Valley Eclectic : History and a Touch of Whimsy Produce 33 Monuments to Diversity

They range from adobe ranchos to an Art Deco theater that has been converted into a shopping center. There is a 1,000-year-old oak tree, a tower built out of discarded wooden pallets and wells that provided water to the San Fernando Mission. There is a large boulder.

The list of San Fernando Valley historic-cultural monuments is diverse indeed.

Of 343 sites that have been declared landmarks by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission in the past 25 years, 33 are in the Valley.

Many are well known. Many are not, not even to residents who live next door.

Some are difficult to find. Often, there are no markers to alert passers-by. The wells that provided water to the San Fernando Mission, for instance, are located at the end of a quiet residential street in Sylmar behind a fence posted with “No Trespassing” signs to discourage vandals.

Under city ordinance, a landmark designation is awarded to “historic structures or sites in which the broad cultural, political, economic or social history of the nation, state or community is reflected, or which are identified with historic personages or with important events.” Structures demonstrating architecture features of a bygone era also may be called landmarks.

The designation process usually begins with a nomination from a group or individual to the Cultural Heritage Commission, whose five members are appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley. The designation must be approved by the commission and the City Council. Most of the times, it is.

A landmark designation essentially holds up removal of a structure for one year. It is designed to give preservationists time to come up with ways to save the landmark.

Many of the Valley landmarks have been saved because they were bought by the city or local historical groups.

Only two of the Valley’s landmarks have portions that have been replicated or modified: the church at the San Fernando Mission built in 1806 and La Reina, a Sherman Oaks Art Deco movie theater built in 1938.

The 33 Valley landmarks:

Leonis Adobe, 23537 Calabasas Road, Calabasas. It was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 1 in August, 1962. The Monterey-style adobe was built in 1844 and remodeled in the 1870s by Miguel Leonis, who was known as the King of Calabasas. Once the oldest home in West Hollywood, it was saved from demolition and moved to Calabasas five years ago. Open to the public from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

Bolton Hall, 10110 Commerce Ave., Tujunga. Built in 1913 of stone quarried from the Tujunga area, the one-story structure with its square tower was a community center for Tujunga’s early settlers. The building served as City Hall from 1925, when Tujunga incorporated, until 1932, when the community was annexed to Los Angeles. After that, it became a City Council field office until the Sunland-Tujunga Municipal Building was built in 1957. Bolton Hall fell into disrepair until restoration work was begun in 1980. Today, it houses memorabilia from the early days of Tujunga. Open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Sundays.

Andres Pico Adobe, 10940 Sepulveda Blvd., Mission Hills. The oldest adobe home in the Valley, it was built sometime before 1834 by Indians from the nearby San Fernando Mission. Gen. Andres Pico, brother of Pio, the last governor of California under Mexican rule, never lived in the house, although his children, Romulo and Catarina, did. A second floor was added in 1873. Now owned by the city, it houses the San Fernando Valley Historical Society. Open from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays.

Shadow Ranch, 22633 Vanowen St., Canoga Park. This is believed to be the birthplace of the eucalyptus tree in Southern California. Albert Workman, who built the adobe-and-redwood house between 1869 and 1872, imported eucalyptus plants from his native Australia to plant on the property. The Workman Ranch was renamed Shadow Ranch by its new owners in the 1930s because of the shadow cast by the towering eucalyptus trees. Today, the ranch is owned by the city and used as a recreation center. Open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.

Chatsworth Community Church, Oakwood Memorial Park, 22601 Lassen St. Built in 1903, the white frame church is the oldest public building in Chatsworth and “one of the few churches of New England-type architecture left in Southern California,” according to the Cultural Heritage Commission. Open from 1 to 4 p.m. the first Sunday of the month.

San Fernando Mission, 15151 San Fernando Mission Blvd., Mission Hills. Seventeenth in the chain of California Missions begun by Father Junipero Serra, the San Fernando Mission was founded in 1797 by Padre Fermin Lasuen. The church is a replica of the 1806 structure demolished after the 1971 earthquake. The original convent, a 19-arch colonnade built of adobe between 1806 and 1812, still stands. Open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Oak Tree, Louise Avenue, 210 feet south of Ventura Boulevard, Encino. Believed to be 1,000 years old, the tree has a spread of 150 feet and a circumference of 24 feet.

Campo de Cahuenga, 3919 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. On this site on Jan. 13, 1847, Gen. Andres Pico, commander of Mexican forces in California, and Lt. Col. John C. Fremont, commander of the California Volunteer Battalions, signed the Treaty of Cahuenga, which called for Mexico to turn California over to the United States. The building is a replica of the adobe where the signing took place. Grounds are open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Orcutt Ranch Horticulture Center, 23555 Justice St., Canoga Park. Former retreat of William Orcutt, the Los Angeles oil pioneer who discovered the fossils in the La Brea Tar Pits. In addition to building a Spanish-style house on the property in 1920, Orcutt and his wife, Mary, planted an extensive garden of exotic plants on the 26-acre grounds. The property was bought by the city in 1966. Tours of the house are offered at 9 a.m. on the last Sunday of the month. Grounds are open from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays and 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. weekends.

St. Saviour’s Chapel, Harvard School, 3700 Coldwater Canyon Ave., Studio City. Patterned after the chapel at Rugby School in England with the pews facing the center aisle. The chapel was built in 1914 on the original campus of Harvard School at Venice Boulevard and Western Avenue. In 1937, it was cut into 16 sections, moved and reassembled at its current site. Open to the public from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. school days.

144 Deodar Trees, White Oak Avenue between San Fernando Mission Boulevard and San Jose Street, Granada Hills. Planted in 1932 by John Orcutt, who grew an extensive citrus grove in the area.

76 Mature Olive Trees, lining both sides of Lassen Street between Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Farralone Avenue, Chatsworth. The trees approximate the age of Chatsworth, having been planted about 1890.

Mission Wells, Havana Avenue and Bleeker Street, Sylmar. The presence of these water wells was a factor in the decision of the Franciscan Padres in 1797 to build the San Fernando Mission two to three miles to the west, according to the Cultural Heritage Commission. The water ran downhill to the mission by means of handmade clay pipe. The original wells have been replaced by new wells that supply water to about 3,000 homes in the area.

McGroarty Home, 7570 McGroarty Terrace, Tujunga. Built in 1923, this fieldstone-and-stucco house was the residence of John McGroarty. Before his death in 1944, McGroarty had established himself as a politician (two terms in Congress), playwright, author, poet (he was named poet laureate of California by the Legislature in 1933), attorney, historian and journalist (a Times columnist for 40 years). The city purchased the home in 1953 and now uses it as a cultural center. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. everyday.

Old Stage Coach Trail, south of Chatsworth Park South. The trail, blasted out of rock in 1860, became part of the main link between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 1861. The 366-mile trip by stage from Los Angeles to Gilroy, where a train to San Francisco could be caught, took 58 hours. The fare was $20. Stagecoaches stopped running after the turn of the century when the railroad tunnels were built through the Santa Susana Pass. The site also contains rock quarries used to provide sandstone for the construction of the breakwater in Los Angeles Harbor in 1890.

Pepper Trees, Canoga Avenue from Ventura Boulevard south to Saltillo Street, Woodland Hills. Some 300 pepper trees now growing in the city-owned parkway started from a seed at the nursery owned by Victor Girard of the Boulevard Land Co., owner of most of what is now Woodland Hills, according to the Cultural Heritage Commission. Planted in the 1920s, the trees form an arch over the street.

Stoney Point, Topanga Canyon Boulevard, a quarter-mile south of the Simi Valley Freeway, Chatsworth. With its large rock outcroppings and massive boulder perched precariously at its 300-foot-high summit, this 22-acre site is a popular attraction for mountain climbers. It was acquired by the city in 1982.

Minnie Hill Palmer Residence, Chatsworth Park South. This cottage is typical of the homesteads built during the land boom of the 1880s. It was constructed in 1913 on the site of the original home built in the 1880s. The foundation came from sandstone quarried from the local mountains. The house served as the residence of Palmer, one of the first residents of Chatsworth, whose father came to the Valley in a covered wagon. She died in 1981 at 94. Open from 1 to 4 p.m. the first Sunday of the month.

Canoga Mission Gallery, 23130 Sherman Way, Canoga Park. Built by stage-and-screen star Francis Lederer for use as a stable in the mid-1930s when Canoga Park was ranch country. Of early California Mission-style architecture, it was built from stone quarried from the nearby hills. In 1967, it was converted into a community art and cultural center. Open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Chatsworth Reservoir Kiln Site, southeast of the intersection of Woolsley Canyon Road and Valley Circle Boulevard, Chatsworth. A 175-year-old kiln once used by Indians to build the San Fernando Mission, the circular, rock-lined pit is 15 feet deep and has a diameter of 7 feet. According to anthropologists, workers cut the branches from the tops of oak trees, which were dumped into the kiln along with lime and burned to produce a lime ash. The ash then was hauled more than 10 miles to the site of the mission. Many of the rocks lining the kiln have become vitrified--glassy-smooth as a result of melting from the heat.

Sunrise Japanese Free Methodist Church, 18531 Gresham St., Northridge. The church, originally known as the Norwegian Lutheran Church and later the fundamentalist Faith Bible Church, was built in 1917. The plain wooden structure was built in a style introduced at the turn of the century by Norwegian settlers, with a 30-foot-steeple and a simple pulpit dominating the two-tiered altar. It was the first church built in Zelzah, the community that later became Northridge.

Stonehurst Recreation Center Building, 9901 Dronfield, Sun Valley. Now a city recreation center, the building was constructed in the late 1920s from stone taken from the land on which it stands.

Tower of Wooden Pallets, 15357 Magnolia Blvd., Van Nuys. The 22-foot-tall tower sits in the back yard of its builder, Daniel Van Meter. Built in 1951 of about 2,000 wooden pallets laid on top of one another in brick-like fashion, it covers the grave of a child buried in 1869. The landmark designation was sought by Van Meter in 1978 after city building and fire officials declared the tower an “illegally stacked lumber pile” and a fire hazard. Van Meter asked in a 1978 letter to the Cultural Heritage Commission that the structure be designated a landmark because it is “a unique art form.”

David Familian Chapel of Temple Adat Ari El, 5540 Laurel Canyon Blvd., North Hollywood. Dedicated in 1949, the chapel is believed to be the first synagogue built in the Valley.

Van Nuys Woman’s Club Building, 14836 Sylvan St. The woman’s club, established in 1911, is “one of the oldest social institutions” in the Valley, according to the Cultural Heritage Commission. The all-wood, bungalow-style club building was constructed in 1917.

Valley Municipal Building (Van Nuys City Hall), 14410 Sylvan St. The eight-story concrete Art Deco building was constructed in 1932 by the Works Progress Administration. Its design is typical of Depression-era public buildings. Its front and tower are decorated with geometric carvings, shapes and clusters of grapes, as well as bas-relief of ancient figures above the front entrance.

Baird House (Volunteer League Community Centre), 14603 Hamlin St., Van Nuys. Built in 1921 for the family of Robert J. Baird, one of the Valley’s first nursery owners, this bungalow-style dwelling was one of the earliest homes in Van Nuys. It is now privately owned.

Lederer Residence, 7209 Sherman Place, Canoga Park. The home of Francis Lederer, 88, was described by the Cultural Heritage Commission as “a distinguished example of Mission Style architecture in which the interior and exterior detailing is of museum quality. The Spanish and Italian furnishings are of particular interest, dating back from the 14th Century.” Construction began in 1935 but was not completed until the early 1940s. Lederer starred in “Romance in Manhattan” (1935) with Ginger Rogers, “Midnight” (1939) with Claudette Colbert and “Bridge of San Luis Rey” (1944). Not open to the public.

Laurelwood Apartments, 11833-11837 Laurelwood Drive, Studio City. Designed in 1948 by architect Rudolph Schindler, the apartment complex in the hills above Ventura Boulevard has been heralded by architects for its unique post-World War II angular style. The complex has been called one of the best examples of hillside development because of its unobtrusive design. In designing the Laurelwood, Schindler combined a number of features that later became marks of California modern architecture: patios accessible through sliding glass windows, clerestory windows (that is, a windowed wall), wide overhangs from a flat roof, L-shaped living/dining areas and placement of garages to serve as a buffer between living quarters and the street.

Department of Water and Power Building, 5108 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Built in 1939, this now-vacant building has been described by the Cultural Heritage Commission as an outstanding example of Streamline Moderne architecture. The building is being renovated as an art center.

La Reina Theatre, 14626 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Last December the 1938 Art Deco theater became a shopping center, La Reina Fashion Plaza. Its interior was gutted for shops, but the theater’s facade, including marquee, has been preserved and incorporated into the renovated building’s design. When it was built, the theater was hailed for the unusual use of neon lighting on its marquee. Today, an electronic message board has been added to the marquee and it flashes advertisements for the stores inside.

The Magnolia, 13242 Magnolia Blvd., Sherman Oaks. A plaque outside the private home reads: “The Magnolia--A 1929 Spanish Revival Mansion Recalling the Early Days of Sherman Oaks.” The restored 18-room mansion, which was weed-choked and dilapidated as recently as 1980, has hand-painted ceiling murals and stained-glass windows, a doorman’s alcove and bar in the dining room, chauffeur’s quarters in a detached four-car garage and outdoor sleeping porches attached to two second-floor bedrooms.

Amelia Earhart-North Hollywood Branch Library, 5211 N. Tujunga Ave. Designed in Spanish Colonial Revival style, the one-story brick building was constructed in 1929. A sign across the top of the library says Sidney Lanier Branch Library because the library was originally named after the Civil War poet who lived in Southern California. In 1981, the North Hollywood community petitioned the city library board to rename the library after the famous aviator who had been a North Hollywood resident and a frequent library user. The building’s clerestory contains seven multipane recessed windows and has a small hip roof of red Spanish tiles with two chimneys. “An open-beamed ceiling enhances the Spanish character of the library,” the Cultural Heritage Commission said in declaring the facility a landmark.

Times staff writer Rene Romo contributed to this story.