contact: saveGGH@mediabench.com

Endorsement by the Glendale Historical Society
Read into the record of the Glendale City Council by Teresa Bailey Schumcher on August 3, 2004 as part of a save Glendale Garden Homes presentation by tenants and neighbors of GGH

THANK YOU !! 76 supporters attended the Glendale City Council Meeting on September 7! And we now have 345 supporters registered on our Supporter page and on our email list! The Council voted unanimously to refer our neigborhood for downzoning. The Planning Department came back with a motion to include GGH in a downzoning measure for apartments bordering single family homes. It was approved by the Planning Commission and is now awaiting State approval. Meanwhile, GGH supporters are working on our own to make an application for historic status of Glendale Garden Homes. Keep checking back here! And email us if you have not already joined our Supporter list!

August 3, 2004

From: The Glendale Historical Society

To: City Council – City Council Mtg of August 3, 2004

Re: Glendale Garden Homes at 1303-1315 N. CENTRAL

Honorable Mayor Yousefian and City Council members Gomez, Manoukian, Quintero, and Weaver,

The Glendale Historical Society is pleased to support and endorse the preservation initiative of the residents of  the Glendale Garden Homes, a potential historic resource of great significance to our city.    Built in 1957 by a partnership of well-known Glendale developers including Edgar Gregg, Gil and Joseph Causey, Frank Rhodes and Millard Archuleta, and with the active participation of the City’s Planning Department, Glendale Garden Homes came to be a unique and stunning example of the “Garden City” ideal that began in the late 19^th century and reached fruition in the post-World War II era.  This approach to  building envisioned clusters of residences around a green, communal public space.  It exemplifies Los Angeles regional architecture at mid-century --  a refinement of the traditional courtyard apartments and bungalow courts.   It’s design was based on the concept that a multi-family dwelling did not have to take a back seat to single family housing –  and that quality of life, and the long-term benefit to the community at large, was more important than maximizing profit.

While TGHS sympathizes with the developer, who no doubt was unaware of the property’s value and historic context , inconvenience to the developer is not sufficient reason to destroy such a valuable and significant asset.  Putting aside any sympathy for the developer, we also question the need for redevelopment in this case.  Glendale Garden Homes is a unique, idyllic multi-family complex that, with good management and some imagination, can certainly prove a profitable enterprise – particularly with the popularity and appreciation of mid-20^th century design.  Developers who complain they cannot make enough profit unless they can jam 87 units into the same space currently occupied by 37 units do not have the community’s best interest at heart; these are not people who should be dictating Glendale’s future.
    

We can learn something from our history:  GGH, although almost 50 years old,  embodies the best in affordable multi-family housing, and it serves as an example for our urban planners and private developers as they make provisons for Glendale’s future growth. 

Thank you very much the opportunity to express our views.

Sincerely,

THE GLENDALE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Prepared by Arlene Vidor and John LoCascio

cc:  TGHS Board of Directors,  Ken Bernstein, Los Angeles Conservancy, saveGGH, TGHS File.