ARCHITECTURE : Pasadena YWCA Puts Historic Building Up for Sale

The YWCA of Pasadena-Foothill Valley, seeking to raise money for an endowment, has put its historic headquarters on the market for $1.8 million.

The 75-year-old building at 78 N. Marengo Ave. was designed by the late architect Julia Morgan, who also designed Hearst Castle.

The organization, which runs a rape-crisis program and a shelter for homeless women and children, first tried to sell the building more than two years ago for $2.5 million, said Executive Director Valerie Coachman-Moore. There were no buyers and it has been on and off the market since then. It was listed at the lower price in April.

The costs of maintaining such an old building are too high, Coachman-Moore said.

The proceeds from the sale will be used to set up an endowment fund to provide a steady source of income for the organization. The YWCA relies on grants and donations to serve an area that stretches from Pasadena on the west to Duarte and Bradbury on the east, and from Altadena on the north down to South Pasadena.

The YWCA occupies a small portion of the building, while the rest has been vacant for years. If the building is sold, the YWCA plans to relocate in the city, Coachman-Moore said.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places because it was designed by Morgan, one of the state’s pioneering women architects.

But after years of neglect, it has become a fixer-upper, admitted Coachman-Moore, who said the YWCA does not have the money to renovate the building.

The building has problems with wiring, plumbing and heating, Coachman-Moore said.