Newport Beach : Panel OKs Razing of Landmark China House
The California Coastal Commission has approved a plan to raze Newport Beach’s landmark China House.
The decision means that the salmon and green pagoda-style house that has stood at the mouth of Newport Harbor for more than half a century will be torn down to make way for two homes on the site in the exclusive China Cove community.
But blueprints for the homes, which the Newport Beach City Council approved in August, will have to be revised to meet Coastal Commission requirements, commission planner John Leslie said.
Several neighbors have protested the demolition of the old China House, claiming that the city would be robbed of a charming--if unofficial--landmark, and that they would be cheated out of their ocean-front views due to the roof lines of the homes proposed by Ernest and Donna Schroeder and James and Martha Beauchamp, who jointly bought the property.
The commission approval stipulates that the two new homes may not interfere with neighboring views.
Work on the site is due to begin as soon as escrow on the property is closed.
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