Photograph by Robert Scheer
The Warner Hutton House, circa 1896, was moved to its present location on Fruitvale Avenue from Sousa Lane, in the Highway 85 corridor, and preserved by the city and Caltrans.
Before voting to take back the landmark status on what's left of the demolished Hannah McCarty House on Lomita Avenue, Mayor Paul Jacobs called for a review of the city's policy on landmark buildings.
On March 20, the council passed an ordinance rescinding city landmark status granted in 1989 to the century-old Pioneer/Greek Revival-style cottage.
In 1993, Mike Ingster bought the historic house with plans to restore it. Today, the porch, two outside walls and the foundation are all that remain. The cost of bringing the house up to current codes changed Ingster's mind about sprucing it up. The building's rotting framework required extensive changes to meet current building codes, he said. So he decided to rebuild the house.
The McCarty house filled a niche in local history. It was built by Hannah McCarty, a Saratoga businesswoman and landowner. Her husband, Martin, named the community McCartysville, after himself, and Saratoga went by that name until about 1864, when Martin McCarty died.
Bob Peepari, former chairman of the Heritage Preservation Commission, said Ingster could have legally torn down the entire house had he wanted to. The city's heritage ordinance lets it halt demolition of a historic building for 30 days. After that, the owner can do whatever he or she wants with the structure.
Nevertheless, the McCarty cottage's demolition underscores a threat to Saratoga's stock of historic buildings. The 101 structures or sites remaining on the inventory are an element of the city's rustic, rural atmosphere. But the city lacks authority to protect the buildings without buying them.
The day after rescinding the house's historic status, Jacobs suggested to a reporter that the city and the Heritage Preservation Commission should look at preservation when the two panels hold a joint session on June 11.
"When we do meet with them next, we ought to take an overall look at our heritage preservation ordinances to see if they're as good as they can be, whether they're strong enough," Jacobs said. That the McCarty House is the first city-designated landmark to be torn down may indicate the ordinance is doing its job, he said.
Another important factor, Jacobs added, is how important the houses are to Saratoga residents.
"Do we want to be able to prevent people from tearing down a house because of its historic significance?" he asked. "There is a question about whether or not you can force someone to keep a house that's unsafe or rotten inside."
Jacobs emphasized that he isn't advocating a policy change, just a discussion of the issue.
Although the McCarty cottage represents the only landmark lost, four other structures listed on the city's inventory of historic buildings have been demolished, two of them during the last year. The city compiled the inventory of its historic buildings and properties in 1987.
The Hogg Residence, situated at 14024 Saratoga Ave. since1905, was razed to make way for five new houses, approved in June 1994.
The J.C. Cunningham House, at 14120 Saratoga Ave., burned in a fire district training exercise on March 16. The owners got city approval last April to destroy the house, built in 1889.
Rancho Bella Vista, an Italianate villa built in 1917, was torn down about two years ago, according to Saratoga planner George White. A developer subdivided the lot in 1978, leaving the villa on a parcel of its own. But when the property finally sold, the new owner decided to knock down the house.
Cherrymount, a 135-year-old farmhouse at 19474 Burgundy Way, disappeared four or five years ago, White said. A four-lot subdivision is under construction on the property now. The city gave permission to destroy the house in 1976, when the subdivision was proposed.
White said restoring old houses is usually the most expensive type of construction. Many owners prefer to knock down an old house and build something new, a cheaper alternative.
Some, White explained, come to City Hall with plans to restore a historic house, then return later asking to tear it down after meeting with expensive obstacles. When a property owner adds to an old building, the old part of the building must be upgraded to meet current codes. The task can prove daunting for owners of century-old buildings. And after houses are made unlivable by walls torn open, there's no turning back. Owners have to choose between finishing the cumbersome renovation or demolishing to make way for another building.
Many owners of historic Saratoga houses, however, have renovated. White said at least three heritage houses have been extensively remodeled during the past year.
One of those is the Van Arsdale House at 14690 Oak St. Kathryn and John Holt estimate that they'll spend $250,000 to remodel and expand the Queen Anne-style house they paid $290,000 for more than two years ago.
They bought it from a member of the Van Arsdale family, the clan that had owned the house since 1946. After tearing away small nooks attached to the 96-year-old building, the Holts added 12 feet to the north side of the house, from front to back. With plywood for floors and bare sheetrock walls, they're still immersed in their project. During the last 18 months, the Holts applied custom-made wood siding, identical to the original sheathing, and replaced some of the gingerbread decoration on two sides of the house. Now they are rebuilding the porch, whose milled, whitewashed posts had somehow become part of a lean-to behind the garage.
"We just fell in love with it and wanted to restore it," Katherine Holt said.
John Holt, who drew plans for the renovation himself, said he tried to "maintain the flavor of the old style and still make it modern, up-to-date."
The Holts are not alone.
Carol Mauldin spent $120,000 about six years ago reviving the century-old Nardie House, at 14650 Sixth St., about $10,000 more than she paid for the building. The 1,000-square-foot Queen Anne cottage began tilting on its supports some time before Mauldin bought it. She had it lifted about four feet with a crane and settled onto a new concrete-block foundation, making room for parking underground.
The house once belonged to McCarty, the woman who built the landmark house on Lomita Avenue.
"I went through a lot to get that restored," Mauldin said. But she added that she had certain reasons for enduring the process: "Because I love this town. I love to preserve this city, and I love this building."
The city itself has come to own a few historic buildings over the years.
When construction of Route 85 threatened the 1,840-square-foot Warner Hutton House, the National Historic Preservation Act required Caltrans to make efforts to relocate it. Caltrans must do so with all buildings eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, as the Warner Hutton House is.
On June 29, 1990, a huge tractor-trailer pulled the house 1.5 miles, from the Sousa Lane site it had covered since 1896, to a vacant Fruitvale Avenue plot next to City Hall.
Saratoga moved another pair of historic buildings in 1976 to protect them from demolition. The Swanee Building and the McWilliams House stood on Big Basin Way until that year. Both buildings now occupy Saratoga Historical Park at 20450 Saratoga-Los Gatos Road.
The Swanee Building served as a drugstore, dress shop, candy store and grocery at various times. Today, the Saratoga Historical Museum leases it from the city.
The James McWilliams House, now home of the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce, was built in the 1850s by the second blacksmith to set up shop in Saratoga.
The city's heritage ordinance established the Heritage Preservation Commission and its inventory of heritage resources. The inventory includes 105 significant historical buildings, including the four that no longer exist. To be listed on the inventory, a building must meet one of seven criteria related to the building's style of architecture, prominence in the community and historic significance.
Fourteen inventoried properties are registered landmarks. Almost all the properties on the inventory are eligible to be landmarks: They meet two of the city's seven historical criteria. But the owner of a building must ask the city for landmark status, whereas inclusion in the inventory is automatic if a building meets one of the criteria. The City Council grants landmark status with a city ordinance, at the recommendation of the Heritage Preservation Commission.
The original heritage preservation ordinance requires a permit for architectural changes, additions or demolition of a designated landmark.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, April 3, 1996.
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