The building that saw 70 years of The Morgan Hill Times written, edited and printed has been sold to a local investor. The times may change; The Times will not.
The 110-year-old newspaper founded in 1894 by George Edes will stay in the building, though in a newly renovated office, freeing up downtown space for offices or retail use.
“We don’t need the whole building any more,” said Walt Glines, the paper’s executive editor. “The newspaper will be here for a long time to come.”
Since printing and the business and advertising offices were consolidated with The Dispatch newspaper operations in Gilroy several years ago, 6,000-square-feet of space are no longer needed.
Building owner Tony Villafranca, an area native, plans to renovate the 1902 redwood structure at 30 East Third St. (called Nob Hill Street in 1902) into offices and/or retail during three phases, all designed by architect Reid Lerner.
Plans are to enhance and improve the building’s historical details.
“I appreciate the historical value of the building,” Villafranca said. “I want to preserve that as part of Morgan Hill history. And, yes, I plan to keep the mural.”
Painted on the exterior is a mural of a man, said to be Hiram Morgan Hill, reading a newspaper.
“We want to make it stylish,” Villafranca said.
RENOVATION
Phase one renovation will close off the western addition from the interior, return the large front window to its function as an entry door. The window was once a roll-up door through which rolls of newsprint were delivered, on their way to the printing presses in the back.
Villafranca said he also plans to upgrade the exterior, then the remaining ground floor space and, finally, renovate the second floor apartment. That space was occupied in the 1930s by the family of Robert Couchman, the building’s owner and Times’ editor from 1934-1941, and by at least one other family in the 1960s.
The second floor is one of the few period apartments left in town and includes a living room/dining area, a kitchen with pantry and nook, once used as a darkroom, three bedrooms, one bath and an enclosed utility porch. Though the space is no longer habitable, period wainscoting, built-in cupboards and woodwork can be seen under layers of paint. Period windows, some with stained glass, can be seen from the street.
An exterior staircase was removed in an earlier renovation and replaced with one that connects the two floors with a staircase emerging in the middle of the former dining room. Villafranca said the staircase will be moved outside to make an exterior entrance.
GHOSTS
Rumors of a ghost are persistent but remain unproved, though creaks and an occasional groan from upstairs are noticed by reporters working late. At least one person died in the building.
Daniel McGuire from Phoenix, Ariz. McGuire, tells when he lived upstairs with his mother during 1960-61.
McGuire was a student at Live Oak High School, still on the Britton campus, when he returned home to find his mother gone.
“My mother died of a heart attack in the kitchen,” McGuire remembered on a recent visit to the apartment.
THE FUTURE
Villafranca plans to move his Farmers Insurance office upstairs when the space is ready; in the meantime, he is sharing space downstairs with The Times. Dan Craig, executive director of the Downtown Association, has moved his office into the building. Lerner and Villafranca said they have not yet decided on a color scheme.
“The city has certain color scheme standards,” Villafranca said. “We’re open and flexible.”
A ramp through the new entry door will be a major safety improvement. When, in 1919, the building was moved back from Monterey Road and turned 90 degrees to face Third Street, it was installed on a newly poured concrete foundation. While the foundation probably provided stability during subsequent earthquakes, Villafranca said, it also raised the floor several inches from the sidewalk, causing people to step up and down when coming in the door.
“I’m impressed with the building, that it is structurally very sound,” Villafranca said. “It wasn’t retrofitted after Loma Prieta (the 6.9 earthquake in 1989). People assumed it was in bad shape because of the peeling paint but it is in surprisingly stable shape.” He said people would see a big improvement just from cleaning up the exterior and a few coats of paint.
Lerner – who also designed the award-winning renovation of the old Morgan Hill School into Carden Academy – said he has designs on the building.
“I promise we will be historically sensitive,” Lerner said. “There is a real Victorian underneath the stucco (added in the 1930s by Couchman),” Lerner said. “We’ll install new windows and new trim, totally renovate the building’s outside.”
Lerner also plans a courtyard along the eastern exterior with paving, tables and chairs – all under an ancient oak tree – where people can drink coffee or soda and read the newspaper.
When construction will begin depends, as always, on receiving permits from the city. Both men said they hope to begin later this month and expect phase one to take about 60 days.
The city’s newly completed Downtown Plan encourages retail, commercial and office space for Third Street, the widest street connecting Monterey Road with the train depot and – by 2006 – the new Santa Clara County Courthouse, fronting Butterfield Boulevard and across the train tracks from The Times building, that will hold dozens of potential customers for downtown businesses.
“I’m hoping for small offices upstairs that, along with some of the small Third Street houses, could supply room for attorneys (from the courthouse),” Villafranca said.
The city is also considering building its new 28,000-square-foot library on the Sunsweet property, now owned by Rocke Garcia, between The Times building and Depot Street.
Villafranca’s father was raised in Gilroy where his grandfather had a shoe repair store 80 years or so ago.
“My roots are here,” said Villafranca, who lives in Morgan Hill with his family including son Anthony, a Britton Middle School student.
“With the times changing, Cosco (-type structures) coming in, it will be nice to try to preserve an old building.”
One other thing will not change. Villafranca said he will still call it “The Morgan Hill Times” building.
