and support the campaign by visiting the museum’s website at cvhm.org/adobe-brick-exhibit.
Together, we can help ensure that this small adobe structure continues to tell a very big story about the history, architecture and enduring spirit of the Coachella Valley.
To learn more about the museum, or to make a donation, visit cvhm.org.
Noma Bruton is the interim executive director for the Coachella Valley History Museum.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Museum to preserve Coachella Valley history, one adobe brick at a time
Reporting by Noma Bruton, Special to The Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Noma Bruton, Special to The Desert Sun | USA TODAY Network
