2 Craftsman Homes Denied Special Status

Architectural preservationists in Highland Park lost a battle Wednesday before the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission. But they say that won’t deter their efforts to obtain special zoning to protect historic buildings in two neighborhoods.

“We’ve spent a lot of time on this and we plan to continue negotiating,” said Pearl Beach, a local activist.

The commission voted 3 to 0 against granting designation as city cultural-historic monuments to two California Craftsman homes at 4967 and 4973 North Figueroa Street that may be torn down for apartments. Beach’s organization, Sycamore Terrace Assn., and the Highland Park Heritage Trust, another local group, had mounted a strong campaign to preserve the houses.

The preservationists had hoped for a victory Wednesday as a first step toward a larger proposal to obtain historic-preservation zoning for two entire neighborhoods in Highland Park.

Commission members said the two homes were in poor condition and that Derek and Daisy Ma of Monterey Park, who are in escrow to buy the property and want to build apartments there, would suffer financial hardship if the homes were preserved as monuments. The commission also expressed concern that there is no historically minded buyer to take over the Mas’ escrow and preserve the homes.

But a local real estate broker who specializes in selling historic homes testified that the homes can be successfully marketed and that the one he has seen is in good condition. And Ruthann Lehrer, director of the nonprofit Los Angeles Conservancy, a preservation group, challenged the commission’s decision, saying its findings should be based solely on what she said are the considerable architectural merits of the homes and not on financial hardships incurred by a prospective owner.

A city planner familiar with the process said the commission’s vote Wednesday would make it more difficult for Highland Park residents to obtain the designation they want as “historic preservation overlay zones.” That requires painstaking research as well as public hearings and approval by Los Angeles’ Cultural Heritage Commission, Planning Commission and City Council.

With such obstacles, it is little wonder that only two historic zones exist in Los Angeles--one in Angelino Heights near Echo Park and the other in Carthay Circle, between Olympic and Pico boulevards just east of La Cienega Boulevard.

Highland Park’s preservationists have slated two neighborhoods for protection. One proposed zone covers a four-mile swath they call Sycamore Terrace, which would be bounded on the north and south by Avenue 51 and Avenue 42 and the west and east by Marmion Way and the Pasadena Freeway.

A second, smaller zone, called Echo Hayes, would extend for about one square mile and be bounded roughly by Arroyo Seco Park on the east, Figueroa Street on the north, Roselawn Place on the west and Media Drive and Benner Drive on the south.

In 1979, Los Angeles City Council approved an ordinance that would allow, on a case-by-case basis, historic preservation overlay zones to “protect and enhance the use of structures, features, sites and areas that are reminders of the city’s history.” The overlay-zone designation preserves all buildings within its boundaries that are deemed historically, architecturally or culturally significant. It also requires a city-appointed design review board that must approve the design, color, materials and landscaping of new construction and renovation. This is to ensure that structural changes are compatible with the area’s architecture.

But the historic zones have also sparked controversy. Some homeowners and developers consider overlay zones an unwarranted intrusion on property rights and say that restrictive zoning would lower property values and stifle development in Northeast Los Angeles, an area that already suffers from a housing shortage. Many of the architecturally significant homes in Highland Park sit on land zoned for apartments.

In Angelino Heights, for instance, one apartment owner threatened to sue when the community’s design review board prohibited him from putting stucco on the wooden exterior of his building and replacing antique window frames with smaller aluminum ones.

Taught Skills

Highland Park’s preservationists say their unsuccessful fight to preserve the Craftsman homes has taught them how to organize and conduct historical research--skills they say will help them lobby for the zone designations.

Virginia Neely, vice president of the Heritage Trust, recalled that, when residents met last fall to discuss strategies to preserve the Craftsman homes on North Figueroa Street, “They didn’t know anything. But they got busy and have shown a lot of determination.”

North Figueroa Street was known since the early 1900s as “Professors’ Row” because many of its stately homes were built for Occidental College teachers when the campus was located on Avenue 50 and Figueroa Street. Occidental moved to Eagle Rock in 1914.

Today, North Figueroa is pitted with several “shoebox” apartments, and residents feared that bulldozers would soon rip into what remained of their neighborhood’s architectural and historical heritage.

Early Suburb

Highland Park, just five miles from downtown Los Angeles, was one of the city’s first suburbs and contains many examples of distinguished, turn-of-the-century architecture, historian Robert Winter said. In the early 1900s, it also boasted a flourishing cultural and intellectual life and was the original site of Occidental College and the home of historian Charles Fletcher Lummis and prominent regional painter William Lees Judson.

Today, few well-known artists remain and many of Highland Park’s once proud homes are dilapidated, although increasing numbers of young professionals are moving into the area and restoring its older houses. There are also Anglos families who have called Highland Park home for three and four generations, as well as a large Latino population and a growing number of Asians.

The residents are economically eclectic as well, composed of blue-collar workers, “yuppies” and welfare recipients. Overlay-zone advocates say that support for the historic zones comes from a cross-section of the community, not only from newly ensconced young professionals.

About 12 other city cultural-historic monuments lie within the proposed boundaries, including the Lummis home, the Ebell Club and the Mt. Washington Railroad Station.

Over the past few months, preservationists met with the prospective developers, with Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre, who represents the area--with just about anybody who would sit down and listen.

“At first, I was this meek little mouse,” recalled Beach, a commercial artist who bought a turn-of-the-century cottage down the street from the two endangered houses. “I let everybody else do the talking.” But she soon began taking the initiative.

Garnered Support

Beach lined up the support of historian Winter, who included one of the two homes in “Architecture in Los Angeles,” a guidebook he co-wrote with historian David Gebhard. She obtained letters of support from the nonprofit Los Angeles Conservancy and the nearby Southwest Museum.

She spent $300 copying documents, sending out letters and preparing maps and photos, she said. And she began hiking around the community with trust members on weekends to catalogue architecturally and historically significant buildings.

But Los Angeles city planners caution that it will be difficult to obtain historic-zone designations in Highland Park without Alatorre’s backing. So far, the councilman has expressed interest but withheld support, claiming he needs more specifics before deciding.

Other Residents Lobbying

Besides Highland Park, residents of several historic enclaves in Hollywood are lobbying for overlay zone status. Angelino Heights received the city’s first zone designation in 1979 after 10 years of work by homeowners and city officials, said Tom Morales, president of the Angelino Heights Historic Preservation Assn. who recently advised the Highland Park activists.

Highland Park’s preservationists insist they aren’t anti-development but merely want to maintain the charm of their community.

“We’re against the type of development where they come in, build a square box and run out. And there’s a lot of that in this area,” said Charles Fisher, president of the Heritage Trust and a second generation Highland Park resident.

Meanwhile, Fisher, Beach and their allies said they will continue negotiating with the Mas and will attempt to find preservationist-minded buyers for the two homes. And, they said, they are girding for a long, worthwhile fight for zone status.

“With the restoration, people are going to see how pretty Highland Park used to be, Beach vowed. “In five to 10 years, it’s going to be a whole new community.”