Santa Ana : Officials Trying to Find New Home for Old Barn

First, the orange groves had to go. Now, so must the old red barn.

But unlike the trees, which are gone forever, the red barn still standing along a North Tustin Avenue commercial strip can be moved and preserved somewhere else, an idea that both the city and county are considering.

“We don’t have too much dating from the turn of the century, and it sure would be nice to try and save what we do have,” said Scott Morgan, a member of the Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society and aide to Supervisor Roger Stanton.

The barn is part of what was once the Mabel Franzen Steele ranch, a 20-acre working orange grove owned and operated by one of the county’s pioneer families.

When Nancy and George Parks bought the property from the Steeles, they wanted to keep the barn and incorporate it into their plans to develop 10,000 square feet of classrooms for their private Plumfield School.

But now they say it must go in order to ensure proper surface drainage of the site.

The Parkses are offering the barn to any preservationist group that wants to move it, and both county and city historical groups have shown interest, said Nancy Parks.

“It is historical and I would like to see it remain in intact somewhere, preferably in Santa Ana,” she said.

Two possible sites for relocation are the county-operated Heritage Hill in El Toro and the Exploratory Learning Center in Santa Ana.

Both city and county officials said they are studying the idea of moving the barn, and the cost.

“It’s just a matter of finding a willing recipient,” Morgan said.

He said it would cost about $10,000 to move it and probably twice as much to renovate it.