Council Votes to Allow Demolition of Mansion

The City Council on Tuesday voted to demolish one of the last links to Arcadia’s colorful founding family, a historic Italian Renaissance-style mansion, to clear the way for a gated community.

Despite preservationists’ concerns, the council, on a 3-2 vote, approved an Orange County developer’s plan to replace the 50-room Anoakia mansion and its 20-acre estate with 31 luxury homes. The estate may be demolished by April.

“I don’t think the taxpayers of this community want me to vote to spend $20 million to buy this property,” Councilman Robert Harbicht said. “I can see no legal reason to deny the applicants legal use of their property.”

Dissenting, Councilwoman Gail Marshall said, “How do other cities manage to preserve their historic sites?”

Anoakia was built in 1913 by Anita Baldwin, daughter of the city’s founder and first mayor, Elias Jackson “Lucky” Baldwin. It has wood-paneled rooms, a bowling alley-turned-library and a huge gymnasium that resembles the Parthenon.

Preservationists said they understand the need to develop the estate but believe any project should incorporate the existing 17,000-square-foot home, which is eligible for National Register of Historic Places.

City officials and the developer, however, said that is impossible with the mansion in the center of the estate and that it is too costly to repair the structure ore convert it for any other use.

Thomas Hover of Newport Beach-based developer Arcadia Oaks said the Anoakia estate is the last prime piece of real estate in Arcadia.