Old Rail Depot Is Focus of Whittier Preservation Debate

The Southern Pacific depot on the city’s west side is nearly a century old, its timbers bleached and weathered from decades of sun and use.

In its heyday, the depot was the economic link between burgeoning Whittier--an agrarian community settled by Quakers in the 1880s--and the citrus markets of Los Angeles to the west.

Today the depot stands more as a symbol than a solid structure.

Although it is not now facing destruction, the depot has become the latest landmark caught up in the long-running debate over whether the city should save historic buildings.

Angered by the loss of a string of old buildings and homes in recent years, city preservationists are rallying around the depot. The two-story, wood-frame station has become a magnet for their efforts to press city officials for laws that will protect Whittier historical sites.

The fight over preservation in Whittier, with its many old buildings, has all the classic elements.

For cities and developers it is costly and time-consuming to save old buildings. Preservation often runs counter to efforts to revive economically depressed cities. Rising property values in older neighborhoods make it difficult for owners to resist selling their property. And government officials and preservationists often are divided on what constitutes historical value in a building and, consequently, which buildings should be saved.

“In some cases, a city must make an economic choice between a commercial development that will bring much-needed revenue and a marginally significant building,” said Mike Burnham, a city planner who drafted a proposed historic preservation policy for Whittier’s

General Plan.

“You can’t save every building,” he said. “Historic preservation should not be an exercise in nostalgia.”

Public hearings on the preservation policy are scheduled to begin before the Planning Commission next month.

If the City Council eventually adopts Burnham’s preservation policy, it could clear the way for an ordinance that would require perhaps a 6- to 12-month review of any plans to modify, move or demolish buildings considered historic. Without such an ordinance, the city is essentially powerless to stop a developer from leveling a historic structure even if it is on the National Register of Historic Places, as the Southern Pacific depot is.

Despite Burnham’s efforts, Bill Harrington and other preservationists say the city’s action comes too late for many of Whittier’s landmarks.

‘Bulldozing Our Heritage’

“At some point, the citizens of Whittier have to take a stand and stop the city from bulldozing our heritage,” said Harrington, a lifelong resident who has spent the last nine years restoring a 4,000-square-foot Victorian home in Uptown Village.

“We’ve lost the Murphy Hospital, the William Penn Hotel and, last year, the Union Pacific train station,” he said. “The Southern Pacific station is next unless we persuade this city to wake up and take action.”

Currently, there are no plans to demolish the Southern Pacific station, which was built in 1888 and has been on the national historic register for seven years. But the railroad company wants to abandon a 2 1/2-mile stretch of track from Santa Fe Springs to the Whittier depot.

In early August, the San Francisco-based Southern Pacific Transportation Co. asked the Interstate Commerce Commission if it could abandon its Whittier branch rail line because of declining freight traffic in the area. In 1984, the rail company moved only 43 freight cars along the line, and this year less than a dozen cars have been moved, said Jim Loveland, a Southern Pacific spokesman.

If the commerce commission grants the request, Loveland said the railroad would be free to sell the line and depot. Southern Pacific’s real estate holdings along the Whittier branch are worth about $5.3 million, Loveland said.

Decision Not Imminent

A commission spokesman said a decision on Southern Pacific’s abandonment request isn’t likely until November.

So far, Loveland said, only one developer has contacted Southern Pacific about the depot site. Besides private developers, several business owners near the depot believe the city may claim the depot and surrounding businesses as part of its Uptown Village redevelopment efforts.

The depot is tucked among several manufacturing plants on the southern edge of the redevelopment district near Whittier Boulevard and Philadelphia Street.

One of the last Southern Pacific train stations left in Southern California that was built before the turn of the century, the depot is now leased by a small metal shop.

City officials say they have no interest in extending redevelopment to the depot or nearby businesses. But merchants, such as Robert Van Oosting, who operates a wood-carving business, Oceanic Arts, next to the depot, isn’t convinced the city won’t move to claim the area. “Once they pull those tracks up, the depot will probably come down, and when it does, we could be next.”

The depot issue has focused new attention on city efforts to protect landmarks.

In March, city planners presented the City Council with a draft of the historic preservation policy for the General Plan. The document culminated a six-month effort to map a preservation strategy.

A year ago, city officials came under fire when Union Pacific station was torn down. Once the focal point for travel to and from Whittier, the Spanish-style station, with its red-tiled roof and adobe archways, fell on hard times as train travel declined. In the 1970s, Union Pacific closed it, and when Whittier officials ordered the rail line to either clean up the station or tear it down, the company leveled the 60-year-old structure.

“By the time anyone knew what was happening it was too late,” said Joe DaRold, executive director of the Whittier Museum. “It was all over in two or three days. That action by the city got a lot of people upset.”

As a result, residents pushed for a city commitment to preservation.

“Since the late 1970s, there has been an increasing awareness about Whittier’s heritage,” said Burnham, who pointed out that five of the six Whittier buildings on the national historic register were added to the directory in the past eight years. “Whittier is different than other cities. Its history is much more visible.”

Burnham said the city may have to rezone certain areas to encourage restoration.

For example, in the 1950s, most of the Uptown Village area--the city’s oldest section--was rezoned from residential to commercial to lure new business to the aging shopping district, which was losing merchants and customers to suburban shopping centers. Because the land was zoned for commercial use, its value went up, particularly when redevelopment began in the late 1970s.

As a result, it has become increasingly difficult for owners of older buildings to resist selling to developers.

Fast-Food Offer

“Several months ago, I was offered $250,000 for my house by a fast-food burger chain,” said Harrington as he stood on the porch of his blue and white-trimmed Victorian at Wardman Avenue and Washington Street, two blocks from the heart of Uptown Village.

“I’ve poured every dime I’ve made in the last nine years into this house, and then somebody asks me if I want to sell out and see this torn down for a burger place.

“People stop by here all the time and just stare at the house,” Harrington said. “That’s what keeps us going. That’s why I believe we should get this city to stop dragging its feet and pass an ironclad, 50-year-old ordinance to protect our older buildings.”

DaRold agreed: “The city needs to take steps to protect its past. Without an ordinance, we really don’t have a chance to save some of our classic buildings. Now is the time, especially on the eve of the city’s 100th birthday.”

Besides the Southern Pacific depot, the city’s other buildings on the national historic register are the Pio Pico Mansion, the Orin Jordan House, the seven-story Bank of America building in Uptown Village, the former Standard Oil office building, which has been converted into an office and shopping complex known as Mission Court, and the Bailey House, which was built in 1887 and was the home of Whittier pioneer and Quaker leader Jonathan Bailey.

To save the depot, Sue Settlage, president of the Whittier Historical Society, believes the city and historical society could work out an agreement similar to one involving the Bailey House. While the city maintains the grounds and exterior of the Bailey House, the society cares for the interior, including the furnishings, wall coverings and clothing on display.

“This city has long needed a children’s museum,” Settlage said. “With enough money, and the city’s help, we can turn that depot into a wonderful museum and meeting center.”

Some preservationists, such as Tom Bryant, contend that restoration projects must be selected carefully. Bryant, who spent four years and nearly $100,000 to fix up his Victorian on Bailey Street, said the Southern Pacific depot is not a worthy project.

“It should have been leveled long ago,” Bryant said. “It’s old, run-down and hardly the kind of building that you should sink thousands of dollars into.”