Preservation & Architecture

The last bunkhouse of the Shinn Ranch China Camp will be restored by the Chinese Bunkhouse Presrevation Project, a committee of Mission Peak Heritage Foundation. Planning is underway and will follow the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation to ensure that the building remains historic. We would like to move the bunkhouse off of the Hayward fault so that it may be opened to the public. 

Find the Bunkhouse on the walking tour and its website. Find more Chinese history of Southern Alameda County on the Chinese History  Project page.  The Chinese History Project is a committee of the Washington Township Museum of Local History and gives lectures and creates exhibits about the history of the early Chinese in Southern Alameda County.

The beautiful Bamboo Room is in need of restoration and preservation.  Light is very harmful to historic items. We have placed UV resistant plexi-glass over the sunniest window. The blinds no longer work, so they are always down except for tours. We hope to get a grant from the Candle Lighters for black-out blinds on the sunny side of the house. We hired a specialist from CSUEB who checked for heavy metals in the paints - for safety reasons. More to do! 

We now have all of the plans and they are available for viewing on tours. Thanks to our generous donors, we now have nine high-quality scans of the 1917 architectural plans by California architect H.A. Minton. Thank you to: Janice Gonzales, Kathryn Kasch, Elizabeth Terplan, Beth Armstrong, Patty Lacy, Norma Macias, Kel Kanady, Sally and John Holmes, Victor Wong, Doug and Doris Green, Connie Chew, Caren Breschini, and Ann Ziegler.