FULLERTON : Developer Trying to Save Old Home

A local developer is scrambling to save a landmark Victorian home after a city commission approved plans to demolish the structure.

Dan Desmarais is trying find a lot in the city to move the Stanton House, a 19th-Century mansion that was severely damaged in a fire last summer. On Wednesday, the city’s Landmarks Commission approved a demolition permit allowing the home to be torn down after Nov. 25, the end of an appeal period.

The 3,000-square-foot home, at 233 E. Amerige Ave., was built in 1895 and is distinctive for its oversized windows, layered-shingle sides and towering roof. Only a dozen or so of its type remain in Fullerton. The home sits on a lot slated to be the site of a city-funded apartment complex for low-income senior citizens.

The city’s redevelopment agency had sought a developer to remove the home from the site to another lot in Fullerton. But an Aug. 3 fire seriously damaged the back end of the home, throwing restoration plans in doubt.

Earlier this month, Desmarais and another developer, Matthew Beard, made separate proposals to the City Council to move the house to another location if the city could provide a deferred loan. But a majority of council members were reluctant to spend city funds to save the home, saying they were skeptical that renovation would be possible and fearful that renovation costs would be beyond estimates.

“There’s no way of saving something that’s already burned down,” Councilman Don Bankhead said at the meeting.

Representatives of the Fullerton Lutheran Church, the current owners of the site, told council members they could no longer afford to keep the home and pressed for the demolition permit. They added that four engineers have inspected the home and concluded it could not be saved.

Desmarais, who is working with Anaheim preservation expert Ron Waltz to save the house, said that the City Council had in past meetings indicated it would approve a loan to save the structure. He added that preservation experts told him the home still could be saved.

“That was the bombshell,” he said. “We were all very surprised. The city of Fullerton did a 180-degree turn and backed out. . . . A lot of time and money was spent and nothing was accomplished.”

For now, Desmarais is negotiating with the owners of a lot at 830 Stephens Avenue to move the home to a vacant lot there and renovate it. Under his proposal to the owners, Desmarais would receive money for the house and the lot owners the cost of the land if the property is ever sold.