Historic Fire Station Goes Up for Auction

The former Fire Station 29 at 158 S. Western Ave. could wind up as a store or a restaurant after an auction Friday, but to the firefighters who used to work there it will always be known as “the old barn.”

The results of the auction were not immediately available, but more than 10 prospective bidders had expressed an interest in the old station, built in 1913.

Bids began at $710,000, said Steve Rosenberg, a city real estate officer. The 5,760-square-foot building is in an area zoned for commercial use, but because of its designation as a historic-cultural monument, the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission must approve any alterations to its appearance.

Until it closed in December, 1990, the building was the oldest functioning fire station in the city, Rosenberg said.

J. J. Backus, an English-born architect and former city buildings superintendent, designed the building in Italian Renaissance style, with arched windows and red-glass carriage lamps. The station was designed for horse-drawn fire wagons, but the city switched to motorized fire engines just prior to its opening, Rosenberg said.

Although Fire Station 29 moved to the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Van Ness Avenue in 1991, Capt. Peter Pfleger said he still has “a lot of fond memories about the old barn” on Western Avenue.

“There weren’t many creature comforts, but the camaraderie was a little better there because we were all in one room,” Pfleger said. “You didn’t have the kind of privacy you have now in the new stations.”

While on the job, the firefighters lived on the second floor and slid down poles to their engines when an alarm rang, a feature missing from modern, one-story stations, Pfleger said.

“There were some inconveniences, like the heat in the summer and the cold in winter, but overall it was a blast,” Firefighter Daryl Premmer said. “That place had a lot of character.”