Looking at the Buildings of Yesteryear
With time and a little attention, home, sweet home can get sweeter still. So can office buildings. So can churches and so, even, can jail cells.
National Historic Preservation Week begins Sunday, and no time seems finer to take a look around at some of the structures that lend a sense of charm and dignity-- character-- to our all-too-often otherwise faceless cities and towns. Orange County has 71 sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“Preservation has had a big boost in the past decade or so, thanks to a tax incentive,” said Jim Wilson, the Orange County preservation officer for the American Institute of Architects.
“For historic (residential and commercial rental properties), 25% of the construction investment is written off as a charitable contribution.
“It’s been wonderful in Southern California, where the mentality is destroy and replace.”
Among the county’s historic sites are the restored Balboa Inn, the original county courthouse in Santa Ana and an old jail cell in San Juan Capistrano.
Wilson, a partner at 30th Street Architects in Newport Beach, said the firm was responsible for the restoration of Ruby’s on the Balboa Pier and the Kramer Building in Anaheim.
But he becomes most excited when he sees cores of cities being retained. He cited Old Irvine, which includes a general store, a blacksmith shop, a hotel and a granary dating from 1895.
“I think it’s wonderful that one of the newest, fastest-growing cities keeps its roots,” he said.
There’s also the downtown district of Santa Ana, where the Georgian-style, colonial Carr Communications building is located.
Six-Month Restoration
Constructed in 1923 for the Southern Counties Gas Co. and more recently known as the Handlebars Saloon, the building was acquired by Don Carr in 1984.
Restoration took six months. Every internal component, from wall coverings to door trim, was dismantled, removed and catalogued, and the structure was updated for heating and air conditioning.
“It definitely was not a breeze,” said Carr. “We thought it would be easy. It was not. There are three sets of wiring in the building. The original, a set from the 1930s and now ours. Miles of wires.
“But it was worth it. A building like this definitely makes for a creative climate. In our business, people sometimes have to be here around the clock. It’s important that the atmosphere be homelike.”
Heritage Hill Tours
Still inset into the tile floor in the entryway are large letters spelling out the name, Handlebars.
“If we don’t make it in marketing,” Carr explained, “we’ll make it with a bar.”
Patti Schooley of Norco, the supervising park ranger in charge of historic park facilities for Orange County, will continue her regular free tours of Heritage Hill in El Toro during Preservation Week. (Tours are given at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. weekdays, 11 a.m. on weekends.)
Heritage Hill comprises four historic buildings: the Serrano Adobe from the 1850s, the El Toro Schoolhouse and St. George’s Episcopal Church from the 1890s and the Bennett Ranch House from the 1930s.
Picking Best Period
Schooley discussed the county’s approach to such projects.
“We try to pick the most important period in a building’s life span. Though the farmhouse, for example, was built in 1909, and the same family lived there until the ‘70s, we picked the ‘30s because they were so important to the family history. Drapes, furnishings, plates, kitchen utensils, clothing--all are authentic.”
Both the quality and appropriateness of workmanship are taken into consideration in the renovation process.
“Today, the way we stain woods is different,” Schooley said. “We stain them using the older methods, even though they may be more labor intense.
Authenticity Over Taste
“Paint colors are different today. In the ‘30s, pastels were popular--light green used to be typical for living rooms--so we chose pale pinks, pale greens, pale yellows.
“Today, we have no-shine floors; countertops are tile or formica. We used linoleum. Linoleum! It’s hard to find now. And we laid it the way it would have been laid in the 1930s. You look at the patterns and think, how could anyone have selected them?”
Four of the five Laguna Beach homes on the Village Laguna Charm House Tour, which is set for May 18 from noon to 4 p.m., fall into the historic category. (For more information on the $10 tour, call (714) 494-9684.)
A highlight of the tour is an ivy-covered cottage, circa 1929, with a steep-pitched multigabled roof and diamond-leaded windows; city records refer to its style as Provincial Revival. The cottage, owned by Lynn Capouya, is on Catalina Street.
Maintaining Charm
The event is sponsored by Village Laguna, an environmental group dedicated to preserving the community’s village atmosphere.
“Laguna draws people who care about the historical nature of the homes,” said Betsy Jenkins, tour chairwoman. “The older homes have all been remodeled, but people have taken care to preserve original details.
“What (Village Laguna) does is to try to preserve and protect artistic charm. We work against high rise. It’s a continual fight against developers. We’re always fighting somebody who doesn’t care about scenic beauty and artistic charm, who wants to do something obnoxious.”
The fight isn’t getting easier.
Federal regulations are tightening, and the tax break is likely to be reduced, according to Jim Wilson.
“That’s a real concern,” Wilson said, adding that for many, despite whatever “wonderful feelings” they may have about preservation, “the only incentive has been the tax incentive.”
