Eviction Day for Uninvited House Guests

The city’s historic Howe-Waffle House has come close to destruction twice before, and on both occasions it was saved. This week, it’s being rescued again.

The 108-year-old Victorian-era home has been invaded by termites and rats that have gnawed the frame, seriously damaging the four porches and outdoor staircases. Wiring, wallpaper and rugs also have been damaged.

“This is our third rescue effort,” local historian Tim Rush said Monday as a tent went over the house to fumigate it.

However, when the tent comes off on Wednesday, the damaged portions will need to be repaired or replaced at a cost of about $12,000, said Rush, a board member of the Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society.

Society members are urging the public to pitch in because funds aren’t available.

Until 1975, the 12-room structure served as a boarding house and stood at Bush Street and Civic Center Drive.

When the city announced plans to raze it during a widening of Civic Center Drive, a group of residents formed the historical society, raised money and had the house moved to Civic Center Drive and Sycamore Street. For more than 20 years, the group leased the land at no cost from the city, which leased it at no cost from the county.

When the county filed for bankruptcy protection in December 1994, officials sold surplus property to raise revenue. The plan was to sell the land under the Howe-Waffle to the highest bidder.

The society stepped in again, raising $20,000 for a down payment on the property and getting a 20-year loan for the rest of the $140,000 needed, Rush said.

The house is named for the woman who built it, Willella Howe-Waffle, Orange County’s first female doctor. Completed in 1889, the 2 1/2-story mansion is a showcase of the Queen Anne-style Victorian, with stained-glass windows, fish-scale shingles, bay windows and high turrets.

Inside, Howe-Waffle’s 1881 obstetric certificate hangs on a wall along with old photographs. Her medical instruments and books are also on display, and a brown leather chair marks the site where the doctor delivered babies. She died in 1924.

Information and donations: (714) 547-6558, Ext. 2; or 120 Civic Center Drive West, Santa Ana, CA 92701.