Freeborn and some 25 other residents filled chamber seats to encourage the council to keep the almost 72-year old home on the Sunnyvale Heritage Resource Inventory.

In a unanimous vote, the council voted to go along with the Heritage Preservation Commission's decision, to keep the house on the heritage list.

"I grew up in that house, and I feel very strongly that the ranch house should remain on the heritage preservation list," Freeborn said.

According to Sunnyvale city's ordinance, if a building is considered a historical resource, significant changes--like redevelopment or demolition--can only be done with the approval of heritage preservation commission.

There are actually two houses on the property, the original historical home and a second, smaller home built in the 1960s. Only the original home is on the list; the commission and the council both said the newer, smaller, house has no significant historical significance. The original home is a large Spanish-style building with a tile roof and arched doorways on a 25,000-square-foot lot.

Edwin O'Farrell--a real estate broker and architect representing current owner Mildred Citraro--said that Citraro wants to move into the smaller house because the larger house is too much for her since her husband died. O'Farrell said that they wanted the house off the list because it was just another burden for Citraro to deal with when changing or selling the home.

"This house is just a little too big for her," he said, indicating Citraro who was sitting in the audience.

But the issue of changing the secondary home was not being debated in any of the councils or commissions, because all parties decided that the house was of no significant historical value. But because O'Farrell was still asking that the main house be taken off the registry, councilwoman Melinda Hamilton questioned the true motivation of O'Farrell's appeal.

"It seems to me that what you are looking at is trying to increase the value of the property," Hamilton told O'Farrell, who then admitted that the house would be more desirable to developers if it were not a heritage resource. O'Farrell said that there were no standing plans to demolish the property if it were taken off the registry.

O'Farrell said that Citraro was also concerned about the costs of maintaining such a large house. But councilman Chris Moylan pointed out that if a house is designated a historical landmark--and the house is qualified to become that--the cost of maintenance can be offset by lower property taxes under a Mills Act Contract. Moylan also asked the house's supporters to help Citraro and any future in owners in maintaining the house as a heritage resource.

According to a historical and architectural evaluation on the house, there are four criteria the National Register of Historic Places uses when determining the historical value of a house. Homes are considered valuable if the were associated with events that had significant impact on history or associated with the lives of significant historical figures. Also, if a home embodies specific characteristics of a type, period or method of construction, or represents the work of a master or possesses high artistic value, it is considered for the list. Finally, if a home has, or may have, important information on history or prehistory it is protected.

While the home--once part of the Caviglia's fruit business--is representative of Sunnyvale's celebrated past as the "Valley of Heart's Delight," the report lists the "distinct architectural character," of the house as the primary value point.