Whittier : Pieces of Historic Building Will Be Salvaged for Reuse

Whittier plans to salvage architectural remnants from a condemned historic building, the City Council announced recently.

The building is a former residence and office at the Fred C. Nelles School for Boys, a state juvenile correctional center.

The two-story, Mediterranean-style building near Philadelphia Street and Whittier Boulevard, was damaged in the 1987 Whittier-area earthquake and has not been used since.

The state, which owns the building, agreed to give Whittier several 16-foot wooden columns, claw-foot bathtubs, a spiral staircase, banisters, doors, ceiling fixtures, fireplace mantels and other items. The state will pay the removal cost.

The artifacts will be stowed in city storage yards and a local museum. Some will be available to developers wanting to give projects a historic look or to residents rehabilitating old homes.

“It’s an encouragement to restore and rehabilitate older buildings at absolutely no cost,” Councilman Allan Zolnekoff said. “These are high-quality, sound, structural items. The critical point is to not allow pieces of our history to be sent to a landfill.”

The 19,700-square-foot structure, built in 1915, originally was used as housing for correctional school employees and later included office space for the school’s personnel department. Some employees lived in the building until the 1987 earthquake.