Are the ruins of Santa Rosa’s first non-native building worth preserving?

Should the fenced, weed-obscured ruins of Santa Rosa’s first non-native building and, possibly, the intended location of a 22nd and northernmost California Mission be added to the National Register of Historic Places?

The question goes Friday to a state commission that’s meeting in Woodland. It’s not a coincidence the panel was asked to rule on the National Register eligibility of the Carrillo Adobe just as a developer inches closer to commencing the long-delayed construction of 165 apartments or condominiums next to it.

The Santa Rosa archaeologists who nominated the Carrillo Adobe for inclusion in the Historic Places registry, Bryan Much and Alex DeGeorgey, make no bones of their desire to see the preservation of every possible bit of the approximately 15 acres of undeveloped land beneath and adjacent to it.

“This is history,” said Much.

To him, the remains of the late 1830s home of pioneer Maria Ygnacia Lopez de Carrillo occupy a general point of convergence of the stories of the native people who’d lived in the region for thousands of years, plus Spanish missionaries, Mexican settlers and Russian colonists.

Said Much, “This is one of the rare places where you can take the blanket of history and pull any thread you want to, and run with it.”

In his ideal scenario, money would be found to buy the entire adobe property - framed by Montgomery Drive, Franquette Avenue, Santa Rosa Creek and the St. Eugene’s Cathedral and School - and make it a historical park or preserve that would forever honor the birthplace of the city.

Much is aware that’s almost certainly a pipe dream. Opportunities to protect the entire swath of land came and went before the Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa sold it about 15 years ago to Barry Swenson Builder of San Jose. Economic downturns and other obstacles have so far foiled the firm’s attempts to develop the land, except that directly around the adobe, with residences.

Mike Black, a project manager with Swenson, said Tuesday the quest to have the Carrillo Adobe added to the National Register comes as the firm is about to seek building permits for its city-approved plan to build 140 market-rate condos or apartments, and 25 affordable units for seniors.

“We hope to break ground sometime this fall,” Black said.

The construction plans require Swenson to deed to Santa Rosa as parkland, and to help maintain, ?2 acres of land beneath and around the remains of the Doña Maria Carrillo home that was, before that, an outpost of the Mission San Rafael Arcángel. Research by an archaeologist hired by Swenson several years ago uncovered evidence that the Franciscans began foundation work on a new mission in about 1829, but called off the project.

Black said he won’t be present Friday in Woodland when the State Historical Resources Commission considers whether the Carrillo Adobe meets the requirements for inclusion in the National Register.

He made clear he’s leery of the nomination if the motive is to reduce the size of the long-planned housing project. Archaeologists Much and DeGeorgey hold out hope that there is still time for public interest in the adobe site to force new limits on construction or requirements for additional archaeological research or safeguards.

“I get that there needs to be some development out there,” said Much. “My question is about the scale.”