Story 1
Date: / Dec 08, 2009Page: / A-1
Headline: / Mansion’s furnishings give way to gavel
Author: / Roger M. Showley
The VillaMontezuma, with its stained-glass images of Shakespeare and the
Greek poet Sappho, is San Diego’s most storied and elaborate Victorian, built
just east of downtown during the boom of the 1880s. Operated as a museum
since the 1970s by the San Diego Historical Society, the idea was to celebrate
San Diego’s past.
But nearly three years ago, the historical society ran into financial problems
that forced it to close the home and turn it over to the city. Last week,
the society began to sell the interior items — an antique piano, bedroom
furniture, lamps, plates and other furnishings — through a Los Angeles auction
house. A second auction is scheduled for Thursday.
David Kahn, executive director of the society, said only a handful of items
were retained because they were original to the house or had some San Diego
connection. “The bulk of the contents that were exhibit-like elements had
to be sold because there was no room to store them here,” said Kahn, referring
to the society’s museum and archives in Balboa Park’s Casa de Balboa.
But Friends of the VillaMontezuma, a community group that has provided support
for the museum for nearly 40 years, isn’t content with letting the furnishings
go. It hopes to eventually return them to the Villa after it undergoes $1
million in repairs.
It sent a member to Los Angeles last week to buy back some of the items for
about $4,000, Chairwoman Louise Torio said. The items included an entryway
hat rack, desk, armchairs and a bedroom set.
“We’re sentimental toward these pieces,” Torio said. “Quite a number of friends
have donated things to the Villa, and while this may not be the best example
of a bedroom set, it’s the one we’ve been looking at for 40 years and we
enjoy it.”
The Villa, at 1925 K St., was built in 1887 by local businessmen for $19,000
and given to Jesse Shepard, a 39-year-old British-born musician, artist and
mystic. In return, he moved to San Diego, a town then booming after the railroad
began service to the east, to entertain the locals with some European culture.
The home, designed to his specifications by the firm Comstock and Trotsche,
is noted for its stained-glass windows and elaborate woodwork.
Local historian Clare Crane calls the house “without doubt the most interesting
and imaginatively designed Victorian house still standing in San Diego.”
After the boom went bust, Shepard sold for the house for $25,000 in 1889
and moved to Europe for about 25 years. He died in Los Angeles in 1927.
Kay Porter was among the original historical society members who arranged
to buy the Villa, restore it, donate it to the city and open it to the public
in 1972. Now serving on the friends group’s advisory committee, Porter did
not express dismay that her earlier donations were being turned into cash
for the financially troubled historical society.
“As a donor I got a write-off, so it’s a piece of public property, virtually,”
Porter said. “If they can recoup something for that and possibly do something
good for the historical society, fine and dandy.”
Maria Bolivar, a Mesa College professor, member of the Villa friends board
and a Sherman Heights activist, said tough economic times are forcing nonprofit
cultural organizations to dispose of some of their holdings to survive.
“Hopefully, the San Diego Historical Society doesn’t disappear,” Bolivar
said, “and if they are at that moment in this stage of the organization where
they have to resort to selling the property that they have gathered over
the years, that’s something that should be done.”
But there were some grumblings about the way the items were disposed of.
Betty Peabody, a founder of Friends of Balboa Park and a member of various
historical organizations, said she was stunned by the news and thought the
items could have been stored while the Villa was being repaired.
“It’s a tough way to make money,” she said.
Bruce Coons, executive director of the Save Our Heritage Organisation, said
most of the items in the house were not reflective of the way it was furnished
in Shepard’s time. If SOHO ran the house, Coons said, it would refurnish
it with items identical to those when the house was built. But he thought
it was unnecessary to send items to a Los Angeles auction house.
“I would have thought people in San Diego might have wanted some of the items
for sentimental reasons and (the historical society) might have gotten better
prices for that,” Coons said.
Kahn said that he requested proposals from auction houses and that the best
one of three received came from A.N. Abell Auction Co. in Commerce.
“Where are the auction houses — the better ones are up in L.A. with a larger
customer base and bigger reach,” he said.
Selling museum holdings — called “deaccessioning” — has been a controversial
act for many institutions, since donors believe they are adding to a collection
and are dismayed to find out their generosity has been monetized to plug
budget holes or buy something better.
The San Diego Historical Society ran into a buzz saw of criticism in 1986
when it sold the early-20th-century A.H. Sweet House in Mission Hills for
$665,000 after it had been donated along with $250,000 to maintain it. At
the time, the society said it needed the money to develop its Balboa Park
museum — a task not yet completed today.
The Association of Art Museum Directors says in a policy statement on deaccessioning
that institutions should sell solely “to improve the quality, scope and appropriateness
of the collection” and use the proceeds “only to acquire other works of art”
and never for operating expenses.
The historical society has struggled with its budget during the recession,
cutting staff and closing the Villa to the public in 2007. It also returned
to the city a second house museum, the George W. and Anna Gunn Marston House,
which was built by the society’s founder at the northwest corner of Balboa
Park and donated by his daughter. SOHO has reopened it as a museum.
The organization retained the Serra Museum, which Marston built in 1929 as
the first home of the society in Presidio Park. It, too, has fallen on hard
times, open only to schoolchildren and group rentals.
This past weekend, there were two arson fires on the canyon side of the museum.
The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said the blazes were put out and there
was no danger to the museum.
Story 2
Oops: / FOR THE RECORD | Because of incorrect information from a source, a column in Sunday’s paper reported that the city’s lease with the San Diego Historical Society requires the Serra Museum to be open six days a week. In fact, that provision applies to the society’s museum in Balboa Park. The Union-Tribune regrets the error. (Nov. 6, 2009, B-2)Date: / Nov 01, 2009
Page: / B-1
Headline: / Treasures, history of San Diego locked up
Author: / Michael Stetz
It's tough to get into one of San Diego's most historic landmarks these
days.
The Serra Museum, perched above Old Town and the site of California's
first European settlement, only opens its doors for school tours, weddings
or other special events.
Well, I'm not in fourth grade anymore. And I'm already married.
I could ditch the wife, meet that someone special and plan a wedding. But,
man, that's a lot of work and attorney fees just to get inside.
It was back in February when the San Diego Historical Society closed the
museum to public tours and dumped two other historical sites, the Marston
House and the Villa Montezuma, because it was going broke.
San Diego still has signs alerting you to the Presidio Park site, so you
can drive up and get turned away. That's a nice touch.
And on the city's Web site, you see this: "The Serra Museum educates and
excites visitors with the park history and San Diego's past."
What kidders.
Walk up the steep steps of the museum today and you see an iron gate with
a lock over the old heavy wooden doors. It's quiet. It's dark inside. It's
a shame.
We don't have much history in San Diego. We have, let's see ... I'm
blanking here.
The Serra Museum sits on land where, in 1769, Spanish Franciscan
missionary, Father Junipero Serra, established California's first mission
and fort.
That's right. It wasn't L.A. Or San Francisco. It was San Diego. We own
the distinction and -- this is cool -- it can't be taken away, like a
certain football team. The site has been called the "Plymouth Rock of the
West Coast."
And we don't celebrate it. We padlock it.
The museum -- it's not the original mission as some people think -- was
built in 1929 and houses artifacts that highlight the historic settlement.
George Marston was behind its creation. A prominent civic leader, he
started the San Diego Historical Society.
Here's what I don't get. How can a high-profile monument looming over
Interstate 8 in view of all those tourists on the way to Hotel Circle be
closed to them and us?
"It's a real shame. It's one of the most important spots in the country,"
said Bruce Coons, executive director of Save Our Heritage Organisation.
"Certainly the most important on the West Coast."
The other sites dropped by the Historical Society are rebounding. SOHO
stepped in to run the Marston House in Balboa Park and reopened it in
July. Built in 1906, it's considered another treasure.
Both it and the Villa Montezuma, a Victorian house built in 1887 in
Sherman Heights, are owned by the city, which had to figure out what to do
with them when the Historical Society said it could no longer run them.
The city, of course, is making its own history with record budget
deficits.
The Villa could reopen in a year. There's a plan to spend about a million
dollars of city bond money and redevelopment funds for restoration.
But what of the Serra Museum, which the city also owns?
The Historical Society, which is headquartered in a museum in Balboa Park,
says this is about money, about the economy. It couldn't afford to keep it
open. Traffic was down too, said Christianne Penunuri, a spokeswoman.
"We just can't afford to have it staffed," she said.
Is there something more important they're doing?
Fred Grand, president of the Old Town Chamber of Commerce, is bummed about
the closure. "Here we have these wonderful resources and they're closed to
the public."
I asked the city about the situation. Late Friday, mayoral spokeswoman
Rachel Laing said the historical society's 1980s-era lease in the city
building requires it to be open six days a week.
Laing said the city has had no complaints, and she cautioned that there
may have been amendments since the original lease. I say, let's check, and
enforce it if we can. It's not like there's a sign on the door telling
people where to complain when they get there and get disappointed.
I went back to the Serra Museum near the time school tours are allowed to
see if I could see anything more. The woman staffing the place said I
could go through quickly. I climbed way to the top of the museum and
caught the stunning view of Mission Valley.
Too bad more people can't enjoy it.
Too bad we're not the best stewards of remarkable gifts.
End-of-Story
Story 3
Date: / Oct 31, 2009Page: / CZ-1
Headline: / $1 million lined up to restore historic villa
Author: / Helen Gao
Villa Montezuma, a cultural landmark on the National Register of Historic
Places, has been shuttered since 2006 because of structural safety
concerns. Since then, tourists and fans of the Queen Anne-style
architectural gem have often wondered when it will reopen to the public.
Now there is an answer -- possibly by the end of 2012.
San Diego and its downtown redevelopment arm are about to enter into a
partnership to fix the 122-year-old house.
The Centre City Development Corp. and the city plan to split the cost of
about $1 million in repairs.
Part of the foundation is crumbling. The chimneys, made of unreinforced
masonry, need to be made earthquake-safe. Leaks have to be patched to stop
damage from moisture.
"It's an old facility, and it needs some tender loving care," said David
Jarrell, the city's deputy chief operating officer of public works.
Last week, the CCDC's board voted to contribute $550,000 toward the
rehabilitation effort. The city is expected to chip in $500,000 from $103
million it borrowed earlier this year for deferred maintenance projects.
The City Council is set to vote on the project next month.
Just a few months ago, the future of Villa Montezuma didn't look so
bright. The financially strapped San Diego Historical Society, which has
run the house museum since the early 1970s, decided to hand the property
back to the city. The city, mired in chronic budget deficits, seemed as if
it were in no position to take care of the property, either.
But quietly working behind the scenes was Friends of the Villa Montezuma.
The group has been around for more than three decades and incorporated as
a nonprofit in 2006 with the goal of raising money for restoration.
Chairwoman Louise Torio said her group hopes to operate the facility once
it's repaired and make it come alive once again as a museum and community
hub.
"Our vision is this will again be operated six days a week, not just on
the weekends," Torio said. "It will have many activities going on related
to music and art. We can again have this be a joyous place to be. It's
been dark for too long."
Built in 1887 for renowned spiritualist, writer and piano virtuoso Jesse
Shepard, the house dazzles visitors with its elaborate woodwork and
stained-glass windows. The windows depict Shepard's favorite artists,
composers and writers, such as Sappho, Beethoven and Mozart.
Many of the stained-glass pieces are found in the music room, where
Shepard gave concerts. He had a reputation as a charismatic performer.
"Shepard had very large hands. He had a great range on the piano. He also
had an incredible singing voice," said Clare Crane, the museum's first
curator.
The villa is shrouded in mystique. Shepard held séances there. Some Web
sites list it as a haunted house, but Crane (who has spent nights there as
a caretaker) flatly rejected the characterization. One of the villa's
admirers is City Council President Ben Hueso, who hung out there as a kid
and was inspired to learn how to play the piano. The museum used to host
after-school programs.
"I have seen very few homes in the state of California that have this
level of artistry," Hueso said.
"The spotlight is on San Diego in terms of what level of stewardship we
provide to this home. I think we have a very, very high responsibility to
preserve this home."
VILLA MONTEZUMA
1887: Built
1971: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
1972: Opened to the public as a museum
1986: Sustained major damage from a fire
2006: Shuttered because of safety concerns
2012: Year it's expected to reopen
End-of-Story
Story 4
Date: / Mar 03, 2009Page: / B-1
Headline: / Boon for historic house | SOHO to talk to city about taking over landmark's lease
Author: / Jeanette Steele
BALBOA PARK -- The 1906 Marston House in Balboa Park has a chance to
reopen now that the Save Our Heritage Organisation has offered to operate
the city-owned historic home.
The Marston House, a nationally registered historic landmark, closed to
visitors Feb. 15 after the San Diego Historical Society announced it could
no longer afford to run it.
SOHO, a nonprofit preservation group, operates the Whaley House museum in
Old Town and thinks it can make the Marston House pay for itself with
increased marketing and more events.
"There was a huge outcry from our members and the public of `Will you do
this?' " said Bruce Coons, SOHO executive director. "It's one that we
believe we're eminently qualified to make successful."
The group, which has a $600,000 annual budget, was expected to vote last
night to pursue a lease with the city. SOHO would like to reopen the home
as soon as possible.
The city welcomes the proposal -- the only one so far -- but might be
required to put the lease out for bid, said spokeswoman Rachel Laing. "We