2023 Colorado Street Bridge Party

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Advocacy Watch List

Advocacy Watch List

Pasadena Heritage continuously works, both proactively and in response to specific threats, to preserve and protect historic resources throughout the City of Pasadena. Below is a list of some high-priority buildings, sites, and development projects that we are monitoring closely.

Former YWCA (78 N. Marengo Ave.) and Civic Center

The 1923 Julia Morgan-designed building is a contributor to the Pasadena Civic Center Historic District. It has been vacant for more than 15 years and is in dire need of rehabilitation. Now owned by the City, the building’s condition has seriously deteriorated, despite our constant urging to better secure it from vandalism and rain. The City Council requested more background on the Civic Center and its original Bennett Plan as well as economic analysis of various future uses. Those reports were presented to the Council in 2019. City staff issued an RFP, and a hotel proposal was selected. Litigation had stalled the project, but it has since been resolved in the City’s favor. We await news of progress in negotiations with the hotel developer.

                       
Central Library

Plans for the seismic upgrading of Pasadena’s Central Library are progressing. A primary approach has been chosen using sheer walls for support. Detailed design and study continue, including consideration of space utilization and future needs. The Historic Preservation, Design and Library Commissions have all provided input on the current initial plan. Pasadena Heritage is fully engaged in this process, and are advocating for a preservation-sensitive approach that will allow new uses.

 
Central District Specific Plan

The largest and most significant of the in-progress Specific Plans has been approved by the Planning Commission the City Council in October 2023. This Specific Plan will guide development in Pasadena’s downtown area for approximately the next decade. The plan area also includes some of Pasadena’s most historic neighborhoods and contains five separate National Register Historic Districts: Old Pasadena, Pasadena Civic Center, Pasadena Playhouse, Ford Place and Civic Center Financial. Pasadena Heritage advocated for appropriate development standards that will complement these districts as well as preservation incentives that will make historic resources economically viable and adaptable in changing market conditions. We fought for some important changes including stronger design standards and allowing mixed-use along most of Lake Avenue which will allow the adaptive reuse of some of the office towers.

 
Swanson & Peterson Furniture Factory (Rusnak Porsche)

Several years after Pasadena Heritage’s initial objection to the demolition of the Swanson & Peterson Furniture Factory, property owner Rusnak Auto Group has announced that the building will be preserved and reused as part of a new Porsche dealership. The existing building will contain some of the service bays for the dealership but may also allow vintage car display and other unique customer experiences. The updated project will return to the Planning Commission for Conditional Use Permit approval, and Pasadena Heritage plans to review and respond to the new plans.

 
Colorado Street Bridge

This iconic, National Register-listed bridge constructed in 1912 has unfortunately drawn negative attention due to suicides. A Task Force worked for over a year to provide recommendations for an effective, permanent solution to this ongoing and challenging problem. In the meantime, temporary fencing has been installed to deter suicides. An RFP was issued for the design of the permanent fence, and Donald MacDonald Architects was chosen to develop alternatives. Mock-ups of the proposed barrier were installed, but disliked by the community. Pasadena Heritage and the Institute for Classical Architecture & Art then worked to provide some alternative approaches. The City is now working with a new team of consultants, Apexx Architcture, Chattel, Inc. and PacRim Engineering, who are developing new concepts. The Design team will be making rounds through various City Commissions for input and suggestions.

 
Citywide Survey

The City of Pasadena’s Design and Historic Preservation Department is in the early stages of undertaking a citywide historic survey. Local preservation firm Historic Resources Group (HRG) has been selected as the consultant and will undertake the multi-year research and outreach project. Once outreach efforts begin, we ask that the community become engaged and share information on places that they think are important to Pasadena’s history and development.

 
Central Park Apartments (86 S. Fair Oaks Ave.)

This mixed-use project, proposed by developer Goldrich Kest for the southwest portion of the block that includes the iconic Castle Green and Green Hotel Apartments, has been approved by the Design Commission. After an earlier design proposal received overwhelming pushback from the community, the project was completely redesigned. Pasadena Heritage’s Advocacy Committee met with the design and development team on multiple occasions to provide feedback, which we believe has significantly improved the project.

 
First Trust Building (595 E. Colorado Blvd.)

This historic bank building in the Playhouse Village was designed by noted Pasadena architecture firm Bennett and Haskell and features murals by American impressionist Alson Clark. The storefront was vacated by Bank of the West and the building owners are looking for a new tenant. Spectra, a well- regarded preservation contractor, has undertaken some restoration work including the cleaning of the ceilings. We hope a new tenant who will preserve and activate the beautiful interior can be found.

 
Roosevelt Elementary School

Roosevelt School in Pasadena, which sits northwest of the 134 and 210 interchange, has sat vacant for several years after it was closed by PUSD. The district has begun to analyze the site for redevelopment, and would provide “workforce” housing for teachers in the district. Simultaneously, a group of parents have submitted a landmark application for the school. The school was originally built as the “Roosevelt School for Handicapped Children” in 1953 by architects Eugene Weston and Keith Marston, in the wake of the Polio epidemic. The design featured early accessible solutions decades before the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. Although Planning Staff could not determine the eligibility of the building at this time, the decision will likely be called up by the Historic Preservation Commission, which will allow more research to be done. We are awaiting additional information as to whether the building is landmark eligible given its history.

 
Sunset Reservoir

Pasadena Heritage staff and Advocacy Committee members toured the Sunset Reservoir, east of the City Yards on Mountain Street in Northwest Pasadena. The two reservoirs, which date back to the late 1800s, are slated for replacement. The project is being undertaken by PWP and is in the environmental review stage.

 
Avon Products Building (2940 E. Foothill Blvd.)

The designated Avon office building, built in 1947 and designed by the renowned LA-based architect Stiles O. Clements, has sat empty for a couple of years since Home Depot opened. In August 2021, the Hearing Officer approved a lot line adjustment that essentially split the historic buildings off from the new Home Depot, which sets up the site to be sold and operated independently. The new Lamanda Park Specific Plan will likely allow new R&D, office and even light-industrial uses in the historic Avon building, which should encourage its reuse.

 
Mayberry & Parker Bridge

The One Arroyo Foundation is in the planning stage for several trail projects in the Arroyo Seco. We have been consulting on one such project that interfaces with the historic Mayberry & Parker Bridge under the larger Colorado Street bridge, built in 1914-15 and designed by Myron Hunt. We have provided feedback on a potential trail linkage that would restore public access to the bridge with only slight alterations to the bridge.

 
Space Bank Site (3200 E. Foothill Blvd.)

The site of a former Naval ordinance testing facility, a plan emerged several years ago to redevelop the property with housing, but that project seems to have stalled. The property had previously been determined as an eligible historic district, but due to contamination, most of the site would have be cleared. Working with Pasadena Heritage, the developer agreed to retain some artifacts and the monumental torpedo-testing tank, and to place them on the site where they will be part of the public spaces. We are waiting to see if that previous plan will move forward.

 
Foothill Liquor Signs (2547 E. Foothill Blvd.)

These two 1950 historic neon signs, known officially as the Liquors & Champagne Bottle Signs but known more commonly as the Foothill Liquor signs, have been removed. At the time of this writing, Pasadena Heritage is working to ascertain their fate.

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