Point of Pride : Ebell Club Sees Threat in City’s Offer to Protect Building

For nearly 95 years the Ebell Club for women has played a major role in the life of Long Beach.

Near the turn of the century, its members lobbied for the area’s first garbage dump and lifeguard service. Later they decorated the city’s first municipal Christmas tree, were instrumental in securing summer playgrounds for the city’s children and, in 1917, placed a representative on the committee that drafted the city’s charter.

In later years, working out of spacious two-story headquarters at 3rd Street and Cerritos Avenue, the Ebell Club pushed for conservation, provided Red Cross facilities during World War II and raised tens of thousands of dollars to help handicapped children and send needy students to college.

“We have always had a lot of pride,” said Joyce Hill, a board member and past president of the club, the oldest and once the largest cultural and social organization in Long Beach.

But now the club is engaged in an emotional conflict with the city.

At issue is the future of the elegant Spanish Renaissance building that has housed the organization since 1924. Recognizing the site as historically significant, city officials have moved to designate the Ebell Club building as a cultural heritage landmark, thus staving off some wrecker’s ball in the future. But members of the nonprofit club oppose the move, maintaining that they have done all right managing their building for 66 years, and do not need the city’s help now.

“We don’t know what the future holds,” said Miriam Glassett, the club’s program and publicity chairwoman, “but whatever it does hold, we want to be in control.”

Louis Skelton, chairman of the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission that recommended the historical designation early last month, said the Ebell Club apparently is under no pending threat. “If the owners decide to sell the property, however, we (want to) put any purchaser on notice that he will have to deal with preservation issues,” he added.

Once the designation is approved, Skelton said, any proposed demolition or significant alteration of the structure’s exterior would have to be brought before the commission, which could delay action for up to a year while suitable alternatives are being sought.

The building is significant for several reasons, including the history of its owner, Skelton said.

Named after a 19th-Century educator named Adrian Ebell and founded in 1896 to promote women’s education through cultural events, study groups and lectures, the Ebell Club played a significant role in the life of the city through the 1950s, when its membership reached its peak of about 1,700.

The club’s founder, Adelaide Tichenor, was a nationally known suffragette and prominent Long Beach citizen who also established a local school for crippled children.

The building, according to Skelton, is the largest example of Spanish Renaissance architecture in Long Beach, as well as a familiar sight to many residents.

“It’s a recognizable landmark,” Skelton said. “People know it’s there and it’s part of what makes Long Beach identifiable.”

Designed by C.T. McGrew, a prominent local builder who also designed the Enloe Building at 1st Street and Pine Avenue and the old Pacific Coast Club, the building features Spanish-style balconies overlooking an immense inside patio, a dining room that seats 250, several meeting rooms, a spacious lounge containing a large fireplace and a 1,000-seat theater complete with one of the area’s last working pipe organs.

One of the building’s most distinctive features, according to a report prepared by the city, is its “highly ornamental doorways” framed by lavish displays of Spanish Renaissance sculpture. “The richness of detail,” the report adds, “is a visual feast: griffins, urns, floral scrolls and flourishes, swags.”

While the women’s club still uses the facility for meetings and social functions, Glassett said, the organization frequently rents out various rooms for wedding receptions, social gatherings, group meetings, educational programs and community performances.

In recent years, the club has shifted from concentrating on difficult social issues to pursuing more philanthropic activities, and its membership has dwindled to about 400, with most of the members over the age of 50, Glassett said. Because many younger women work full time, Glassett said, far fewer now than in the past have time for women’s clubs. One result, she said, is that while the organization remains financially healthy, more and more effort is required simply to keep it afloat.

That is why, members say, they can’t countenance a situation in which their ability to make decisions is hamstrung by extraneous concerns. They have no plans to sell or demolish the Ebell Club building, the women say, and indeed are very sensitive to its historical import. But the club’s future needs are unknown, they insist, and can’t be predetermined by caveat.

“What would happen to the club if we couldn’t support the building any longer?” asked Vera Lewis, the organization’s treasurer. “It’s not the American way to step in and control this; we could go bankrupt.”

Last month the City Council, which must approve all cultural heritage landmark designations, postponed a decision until city staff members could meet with representatives of the Ebell Club to work out their differences. A spokeswoman for Ruthann Lehrer, the city’s neighborhood and historic preservation officer, said that Lehrer’s office is attempting to set up a meeting.

So far, however, her efforts have been rebuffed by the Ebell’s board of directors, who say they see no reason to meet.

“We don’t feel that there’s anything worthwhile to talk about,” Glassett said. “We just don’t want outsiders telling us what to do.”