Historic restoration

Deirdre Newman

After being abandoned and neglected, the Huscroft House has found an

owner who is taking great pains to restore her to her former

elegance.

John Morehart, a 20-year Costa Mesa resident and business owner,

is meticulously restoring the early Craftsman-style house, which he

moved six months ago to property he owns on Bernard Street.

It will take more than $100,000 to completely reconstruct the

early 1900s house, Morehart said, but it’s worth it to make sure the

details of the house are restored as accurately as possible.

He sees the house as his legacy to Costa Mesa.

“I feel like I have an opportunity to give back to the city

[something] that’s not an ugly site,” Morehart said. “It will

contribute to this culture, and people will have some pride in it.”

The house was moved to Costa Mesa from Santa Ana in 1954 and is

one of the oldest houses in the city. The house was donated to the

city in the 1990s by Eric Cernich, a developer and Costa Mesa

resident, who bought it from the Huscroft family.

In 1998, the city paid about $54,000 to move it to TeWinkle Park,

where it was left sitting on stilts while the city tried to sell it.

When bids fell through, it seemed headed for demolition, until the

city, as a last resort, tried to give it away.

Enter Morehart, who stepped in to rescue it. He moved it to the

Westside six months ago and began refurbishing it, detail by

authentic detail.

Part of the agreement called for the city to pay Morehart $30,000

-- half of the cost of relocation plus abatement of toxic materials

like lead-based paint and asbestos. Permit and building fees that are

normally associated with relocation and restoration projects such as

this one were also waived.

One of the more difficult and expensive parts of the restoration

was establishing where the footings should be, Morehart said. The

crew had to drop lines and dig, by hand, with the house above them.

Also challenging was the fact that the house had no roof because

it had to be removed to fit under the freeway overpasses when it was

moved to the park, Morehart said.

“The only images we had of it was one very poor photograph -- it

didn’t give us any of the details and we realized then that those

images were incorrect anyhow because the eaves had been removed

sometime prior to that photograph,” he said.Morehart has done

extensive research to discover exactly what the house looked like

when it was first built. He is restoring the original colors, which

have been uncovered by stripping the paint layer by layer.

“Whether I like it or not, those were the pigments,” Morehart

said. “I will probably put them back for respect for the original.

It’s kind of like rebuilding an old boat and trying to keep it

authentic.”

One of the surprises of the reconstruction process was discovering

some of the original pickets for the porch fence. They were found in

an enclosed section of the porch that Morehart is eliminating because

it is not original. Those pickets will be restored and others will be

replicated to fill out the rest of the fence.

One of the aspects of the house that make it so remarkable

historically is the redwood that was used in places like on the knee

braces, which are used to hold up the overhanging on the roof, said

City Building Inspector Pete Tenace, who is overseeing the

reconstruction.

“This is quarter-cut -- the same way they make a violin,” Tenace

said. “That’s the way they did it in the old days.”

The house also has old-fashioned accouterments like cedar

dressers.

So far, Morehart’s crew has upgraded the wiring and plumbing, and

insulated the house. It still needs work on the plastering, exterior

painting, siding and the roof, he said.

Morehart has gone above and beyond what’s necessary, said Tenace,

who joking calls Morehart “Clouseau” because of his diligent,

investigative research into the house’s original design.

“He didn’t’ have to do anything to this because of the historical

requirements,” Tenace said. “He chose to. He took the money issued to

him and put it to good use.”

The entire restoration will take about a year, Morehart said. He’s

not sure what he will do with it when it’s finished. One thing he

does know is that he won’t rent it out, he said.

“I don’t think I would find a renter who loves the house,”

Morehart said.

When the house is completely finished, he wants to throw a party

for city officials to thank them for their support, he said.

“I feel like the city has been painstakingly attentive but

incredibly sensitive about keeping the house in the manner and

integrity [of its original state],” Morehart said. “It’s been a good

experience for me personally and it’s changed my attitude a lot about

what I thought about city officials.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.