Monastery Cleared for Demolition

The earthquake-damaged Mater Dolorosa Monastery will not be placed on the city’s Cultural Historical Landmark Register and is cleared for demolition, the City Council decided Tuesday.

The three-story, 60-year-old building at 700 N. Sunnyside Ave., which was a home for the Passionist Fathers before it was damaged in a June, 1991, temblor will be torn down as soon as the city issues demolition permits, Father Arthur Carrillo said.

Demolition plans were submitted several weeks ago. City officials estimate that the permit will be issued within the next week, pending approval of a truck route for carrying the rubble out of the city.

Emotions ran high at Tuesday’s council meeting, where demolition was approved on a 3-2 vote. A crowd estimated at about 125, representing both sides of the issue, overflowed into the lobby and outside City Hall.

Resident Phyllis Chapman of the Sierra Madre Cultural Heritage Commission vowed to lie in the path of the bulldozers and said she was willing to be arrested to prevent razing the Spanish-style landmark.

People who support saving the monastery stood in front of City Hall before the meeting with photos of the building mounted on signs reading: “Save Me.”

Another group, wearing tags bearing the label “Friends of the Passionists,” attended the meeting to support the Passionist Fathers’ right to make their own decision about the fate of their home.

Councilwoman Mary Ann MacGillivray, who sided with Mayor Gary B. Adams in dissent, said she concluded that the council majority’s decision was legal, primarily because the now-barricaded structure is unsafe and a potential liability for the city.

Jerve Jones of Peck Jones Contractors told the meeting that he thinks refurbishing the building to meet current codes is economical and feasible. Estimates had ranged from as low as $500,000 to as much as $2 million.

But Carrillo, the order’s retreat center director, reiterated statements made at previous meetings on the issue in July: The Passionists are not interested in salvaging the structure--situated high on a ridge overlooking the valley--as a landmark, because they no longer have use for such a large space. The Roman Catholic group’s religious mission in the community has nothing to do with the old monastery, the priest added.

Religious retreats continue to take place on the property. But participants stay at Retreat House, which is located behind the picturesque Monastery.

The Passionists have been living in a former nuns’ convent at Assumption Parish in Pasadena since September, 1991, awaiting a decision on the monastery.

Construction of a smaller home to replace the 45,000-square-foot monastery has been discussed, but no firm plans have been made.