By Susan Motander
History was a major theme at the Monrovia City Council meeting on Tuesday, April 19. Not only did the council give the Santa Fe Depot historic designation status, but the public library announced an oral history program focusing on veterans and the city manager announced plans to begin looking at selling the city hall annex building, which was the 100th building given landmark status in the city.
At its last meeting the historic preservation commission voted to recommend giving the depot landmark status using California’s Historical Resource Status Codes designation 5S3 that makes it eligible for national historic land marking as well. Many preservationists in the community have asked for years for the station to be given the safeguard of historic status, but the code requires the owner of the property to be involved in the designation process. Originally the station was owned by the railroad and then by Metro. It was not until 2013 that the city acquired the property.
This building is actually the third depot at the location. As the city’s application notes, the “present depot building, designed by noted railway architect William H. Mohr and constructed by Sumner-Sollett Company, was completed in 1926. Mohr’s previous work included stations in Oakland (1910), San Bernardino (1918), and Phoenix, Ariz. (1923). Mohr’s final documented Southern California Santa Fe station is the Claremont Depot dedicated in November 1927.”
The depot was designed in a Spanish Colonial Revival style with neoclassical details. It is classified as a combination depot with both passenger and freight functions in one station. The east end of the station has interior and exterior waiting areas, with the baggage and freight room on the west end leading to a large open platform.
The historic status is based on the building meeting four of the criteria for designation: it is significant to the history of the community, it was designed by a renowned Santa Fe architect – William A. Monrovia, it is an excellent example of the Spanish Colonial Revival style, and it is an important part of the community.
The feelings of many in the preservation community were summed up best by Councilmember Gloria Crudgington when she literally emitted an audible sigh of relief when the council voted for the historic designation.
Later in the meeting Crudgington asked City Manager Oliver Chi about the situation with another city-owned landmark end building, the so-called city hall annex, the Victorian house at the southeast corner of Lime and Ivy Avenues across from city hall. The building has been vacant for several years since the re-organization of the city staff and the offices to the main city buildings.
Last year the city had asked for estimates on the cost of repairing and painting the building. These indicated that the needed work would cost more than $200,000. A part of the reason for the high cost was the need to remove lead-based paint on and in the building, and to do so at the “prevailing wage.” Chi said the staff was in the process of obtaining appraisals in order to consider placing the house on the market. He said the issue would be brought before the council in the next few months.
As a last historical note, one of the city’s librarians announced an oral history project to record memories of veterans of their time in the service. For more information on this program, contact the Monrovia Public Library at (626) 256-8274.
