Vintage farmhouses have to be moved from present sites
Years of expecting two vintage farmhouses to join the Old Morgan Hill House on the historic Villa Mira Monte property have come to naught. Instead, one is up for sale and the other may be up for grabs.
The Little Acton Farmhouse, now on wheels on East Fourth Street is up for sale. The (big) Acton House, known as the Historical Museum at 600 W. Main Ave. behind the library, faces an uncertain future because it sits in the footprint of the planned new library. If it won’t be moved to a city site, it faces being torn down or sold to a private developer.
Both are significant pieces of the city’s history.
The city is accepting proposals until April 15, to buy and move the two-story, 1,750-square-foot Little Acton Farmhouse on Fourth Street. Plans to sell the museum could come later unless the library is designed elsewhere on the site.
The little house is to be sold “as is” and must be moved. It will need considerable rehabilitation work inside and out, officials said.
A joint effort between the city and the Morgan Hill Historical Society to move one or both buildings to Villa Mira Monte at 17860 Monterey Road and form a complex of historical buildings may falter because neither party can afford to pursue the original plans.
The city’s Redevelopment Agency had set aside about $300,000 to move the buildings off city property and help with site development – grading, a new foundation, utility installation, building rehab – but that is not enough to complete the project.
PG&E costs of moving power lines along West Main and Monterey to allow the houses to pass by would cost upwards of $150,000; the society estimates the entire rehabilitation project would cost $1.5 million.
The money and government rules are almost deal-breakers, according to Gloria Pariseau, the Historical Society president.
“The escalating costs of construction and government regulations are becoming prohibitive,” Pariseau said Thursday. “
Steve Pendleton, the city’s housing rehabilitation coordinator, said the issue is really over labor costs.
“They (the society) will be using our money ($300,000) and the government says they must pay prevailing wages,” Pendleton said.
What the society does to the house after it leaves city property and with money not from city funds is their own affair, he said. The prevailing wage rule would no longer apply.
“This is not a city project,” Pendleton stressed. “It’s a Historical Society project done with some city money.”
The old Morgan Hill House (built by Hiram Morgan Hill and his wife Diana Murphy Hill between 1884-86 – they called the then 6,000-acre estate Villa Mira Monte) was renovated by the Historical Society between 1993 and 1998 using local contractors who often would charge less because of the building’s historical significance.
Planning Manager Jim Rowe said he had only recently become aware that things were stymied between the RDA and the society. He plans to meet with Pariseau on Monday to see if anything can be done to keep the museum for the city and the society.
“We’ll look at the options and what the society’s minimum requirements are – they won’t necessarily need to finish the building (the $1.5 million) to get it moved,” Rowe said. “I think we can come up with something to enable them to receive the building, go in and turn on the lights.”
He will take the issue to the City Council on April 6.
Little Acton Farmhouse
Once owned by the Actons, an old-time Morgan Hill farming family, the Little Acton House (now for sale) began life in 1912 on the Catherine Dunne Ranch, near where Butterfield Boulevard crosses East Dunne Avenue.
In November 1999 the house was boarded up and slated for demolition to make room for a Butterfield extension and the Terracina housing development. The house was moved to Fourth Street to await its fate.
The little Acton house is standard farmhouse of the early 1900s. A living room, dining room, bath, kitchen and bedroom are downstairs with two more bedrooms upstairs.
Virginia Acton, who lived in the house in the 1960s with her husband, Al, said that it took her quite a while to discover that there was an attic because the door was concealed behind a dresser. The Acton family sold the house in the early 1970s.
The Historical Museum
The larger Acton House, the museum on West Main, is an example of early 20th century rural architecture.
It was originally built on Warren Avenue on Nob Hill, the downtown water tower hill west of Monterey, between Dunne and Second Street.
Built in 1911 by John Acton, who came from Minnesota with his family in 1910, it was ever-after referred to as the “Acton House.” Construction costs were $2,700.
After John and his wife, Charlotte, died in 1955 and 1956 respectively, their daughter, Halcyon inherited the house. It left Acton family ownership in 1958 or 1959.
New owners Chris and Ida Williams donated the house to the city in 1980 for use as a historical museum.
The building was moved to its present site on West Main in 1983 and refurbished inside and out. While the city owns the building, the Historical Society owns and operates the museum and its contents.
Carol Holzgrafe covers City Hall for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at ch********@mo*************.com or pho-ning (408) 779-4106 Ext. 201.
