Conservancy
Fires Up to Relocate Shotgun House |
By Anita Varghese
Staff Writer
December 17 -- The Santa Monica Conservancy last week
won its bid to relocate, rehabilitate and operate a century-old
“shotgun house” as a historic preservation resource
center, likely putting an end to a decade-long saga.
Moved twice and saved twice from demolition, the Shotgun House,
which is still owned by the City, will be relocated to City-owned
land at Norman Place and Second Street in Ocean Park, where it will
serve as headquarters for the Conservancy.
The Conservancy -- which will pay $1 rent per year for 20 years
-- will hold board and committee meetings in the house, which dates
back to the 1890s and is believed to be Santa Monica’s last
intact shotgun house.
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| Shotgun house at original site at 2712
Second Street (Photos courtesy of the Santa Monica Conservancy) |
“The Council’s actions with respect to the Shotgun
House have been admirable,” said Sherrill Kushner, chair of
the Conservancy Shotgun House Committee. “It is certainly
one of the most humbling buildings, and while lacking in grandeur,
Council members have recognized it as a symbol of Santa Monica’s
early beginnings.
“We at the Santa Monica Conservancy are in it for the long
haul,” Kushner said. “We have the expertise. We have
the drive. We need the lease.”
Under terms approved by the council, the City will spend $84,000
to improve and prepare the site for permanent relocation of the
house, as well as maintain the adjacent public parking lot.
The Conservancy is obligated to raise funds from $260,000 to $278,000
to relocate and rehabilitate the house as well as find an estimated
$10,000 per year to properly operate the facility for public use
and maintain custodial, landscaping and security tasks.
Before Tuesday’s vote, Council member Pam O’Connor
wondered if a conflict of interest could ensue if the Conservancy
opposes or supports a project and uses center resources to advocate
for or against the project while denying the same kind of access
to the opponent in any development process.
The Conservancy has taken advocacy positions on projects in Santa
Monica heard by the City Council and other City policy-making boards
and commissions.
“Where is the line?” O’Connor asked. “Does
a person who is a party in a quasi-judicial hearing have an edge
in the debate? What about advocacy and using one’s position
of authority?
“I have concerns because historic preservation in Santa Monica
has become neighbor against neighbor and a very adversarial process,”
she said.
Council members unanimously approved selection of the Conservancy
as sole tenant after City Attorney Marsha Moutrie assured them that
state law limits the political activities of tax-exempt, nonprofit
organizations.
“The resource center should not enhance the status that the
Conservancy has should it choose to comment on a matter before the
Landmarks Commission or the City Council,” Moutrie said.
“All public input is considered equally and the fact that
an individual or group occupies a structure on City land does not
change the weight of any comments,” she said.
Council member Ken Genser said that numerous nonprofits who lease
city-owned property in Santa Monica and Los Angeles present their
opinions in quasi-judicial public hearings.
Originally located at 2712 Second Street, the house is typical
of the tiny turn of the century structures that once dotted Santa
Monica -- narrow, one-story dwellings without any hallways and with
each room placed in a single-file order.
If somebody was to fire a shotgun from the front door, the bullet
would fly through the house and out the back door without hitting
anything else in the house, hence its name.
Efforts to preserve the small, worn wooden structure began in 1998
when the property owner applied for a demolition permit and the
Landmarks Commission designated the house a city landmark.
After an appeal, the City Council allowed its demolition in 2000.
But historic preservationists, led by the Ocean Park Community
Organization (OPCO), purchased the house and received City approval
in 2002 to temporarily relocate it to Santa Monica Airport.
By 2005, OPCO had disbanded amidst charges of financial wrongdoing
by its leader, and the City relocated the house to city-owned property
at 1401 Olympic Boulevard to pave the way for construction of Airport
Park.
Since 2005, the Shotgun House has been at the Olympic Boulevard
site, and in 2006, the City obtained ownership.
This summer, the City Council approved the Norman Place and Second
Street site as a permanent location and directed staff to receive
bids from nonprofit organizations to lease the house for public
purposes.
The Conservancy’s proposed historic preservation resource
center will open to the public for 12 hours a week with additional
hours made by appointment for school groups and historians wanting
to study Santa Monica history.
Resources provided by the center include small workshop space for
training people who construct and rehabilitate historic structures
and an electronic database of material suppliers, consultants, architects,
artisans and engineers who work in the historic preservation industry.
Center and Conservancy staff or volunteers will be available to
the public to answer historic preservation questions.
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