FULLERTON : Group Seeks to Save Victorian Home
Preservationists are mounting an effort to save a turn-of-the-century Victorian home, one of the last remaining structures of its kind left in the city.
The owner of the historic home, at 315 E. Amerige Ave., will ask the city’s Planning Commission for a permit to demolish the structure at a meeting Wednesday. The owner says that to sell the house, she figures that she will need a demolition permit to add to its value.
“I have to do something with the property,” said Janet Hastings, who said that it has been in her family for about 90 years. “I’m stuck. I can’t restore it. There would be a lot of money involved in fixing an old home up.”
Terry Galvin, manager of the city’s Redevelopment Agency, said he has been trying to find people interested in either buying the property and saving the structure, or moving the historic home to another site. Although the agency is not involved in the site, Galvin has been contacting people who have expressed interest in past efforts to save historic structures.
Still, Hastings said she has gotten “very low offers” from people who were interested in buying the property with the house on it. The house sits on a site that can be developed into a small apartment or condominium complex, which could be more lucrative to a builder.
The blue, two-story home, which was built about 1895, is distinctive for its Queen Anne-style design, such as ornamental woodwork, scale-like shingles and elaborate, elongated windows. The structure is referred to as the Cusick Home, named after the second husband of Hastings’ grandmother, Julia. The structure is listed on the Fullerton Historical Survey, which alerts city officials that they should have a hearing before granting a demolition permit.
“We’re down to just a handful of these,” said David Zenger, a co-founder of Fullerton Heritage, a group that attempts to save historic or architecturally distinctive structures. “The best examples (of the Queen-Anne style) are being lost, unfortunately. The Cusick house is the very best one.”
Just a block away, another Victorian home, the Stanton Residence, is to be demolished to make way for a low- and moderate- income senior citizens apartment complex. Fullerton planner Robert Linnell said that the First Lutheran Church of Fullerton, which owns the home, was given a permit for demolition last week.
Late last year, the City Council decided it wasn’t worth trying to save the Stanton Residence after it was severely damaged in a fire last summer. Before that, a local developer had struck a deal to move the home to a new site.
By contrast, the Cusick Home is in better shape, although it might require extensive indoor repairs and some foundation work, Linnell said. Hastings said her family has rented the home for several decades.
“It’s been pretty well beaten up inside,” Linnell said. “It needs some work. But it is nothing that couldn’t be repaired.”
The Planning Commission could vote to delay a decision on demolition for six months until a prospective buyer is found, or it could approve the permit. The owners must wait 10 days after a permit is approved in case the decision is appealed.
The Planning Commission meeting begins at 7 p.m. in City Hall, 303 W. Commonwealth Ave.
