The tiny, half-acre sliver of rebuilt presidio started as a much grander dream in 1986.

The late architect Lewis Hall that year floated the idea of rebuilding all four presidio walls at their original locations along Washington Street, Church Avenue, Pennington Street and Main Avenue. He would augment that with a series of plazas, covered sidewalks and balconies to evoke early 18th-century Tucson.

“He wanted to tear down the whole City Hall and rebuild the whole presidio,” said Sybil Needham, who has long been involved in the Tucson Presidio Trust for Historic Preservation.

The Presidio Trust carried the torch through the remainder of the 20th century. Its dream was nearly as radical as Hall’s but on a smaller scale: rebuild a presidio with four walls, a chapel, stable, living quarters and a parade ground on the block bounded by Washington, Church, Alameda Street and Court Avenue.

“We would have torn down the Transamerica building,” said Hector Soza, a vice president of the trust.

What took 20 years to get the adobe structure up?

“Money,” Soza said.

“Interest,” added Mickie Soza, his wife and a trust vice president.

The Sozas and Needham are among a dozen trust members who have done living history re-enactments from October to March each of the past three years at Casa Cordoba at the Tucson Museum of Art. They will move their 1800-era show-and-tell to the presidio grounds in September.

Rio Nuevo incorporated the presidio in its 2004 master plan, and design work started in 2005.

“They were the driving force behind the project,” said Bill O’Malley, Rio Nuevo’s construction manager. “They’ve been heavily involved in the design.”

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