In Search of History : Some See Beauty in Street, Fight for Status; Others See Ploy Against Mall

When Karen Mayer takes a stroll on south Dunning Street in Ventura, she sees a neighborhood full of architectural and historic significance.

A Mediterranean Revival style house sits next to an English Tudor home, which is adjacent to a post-war style residence. Down the block, one house uses artificial turf for part of its roof and the front lawn. The street is named after an early ranching family, and past residents include the first oral surgeon in Ventura County and the founders of the Saticoy Golf Club.

To Mayer, the street is worth preserving and should be designated a historic district.

But when Ventura city planners look at Dunning Street, they see a hodgepodge collection of conflicting architectural styles and a quaint neighborhood that has little historic value. It is definitely not worthy of historic designation, they say.

The Historic Preservation Commission said the street should receive the status, but the Architectural Review Board disagreed and the Planning Commission has declined to make a recommendation. Today, the City Council will have the final word.

Dunning Street happens to be right next to Buenaventura Mall, which is scheduled to expand to nearly twice its size in the next few years. City staff members say Dunning Street residents are hoping that a historic designation would stop, or at the least, complicate the mall expansion.

“They say it’s not because of the mall expansion, but their timing is suspicious,” said Everett Millais, community development director, who noted that the neighborhood did not ask for historic status until after expansion plans were announced last year. A historic district would not halt the mall expansion, he said.

A historic designation could take effect as early as Aug. 13 if the council approves it today. It would establish architectural guidelines and require residents to get approval from the city before doing any remodeling or building on the street.

Mayer, a 35-year-old fabric artist who is leading the campaign for a historic district, said she knows historic status would not make a difference to the expansion, but hopes that it will cause mall operators to be more sensitive to the small neighborhood.

Proposed plans for the expansion call for double-decking the entire mall, adding three more department stores and building two multilevel parking structures. The revamped mall would become the largest retail shopping center in Ventura County.

“Traffic would be horrendous on surrounding streets,” Mayer said, grimacing at the thought. “The mall was originally built in 1962, as a strip mall. Most of the houses on this street were built in 1929. They’re the interlopers.”

Lori Gatto, vice president of mall operator MaceRich Co., said her Santa Monica-based company has sent letters to all the residents in the area assuring them that MaceRich would not target their houses.

“They think we’re going to buy their homes and turn them into parking lots,” Gatto said. “We are not going to take their properties. We’re not going to expand past our boundaries.”

The proposed district consists of 45 single-family, one-story houses on south Dunning Street. The only business in the district is the 63-year-old Mission Bell motel, the oldest existing motel in Ventura. It attracted tourists from as far away as Germany before new owners turned it into a welfare motel in 1986. It is now closed.

Mayer points to the motel as a significant piece of history that should be preserved. On another corner, she indicates where the first denture maker in Ventura used to live.

“This whole neighborhood used to be a walnut grove,” she said, noting that seven of the original walnut trees are still on the street.

She concedes that some houses on Dunning are questionable architecturally--especially the mint-green one that has artificial turf on part of the roof--but maintains that the blend of several styles in one area is unique.

The major architectural style on the street is Mediterranean Revival, but postwar California ranch, English Tudor and French Country styles are also scattered along south Dunning Street. The houses are well-kept, the lawns trimmed and the landscaping pruned.

“At least if we get drunk at night we know where we live,” joked Jean Ringo, another Dunning resident who wants the historic status. “It’s not cookie-cutter houses like you see on the east end of the city.”

But Monica Nolan, associate planner for the city, said she thinks the street doesn’t qualify for historical designation.

“Dunning Street is a nice street. The houses are kept up,” Nolan said. “But what is the historical context? Why is it important to the city as a whole?”

According to Nolan, there are better examples of such architecture in other parts of the city.

Sharon Best, who moved to Dunning Street two years ago, said she opposes the historic district because it would be harder to sell her house if she decides to move one day. Potential buyers would not be allowed to make any changes to the property unless the changes are consistent with the Mediterranean Revival style of Best’s home.

She says she is in the minority of residents on the street. Most of her neighbors want the historic status because they dislike the mall expansion, Best said.

“I see it as an albatross around our necks,” said Best, a 50-year-old court reporter. “It basically has no history. I think it has charm. It just does not rate historic designation.”