Historical Preservation, O.C., and the Neutras

I just came across my notes for a panel discussion I participated in on February 12, 2011 in conjunction with "The Amazing Neutras in Orange County" exhibit I helped Dion Neutra create at the Old Orange County Courthouse Museum. The point of the exhibit was to draw attention to the dwindling number of buildings designed by Richard and/or Dion Neutra in Orange County and particularly to shine a light on the deteriorating state of Richard Neutra’s “new” Courthouse – the Central Justice Center (1969) in Santa Ana. 

While the exhibit itself was (of necessity) low-budget, my fellow panelists were as impressive as they come. From left to right, in the photo above (courtesy Les Katow) are architect (and son of Richard Neutra) Dion Neutra, noted architectural historians Barbara Lamprecht and Alan Hess, me, and architectural designer Josh Gorrell. To say it was an honor to be asked to participate with such an impressive group is an understatement. I wish I had recorded all their comments that day, but alas, all I have are my own notes…

Good afternoon.

There are no better people in the world to talk to you about the Neutras’ architecture than the folks up here with me today. It would be foolish for me to take up time telling you things I've read in their respective books. But as a local historian, perhaps I can provide an Orange County perspective.

From Mission San Juan Capistrano forward, Orange County has a track record of great architecture. Our record of preserving it, however, is much spottier.

Historical preservation began here in the 1890s, when Charles Fletcher Lummis' Landmarks Club began trying to preserve the ruins of California missions, including Mission San Juan Capistrano. 

In 1910, Father St. John O'Sullivan was put in charge of the Mission, and he undertook a massive preservation and restoration project that would eventually be copied at the old Franciscan missions up and down the state. 

But with the exception of the missions, California's byword was "PROGRESS." And progress didn't always leave much room for preserving historic architecture.

The birth of the modern preservationist movement in Orange County was introduced, forcefully, by Adeline Cochems Walker, or Mrs. Weston Walker, as she preferred to be known. In 1974, Mrs. Walker gathered a number of like-minded locals and formed a group to save the beautiful Victorian Dr. Howe-Waffle House (just across the street from us now,) from being bulldozed for a parking lot. Already well-respected for her work in civic beautification, Mrs. Walker was a force to be reckoned with. Her well-crafted letters were polite and adamant, and somehow put the fear of God into elected officials.

Walker’s preservation group became the Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society. She and her strike team of preservationists changed the way (at least some) people thought about the destruction of old buildings. Even in her last years, she led the charge to save the very building [Old Orange County Courthouse] in which we’re now sitting. 

Mrs. Walker (center) and historian Jim Sleeper (left) at the dedication of the Old O.C. Courthouse as a State Historical Landmark, 1970.

Today, of course, preservation and restoration projects have taken place all over the county, historical districts are not uncommon, and a number of cities have even adopted tax incentive programs like the Mills Act to encourage preservation. 

But there's still an enormous amount of work to do here. Indeed, compared to most of the country, Southern California - and particularly in Orange County -- is still living in the preservation Dark Ages. Important historical structures are torn down every day without so much as a murmur of dissent.

Now let’s take it a step further, to modern architecture. 

If we have to work hard to educate the public about the need to preserve important older historic architecture, we have to work at least twice as hard to convince them that buildings built during their own lifetimes may have historical value. 

Some of Richard Neutra's work at Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa.

Our long-range goals should be to educate the public and civic leaders, and to strongly encourage local government to adopt preservation-friendly policies. Until we've got that support behind us, our short-term goals should be to choose our battles carefully - saving the best examples of each era and style of architecture as they become threatened.

In the case of the work of the Neutra Office, so little remains intact today that it behooves us to save all of it. 

Neutra's work started appearing here during what was Orange County's most important era: Our astonishing post-war boom. Our population went from 131,000 in 1940; to 219,000 in 1950; to 700,000 in 1960; to a whopping 1.5 million by 1970! We were building housing tracts, apartments, schools, shopping centers, malls and professional buildings at a shocking rate. 

The story of Richard Neutra's Santa Ana Courthouse is a perfect illustration of the times:

Since 1901, County government and the courts had all fit into about four buildings: The Old Courthouse we're sitting in now, the jail, the Courthouse Annex (the former St Anne's Inn), and the Hall of Records (added in the 1920s).

And although we saw the post-war boom coming, we wildly underestimated it.

The County began in the early 1950s with a plan for a new courthouse, just across the street from the original. By the time the plans were ready for approval, population growth had already outstripped those plans. They went back to the drawing board, only to find that growth had again overshot their expectations and yet another major revision and expansion was needed before the ink was dry on the revisions.

And so on, and so forth.

This process continued until finally a plan was hatched to create a towering courthouse that it would theoretically take generations for all its floors to be put into use. They would start by outfitting the lower floors first and gradually furnishing and utilizing each floor above -- one at a time -- as they were needed. This would continue until the whole building was full.

Orange County Central Justice Center, Santa Ana

To design that tower, they hired Richard J. Neutra who was assisted in his vision by the Santa Ana firm of Donald Ramberg and Robert Lowrey. Neutra’s courthouse featured golden louvers that moved throughout the day to block the glare of the California sun.

The empty floors filled more quickly than predicted, of course. But as local government funds dried up in the wake of Prop 13, each floor got progressively cheaper interiors. The building also fell victim to poor maintenance. New utility lines were simply tacked across the carefully designed ceilings and walls, signage went from integrated to haphazard, ceiling panels were not replaced as repairs were needed, and - infamously - the water features were not tended to. 

The water feature in back of the Courthouse was turned off almost immediately. And one night, when it had been raining heavily, the neglected front water feature sprang a leak and dumped water down into the basement where the judges kept their files. Today, that water feature is also dry.

I once told [noted architectural photographer] Julius Schulman, that a good friend of mine had written a history of the Old Orange County Courthouse, and that someday I may have to write a history of the "new" Neutra-designed County Courthouse. He said, "I have your opening line for you: 'It was a dark and stormy night!'"

Indeed, maintaining, preserving and -- when necessary -- restoring buildings of historic and architectural significance is heartaches and pitfalls. The preservationists of today and tomorrow have their work for cut out for them. But with intelligence, heart, and persistence, they can win their share of victories.

By the way,... If I ever do write that book, what do you think of the title, “50 Ways To Love Your Louvers.”