Redondo Beach Historic Homes Get New Lease on Life : Preservation: Through a civic group’s encouragement and an obscure state law, three homes are designated historic sites, giving owners a sizable tax break.

Southern California has never been known as a leader in preserving its architectural heritage, but in Redondo Beach there is a fledgling movement to save what is left.

Through an aggressive recruiting effort by the 4-year-old Redondo Beach Historic Preservation Commission, and the use of an obscure 1976 state law, the city has begun to develop a new resource: historic homes.

Since February, three Redondo Beach homes have qualified for designation as historic homes under the terms of California’s Mills Act, a 17-year-old law designed to promote historic preservation.

Properties that are so designated are assessed at a preferential rate that, in most cases, reduces homeowners’ property taxes by 50% to 70%. In return, owners must agree to maintain the building in, or restore it to, its original architectural style for a 10-year period.

“When property was in demand for condominiums, if somebody could sell their property for a big price, it was hard to convince them that it would be nice if they would save this valuable old house that shows what the town had been like,” said Gloria Snyder, a commission member and past president of the Redondo Beach Historical Society. “It is a sacrifice, in a way, to decide to keep your house (in its original state).”

Inspired by a successful historic preservation program in the city of La Verne, located in the foothills east of Los Angeles, the commission began promoting the economic “carrot” contained in the Mills Act: the special tax rate.

In a public meeting last November, residents were invited to submit applications to have their homes designated as historic sites. David and Heidi Phillips decided to try for the designation for their Gertruda Avenue property, described as a 1910 side-gabled Craftsman bungalow.

In February their home was approved, and was followed by 626 Elvira Ave., a 2 1/2-story Colonial Revival home built in 1922, and 227 Avenue C, a single-story Spanish Colonial Revival home dating to 1930.

The property tax impact of such designations can be striking. The Phillipses had an annual tax bill of about $4,000 on their home, which is valued at about $400,000. With the historic home designation, that bill will drop to less than $1,000 a year, city officials say.

Last year, a survey indicated that only about 40 historic structures, both residential and commercial, are still standing in Redondo Beach. The city’s old downtown, along a narrow strip of land west of Catalina Avenue, disappeared almost entirely during the late 1960s and early 1970s amid redevelopment projects, according to documents maintained by the Historical Society.

Redondo Beach was largely settled following Henry Huntington’s establishment of the Pacific Electric Rail Line, also known as the Red Cars, in 1906. Since the rail line allowed commuters and vacationers to travel conveniently from downtown Los Angeles to Redondo Beach, it touched off an avalanche of real estate speculation and development lasting until about 1914.

During the early days of the buying frenzy, according to Snyder, some parcels were bought and sold five times in a single day, at successively higher prices. Residential architecture in the area was predominantly single- or two-story bungalows in the gabled-roof Craftsman style or the steeper, hipped-roof Colonial Revival style.

Common to both were covered front porches, chimneys built to vent wood-burning stoves rather than fireplaces, and redwood clapboard exteriors painted in pastel colors. Described by Historical Society President Casey Berent as a middle-class community, the city was settled primarily by small-business owners or working professionals.

For example, the Phillips property was once the home of George Hibbard, owner of Hibbard Hardware and Furniture Co. The Elvira Avenue property was built for Burton Sale, a Los Angeles stationer and salesman, and his wife, Daisy.

The builder and original resident of 227 Avenue C was Elmer Griffey, owner of an electrical supply business in Redondo Beach and later an unsuccessful candidate for the City Council. Other early residents included physicians, engineers and railroad employees.

To qualify for the Mills Act designation, a home or business structure must be at least 50 years old. The original act required that properties be available for public inspection at regular intervals, but a revised version passed in the mid-1980s removed this requirement.

“These people are thrilled with the program,” said Doug McIsaac, a senior planner with Redondo Beach. “They’re going to get their property taxes reduced for really nothing substantial on their part. They’re not having to do anything that they weren’t already going to do.”

Heidi Phillips says virtually no repairs had to be made when the couple purchased their home in May, 1991.

“We had the house painted, just because we felt we wanted it painted, but we painted it the exact same color, light gray with white trim. It fits the house.”

While the reduction in property taxes may be substantial to individual owners, planning commission estimates indicate that revenue losses to the city will represent an extremely small percentage of its total property-tax revenue.

What is perhaps more surprising is that it took the city so long to mount a campaign to preserve its architectural heritage.

“There was quite a bit of push-pull between the developers and those people who wanted to preserve things,” Snyder recalled. “There are many newcomers to our town and, oddly enough, those people were the most successful at getting preservation going: the new, young people who bought older houses and wanted to restore them.”