Historic Buildings Orange County

After two years of exhaustive research and many walks around the city, Tustin's Cultural Resource Committee produced a survey of the city's historic buildings. "It was a labor of love," said Councilwoman Leslie Anne Pontious after the report was presented to the City Council last week. The survey identified 271 pre-1940 buildings, 94 of which were rated as "premier historic resources" on the basis of their historic significance, architectural style and uniqueness.

An Anaheim resident just north of downtown wanted new house siding because of a few bad spots in his redwood frame. He was surprised how much it upset his history-minded neighbors. The redwood, they said, reflects the architecture of the 1920s, when the house was built. Don't modernize, they said; restore. Then they showed him how. His neighbors had helped establish the Anaheim Colony Historic District just four years ago.

In a dark, musty room, spiders weave their magic across a bed designed for Napoleon Bonaparte. A few feet away, ants crawl on flags and pictures that once adorned the Oval Office in Richard M. Nixon's Western White House. The battered cardboard boxes that are piled from floor to ceiling contain more historic pictures, documents and some of the furniture of Ole Hanson, the onetime mayor of Seattle who 66 years ago founded San Clemente--California's first planned community.

During the 125 years since the Stage Stop Hotel was built, the facility has served a variety of purposes. The community landmark was there when its location at 6601 Beach Blvd. was little more than a stretch of dusty road, and grassy fields and trees were strewn around the city that now hosts one of California's favorite theme parks, Knott's Berry Farm.

After more than six decades of duty, the historic Balboa Fire Station might live out its useful life as a doctor's office. An orthopedic surgeon who lives on Balboa Island last week offered the city $400,000 for the 62-year-old station, said City Manager Kevin J. Murphy. Though the tiny station at 323 Marine Ave. in Balboa's business district is still operational, workers have begun construction of a new $660,000 fire station a couple blocks away. It should be finished by next summer.

Though the box offices are often closed, the marquees blank and the movies, when offered at all, second-run or art-house flicks, Orange County's historic theaters attract nostalgic supporters fervent about protecting the dwindling architectural landmarks. Take Balboa Theater in Newport Beach, a 1927 historic treasure that preservationists are working hard to restore. Then there's the Fox Fullerton Theater.

What happened to Helen Lundeberg's mural 30 years ago was a crime, and it took place right there in the police station. Commissioned by the Works Progress Administration in 1938 to chronicle the history of Southern California, Lundeberg told the epic tale of Spanish conquistadors, American Indians, Gold Rush prospectors and filmmakers over three walls of the City Council chamber.

What does a community need more? A high school or a museum? While the issue of where to build Santa Ana's next high school is much more complex, that's the crux of the debate between the city's school district and the Discovery Museum of Orange County. At stake is whether Santa Ana Unified should erect a campus on a 22-acre lot it owns--which now houses two small schools and the Discovery Museum.

The City Council granted a local resident a cultural heritage permit last week that will allow him to construct a 2,739-square-foot home near two historical landmarks on the 200 block of Avenida La Cuesta. Although members of the community had expressed concern that the proposed house would have a negative effect on a pair of nearby historical residences, the council determined that wouldn't happen because of the home's Spanish-style architecture and location more than 100 feet away.

The City Council hopes to soon find a business or grower interested in both refurbishing the historic Joel Congdon House and farming the surrounding 28-acre property previously known as the Kinoshita Farm. Acting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, the council voted this week to prepare a bidding process for proposals involving the farming operation and renovation of the historic home for public use.

The City Council will officially dedicate the Stage Stop Hotel as a community landmark during tonight's council meeting. The hotel, at 6601 Beach Blvd., across from City Hall, has undergone a major renovation during the last six months. In December, city officials set aside $476,000 to renovate the hotel, built in the late 1870s.

The City Council has recommended turning Casa Romantica into a cultural and educational center. The city will take control of the local landmark--home of the late city founder Ole Hanson and a popular wedding site--next month. The $2-million project will modify the landmark to accommodate local and regional history, small-scale concerts, performances and lectures. A section would be reserved as rental space for weddings, meetings and other events. There will also be new gardens and terraces.

It's 1872, only seven years after the Civil War, only 15 years after Anaheim was founded, a time when this busiest street in the city, Center Street, was only a wide, dirt path nearly impassible after a good rain. This was the region's downtown, home of some local institutions. The two-story adobe at the extreme left, above, was August Langenberger and Benjamin Dreyfus' general store--with the emphasis on "general."

Yorba Linda Hardware, a fixture in the community for 73 years that was in danger of closing, will remain open. A Rancho Cucamonga woman has made on offer on the historic Main Street storefront and will take over the shop Feb. 1. Leo Reilly, the store's owner for the past 10 years, put it up for sale late last year for an asking price of $70,000. Becky Brown, a self-proclaimed "antique nut," plans to remodel the shop to reflect the era in which it was built.

Former parishioners of St. Isidore Church may get the opportunity to see their historic mission church reopen as the cornerstone of a new downtown area, Los Alamitos officials said Sunday during a rally to preserve the church. At a study session today, city officials will discuss the possibility of creating a city center near Katella Avenue and Reagan Street, where the church stands, Mayor Marilynn M. Poe said. As for saving the church, "We have no idea how," Poe said Sunday.

Bob and Robyn Tunstall bought their 100-year-old home in Old Towne Orange three years ago despite its crumbling chimney, leaky roof and a kitchen and bathroom literally pulling away from the house. The restoration work they did on their Queen Anne Victorian home makes it a showcase for some 1,000 visitors expected at this weekend's Pieces of the Past home tour, a biennial fund-raiser put on by the Old Towne Preservation Assn.

The George Hoag Family Foundation has donated $200,000 to the preservation of "America's acropolis," a term coined for Mission San Juan Capistrano, mission officials said. "This is the largest single donation received by the mission for its preservation campaign," said Jerry Miller, executive director of the mission. The Hoag foundation told mission officials the donation was made because the mission is a "historic treasure and a community asset that belongs to us all."

A $300,000 donation of materials and labor from the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California/Orange County chapter is allowing key restoration work to begin on Mission San Juan Capistrano's 1791 soldiers' barracks. "This is the missing link in our preservation work," said architect and project manager John Loomis, of Thirtieth Street Architects in Newport Beach. "Once complete, all of the mission's original buildings will have been stabilized."