CAPISTRANO BEACH : Old Home’s Razing Also Raises Roof

Since the days of the Dohenys more than 60 years ago, the old home of local artist Louise Leyden stood near the corner of Calle del Sol and Vista del Mar overlooking the Estrella Mall, the hub of old Capistrano Beach.

On Thursday morning, it became a parking lot.

In less than an hour, a bulldozer reduced the two-story, Spanish-style house--one of the oldest homes in the community--to a pile of wood, glass and stucco, much to the dismay of some of the neighbors.

“They should have let people know about this,” said George Chade, a 50-year Capistrano Beach resident, who heard the commotion outside his home and ran out in the street, camera in hand. “To go out here and tear it down without telling anybody isn’t right.”

Historical or not, the home had outlived its usefulness, said Fred Jenner, executive vice president of the South Orange County Board of Realtors, a group that has owned the home since 1974. It was not an easy decision, but the house finally had to go to make room for the board’s office expansion, he said.

“It was a very heart-wrenching decision to demolish the building, but there was nothing we could do with it,” Jenner said. “It was just too old.”

The home dates back to the late 1920s, which could have made it one of the original 28 Spanish-style houses built by Ned Doheny, son of Los Angeles oil baron Edward L. Doheny Jr. The Dohenys bought 1,000 acres of what is now Capistrano Beach from the Forster family in 1928.

Their development, Doheny Park, was exclusive and expensive, said historian Doris Walker in her book “Home Port for Romance.” The landscaped Camino de Estrella, called the Estrella Mall, was at the park’s center.

Don and Louise Leyden, the old home’s former owners, arrived in the area from Fresno in 1928 to work for the Dohenys. Don Leyden was the project’s field engineer and Louise Leyden became a local activist and nationally known artist, according to Walker. A park just blocks from the demolished house was named in her honor.

Walker, who is also a member of the Dana Point Historical Society, said she could not be sure of the home’s value, but now it is too late.

“Why didn’t we hear anything about this, that’s what concerns me,” Walker said. “We can’t be on top of every property in the city.”

The decision to raze the home had been discussed at meetings of the board and at the Capistrano Beach Chamber of Commerce, said Barbara McCarthy, a 23-year Capistrano Beach resident and chamber member.

“It was discussed by the chamber board at our last meeting,” McCarthy said. “We talked about it, but of course, it wasn’t up to us. The building was a wreck. Over the years it hadn’t been kept up at all.”

But Walker and Carlos Olvera, the chairman of the city’s Planning Commission and a historical society member, questioned the timing of the destruction. With the city about to finish its first General Plan, a historical inventory of local business sites had been in the works.

“We thought we had time to do the inventory, there was no reason to act fast,” Walker said.

For several years the growing board of Realtors, up from 300 members to about 1,000 and still climbing, has been looking for a way to expand its office, on the same two-lot space as the Leyden house. But the only way the city would let them add another floor was to increase parking, and the old house stood in the way of that, Jenner said.

“The house had depreciated down to nothing. It had no value to it, other than the emotional value for the neighborhood,” Jenner said. “But it was an emotional decision for us too.”