14 New Sites Help Whittier Build Wealth of History : Preservation: After three years of research and debate, the city’s historic buildings now number 18. The action pleases preservationists but not all residents.

The number of protected historic structures in this city has increased more than fourfold, from four to 18 buildings.

The City Council’s unanimous decision last week to expand the number of historic buildings culminates three years of research, lobbying and debate involving city staff, commissions and preservationists who examined the merits of more than 75 local buildings.

The designated structures include the First National Bank of Whittier, where former President Richard M. Nixon had a law office, and the Whittier Boulevard Packing House, which was the heart of Whittier’s once-thriving fruit-packing industry.

The residences singled out include the 1892 home of Simon Murphy, a lumber dealer who developed Whittier’s water supply system, and the 1887 Dorland House, one of the last area homes with its original barn. The Dorlands started the first city cemetery after a local diphtheria epidemic. The cemetery eventually was abandoned and later became Founders Memorial Park.

Local historic preservation leader Michael Sullens called the city’s decision a good first step toward protecting the city’s rich heritage. Sullens, vice president of the Whittier Conservancy, said he would like to see many more buildings added to the city’s list.

But the acclaim is not universal. Resident Barbara Light persuaded city officials to leave her 103-year-old home off the historic register, even though a city report termed the house “a fine example of Victorian architecture, possibly the best in the Whittier area.” The city has the authority to include a house on its list of historic buildings without a property owner’s consent.

Under Whittier’s 1986 historic resources ordinance, changes to the exterior of a historic structure must be approved by a city commission. The ordinance also delays the demolition process.

Light said the historic designation would have interfered with her property rights.

“I could not get up Saturday morning and paint my front steps without getting a permit to do so,” she said. “I’m very concerned that they would make us paint our house four shades of blue, and I don’t like blue. And it would be at our cost.”

She said it would be unfair for owners of historic homes to lose rights their neighbors enjoyed. “I believe the landlord is lord of the land,” she said.

At the same time, “I would never want to see historical structures bulldozed and destroyed,” said Light, a member of the local historical society.

Light said she has every intention of maintaining her home’s historic integrity, but worries that its resale value would plummet if the house were inscribed on the list.

Other homeowners expressed ambivalence about the honor being given their homes, Planning Director Elvin Porter said.

In many cases, historic designation can enhance a home’s value, said Ellen Poll, the president-elect of the Los Angeles Board of Realtors. If the area is zoned for single-family homes--an area in which a historic house could only be replaced by another house--the home is not likely to lose value, Poll said. In addition, designated historic houses are eligible for property tax reductions.

On the other hand, Poll said, if the designation “is merely done as an obstacle to development, then probably the owner has lost value on the property. Where an owner can put up six condominiums and sell them for half a million dollars apiece, then there’s a considerable loss of value.”

Some property owners supported the city’s action. The president of a local women’s club, the East Whittier Woman’s Improvement Club, was delighted over the recognition being given to the club’s turn-of-the-century building. “It’s what saved us,” said Betty Wilkinson. Because the building was eligible for historic recognition, the club received prompt financial assistance after the October, 1987, Whittier earthquake damaged the building, Wilkinson said.

The earthquake, which led to the demolition of about half of the historic downtown, was the catalyst behind current preservation efforts. After the earthquake, the city tore down numerous potentially unstable, but arguably historic buildings. Had there been a list of designated landmarks, this demolition might not have happened, conservancy member Sullens said.

Such recognition will not automatically save a landmark, however. The ordinance provides for a 180-day moratorium on any demolition permit. During that time, the city and property owners are supposed to explore other options to demolition.

The ordinance failed to protect completely the 1929 Whittier Theatre, which was designated a landmark in 1986. No alternative to demolition was found during a 1987 protective moratorium on the theater, Planning Director Porter said.

After the October, 1987, Whittier earthquake, theater owner Peter Doerkin immediately obtained a demolition permit on the basis that the structure was in imminent danger of collapsing. A court order temporarily stopped that demolition, which was in progress. A judge eventually allowed demolition to continue, but a last-minute order from the state Office of Historic Preservation halted the work again.

Attorneys for the theater’s owner say they will challenge the state ruling in court. They said Doerkin has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on a property that is useless as long as the vacant theater remains on the site.

Two other previously designated landmarks, the Briggs House and the Southern Pacific Depot, have been moved from their original sites to make room for developments. Preservationists objected because they said a building loses much of its historic value when relocated.

Other local buildings, which lacked any official historic recognition, met worse fates after the earthquake. Citing safety concerns, city officials decided to level the old City Hall, the Lindley Building and the Harvey Apartments, among others. The latter two buildings had anchored the main intersection around which the commercial center of the city developed.

Local concern over lost heritage and development issues propelled Helen McKenna-Rahder and Bob Henderson, allies of the preservationists, to victories in last April’s City Council election. Even before the election, commissions of private citizens and city staff had been sorting out dozens of potentially historic structures. When the issue came to a council vote Tuesday, the council majority joined the new members in voting unanimously to expand the city’s list.

Preservation advocates say property owners as well as the community at large benefit from a list of designated landmarks. State law permits reduced property taxes for landowners who maintain a historic structure, and these benefits continue even after the property is sold. By contrast, the property taxes of non-historic homes can skyrocket when the property changes hands.

Other cities have found it necessary to offer additional incentives to increase local support for preservation policy. In Rancho Cucamonga, for instance, the city does not require a historic building to be brought up to all current building codes. “You only have to bring a building up to minimum life-safety requirements, but not the energy-saving requirements,” said Larry Henderson, Rancho Cucamonga’s city planner. “And you don’t have to rip out all the old wiring. The state historic-building code is a lot more flexible than the standard state building code.”

In Rancho Cucamonga it was growth, not an earthquake, that made preservation issues a priority. The city’s population has increased by 10,000 persons a year for the last five years, practically doubling in size to about 114,000.

Rancho Cucamonga will also allow a historic home to be converted to a non-residential use, such as an attorney’s or accountant’s office. In addition, the city is working out a program to assist owners of historic buildings in need of earthquake-safety reinforcement, Henderson said. The goal is to provide a reasonable alternative to tearing down a historic building.

Even so, Henderson said, the city must sometimes act against an owner’s wishes, as it did in making a landmark of the building that housed the first telephone system installed west of the Mississippi River.

Although Whittier has no local incentives for homeowners and merchants who own landmark buildings, Councilwoman McKenna-Rahder, a conservancy member, does not want to slow down the designation process. At Tuesday’s council meeting, she said there were probably at least 90 buildings in Whittier that needed protection. She said the council action was “just the tip of the iceberg.”