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ESCONDIDO: City's next landmark on the horizon
Construction of windmill under way in retirement community
By GARY WARTH - Staff Writer | ∞
Contractor Bruce Christensen shows plans for a 65-foot-tall windmill being built at a nonprofit retirement home called Meadowbrook Village Christian Care Center in Escondido. (Photo by Waldo Nilo - Staff Photographer) ESCONDIDO ---- Ask anyone to name a single visual landmark that identifies Escondido and you may get any number of answers, if not just shrugs.
This time next year, however, there may be a more unified answer.
The windmill.
There's no windmill yet, but its foundation is under construction and by early next year, it will stand about 65 feet high as the centerpiece of the Meadowbrook Village Christian Care Center off North Iris Lane in northern Escondido.
Escondido city associate planner Diana Delgadillo said the project is a retirement community that will have a 51-unit care facility, 67 semi-independent living units and a 27-unit skilled nursing and Alzheimer's facility.
Applications for the project were first filed six years ago, she said.
The terms "unit" and "facility" may sound a bit sterile in describing the project. A drive through the unfinished streets finds a neighborhood of attractive, detached homes, ponds and bridges, all anchored by a town square that includes a 57,600-square-foot care facility.
And there, taking shape in the courtyard, is the windmill's base.
"It'll be done within eight weeks," contractor Bruce Christensen said about the structure. "And then we start with the windmill."
Christensen, owner of Christensen Structural Concrete, was contracted to do work on the windmill, a bridge over a creek and other projects in the village.
The octagon base will be 24 feet across with windows on seven walls and a door on the eighth, he said. The base will be 24 feet tall, covered in brick and circled by a 10-foot-wide walkway above the first floor, typical of the style of windmills found in Holland, the childhood home of builder Jack Brouwer.
"It's really Old World looking," Christensen said. "I told him I'd like a Dutch-English dictionary because some of the language is in Dutch."
Brouwer opened Escondido Ready Mix Concrete Inc. in 1959, and later expanded his business throughout the county and into Riverside County, according to the company's Web site. The various businesses he acquired were consolidated in 1989, when his company's name changed to Superior Ready Mix, which serves more than 20 plants in Southern California.
Much of the material for the windmill is coming from Holland, which Delgadillo said at least once caused a slight delay with an application to the city's design review board because of a miscommunication between metric and standard measurements.
Wood for the windmill is being shipped from Africa, and Christensen said some imported parts should arrive within two months, although major components won't arrive until early next year.
Christensen expects the windmill to be finished sometime within the first quarter of next year, and he said it likely will be visible from Broadway to the east and Interstate 15 to the west.
"I guarantee it'll be an Escondido landmark," he said.
Contact staff writer Gary Warth at (760) 740-5410 or gwarth@nctimes.com.
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Not ridiculous wrote on Sep 24, 2008 9:27 PM:My wife scoffed at this story, but I pointed out that there were several windmills (though not this big) as you came South on north Broadway in the late 1960's. i don't know how old they were, but they were certainly rustic by that time.
got zap wrote on Sep 24, 2008 10:23 PM:So is this windmill going to generate a percentage of the electricity consumed by the facility or is it just a big knick knack? The world is full of big knick knacks. The solar arrays and windmill farms are landmarks in the region to be proud of.
Tom wrote on Sep 25, 2008 8:12 AM:So now we'll be as famous as a Pea Soup Andersen's restaurant. Whoop-dee-doo.
Karl wrote on Sep 25, 2008 8:24 AM:No one that I know (except my parents)remembers the Teepee. I just read that a 100 mph wind took it down in December of 1972. I always wondered why it came down. Thanks for the reminder.
Inland wrote on Sep 25, 2008 10:35 AM:I thank Mr. Brouwer for building such a beautiful complex and purchasing a magnificent landmark for this town. if we could get a few more business owners to contribute, we might get our town looking like it did before it took on the look of a border town!
to Bill wrote on Sep 25, 2008 1:23 PM:I'm so glad to hear that someone else remembers the teepee. Goes to show that there are still some "old timers," at least in their 50's living in Escondido.
MR. BROUWER wrote on Sep 25, 2008 1:30 PM:You and your company has provided hundred of top paying jobs for Escondido for almost 50 years
If you want a windmill it's ok by me.
Christine wrote on Sep 25, 2008 9:28 PM:I think we should make Escondido one big retirement town. Drive carts down the street, have little villages all thru the city and affordable for the people who live here. How's that?
Dennis wrote on Sep 26, 2008 1:50 AM:Yes the TEE-PEE almost for got it !! Gee IF you dont know about the tee-pee you aint Escondionian ... I never got to go because i was only 10-11 and it was the big concrete one out on bear valley Pkwy and 17th OOOHHHHH Yeahhhhh Gooooddd StuFFFFFFFFFF ummmmmmm!!!!!!
George wrote on Sep 26, 2008 7:20 AM:I came to Escondido when I was 8 years old, that was 1958 and I don't remember any windmills. However, I certainly remember the TeePee you could see it from miles around... what a great landmark that was. Back in the mid, late 1960's we used to go up TeePee hill as we called it and have a few beers...good memories!
George wrote on Sep 26, 2008 7:29 AM:Hey Dennis, the slab was concrete with a fire ring in the middle. However the structure was made of wood, and I thought it was torn down because is was in very poor condition...wouldn't it be terrific if the chamber could arrange it to be rebuilt.
The Dude wrote on Sep 26, 2008 9:37 AM:You have no frame of reference here, George...you're like a child who wanders into the middle of a movie...
When it gets right down to it, I'm sure the nihilists will have a fit over the Dutchmen's plans--although the preferred nomenclature now is "Dutch-American".
George wrote on Sep 26, 2008 12:42 PM:Dude, ask anyone who's been around Escondido since the mid 50's and earlier to name a single visual landmark that identifies Escondido and they will say the Teepee, Dude, you may not have been around then so you can't identify with what I talking about. There's no question about Jack Brouwers impact on many lives in Escondido mine included. However for many of us that grew-up in Escondido in the 50's & 60,s the landmark is the teepee. As for the "preferred nomenclature" as being Dutch-American some will agree some may not. Hey Dennis, the Teepee was off of San Pasqual Valley Rd. & Teepee Dr. We used to get up there through the Avo. grove up the hill from Summit Dr.
George
The Guy in Green wrote on Sep 26, 2008 1:56 PM:Hey Dude - I dabbled in pacifism once. Not in the teepee, of course.
The Guy in Green wrote on Sep 26, 2008 1:59 PM:Hey Dude - I dabbled in pacifism once, not in the teepee, but I did dabble in it. It's a lot easier to handle that the nihilism.
The Dude wrote on Sep 26, 2008 2:00 PM:Far out, George.
I was around, man...just didn't pay much attention to the Teepee. Now I just do the usual...I bowl. Drive around. The occassional acid flashback.
But getting back to the point at hand...it's like what Lenin said...you look for the person who will benefit.
The Dude wrote on Sep 26, 2008 2:06 PM:Green Guy: I dig your style too, man. Got a whole cowboy thing goin' on.
Donnie wrote on Sep 26, 2008 3:16 PM:It's good knowing he's out there, the Dude, taking 'er easy for all us sinners.
Dennis wrote on Sep 26, 2008 3:38 PM:Thanks George! yes the tee-pee was a local land mark, and party spot, oh yea that where it was my grandmoter lived out there somewhere, everybody that was antbody knew the tee-pee, except that dude "Dude" he's kind of lost is all, I always knew it to be made of concret, yes it got run down but it was big!
George wrote on Sep 26, 2008 4:50 PM:Ah man, it always comes back to that...so tell me Dude who's going to benefit from the recent take over
The Dude wrote on Sep 26, 2008 5:46 PM:I just want to know, will the windmill be rolling on Shabbos? That's not cool...that flour don't need to be rollin' out of that 'mill on no Shabbos.
Reality wrote on Oct 3, 2008 9:23 PM:Unfortunately, the residents of Escondido will not really get to enjoy this "landmark" - because it will be on the grounds of the gated Meadowbrook residential care facility.
The only way it will be a landmark for all those not living in the area, is that it will be good when giving directions. That's it. I wonder how much the city gave to the developer for this "landmark" that the residents will only get to look at. That's a rhetorical question - I'm sure we will never know. Oh yea. It will make for a pretty picture on the city's website. What a public benefit!
Jeanne wrote on Oct 14, 2008 1:12 AM:I remember the teepee well. I always heard that the man that built it thought that bombs would glance off of it. But if you went to Escondido, you never will forget the teepee
desmo wrote on Oct 17, 2008 1:30 PM:I lived next to the Teepee when I was kid ... It was a wood stucture with large circular metal bands running inside from top to bottom every 25 feet or so. There were many concrete slabs, and walls, and even a metal door leading into a small room. It did blow down in a wind storm, my younger brother has some great pictures of the "One and Only Escondido Landmark".
Michael wrote on Nov 14, 2008 9:23 PM:I work on that site everyday and that windmill is going to be one of the best in the state. It's getting shipped from Holland, so you know it has to be a future landmark. Jack is one of the coolest guy around too. I see him everyday at work and he even helps out doing the labour work. That's a boss that you can respect. I'm glad I work at Superior Ready Mix. Thanks Barney for the chance to work at a great company.
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