A bad situation turned-into-sucess was lauded by the State of
California Wednesday when Llagas Valley Investors and the City of
Morgan Hill received the Annual Governor
’s Historic Preservation Award.
A bad situation turned-into-sucess was lauded by the State of California Wednesday when Llagas Valley Investors and the City of Morgan Hill received the Annual Governor’s Historic Preservation Award.
The award, one of 14 statewide, was bestowed upon the partnership that rescued the Morgan Hill Grammar School in 2001.
The citation reads:
“This award is to the public and private partnership in Morgan Hill for saving the 1923 Morgan Hill Grammar School. The Grammar School was threatened with demolition by the school district until local groups mobilized in its defense. Ultimately the school was moved and accurately renovated on a new parcel.”
The school building, designed by famed architect William Weeks, had been closed in 1987 and was scheduled to be demolished by the Morgan Hill School District as part of a deal to sell the property to the city.
The city has since built its community center on the site.
A determined cadre of women led by Gloria Pariseau, Linda Ullah and helped by a former mayor, Beth Wyman, decided to save the school by knocking on doors until they found the right mix of help. Pariseau enlisted her boss Gary Walton of Custom One to move the building, renovate it and rent it out to an appropriate resource, which turned out to be Carden Academy, a private school.
Walton put together Llagas Valley Investors – his partners are Jerry and Phyllis DiSalvo and Gene Woerner – to undertake the project. The city’s Redevelopment Agency granted $600,000 to pay for moving the building and some renovation expenses.
When the partnership was complete, the building was severed into 13 pieces and moved to a new home at 410 Llagas Ave., near Hale Avenue, where it was restored enough to be familiar to former students and teachers.
Knox Mellon, the state historic preservation officer, described why the awards were presented.
“We are trying to attain a goal of greater awareness of historic preservation,” Mellon told the roomful of historically appreciative people.
Walton accepted a plaque in a historic hearing room in the old Capitol Building, accompanied by Pariseau, Wyman and Ginny Grimsich, a Historical Society member.
Mayor Dennis Kennedy and Councilman Greg Sellers also accepted the award on behalf of the city and the RDA.
Walton said later that the job was a way to reinvest in the community but it wasn’t easy.
Asked if he would do it again, Walton replied, “absolutely. But it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
Carden, which opened in Sept. 2002, has a 10-year lease on the building though other groups rent the building outside of school hours.
The Governor’s Historic Preservation Awards were inaugurated in 1986, sponsored by California State Parks and the Office of Historic Preservation. The award is given annually to groups and agencies who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to excellence in historic preservation. A recently added emphasis stresses “green” or sustainable preservation. Ruth Coleman, State Parks director, also attended the ceremony.
DIVERSE PROJECTS
Other winning projects – a culturally and geographically diverse group – included an archeological study, “Before California” by a UCSB professor and a walking tour of Campbell, with brochures widely distributed, “making people aware of the city’s history.”
China Lake, home of a Naval Air Station in the Mojave Desert, saved and documented not only native cultural resources but also relics of the cold war weapons program, so prominent in the area.
The Santa Barbara Historical Society was awarded for its painting of its home, the Fernald Mansion. The group had the paint layers analyzed and discovered its original color was monochromatic – unlike the “Painted Lady” mix they were expecting. The Historical Society was praised for having the courage to stick to the original color scheme when the urge to a more colorful scheme was large.
Displaying an appreciation of religious and ethnic diversity, the state awarded La Paloma Guild of Fresno for its “Fresno Tours”, a unique panorama of that city’s ethnic churches, of which there are many.
Closer to home, a project to restore a World War II “lightship” was singled out. The ships acted as movable lighthouses. The award-winning project of the U.S. Lighthouse Society is anchored at Jack London Square in Oakland, next to the ship the Palomar.
The city of Wilmington, near Long Beach, was singled out for its educational video teaching students about local history.
More stories on the Morgan Hill School/Carden Academy preservation project can be found at www.morganhilltimes.com/ Details on the state program: ohp.parks.ca.gov/
