Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Council overturns planners' ruling on house demolition

Office building to replace house

By Clarence Cromwell

The historic carpenter gothic building at 634 N. Santa Cruz Ave. will be destroyed after its owner, Michael Shadman, documents the house with photos and videotape and removes a few important parts.

Town Council members decided Oct. 6 that the Planning Commission erred when it found the building to be architecturally and historically significant.

They said they agreed with Shadman, who said the commissioners shouldn't have recommended saving the building after Shadman's historical consultants recommended demolition.

"I don't think anyone should ask for a report, get the report, read the report and then ignore the report," Councilmember Linda Lubeck said.

The Planning Commission's decision was misconstrued, Commissioner Kathy Morgan said.

"We didn't ignore the report," Morgan said. "The reason we voted to save the building was because of all the information in the report."

Archives and Architecture, a San Jose- based research firm, concluded that the house has little architectural or historic value and recommended that the town let Michael Shadman knock the house down and build his 6,580-square-foot office and retail building in its place. The commission voted 5-2, however, to deny Shadman's application.

Commissioners criticized the historians' report.

"Based on the information that was in [the report]," Morgan said, "I thought this building should not be demolished in favor of an anonymous pseudo-mission office building.

"This has the craftsmanship, the detailing that the Buffalo building didn't have," she continued. "Even the remodeling is in a historic style."

Commissioner Marcia Jensen, who usually opposes preservation efforts, agreed that the report was lacking.

"I thought that the conclusions the report reached weren't justified," Jensen said. "It didn't fit."

Before recommending demolition, the report painstakingly detailed the house's architectural merits and historical place in town.

Unlike the Buffalo Trading Co. building--which consisted of parts robbed from buildings over the decades--the gothic house was probably completed by the 1880s, when local carpenter John Carhart was associated with the property. The remodeling likewise was completed before the turn of the century and with masterful workmanship, according to the Archives and Architecture report.

Historians hypothesized that Carhart obtained two small houses and joined them together with an Italianate facade, which would have been popular during the 1880s.

The oldest part of the building dates to the 1860s, researchers concluded from the redwood doors and tongue-and-groove redwood planks. This early section of the house was constructed "with the best available materials by a master carpenter," the report states.

Archives and Architecture nevertheless, concluded that preserving the house and incorporating it into Shadman's complex of office and retail space would be a bad idea because that would make the project too expensive.

That wasn't the first report Shadman bought pertaining to his property.

In December 1996 Applied Engineering, commissioned by Shadman, reported that the house has been weakened by dry rot and termite damage.

Councilmembers unanimously approved demolition of the house, after reading the reports and hearing Shadman's beef with the commission.

Before voting, Councilmember Jan Hutchins asked Assistant Planning Director Bud Lortz whether the council should doubt the report.

Lortz said no.

The council sent Shadman back to the Planning Commission to redesign his proposed building.

Hutchins said whatever replaces the historic structure should show excellent design standards.

Councilmember Steve Blanton also noted that the design needs some work: "This building is trying to become mission. I don't think it's mission yet."

[ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ]