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Landowner, Jose Castro, built this two-story, Monterey Colonial adobe house, one of four Mexican-era adobes in San Juan Bautista, in 1841. Survivors of the Donner Party, Patrick and Margaret Breen and their family of seven, purchased the house in 1848; the Breens, who arrived at Mission San Juan Bautista with no financial resources in 1846, soon earned a fortune when their eldest son returned from the Gold Rush fields with $10,000 in gold dust. With this grubstake, they purchased 400 acres of Castro's land and his house. They and their descendants lived on this land until 1933. (See City of San Juan Bautista History: Castro House Today, http://www.san-juan-bautista.ca.us/history3.htm#CastroHouse accessed 01/08/2007).