IRVINE : An Historic Farmhouse Is Rescued

The old farmhouse in east Irvine doesn’t look like much.

Dirty white paint hangs from its sides. The weather has torn at the roof, taking a few shingles. There is no foundation or porch, because the house was built to be moved to farm plots as needed.

But where some see a dilapidated tenant farmer building, others see history. For Judy Liebeck, a member of the Irvine Historical Society, the turn-of-the-century oak farmhouse was a rare piece of the past.

Liebeck, a historical conservationist who has come to the rescue of similar buildings, recently convinced Irvine city officials to appropriate more than $15,000 to move the house from the path of the proposed widening of the Santa Ana Freeway near Jeffrey Road.

“We are finding that more and more of these great old houses are being lost because nobody really cares about them. A freeway will take priority over something that has been there much, much longer,” Liebeck said, adding:

“Nothing is old in this city. People who move to Irvine from other parts of the country think everything started new and planned here. The last buildings of the Irvine Ranch are the only reminders that Irvine has a past.”

At a time when Irvine was virtually a collection of open fields and orange groves, James E. Irvine built the tenant farmer quarters to house the family that would run the ranch’s lima bean operations.

The first occupant, George O. Cooke, came to the ranch to find steady work after the California Gold Rush died. His family lived there until the mid-1950s, and the house was never rented again.

When farming as an industry died, the house became an anachronism as rows of housing tracts sprang up.

Even though the house has been reviewed for state recognition as a historical landmark, Liebeck said that she has found little sympathy from the city and the Irvine Co., which owns the house. The Irvine Ranch Water District provided the only corporate help: a parcel of land which will serve as a temporary site for the house, she said.

“Some people at the Irvine Co. see the historical value of houses like this one but don’t want to act on it because it would be a hassle to move them and keep them up,” she said. “They are a big company, and I can see how they would rather build over them, rather then (relocate) them.”

In the next year, the Irvine Historical Society is expected to ask the City Council to save two more houses, but Mayor Larry Agran said he might be reluctant to spend more money unless the houses would “serve some economic value” for the city.

“I don’t know if we should undertake similar costs in the future, unless we can find a use for them,” he said. “Could it house a real tenant farmer, be part of a model farm or help transitional families who have no homes? I don’t have any problems in avoiding demolition, but we have to identify an economic or social return to the community.”

Liebeck looks to the city of Santa Ana as a prime example of old homes being restored. French Park, for example, contains homes representing a cross-section of styles from different eras of the city’s history. Though the houses are occupied, walking tours of the neighborhoods are held regularly.

While many historical structures are now being used for commercial purposes in Irvine, the society would like to see houses grouped together as in Santa Ana.

“I think it would be a great idea to use them to help educate the community about Irvine’s past,” Liebeck said. “We need that kind of historical value. We could be doing so much for the community, and future communities, by saving these houses. Not many people grow up in a neighborhood void of anything historical.”