Historic Huscroft House may be saved yet

COSTA MESA -- Just three days after the City Council decided not to

restore the Huscroft House, two potential buyers have expressed interest

in rescuing it from demolition.

The City Council on Monday decided to put the house up for sale

instead of restoring it and moving it to Fairview Park as originally

planned. If a buyer can’t be found for the 1912 Craftsman-style house,

the council decided it must be torn down.

But two Newport Beach residents are hoping to save the house.

One, the man who bought the historic Old Pink House, is considering

moving it to the same 18,000-square-foot lot at 2172 Orange Ave., which

is considered a triple lot.

“I just love old houses,” said Chad Ware, who is also the owner of

Pacific Sales and Leasing truck dealership on Harbor Boulevard, on

Thursday. “There’s something about the old style and the history behind

them that appeals to me. They are just neat old houses, and they are not

like everybody else’s.”

The lot could easily accommodate the Huscroft House, he said.

Jane Altman-Dwan, another Newport Beach resident, has also made

initial calls to notify the city of her interest.

“I’m thinking about turning it into a tearoom or a bed and breakfast,”

she said. “Something of that nature, something commercial. It would be

one way of keeping it open to the public. It would take some finesse, but

even with the price of restoring the house, the commercial-rate rents

have a nice enough return to make restoration an investment. I think it

would be a shame to let the house be destroyed, especially since it is

one of the few buildings that have managed to remain intact.”

Altman-Dwan said she is considering the possibilities of either

partnering with the city or purchasing the house herself, but she does

not have ideas about where it could be moved yet.

Ware said his interest in both the Old Pink House and the Huscroft

House was sparked by the combination of their age, style and location. He

plans to move to the Old Pink House as soon as the renovation is

complete.

“I’m a big fan of old houses, and I’m a big fan of Costa Mesa because

Costa Mesa’s been good to me,” he said. “That [combination] is what

really appealed to me the most.”

Ware said he read about the Old Pink House, a Craftsman-style home

that has stood at the corner of Orange Avenue and Camellia Lane since

1923, in a Daily Pilot article in April.

The home was in danger of being demolished after city workers

inspected the house April 17 and declared it “unsafe to occupy.”

For several years, the city had received complaints from neighbors

about the unkempt home but could not take action because it was occupied

by the owner, not a tenant, and the trash and debris were fenced off from

public view, said Sandi Benson, chief of code enforcement.

The limitation was broken by an ordinance that was passed by the City

Council last year, and the Old Pink House was close to being declared a

public nuisance when the owner, 95-year-old Edith Smith Randall, died in

February, Benson said.

Elaine Davis, Smith Randall’s daughter, had met several eager buyers

by the time the article ran in April, but said she wanted to sell the

property to someone who might want to restore it and cherish it.

Ware said Thursday that he is halfway through restoring the home.

The price of restoration, including restoring the house, adding a

garage and landscaping, will cost more than $200,000, he said. That price

doesn’t include the purchase price, which Ware would not disclose, or the

cleanup costs.

He’s putting in drywall, insulation, heating, a modern kitchen, a new

roof, new electricity and plumbing, as well as having the original

windows and doors replicated.

Ware is planning to paint the Old Pink House back to its original

white color, but he said he is sure it will always be known as the Old

Pink House.

“I’m replacing everything except the original frame and paneling,”

Ware said. “This house has had years of neglect and needed to have

everything redone, plus I think it would be nice to have all the modern

amenities. I had the old house brought up to code, so it’ll be ready to

stand for another 100 years. Everything as far as the appearance will

look the same, but it will be all new, clean and modern. It actually

would have been less expensive to build the house from scratch, but I

wanted the old house.”

City staff is reviewing the purchase agreement to see if there are any

restrictions for reselling the house and is also working to create a

formal process to allow potential buyers to look at the house and bid for

it, City Manager Allan Roeder said.

Mayor Libby Cowan, who supported the city proposal to restore the

Huscroft House and move it to Fairview Park, said she is excited people

are interested in buying the house.

“I’m very excited,” she said. “I know that this shows the value of the

building and the value of history.”

QUESTION

To be or not to be?

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