Landmark Restoration Completed

After spending years restoring a 77-year-old home built by Placentia pioneer Charles Wagner Jr., its new owners will reopen it to the public Friday.

Gwendolyn Fandel, who with her husband, Mark, bought the stately white Colonial Revival home 4 1/2 years ago, said, “We want to open it up to the public so they can see a fine example of a historic landmark.”

The Fandels, who live in Anaheim, have renovated the 5,000-square-foot, two-story home to its original condition. It has “gone from almost being torn down to a beautiful showplace,” Gwendolyn Fandel said.

The couple have “done most of the work ourselves,” she said. “We’ve really enjoyed it, but basically it’s been a labor of love.”

The work included plumbing, plastering and replacing the porte-cochere. Fandel said she also wants to redo the kitchen, turned into a commercial kitchen by previous owners.

A sit-down elevator installed by Wagner when his wife, Maude, became ill, has been removed, but Fandel hopes to locate the original elevator and put it back in the home.

Wagner, a citrus rancher whose family settled here in 1873, built the house because his wife wanted a larger home for entertaining. It has a dramatic front exterior, wooden columns, and oak and mahogany interior woodwork.

Since the Wagner family moved from the home in 1978, it has housed offices for a church, a tea house and a boutique. From 1991 to 1993, it was vacant and fell into disrepair.

Gwendolyn Fandel will turn it into a bridal resource center, where wedding professionals will pay a membership fee to display their services to bridal clients. Mark Fandel will use a rear building for office space.

The public is invited to tour the home and learn more about its history, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free. A grand opening will be from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Information: (714) 572-1363.