Christmas at Heritage Square

Here's something Christmasy to do this weekend:

The holidays are a good time to visit Heritage Square Museum, a whole neighborhood of preserved buildings straight out of the history of Los Angeles. This time of year they deck the place out to do Charles Dickens proud.

This picture was sent to me by Brian Sheridan, Director of Development and Communications at Heritage Square. Brian will soon be leaving to take a new position with the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council. (I don't think I'll lose track of him there.)

Brian has invited me to Heritage Square many times in hopes that I'll blog about it, and I've done so because it's my kind of place. I'm so compelled by architecture, especially of old places. There's something about the buildings people used and lived in before us. Heritage Square preserves some unique specimens. The top photo is of the Ford House, where the exquisite woodwork was all carved by hand.

Of Heritage Square Brian says, "before the museum’s existence, few people thought twice about tearing down historic structures. In 1969, long before the LA Conservancy, Pasadena Heritage and others would begin making an impact, a group of concerned citizens moved the Castle and the Saltbox from Bunker Hill to Heritage Square, signaling a tremendous shift in the way we thought about old buildings."

Of course the Museum is more than just a collection of old buildings. They've constantly got something new going on, from movies to school programs. You can even get married there. Heritage Square is a place where, as Brian says, "you can learn about history...where you can see, smell and feel the past. Where you can experience a history often forgotten in the textbooks."

Right around now you can experience Christmas past. But although I mentioned Charles Dickens, I don't think the Ghost of Christmas Past will be in evidence. If you want to see ghosts, you should go at Halloween.

Heritage Square: Not Square

Even in 1893 an octagonal house was unusual. This was Gilbert Longfellow's second octagon house, originally located on San Pasqual Street in Pasadena near where Caltech stands now. The Longfellow-Hastings Octagon House has been part of Heritage Square Museum since 1986.

The house has been partially renovated and is currently used to display photos and other items. I loved the linoleum carpet and the view up the stairs.


Here's our friend Brian Sheridan, Heritage Square's Director of Development and Communications, standing in the doorway to the dining room. He's holding a recent LA Times article by Sam Watters about the Octagon House.
Some of the buildings at Heritage Square are completely refurbished and ornately decorated. Some are still rough.

Octagon House is squarely in the middle.
A view from a window in Octagon House.

Heritage Square: Idyll Worship

This building may seem familiar to Pasadena residents as the Lincoln Avenue Methodist Church. Of course if you know Lincoln Avenue you know it's no longer there. The church is now a denizen of Heritage Square Museum in Montecito Heights. And it's okay that the stained glass window is covered in this photo because--well, keep reading.
The cornerstone of the Lincoln Avenue Methodist Church was laid in 1897 and the church opened for services in April of 1898. Information about the architecture is at the museum's website. The church was moved to Heritage Square in 1981 to make way for a modern post office at Lincoln and Orange Grove.
Now do you remember?

(If you go a couple of blocks south of the post office to the very end of Lincoln Avenue where it meets the 210 freeway, you'll see a couple of older properties. If you squint a bit and shut the freeway noise from your ears, you can get an idea of what that part of Pasadena was like a hundred years ago when the church was new.)

In yesterday's post about Heritage Square Museum I said you can tour almost all of the buildings there. You can't go inside the Lincoln Avenue Church just yet because there are funds to be raised and work to be done to restore it. A building has to be taken apart to move it, and although the church is back in one piece you can see from the ceiling there's still much to be done. You can even make a donation to the museum to help in the effort.
Brian Sheridan, Director of Development and Communications for the museum, told me the church windows will have to be replaced. The current windows aren't the originals. They're temporaries that were put in by a Hollywood production company when the church was used for a movie set.

Do you believe I was so star-struck by Heritage Square itself I didn't think to ask which movie?

12:50 PM
POST UPDATED!
Brian just sent me this photo of an original window. What do you think? Worth restoring, eh?

Heritage Square: Enchantment

The Hale House.

When John and I were first dating we once stopped by the Heritage Square Museum. It was closed, but we always meant to go back. A peek down the quiet avenue was a glimpse into history.

Every time I drive by on the Pasadena Freeway and see the Victorian spires peeking out over the rooftops of Montecito Heights, I wonder: What's in there? Last Sunday I found out. If I were allowed only one word to describe what's in there, I would say "enchantment."

Heritage Square Museum is a mini-neighborhood of eight buildings, all built between 1876 and 1899 and all moved from their previous locations. (Plus there's a pretty cool old train car.) The five houses, one train depot, one carriage barn and one church are in different phases of preservation. Some are fully restored and furnished, some are still being studied and planned, almost all can be toured. Most of them are examples of Victorian and Edwardian architectural styles now rare in southern California.
Close-up of the train car, a recent museum acquisition.

Originated in 1969 as a haven for the last two remaining structures from Bunker Hill, Heritage Square Museum serves "to preserve, restore and interpret" structures that were saved from demolition and transported to this spot. Three of them (the Longfellow-Hastings Octagon House, the Carriage Barn and the Lincoln Avenue Methodist Church) are from Pasadena.
Looking toward the Valley Knudsen Garden Residence from the porch of Hale House.

The original Bunker Hill buildings are no longer there. Just seven months after they were moved to Heritage Square they burned in a vandal's fire. (I encourage you to enjoy the Bunker Hill links. They are amazing.)

I took 271 photos on my tour. I'll post more over the next few days. I promise not to post them all.

How many times have you driven by Heritage Square Museum and wondered? Just go. Be enchanted. And I recommend you take a date.
Part of a collection of antique manhole covers at the museum.