Bullier/Breitbarth Building
This one-story, wood-framed stucco building has served a variety of purposes since its construction by Jose Maria Castro who built it as a butcher shop in 1856. It was next used by Leon Bullier as a barber shop from1858-1865 and was afterwards occupied by Breitbarth’s Shoe Store when Breibarth bought the building from Bullier in 1865.
On the sidewalk just south of the entrance is an impression of a mill for grinding and pulverizing gold or silver ore, called an “arastra” and the concrete entry has an impression of a Mission-bell which is dated 5-29-52.
Alterations to the building began in the 1940’s when the building was already the Mission Coffee Shop, and include a flat-roofed cinderblock addition to the rear where there had once been a two-storied, wood-clad structure. After a fire, a new addition was created in 1953 for living quarters and later served as a beauty shop. A projecting full-width porch was removed as were the original fenestration and floor-to-ceiling door openings, and a new entrance was constructed in 1959.
In 2008 additional windows were added and the original timber-framed construction insulated with earth were replaced on the southeast wall. Around the same time, a large awning, which projected outward from a horizontal molding above the façade, was removed. The retro 50’s diner look was added inside the cafe around 2008. Today it continues its 75+ years as the Mission Cafe.
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