Old Towne Group Bids for Historic Status

Many residents consider Old Towne the pride of this city, and now one civic group is close to putting it on the national map.

Next month, the state’s Historic Resource Commission will consider the evidence and decide whether to recommend that nearly all of the mile-square area be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

If it passes that test, Old Towne Orange would become the largest contiguous grouping of historic structures recognized in the state, said Marlyn Bourne Lortie, a historian with the state’s Office of Historic Preservation.

Lortie will present the ins and outs of historic designation and address the concerns of some nervous property owners at two meetings today. One will be at a special City Council meeting beginning at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall at 300 E. Chapman Ave. The other begins at 6:30 p.m. at Chapman University Chapel on East Maple Avenue and Grand Street.

The historian said she will explain that the impact of the designation would be relatively slight.

The 1,600 homes and buildings that would be included on the Register already are in a city-designated historical district, Lortie said. The new listing does tend to increase property values, and homeowners will be eligible for a range of tax benefits. But they will not have to deal with another level of government, she added.

“The state will review what it’s always reviewed, and the city will review what it’s always reviewed,” she said. “In fact, the city standards for design review are stiffer than anything the state would require.”

The public hearing before the state commission, to be held Feb. 14 in Eagle Rock, will culminate four years of preparation, said Anne Siebert, president of the Old Towne Preservation Assn., which submitted the application.

“We’re finally seeing it come to fruition,” Siebert said. “It’s a very positive thing. It’s something that should have happened a long time ago.”

The application describes the history of the city, incorporated in 1888, and details the architectural periods of its pre-1940s homes, which range from Victorians to Mediterranean revivals. To meet the national threshold for historical significance, the district must be at least 50 years old and have played a significant role in the community or in its architectural history. And it must have “integrity,” according to the rules, which means it must look much as it did originally.

Lortie herself visited Old Towne two years ago to review its historical significance.

“I think it’s rather remarkable that there is so large a collection of historical structures in Southern California that maintain this level of integrity,” Lortie said.

But all are not entranced by the thought of historic recognition.

Carole Walters, president of the Orange Taxpayers Assn., has promised to fight the designation because of fears that it will infringe on property rights, she said.

Mayor Joanne Coontz said city officials are concerned because they have heard the process is weighted toward those who want the designation and that lodging a protest can be difficult.