Casa Grande Ruins Administrative History

APPENDIX F: CASA GRANDE RUINS NATIONAL MONUMENT
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE BUILDINGS (continued)

Additional Civilian Conservation Corps Work

Along with the maintenance compound, the CCC constructed an adobe pumphouse and adobe enclosure walls around the electrical transformer. Both were completed in the modified Pueblo architectural style. The transformer walls retain their original appearance and will be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. In 1987 the exterior of the pumphouse was modified. This change in its historic appearance excludes it from consideration for placement in the National Register.

Building 16, a pumphouse located just south of the employee quarters, was begun by the CCC laborers in August 1939 and completed in December of that year (figure 47). This 440 square foot structure was built of adobe walls on a concrete foundation (figure 48). As with the other CCC constructed buildings, the exterior walls were covered with bitudobe over two-by-two inch wire mesh. Interior walls were plastered. A parapet wall rises slightly above the roof. The pumphouse had a poured concrete floor. Its windows were wood frame with wood sash. The entrance contained a wooden door which was removed in 1987 and enclosed. Double metal doors on the west were also removed in 1987. That area was partly enclosed and a single metal door put in the wall. At the same time the south window was removed and enclosed. When the monument was connected to the Coolidge water supply in 1952, this building was no longer used. According to the Mission 66 plan, the structure was slated to be removed. In 1960, however, the building was converted to a storage facility. It was remodeled in 1989 into the monument library. In 1976 the exterior walls were wet-sandblasted and given a texture coat of Flexon 701. In 1991 the exterior walls were power washed, coated with a primer, and painted with Dunn-Edwards Elastromeric Wall Coating. [14]

Figure 48: Building 16 — Monument Library.
Originally constructed as a pump house in 1939. In 1960 it was converted to a storage facility.
Remodeled into the monument library in 1989.

Adobe enclosure walls were built around the electrical transformer by the CCC workforce in November 1938 (figure 49). These nine foot, six inch high walls, located between the employee quarters and the maintenance facility, cover a 155 square foot area. They were covered with bitudobe over two-by two-inch wire mesh and are capped with concrete coping. There are 12,500 volts coming into the transformer and 440 volts leaving it to the monument. [15]