Historical Society Writes Last Page on Headquarters : Privately Funded Group Will Sell Mansion to Relieve Cash Crunch

The California Historical Society said Wednesday that it will sell its Pacific Heights headquarters, Whittier Mansion, in an effort to solve the group’s recurring financial difficulties.

Last month, the society laid off half of its 21-member staff and closed its library in San Francisco and history center in Los Angeles. The society has often incurred deficits between $200,000 and $300,000, according to financial statements over the last decade.

“This institution is not broke. We’re just ill-liquid,” Nathan Sumner, the society’s executive director, said Wednesday.

By selling the 93-year-old mansion, the society will free up assets that have been tied up in real estate, Sumner said. The society is asking $8.75 million for the mansion on Jackson Street that is in one of San Francisco’s most posh districts.

The California Historical Society is the last state historical society in the country to be completely supported by private donations, said Larry Tise, director of the American Assn. of State and Local History.

Most state historical societies are directly supported by state funding, and the handful that are private receive considerable public assistance in the form of grants, Tise said.

Officially recognized by the state Legislature in 1978 as the keeper of the state’s heritage, the society maintains vast collections of historic documents and photographs. The society also publishes books and a quarterly magazine.

Sumner said the society was in a financial pinch because it had over-extended itself for many years, trying to operate more programs and maintain more collections than it could afford.

“There has been a long pattern in which this institution has spent more than it has brought in,” Sumner said. “We tried to do everything that was historically relevant. We spread ourselves thin.”

But some former staff members say the society has fallen into its present crisis because of incompetent management by the Board of Trustees.

“It’s an utter and total outrage. How (the Board of Trustees) have turned a muscular and healthy institution into a sick pygmy is beyond me,” said James Holliday, who served as the society’s executive director from 1970 to 1977 and again from 1983 to 1985.

Holliday blamed much of the trouble on Nancy Maushardt, the board president since 1986. Maushardt stepped out of her role as a trustee and wrought havoc attempting to run the society’s day-to-day operations, Holliday said.

Critics contend that Maushardt’s interference caused personnel conflicts that crippled the society’s fund raising, while increasing expenses with the hiring of consultants to fill vacancies.

Maushardt refused to comment on her management of the society, but defended her intention to sell the mansion. “It’s something we have to do,” she said.

According to a 1987 financial statement, the society suffered a $372,987 loss because of “high staff turnover which resulted in a loss of continuity within the institution and increased consulting fees.”

The money received from the sale of the mansion will not be used directly to finance the society’s operations, but will be put into an endowment fund, Maushardt said.

The society’s membership is deeply divided over whether to keep the 3,500-square-foot Whittier Mansion. The directors say the dilapidated building is too costly to maintain, while others say it is vital to the society’s mission.

Built in 1896 for William Frank Whittier, the mansion contains the last authentic Victorian interior in San Francisco. Its principal rooms are paneled with oak, mahogany and other fine woods.

The building remarkably survived the great earthquake and fire of 1906. But the building’s Arizona sandstone exterior is crumbling in the salty, moist Bay Area air. A scaffolding on one side has almost become a permanent feature of the building.

“The decision to sell the Whittier Mansion will lower the status of the society and remove a main reason for its existence,” said Hana Regev, president of the 75 docents who lead tours through the mansion. “It’s our only link to the community.”

Regev said the society should be able to keep the mansion, since its request for a historic preservation grant was approved. In April, the state awarded the society an $803,000 grant specifically for the building’s repair.

But Sumner said the money was not enough, estimating the cost of repairing the mansion at more than $2 million, adding that the grant will be returned. “I think it would be a mistake to get into a capital battle to save this place, especially considering all the other things we need money for,” he said.

Along with establishing an endowment fund from the sale proceeds, the society will also seek state funding, Sumner said.

“We cannot fulfill our state mandate, if we don’t get any support from the state,” he said.