November 18, 2008 – 4:02 am by tanya
On November 7, I watched the State Historic Resources Commission approve the nomination of our downtown fire station for the California Register of Historical Resources. It was a proud moment for me, since it was the first nomination I have prepared. The decision was unanimous. The Press-Enterprise wrote about it last week. LINK
So what does this mean?
It does not mean that the Fire Station is now safe, unfortunately. Even a building on the National Register is not protected from demolition. What it means is that the Fire Station is officially a “historical resource” for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The City can’t just decide it isn’t historic and demolish it. They must prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR), in which they have to argue effectively that it is not feasible to incorporate and reuse the fire station in their project. After they prepared their argument in a Draft EIR, the public gets the chance to read it and submit comments, which the City must address before it goes to the City Council for certification. That’s a bit simplistic, but it’ll do for our purposes here.
So don’t you think they’ll just do the EIR now and demolish it anyway?
It’s possible. I think it is more difficult this time than simply making the motions through the process because the City actually requested and received a project proposal that incorporated the Fire Station, demonstrating that reuse is feasible enough to have been considered even without being forced to by the CEQA process. Sadly, they didn’t select that proposal, instead they picked one that would destroy the Fire Station, and have already approved an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement with the developer of that proposed project.
How on earth would the City reuse that Fire Station?
Actually, I think that is the most exciting part of the equation. It is sitting in a prime spot along our main cultural corridor across from an Art Museum that desperately needs to expand their visibility as a contemporary art museum. The engine house is a dramatic 65-foot wide expanse of space unhindered by visible supports. The building has fireman’s sliding poles that ignite the imagination and the exterior of the building has a unique look that draws the eye to it. The station is already neatly partitioned into office space and the dormitory could be converted to studio space. Anyone who has been to Artswalk on first Thursdays knows that there is a growing artistic community in Riverside that needs space. The Riverside Art Museum has physical expansion in their strategic plan, and nobody wants to see them mar the beauty of their existing building with an insensitive addition. Instead, let’s show off the museum’s sleek modern exhibitions with a sleek modern building.
Conversely, there could be an opportunity there to make a truly unique restaurant space that would be a destination for people all around the IE. Imagine transforming the engine house into a huge dining room with kitchen and banquet space available in the rest of the building.
If you think creatively about it, there are all sorts of interesting ways to transform the Fire Station into a social landmark. It is a singular public investment that we should all be interested in retaining. There’s nothing a developer could put in that space that has more character than the Fire Station already has.
Sorry, but I just don’t see it. Do you have any other reasons why we should keep the Fire Station?
Yes! Two compelling reasons I would argue against demolishing any well-constructed building are 1.)good old fashioned thrift and 2.)helping the environment.
1.)Our predecessors in this City went into debt to build the Fire Station. They passed a bond measure because they agreed that the Fire Station was an important investment in our civic infrastructure. The City hired a skilled architect to create a building that resonated with the forward-looking values of the era. When it opened, they celebrated it for the modern landmark it was and sent their children there on tours so they could experience and internalize pride in their city. To destroy such an important public investment just smacks of needless waste and mismanagement of Riverside’s civic inheritance.
2.)The Fire Station represents an investment of materials and energy (read: fossil fuels) that is currently put to good use. If it were demolished, all that energy would be wasted. The materials that made it would largely wind up in a landfill, the energy to build it would be gone. Plus, the energy needed to destroy it would increase our carbon emissions here. Once I run down the approximate square footage of the Fire Station I’ll put some more solid calculations here, but suffice to say there is an environmental cost to demolishing the Fire Station. Reusing it, conversely, would mean that you could save all that embodied energy and also save the materials and energy it would have taken to build something new in its place.
Well, what can I do anyway? I’m just a person.
A person can do a whole lot in their local government. It’s the most accessible level of government we have, and the City relies on people like us to make it function well. They will only be responsive and forthright if we collectively demand it of them, and also do our part by contributing solutions and providing assistance.
I received some really wonderful emails after each time my work was featured in the Press-Enterprise, and many of them were wondering how they could get involved. I am really glad to get these kinds of emails because they remind me that I’m not just some weirdo who is nuts about funny-looking buildings in a town that acts like they would rather forget about them. My advice to you, gentle reader:
- Join the Old Riverside Foundation. This organization represents buildings all over the City, and they have extended their interest to Mid-Century Modern buildings. The Fire Station is on their list of endangered buildings and they’ve pledged to advocate for its preservation. Plus, they put their money where their mouth is. They were very visible during the public process for the Fox Plaza project, and filed a lawsuit against the City to force them to address inadequacies in the EIR. Only time will tell whether they prevail, but they have at least proven that they will not take the demolition of historic buildings lying down.
- Write/Call/Visit/Harangue Your Councilperson. The City Council has the power to direct staff to change this project, but they won’t do it unless we collectively direct them to do it. If you do contact them, keep it constructive. Tell them your preferred solution and give them your reasons for including adaptive reuse. If you don’t have a lot of time to be gabbing with public servants then at least shoot off a quick email professing strong support for adaptive reuse of the Fire Station.
- Comment on the Draft EIR. The City has not prepared this yet. When they do, you can bet the farm I will have a link posted as well as some tips for effective comments.
- Talk to Your Fellow Riversiders. I can’t stress how terribly important it is to connect with your local friends and neighbors about protecting this City’s history and culture. We are at a critical era for Mid-Century Modern architecture. We have the opportunity to save the best examples in the city now, but popular opinion is slow to catch up with the appreciation for these buildings. It happened this way for other styles: Art Deco, Moderne, even Queen Anne Victorian. That’s why I started this website – Modernism in Riverside needed an embassy to get it past the “ugly stage” experienced by many of our beloved architectural styles and movements.
And now it’s late. I was only going to get on here to compose a quick blog to announce that the Fire Station was listed, and now I’ve gone and done all this. Well, accept my warm appreciation to you all for your support, and thanks for caring about our ultra-mod spaces and places.
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