Malibu : End of Historical Society

The Malibu Historical Society, which was instrumental in saving the historic Adamson House from being torn down for a parking lot in the late 1960s, has announced it will dissolve by the end of the year.

“Our mission has long since been accomplished and many of our members have moved on to other endeavors, so it seems the appropriate thing to do,” said John Merrick, a retired Municipal Court judge who helped organize the group in 1968.

The Adamson House, a two-story Spanish Colonial Revival-style home, was built in 1929 by architect Stiles Clements. It was the home of Merritt Huntley Adamson and Rhoda Rindge Adamson, the daughter of Frederick Hastings Rindge, who founded a Malibu land empire in 1892.

The state acquired the house and grounds in 1968 and announced plans to tear it down to provide beach parking for nearby Malibu Lagoon State Beach. But after a campaign by the group to save it, the state abandoned the plan. The state has operated the house and an adjacent museum as a tourist attraction since 1983.