Braude Offers Compromise to Save Old Woodland Hills House

Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude on Monday suggested a compromise in the debate over whether a house built by a Woodland Hills founder should be declared a historical monument against the wishes of its owner.

Braude’s chief deputy, Cindy Miscikowski, suggested at a City Council committee hearing that the house be saved but moved off the site.

Miscikowski appeared at a hearing by the Arts, Health and Humanities Committee that reviewed a plan by the city Cultural Heritage Commission to declare the 66-year-old house at 21360 Rios St. in Woodland Hills a cultural-historic monument.

The house was built in 1925 by Victor Girard, a developer who built the first housing tracts in what is now Woodland Hills, which was originally called Girard.

The committee agreed to delay action pending further review of the historic merits of the structure.

Braude’s office does not support landmark status for the house because its owner, Sheila Trader of Colorado, has opposed it as interfering with her right to redevelop the property in the future.

If it were declared a landmark, the city could block demolition or remodeling of the house for a maximum of one year after the owner applied for a demolition permit or a building permit. In other instances, the city has used that yearlong grace period to try to save structures.

However, Miscikowski said the owner might be willing to sign a contract with the city, promising not to demolish or alter the house for at least one year, or as long as the owner’s aged mother-in-law remains a tenant there.

Such a pact, Miscikowski argued, would give preservationist groups at least a year in which to relocate the house to spacious sites such as the Woodland Hills Country Club, the motion picture and television retirement home, the Leonis Adobe--a landmark in Woodland Hills--or Pierce College when its owner is ready to demolish the structure.

Trader’s attorney, James Gilson, indicated his client would be willing to enter into such an agreement. However, Trader would not be willing to pay for the costs of relocating the structure, he said.

The main proponent of designating the house a landmark--Giacinta Koontz, a neighbor and archeologist--was unable to attend Monday’s hearing. But in an interview later, Koontz applauded the idea of relocating the house and noted that several amateur historians have expressed an interest in saving it.

The committee will reconsider the matter Dec. 2.

Councilman Joel Wachs, chairman of the arts panel, said that at that time he will want to hear more detail about the rationale for declaring the house a landmark. “There are a lot of unanswered questions,” he said.

Wachs and Councilman Mike Hernandez, the other member of the committee present, appeared to be swayed by questions raised by Gilson about whether Trader’s house is one of a very few unaltered houses from the original 1925 subdivision or whether other examples of pristine houses from that era also exist in the so-called Girard Tract in Woodland Hills.