Historic Grimshaw House Gets New Life

For several years, the grand old Victorian-style house stood idle on blocks, waiting to be restored.

Finally, the turn-of-the-century house, known as the Grimshaw House, is getting a second life.

Workers began restoring the house at Rose Street and Lincoln Avenue last August, and work is expected to be complete by April.

“We’re doing everything to its original condition,” said Jack Hale, 57, who is restoring the house along with partner Gary Krzakala, 34.

The stately house, with verandas and a huge attic, was moved several years ago from West Broadway. The home was built sometime in the late 1800s by the family of Daniel Kraemer, a Placentia pioneer who had business ties in Anaheim. The house’s name reportedly came from the marriage of Kraemer’s daughter, Emma Mary, to Thomas Grimshaw, who lived in the house.

Total restoration cost is about $283,000. Hale, an investor, and Krzakala, an Orange-based general contractor, put in $50,000. The developers also received a $233,000 loan from the city’s Redevelopment Agency. When the house is sold, the pair will repay the loan plus $15,000 for land costs. The agency and the developers will split the profits from the sale of the house.

Through the agency’s preservation program, 27 other historic houses in central Anaheim have been restored instead of demolished. A house at 123 S. Melrose St. will also be restored.

The price tag for the four-bedroom, three-bath Grimshaw house is $385,000, Hale said. The house includes a music room, study, a two-car garage and new plumbing, heating, air-conditioning and electrical systems. It will also have refurbished hardwood floors and a modern kitchen.