What makes a community special? Why choose to live or work there? For many people, the answer lies in a place's historic character. Familiar and established landmarks and neighborhoods provide a link with the past, orient us physically in space, and offer a quality of life that is often missing in more recently developed areas. They provide a sense of identity, distinguishing one community from another.

Historic resources are why Old Pasadena, for example, is experiencing a renaissance, or why another neighborhood in Pasadena has been rechristened "Bungalow Heaven", and propery values have risen accordingly.

The historic character of three communities -- South Pasadena, Pasadena and El Sereno -- is severely threatened by the proposed construction of the extension of the 710 Freeway. Caltrans has documented 11 historical districts containing hundreds of historic properties and 52 individually significant building in or near its path, and has proposed the demolition or removal of as many as 1,500 units of lesser architectural and historic resources and thousands of trees. But these figures, however devastating, tell only part of the story.

Caltrans' historic property survey and proposed mitigation measures are deficient in several respects, including omissions of resources, lack of understanding of the character of historic districts, and insensitivity to the local historical context.

Latest Caltrans Errors

In South Pasadena, an ongoing survey of architectural and historical resources has identified at least three additional residences in the freeway path which may be eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. They are 857 Bank Street, 909 Lyndon, and 930 Oliver.

The house at 857 Bank is a vernacular example of the Queen Anne style, which was popular during the late 19th Century, beginning with the "boom" of 1886-1888. Very few Queen Anne style homes survive in South Pasadena; this example dates from 1890.

In the years just before and after the turn of the century, a residential genere recently named the "American Foursquare" was often chosen for 2-story homes. "Wynyate East", located at 909 Lyndon, is an early illustration of this phase in South Pasadena's architectural evolution, and was build around 1895. It was designed by Frederick Roehrig, architect of the Green Hotel in Pasadena.

An excellent example of the Craftsman style particularly associated with South Pasadena and Pasadena during the first two decades of the 20th Century, 930 Oliver displays the characteristic horizontal lines, natural materials, and undisguised structural elements of the type.

In addition to these three individually significant homes, there are several residential groupings on or near the proposed freeway alignment in South Pasadena which could qualify as historic districts under local ordinance but were missed by Caltrans because of their focus on National Register eligibility.

These include the Ramona Craftsman district, which is possibly just a portion of a larger district extending to the east: the cluster of Revival style residences on Gillette Crescent and Bonita; the Craftsman bungalows on Alpha and Berkshire; and the architecturally notable homes on Columbia, Beacon and Oliver.

Moreover, the South of Mission District, identified by Caltrans as eligible for listing in the National Register, should be expanded to include Glendon Court and possibly Monterey Road.

The community of El Sereno was entirely overlooked when historical resources were documented for the proposed freeway in 1992. A study completed for the City of Los Angeles Planning Department in 1990 identified a potential Historic Preservation Overlay Zone, the Los Angeles equivalent of a historic district, right in the path of the freeway extension.

Characterized by wide, sometimes curving streets lined with street trees and by a mix of Craftsman and Revival style homes, the district appears to be the most intact section of El Sereno. It contains two homes which, in addition to contributing to the historicism of the neighborhood, also may be eligible for individual listing in the National Register for architectural merit. They are 5626 Berkshire, a Craftsman home whose design reflects the influence of Japanese prototypes, and 5606 Berkshire, an eclectic house suggestive of the Mission Revival in appearance.

A Strand of Pearls: The Character of Historic Districts

Historic districts derive their character from the totality of the resources in the district. Individually, buildings in a district may not be notable, but when all of the buildings are seen as a unit, they tell a story about a particular place and time in history. Like a living entity, the parts are interdependent, each connected to another. When some of the parts are removed, the body could die. At best, it might survive in a disabled state. These are the prospects faced by several districts along the path of the proposed freeway.

It is also true of historic districts that not everything within them is of equal significance. Architectural historian Marston Fitch has likened a historic district to a string of graduated pearls. The beads in the center may be the largest, but the beauty of the necklace depends on all the pearls. The smaller ones lead up to the big ones and provide the context. Removal of either the focal points or the background features of a string of pearls or a historic district diminishes its meaning. The selective mitigation measures suggested to alleviate the impacts of the freeways on historic districts are flawed in that they fail to recognize this vital trait.

Finally, in determining "adverse" effects on historic resources and formulating mitigating measures, Caltrans utilized a very focused methodology which, on the one hand, conceeded that demolition of an identified historic resource would be an adverse impact, but did not explore, on the other hand, implications for the buildings next door.

From the very real physical challenges faced by the new freeway neighbors during the years of construction, to the impossibility of maintaining property values and desirability afterwards, the survival of buildings and neighborhoods next to the freeway is in question.

A case in point: Wynyate, an 1887 Queen Anne style mansion which was the home of the first South Pasadena mayor, will be spared, but 20,400 square feet of its property would be taken. Instead of being isolated in solitary grandeur, it would be adjacent to an 8-lane expressway.

Another example: the Buena Vista district, an enclave of five architecturally outstanding homes with substantial historical associations, would see its setting disappear and would, instead, abut the freeway.

Historic Context

South Pasadena was founded as the southern section of the Indiana Colony of 1974. The historic heart of the community lies to either side of the spine of the Colony, Orange Grove. The National Register eligible "North of Mission District", "South of Mission District" and South Pasadena Historic Business District, as well as the El Centro/Indiana area, which was recently named as an historic district, are the oldest neighborhoods in the community and are located in close proximity to the proposed freeway route. In addition to severing the west section of South Pasadena from the rest of the city, the freeway would forever alter the landscape of history.

Many elements make a community. Most of all, there is a sense of place, a cohesiveness that knits it all together. Caltrans, in its freeway myopia, has been overly concrete in its interpretation of historic resources and how they relate to community. In fact, while Caltrans has identified many homes which qualify for listing on the National Register, their methodology many times ignored context and the effect of the freeway on it. Hence, a site like Wynyate can be reduced by over 20,000 square feet and meet their criteria. For those that connect all the dots, it apparently matters only little that history would look directly out onto the fast lane.