Retailer Balks at Panel’s Ruling to Preserve Mural in Historic Building : Long Beach: The president of Z Gallerie says it’s too costly to relocate the Masonic Temple’s sunset painting.

A fiery orange and red mural of a setting sun, painted on a wall in Long Beach’s oldest non-residential building, could thwart a trendy retail chain’s plans to open a store in the landmark.

Z Gallerie, which sells contemporary furniture and art reproductions, has been negotiating with city agencies to set up shop in the 91-year-old building, a former Masonic Temple three doors from the chain’s existing Pine Avenue store.

The Los Angeles-based company wants to demolish the interior wall on which the mural is painted so that it can create an open warehouse-style store similar to its other outlets. But the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission, which considers proposed changes to landmark buildings, has ruled that the unsigned work must be preserved.

“We want to protect the historic fabric of the lodge,” said C. William Avery, chairman of the heritage commission and a Mason. “It is a landmark.”

The commission said the entire wall could be moved, or the 40-foot-long artwork could be relocated to another wall within the lodge.

Joseph Zeiden, president of Z Gallerie, said an art preservation expert estimated that it would cost $80,000 to relocate the mural. “They want me to preserve it, but they don’t have any money to help me,” he said.

Zeiden added that the cost is not the only factor. He said he wants to remove the mural from the building because it will detract from the store’s appearance. “It’s got to be gone from the property completely,” he said.

Z Gallerie has appealed to the city’s Planning Commission, the final authority on the matter. The commission is scheduled to hear the appeal at 1:30 p.m. today.

Avery said the mural was painted on the west wall on the second floor of the temple so that a highly respected lodge member, the senior warden, could sit beneath a sunset during gatherings. The lodge’s worshipful master sat on the eastern side of the room under another painting that was moved to the Mason’s Bixby Knolls Neptune Lodge, he said.

Avery said his Masonic affiliation did not influence his vote. “Setting Masonry aside, I look at historic fabric, the building itself and what it represents to the city--that is why I came on the board,” he said. “I see no conflict there.”

William F. Stovall, the Masons’ California grandmaster, said his organization is not willing to contribute funding to preserve the mural. “It is no longer our mural, so we do not have much to say about it,” he said.

Five of the heritage commissioners, including Avery, voted to approve Z Gallerie’s plans in August with the stipulation that the painting would be preserved. Four commissioners voted against the entire project and five others abstained or were absent. A 15th commissioner has since been appointed and did not participate in the voting.

The Masons vacated the turn-of-the-century building in 1971 after the city ordered the organization to make seismic improvements that it could not afford, Avery said. In 1984, the building was sold to Lloyd Ikerd, a Long Beach businessman, who spent $3 million restoring and upgrading it over seven years, only to lose it in foreclosure to Bank of America in February.

“To have this guy go into a totally restored building and gut it just destroys me,” Ikerd said of the Z Gallerie proposal.

Susan F. Shick, Long Beach’s community development director, said the redevelopment board voted to help Z Gallerie acquire the building. “Getting a reliable tenant to use it long term is the key to preservation,” she said.

The former lodge currently has two nonprofit tenants, Beach Charities and the American Women’s Economic Development Corp. The organizations would have to relocate if Z Gallerie moves in.

Ruthann Lehrer, the city’s historic preservation officer, said that the heritage commission and Z Gallerie have been negotiating changes in the building for months, and that the mural is the last point of contention.

Z Gallerie would be allowed to remove several walls, construct a new freight elevator, install skylights, remove interior plaster to expose brick and repaint ceiling panels.