Fresno judge dismisses request to remove “historic” homes
Old Armenian Town will include five of its original homes
by Paul Chaderjian
FRESNO, Calif. -- Five homes described by local preservationists as
historic and removed from a 10-acre downtown Fresno neighborhood known
as Old Armenian Town may now become part of a new
multi-million-dollar, mixed-use, high-rise redevelopment project
called . . . “Old Armenian Town.”
A court ruling this week determined that a previous agreement between
two Fresno-area preservation groups, the Fresno City Council, the
Fresno Redevelopment agency, and developers Gunner-Andros still
stands, and the homes owned by the City of Fresno cannot be located
outside the new development, as proposed recently by the developers.
“The Armenians are very important here,” says president of Heritage
Fresno Midge Barrett. “We have no problem with the development. We
don't find a problem with urban renewal. The problem is that we
believe the old can exist beside the new.”
Armenian developer Richard Gunner and his partner George Andros
proposed to the preservationists to place the five homes around their
development. Many in the Armenian community, including the Armenian
businesses in the area, have no interest in saving the houses that may
or may not have once been homes to Armenian families. The new “Old
Armenian Town” redevelopment project is already home to California's
5th District Court of Appeal, which is nearing completion. The site of
the project is across the street from the historic Holy Trinity
Armenian Apostolic Church. In addition to the courthouse, an Armenian
Cultural Center is also planned as part of the redevelopment project.
Half a dozen organizations, Armenian and non-Armenian, have sued to be
included in the cultural center.
Graduate student Stephanie Stockdale researched the geography and
history of the area. She says among those who lobbied for space in the
development was the Armenian Museum Group, a non-Armenian organization
that opposing groups insist has little to do with Armenian culture.
Even the Armenian Technology Group, which receives federal funding to
help farmers in Armenia, had asked for space to build an art center.
One organization that has been guaranteed space is the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation's Armenian Cultural Foundation. The ACF has
been part of the neighborhood since 1908, when it began publishing the
original “Asbarez” newspaper in area. After the paper's move to
southern California, its editorial and print shop served as a library
and community center until the mid 1980s. The City of Fresno relocated
what was known as the “Asbarez Club” to its present location, when the
Holiday Inn Corporation needed the Club's property for a new hotel.
Now the community center is giving up its current location on Ventura
Street to make way for the “Old Armenian Town” development. The ACF's
new building will house a community center, as well as the offices of
the Armenian National Committee, the Armenian Relief Society, and the
Armenian Youth Federation.
One proposed site for the homes at the center of the most recent
litigation was the corner of “M” Street and Santa Clarita, across the
street from the Holy Trinity Church. Another site picked by the
developers is on the south side of Freeway 41, on “L” and San Benito
streets, where William Saroyan grew up.
The five houses, now sitting behind fences, are all that's left of an
eight-mile area that was the center of Armenian life in the early
1900s. Stockdale says the focal point of the neighborhood was a
10-block radius that was home to Armenian homes, stores, churches, and
social centers. “During the first few decades of the 20th century,
most of the Fresno-area Armenians found residence west of the Southern
Pacific Railroad tracks, near the 300 blocks of G and F Streets,” says
Stockdale. “Early Armenian settlers who arrived prior to the Genocide
moved northward across the railroad around 1914 after the
reconstruction and relocation of Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic
Church to the corner of Ventura Avenue and M Street.”
“This was an immigrant population that came here for religious
freedom,” says Barrett. “The other thing is that it is also William
Saroyan's neighborhood. His home doesn't exist anymore; it was taken
by a freeway. There are many ethnic groups in Fresno, something like
80 or 90. But the Armenians were here early on, and now they have
moved on to L.A. and San Francisco. There is still a large population
here, but they left the neighborhood during the Depression.”
Preservationists like Barrett envision that these homes can be
incorporated into the redeveloped neighborhood and used as souvenir
shops, cafes, and a Saroyan boutique. They say the hundreds of
thousands of conventioneers who gather at the Fresno Convention Center
across the street annually could visit the stores and learn a bit
about historic Fresno.
“There are some people in the city that think the buildings are
Armenian buildings, and the Redevelopment Agency is saying they are
not Armenian buildings,” says the former Fresno City councilman for
the area Tom Boyajian. “This is about a group of people who don't want
to see any historic buildings over 50 years old being knocked down or
condemned.”
Boyajian says that as an Armenian, he sees more historic value in the
Emerson School, where William Saroyan was a student. He believes these
five remnants of homes can easily be placed on Saroyan's old street or
in other nearby Armenian neighborhoods.
“The State Appellate Court doesn't want these buildings in the area,”
says Boyajian. “Most of the Armenians want the houses to go, because
they are working with the developer to build an Armenian Community
Center.”
The developers agreed to make room in their development for an
Armenian cultural center and other neighborhood tenants like the
Saghatelian family's Valley Bakery. The Fresno institution has
continuously operated at its present “M” Street location since 1922,
making its “Lahvosh” cracker bread. The business is part of the
development.
The agreement to preserve the five homes was welcomed by two
Fresno-based history preservation groups, Heritage Fresno and Friends
of Armenian Town. The two organizations had accused the Fresno
Redevelopment Agency and the developers of not addressing the historic
value of the neighborhood and what to do with the homes that would be
displaced by the high-rise office buildings.
When the developers decided they wanted to utilize the corner of “M”
and Santa Clara Streets -- one of the locations designated for the
five dilapidated houses -- for a much-needed parking lot, the
preservationists went to court and convinced the bench that the homes
should not be moved to the alternate site the developers proposed.
The developers took that decision to court, and on January 26, Fresno
Superior Court judge R.L. Putnam threw out a request for a retrial,
saying motions like this are what give redevelopment agencies and
developers a bad name.
by Paul Chaderjian
FRESNO, Calif. -- Five homes described by local preservationists as
historic and removed from a 10-acre downtown Fresno neighborhood known
as Old Armenian Town may now become part of a new
multi-million-dollar, mixed-use, high-rise redevelopment project
called . . . “Old Armenian Town.”
A court ruling this week determined that a previous agreement between
two Fresno-area preservation groups, the Fresno City Council, the
Fresno Redevelopment agency, and developers Gunner-Andros still
stands, and the homes owned by the City of Fresno cannot be located
outside the new development, as proposed recently by the developers.
“The Armenians are very important here,” says president of Heritage
Fresno Midge Barrett. “We have no problem with the development. We
don't find a problem with urban renewal. The problem is that we
believe the old can exist beside the new.”
Armenian developer Richard Gunner and his partner George Andros
proposed to the preservationists to place the five homes around their
development. Many in the Armenian community, including the Armenian
businesses in the area, have no interest in saving the houses that may
or may not have once been homes to Armenian families. The new “Old
Armenian Town” redevelopment project is already home to California's
5th District Court of Appeal, which is nearing completion. The site of
the project is across the street from the historic Holy Trinity
Armenian Apostolic Church. In addition to the courthouse, an Armenian
Cultural Center is also planned as part of the redevelopment project.
Half a dozen organizations, Armenian and non-Armenian, have sued to be
included in the cultural center.
Graduate student Stephanie Stockdale researched the geography and
history of the area. She says among those who lobbied for space in the
development was the Armenian Museum Group, a non-Armenian organization
that opposing groups insist has little to do with Armenian culture.
Even the Armenian Technology Group, which receives federal funding to
help farmers in Armenia, had asked for space to build an art center.
One organization that has been guaranteed space is the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation's Armenian Cultural Foundation. The ACF has
been part of the neighborhood since 1908, when it began publishing the
original “Asbarez” newspaper in area. After the paper's move to
southern California, its editorial and print shop served as a library
and community center until the mid 1980s. The City of Fresno relocated
what was known as the “Asbarez Club” to its present location, when the
Holiday Inn Corporation needed the Club's property for a new hotel.
Now the community center is giving up its current location on Ventura
Street to make way for the “Old Armenian Town” development. The ACF's
new building will house a community center, as well as the offices of
the Armenian National Committee, the Armenian Relief Society, and the
Armenian Youth Federation.
One proposed site for the homes at the center of the most recent
litigation was the corner of “M” Street and Santa Clarita, across the
street from the Holy Trinity Church. Another site picked by the
developers is on the south side of Freeway 41, on “L” and San Benito
streets, where William Saroyan grew up.
The five houses, now sitting behind fences, are all that's left of an
eight-mile area that was the center of Armenian life in the early
1900s. Stockdale says the focal point of the neighborhood was a
10-block radius that was home to Armenian homes, stores, churches, and
social centers. “During the first few decades of the 20th century,
most of the Fresno-area Armenians found residence west of the Southern
Pacific Railroad tracks, near the 300 blocks of G and F Streets,” says
Stockdale. “Early Armenian settlers who arrived prior to the Genocide
moved northward across the railroad around 1914 after the
reconstruction and relocation of Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic
Church to the corner of Ventura Avenue and M Street.”
“This was an immigrant population that came here for religious
freedom,” says Barrett. “The other thing is that it is also William
Saroyan's neighborhood. His home doesn't exist anymore; it was taken
by a freeway. There are many ethnic groups in Fresno, something like
80 or 90. But the Armenians were here early on, and now they have
moved on to L.A. and San Francisco. There is still a large population
here, but they left the neighborhood during the Depression.”
Preservationists like Barrett envision that these homes can be
incorporated into the redeveloped neighborhood and used as souvenir
shops, cafes, and a Saroyan boutique. They say the hundreds of
thousands of conventioneers who gather at the Fresno Convention Center
across the street annually could visit the stores and learn a bit
about historic Fresno.
“There are some people in the city that think the buildings are
Armenian buildings, and the Redevelopment Agency is saying they are
not Armenian buildings,” says the former Fresno City councilman for
the area Tom Boyajian. “This is about a group of people who don't want
to see any historic buildings over 50 years old being knocked down or
condemned.”
Boyajian says that as an Armenian, he sees more historic value in the
Emerson School, where William Saroyan was a student. He believes these
five remnants of homes can easily be placed on Saroyan's old street or
in other nearby Armenian neighborhoods.
“The State Appellate Court doesn't want these buildings in the area,”
says Boyajian. “Most of the Armenians want the houses to go, because
they are working with the developer to build an Armenian Community
Center.”
The developers agreed to make room in their development for an
Armenian cultural center and other neighborhood tenants like the
Saghatelian family's Valley Bakery. The Fresno institution has
continuously operated at its present “M” Street location since 1922,
making its “Lahvosh” cracker bread. The business is part of the
development.
The agreement to preserve the five homes was welcomed by two
Fresno-based history preservation groups, Heritage Fresno and Friends
of Armenian Town. The two organizations had accused the Fresno
Redevelopment Agency and the developers of not addressing the historic
value of the neighborhood and what to do with the homes that would be
displaced by the high-rise office buildings.
When the developers decided they wanted to utilize the corner of “M”
and Santa Clara Streets -- one of the locations designated for the
five dilapidated houses -- for a much-needed parking lot, the
preservationists went to court and convinced the bench that the homes
should not be moved to the alternate site the developers proposed.
The developers took that decision to court, and on January 26, Fresno
Superior Court judge R.L. Putnam threw out a request for a retrial,
saying motions like this are what give redevelopment agencies and
developers a bad name.
Comments
Post a Comment