Santa Ana : Disneyland Buys Wood From Demolished Barn

The wood from a turn-of-the-century Santa Ana barn that was demolished last week was bought by Disneyland to be used in a new attraction featuring an Old West ranch, a Disney spokesman said.

The 1890s barn will not be rebuilt in its original form, park spokesman Robert Roth said, but the steeple was salvaged and may be placed on top of a 19th-Century-style barn that visitors will be able to walk through. The ranch area will be part of Frontierland and construction is scheduled to begin early next year.

According to Roth, Disneyland was not aware of the efforts by local residents to save the Santa Ana barn and farmhouse, which was located at 2714 N. Tustin Ave., from demolition.

The amusement park was in the market for aged wood and was approached by American Demolition Inc. of Santa Ana after the buildings were torn down, he said.

On Thursday the barn was carefully dismantled by American Demolition for resale, but the farmhouse was destroyed. The firm was fined by the city Planning Department for not obtaining demolition permits before starting the project.

The property was sold by longtime owners John and Mabel Franzen Steele last year to George and Nancy Park under the agreement that the buildings not be demolished. The Parks, who planned to use the buildings for a preschool, said they were forced to sell the buildings to a developer because the cost to rehabilitate the structures was too expensive.

The developer, Burkes Investment Group of Agoura Hills, contracted American Demolition to tear down the buildings after the firm could not find anyone to buy the barn and farmhouse, Mark Burkes said. He said his company offered to donate the buildings if someone would pay to move them. The barn was built in 1894 and the house in 1915.

Mary Alcala-Mitchell of Santa Ana said that she and her husband, Michael, had just obtained a bank loan to move the house when she learned that it had been demolished.

Burkes said he plans to construct a three-building shopping center on the site.