The Prose of Preservation

MYTH:  Alhambra doesn’t have any buildings or neighborhoods that are important enough to be worth saving.

FACT:  In 1984, the City of Alhambra received a grant from the State of California to commission a historic survey and inventory of two of Alhambra’s many residential single-family neighborhoods.  This effort was intended as a first step toward making historic preservation an official part of Alhambra’s planning policy.  Although limited to two neighborhoods, the survey identified more than 600 Alhambra buildings as possessing historic or architectural significance, including several that were potentially eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Our local heritage is represented in many forms:  mansions and modest bungalow courts; churches and commercial buildings; neighborhoods that once sprang up around the Pacific Electric Rail line or in the place of the disappearing vineyards and orange groves; Craftsman bungalows and Tudor cottages; Spanish Colonial Revival homes and Mid-Century Moderns; sandwich stands and neon signs.  Whether modest or grand, all of these are capable of possessing historic significance.  A complete inventory of all of Alhambra’s historic structures is desperately needed, so that our many hidden treasures can be identified, recognized and preserved for future generations.  It’s time to finish the process that was begun in 1984.

What are your thoughts on completing the survey Alhambra’s historic structures? What structures do you think should be included? Let us know in the comments section below.

This is the first article in a four-part series entitled May Monday Mythbusters. Check in with us again on Monday, May 14, when we explore what owners of historic landmark buildings can and cannot do to their historic properties.