New Housing Development Plans Big Leap Backward

Architect John Kasperowicz is planning a new housing development in Pomona, but don’t expect identical rows of drab tract houses or stucco-encased condominiums.

The homes that will occupy the architect’s new neighborhood are four turn-of-the-century Victorians that are standing in the path of progress but soon will occupy a unique development called Heritage Park.

Kasperowicz, owner of JK Architects in Pomona, has moved and restored old homes, but this is the first time that he has tried to re-create an entire San Gabriel Valley street, circa 1910.

Usually he can obtain the homes for free because they are considered blighted by cities seeking to redevelop old neighborhoods and would be razed if he didn’t offer to move them. For a devotee of historic architecture like Kasperowicz, demolition of these homes is unthinkable.

“The old houses had a certain quality of design and craftsmanship about them that you just don’t see anymore,” Kasperowicz said. “I just thought it would be a shame to destroy all that.”

Shortly after the first of the year, the boarded-up houses will be moved from their present locations around Pomona to a vacant lot at Gibbs Street and San Bernardino Avenue, near the San Bernardino Freeway.

Once the homes are relocated, crews will begin a thorough renovation, fixing cracked plaster and replacing wiring and plumbing if necessary. Moving and restoring the homes will cost between $60,000 and $80,000 apiece, Kasperowicz said.

When Heritage Park opens in the spring, the houses should fetch from $160,000 to $180,000, Kasperowicz said.

“That’s roughly what the homes in that area are going for,” he said.

But the development, the first such historical renovation project in Pomona, will provide an alternative to more contemporary homes.

Potential home buyers should be prepared to do without some modern amenities, such as central air conditioning and a large number of bathrooms. However, the homes also have features that recall a bygone era in housing construction, such as large bedrooms and kitchens, individualistic floor plans and “walls a foot thick,” Kasperowicz said.

Survived Quakes

The houses have survived earthquakes and will not require any major structural work to meet seismic safety standards, he said.

“These homes have been standing almost 100 years, and they’ve developed their own balance and stability,” he said. “You don’t want to go messing with that. . . . I really try to maintain the integrity of the houses.”

Besides repairing the ravages of time, Kasperowicz and his employees will also seek to undo any remodeling work and return the homes to authentic period condition. In some cases, previous owners’ efforts at modernizing have kept the houses from being saved for historical renovation.

“A lot of the old homes have been drastically remodeled, like taking a beautiful Victorian and stuccoing the exterior,” Kasperowicz said.

New Lighting

With the burgeoning interest in restoring old homes, it is possible to buy new lighting and plumbing fixtures that are replicas of those that originally came with the house.

“You can essentially build a Victorian home from scratch now,” Kasperowicz said.

Replication of turn-of-the-century style will extend beyond the houses into the street, which will be paved with cobblestones and lined with old-fashioned street lamps scavenged from the city’s salvage yard. A neighborhood gazebo will be built at the end of the street.

If Kasperowicz’s vision of a quaint, ersatz historical neighborhood resembles Disneyland’s Main Street U.S.A., perhaps his background might be responsible. His first job after graduating from Cal Poly Pomona in 1975 was designing renovations for attractions at the Anaheim theme park.

Kasperowicz later joined the staff of Walt Disney Imagineering, working on such projects as the World Showcase at Epcot Center in Orlando, Fla., and Disneyland in Tokyo. Since establishing his own firm, he has consulted as an architect for Knott’s Berry Farm and Euro Disneyland in Paris.

Polish Immigrant

Although he gained much of his experience in historical renovation and replication through his work at the theme parks, Kasperowicz said his interest in Pomona’s period architecture began soon after he arrived in the city after immigrating with his family from Poland when he was 10.

“I remember sitting in church as a little kid and being really interested in the Gothic architecture and not really listening to what was said,” Kasperowicz said.

Kasperowicz’s interest in transforming vacant lots into Memory Lane will continue. He said he hopes to design a larger development in Pomona, mixing 80-year-old Victorians with newly built historical replicas.

“It doesn’t make a great deal of money,” Kasperowicz said of his renovation work. “But I get personal satisfaction out of doing it.”