Resident spurs effort in uncovering historic pillars
A pair of stone pillars that once marked the entrance to La Cañada’s historic El Retiro estate — now known as Lanterman House museum — were recently uncovered on Verdugo Boulevard at Encinas Drive, after a neighbor discovered them during a walk and contacted city officials.
Standing at a height of about 8 feet, the pillars — thought to have been erected sometime around the 1915 construction of the main house — had become almost entirely covered by foliage in the intervening years, making them nearly invisible to most passersby.
But one evening a while back, while out walking with her husband, Encinas Drive resident Julie Battaglia noticed something interesting peeking out from among the greenery.
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“Deep under the ivy were these beautiful pillars,” she recalled. “I thought, I would love to get these uncovered.”
Battaglia contacted Lanterman House to verify the pillars’ authenticity and shared the news with at least one city official. She eventually also recounted the tale to Councilman Dave Spence, who contacted City Manager Mark Alexander and Public Works Director Edward Hitti. Workers arrived at the site and confirmed the pillars were similar in construction and composition to the historic homestead.
“The rocks match the rocks we see in the chimney of the Lanterman House itself. You can tell it’s as if the same crew did the work,” Hitti told the City Council in a meeting earlier this month, estimating the foundations to be 5 feet wide and just as deep. “They’re still very structurally sound and very well covered — nobody knew about it.”
The public works director said one of the pillars is largely in the public right of way, while the other is partially located on private property. Before clearing the brush, the city reached out to the property owners for permission and to ask their cooperation in keeping the area maintained.
Now, just a few weeks after the clearing, the entrance is enjoying a new life, according to Lanterman House Executive Director Melissa Patton, who addressed Battaglia’s initial questions about the pillars.
“They were meant to mark the top of the driveway (of El Retiro) because Encinas wasn’t a street then, it was a driveway to the house,” Patton said in an interview shortly after the pillars were cleared of ivy. “Now they look great — now everybody involved here stops at the corner and admires them.”
Battaglia said the city is looking into installing a plaque to mark the pillars’ historical significance. In the meantime, the Encinas Drive resident is working with board members from the local nonprofit La Cañada Valley Beautiful to look into adding landscaping and maintaining the area in the future.
“We don’t always do a great job of saving our historical heritage here in La Cañada, so I think it’s great these can be appreciated and celebrated,” Battaglia said. “[This] was city government at its best.”
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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
