LANDMARK CHAPEL GETS STRONGER.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer

CAMARILLO - More than 80 years ago Juan Camarillo commissioned a glass-blower from Munich, Germany, to fashion 13 stained glass windows for St. Mary Magdalen Church.

He brought in warm, handsome oak for the pews and doors, and white marble wainscoting to line the walls for what would become his family's house of worship.

Camarillo spared no expense for the chapel on the hill, commissioned in 1913 to honor his parents. Now the community that bears the family's name is completing a $2 million improvement project to protect the landmark from future earthquakes.

``Everyone's proud of the church. It's the center point of the community,'' said 55-year-old parishioner Joe Ortiz, a school administrator and lifelong congregation member. ``Anyone who grew up there doesn't want to see anything happen to it.''

The mission-style chapel was the last masonry building in town that remained to be either reinforced or razed, officials said, so an engineering architect began the painstaking task of designing the retrofitting project to comply with seismic standards approved in 1999.

Assistant City Manager Larry Davis called the Ventura Boulevard church a focal point for Camarillo's downtown renovation project.

``It's an identifying landmark for the city as people go through Camarillo,'' Davis said. ``It was built by the Camarillo family that the town was named after.''

Today, the 16-foot azure, crimson, green and gold chapel windows are covered with plywood as work continues on the 350-seat facility. The artwork got lost for six years, during the turmoil of World War I, but finally crossed the ocean in 1919 to Camarillo where it replaced the original heavy white paper windows.

Workers are now focused on securing the outer and inner walls together to ensure that the chapel that has weathered the ravages of fire, earthquakes and time stays standing.

Workers are reinforcing the original wooden floor of the second-story choir loft, and reinforcing the 60-foot-tall bell tower by adding six inches to the thickness of the walls.

Church officials hope to have the chapel ready for special occasions like weddings by July and for Mass by August.

``It really has been a challenge to meet the requirement for earthquake safety and maintain the historical integrity of the building,'' said Joseph Esseff, parish business administrator.

In 1940, four years after the death of Juan Camarillo, the family gave the chapel, which includes a family crypt and an east wing, to the Los Angeles Archdiocese to use as a parish church. Over the years, the parish outgrew the chapel and built an 850-seat church that opened on Christmas Day 1975 at Las Posas Road and Crestview Avenue.

But many parishioners, including older residents or those who couldn't drive, stayed behind, attending Mass in the historic chapel.

Since construction got under way a year ago, services - also in Polish and Vietnamese - are being held at the new church with one Spanish Mass held at a school hall on the chapel's grounds.

``People are very understanding and we are patiently waiting for the project to end,'' said the Rev. Alberto Ledesma, the associate pastor.

``I think this is an opportunity for us to become aware of how vulnerable we can be, and come together as a community. And even though worship space is very important, because it brings us together, but also (it allows us to) explore other aspects of the community - that we are achurch not because of the building.

``That is something I have experienced and helping us as a community to become stronger.''

CAPTION(S):

6 photos, map

Photo:

(1 -- color) Joseph Esseff, parish business administrator, says the challenge has been to juggle earthquake safety with maintaining historical integrity.

(2 -- 6; 3--5--color) St. Mary Magdalen Church in Camarillo is viewed in top photos in about 1919 and with scaffolding around the bell tower during the current earthquake renovation project. A photo of one of the 13 stained glass windows is seen above along with workman Frank Rodarde applying plaster to the walls of the bell tower of the church. At right, Juan and Adolfo Camarillo, whose family built the church and gave the city its name, are pictured.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

Map:

St. Mary Magdalen Church