El Sobarzo, Another Historic Building in La Paz

Although Justo Sierra is the name of the public library in La Paz located at the corner of Altamirano and Constitucion, the building itself has long been called El Sobarzo by local people. The structure is made of the local pink rock called piedra cantera (which actually means “mined rock” in Spanish, but is used exclusively to indicate the pink rock in La Paz) and originally had a roof made of wooden vigas holding up bricks and mortar.

Construction on the building was completed in 1918 under the supervision of Manuel Balarezo, a local ingeniero who was commissioned to build it by the territorial governor, General Manuel Mezta. The general, who had begun his tenure as governor the previous year, fell in love with a local lady and had it built as a home for himself and his new bride. The couple stayed in their new home for only two years. In 1920 Mezta and his wife left for Sinaloa (where the governor was from), leaving the governorship under cloudy circumstances. His successor accused him of stealing 92,000 pesos of the territory’s funds. In 1923 Mezta died and with him, the investigation into his actions as governor. His widow, doña Maria Balarezo de Mezta, eventually returned to La Paz to live.

If the house had a name at that time, it has been lost to history.

By 1929 doña Maria was broke and decided to accept the territorial government’s offer to buy the family home. That was when it became the Sanatorio General Manuel Sobarzo, a sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis patients. The territorial governor at the time was General Agustin Olachea, a local boy from Todos Santos who had fought in the Revolution in Sonora. Governor Olachea named the new sanatorium in honor of his fallen friend and fellow Todosanteño, who had died in combat in 1915—three years before the building was constructed.

The house functioned as a sanatorium for only a few years before being converted into the town’s jail in 1938. To accommodate prisoners, a room with several cells was built on the back left side of the building.

In 1946 the right half of the building was converted into office spaces for the Territorial Delegacion (what supplanted the municipal form of government in BCS from 1928-1971). At about the same time, the territorial archives were moved into spaces on the second floor.

In 1960, the newly-formed Volunteer Fire Department moved onto the property and installed a WWII-era air raid siren on the upper roof that was used to summon the firemen whenever they were needed to man up the fire truck and go put out fires. It functioned as the comandancia de los bomberos until the unit moved to new facilities in the 1970s.

When the municipal form of government was restored to Baja California Sur in 1971, the delegacion offices in El Sobarzo were closed and the new government opened for business in the old Palacio Municipal downtown, located on 16 of Septiembre and Belizario Dominguez. The territorial archives had been moved out of the upstairs location in 1969, when the roof started leaking.

The building sat empty for four years, until the municipality decided to find a new location for the Justo Sierra Public Library. The leaky roof was replaced and the rooms were reconditioned for library use. The old extension that had been built on back for additional cell space was torn down and the rear door giving access to them was converted back into a window space. El Sobarzo has functioned as such ever since.

An interesting item I found while researching this story was that in the 1940s then-territorial governor Francisco Mujica commissioned two men from Mexico City to get the territory's archives in order. When the two found out the building had previously been used as a sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis patients, they decided they weren't much interested in the job after all and left.

For about two years in the 1960s my family rented a house that once stood on the property directly in front of El Zobarzo (for those counting, my family rented four houses during the years we lived in La Paz in the ‘60s). Some of the things I remember associated with the building:

While the air raid siren could signal excitement in the neighborhood when it rang during the day or early evening hours as men came running from all directions of the city to dress and man up the fire truck, such wasn’t the feeling when it wailed at two a.m. or so. Then all I could do was stuff my head under my pillow and wait for it to shut off.

In about 1966 three Americans were alledged to have robbed a bank in Southern California, stolen a plane and headed south. They landed in La Paz and were promptly arrested by authorities and brought to the jail. As it so happened, there was a jail breakout during their stay and a guard named Molina was killed. Most of the inmates, who weren’t many, escaped, including the three Americans. Of course, the assumption by the townspeople was that the Americans had killed Molina (they hadn't). After a week or so on the run, the Americans were recaptured and brought back to jail dehydrated and half-starving. What seemed like the whole town turned out to catch a glimpse of them as they were returned to their cells. It was a rather convenient coincidence that the fire department was located there, they didn’t even have to move the fire truck out of its stall to use its hoses and water pressure to keep the crowd back a respectable distance. Our yard, which had a wall around it separating it from the street, was inundated by people hoping for a better look while being moderately protected from the fire hoses. That was when my mother, Bajalera, learned what the full force of a fire hose at 12-15 yards felt like on the side of the head. Said she had a headache for days afterwards. Ironically, I would become friends with the family of the guy who wielded that fire hose a couple of years later, something he still brings up now and then.

This sign is why the building is still known known today as El Sobarzo


The arched window use to be the doorway to the prison cells built out back, now long gone.


Another view of the historic building


When I was a kid, there was always at least one gun-totting police officer at this door, which was usually opened--affording one a view of some of the cells inside.



[Edited on 3-6-2012 by Bajatripper]

In answer to your question; yes, it is the same pink rock you see used in such abundance in and around La Paz. The Hotel Costa Baja is built on a mine of the stuff and I remember seeing lots of it on the hills around Pichilingue as a kid.

It's a brittle rock that lends itself well to flint-knapping, which the natives of the region made good use of.

Below are some photos of a beauty a friend of mine found while on a hike outside of La Paz.




A side view so you can appreciate how thin the artifact is:



Another artifact made of piedra cantera found by a rancher in the same area:

I miss her around the house