PEABODY-WERDEN HOUSE UPDATES
January 2024: A scale model of the neglected Peabody-Werden House is the centerpiece of Los Angeles-based artist Sayre Gomez’ exhibit “Heaven ‘N’ Earth” at Xavier Hufkens gallery in Brussels. The gallery website states: “The Peabody Werden House is a Victorian bungalow that was constructed in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1895. By then decrepit and facing demolition, in 2016 it was moved to an empty lot across the street following an outcry from preservationists. In subsequent years, however, funding for the house’s restoration dried up, leaving it a decaying hulk still sitting on its nominally temporary jacks. Once again suspended in limbo in the form of Gomez’s three-dimensional reproduction, the house emblematises the persistence of history in a working-class, but now gentrifying, neighborhood of Los Angeles—a city often erroneously described as being devoid of history altogether. Facing the sculpture on the four surrounding walls are luminous paintings of sunsets. Their compelling realism is ironised by exaggerated photographic lens flare effects. This arrangement ensures that, from whatever angle the house is viewed, a picture-perfect Californian backdrop is close at hand.” Then in February 2024, CNN reported on Gomez’ inspirations in the contrasts between gentrification and poverty in Los Angeles, and the purchase of the miniature Peabody-Werden house by Museum Voorlinden in the Netherlands.
June 2022: We initiated a Zoom discussion with ELACC’s new leadership about the status of the long derelict Peabody-Werden House, options for landmarking the property and seeking preservation grants, and potential public facing uses of the historic home. There is still no plan for preserving or reactivating the house.
February 2022: as ground is finally broken for the Los Lirios Apartments across Soto, a project ELACC told us would need to begin before any money was invested in the Peabody-Werden House, it has now been four years of silence about their plans for the historic property.
May 2018: we finally get uncommunicative property owner ELACC to meet us at the neglected property.
July 2016: watch the house moved here.
September 2015: Here is the house in its original location, on the north side of First Street.
Original 2016 post:
On September 10, 2015, I read the transcript of a short KPCC radio piece about 20 Boyle Heights families facing eviction from their rent-controlled apartments by low-income housing developer East L.A. Community Corporation (ELACC). Residents had been organized by Union de Vecinos to protest the loss of their homes. I shared the news with my husband Richard Schave, who hosts an occasional tour about the cultural history of Boyle Heights.
On September 26, while running errands in the neighborhood, Richard and I stopped to see where residents were fighting to save their homes. Although the eviction fight and planned demolitions had received quite a bit of news coverage that month, we were startled to discover that one of the threatened properties was a very handsome double-width, half-timbered Victorian house. Why had none of the reporters mentioned that this wasn’t just an eviction story, but an historic preservation story, too?
After taking some photos of the run-down house from the sidewalk, I went home and researched the history of 2415 East 1st, learning it was built circa 1895 and had been an early mixed use development: residential below and commercial above.
Concerned that nobody had sounded the alarm about the demolition threat to a unique historic structure, I spent half an hour designing a simple image meme showing the vintage building contrasted with its proposed modern replacement. The text read: “SAVE ME! Q: With so many vacant lots in Boyle Heights, why does affordable housing developer ELACC want to tear down a 120-year old mansion?.”
Then late on September 27, I posted the image on Esotouric’s Facebook account with the suggestion that anyone concerned about the house share it and send an email to developer ELACC. Dozens of people shared it overnight.
My own September 27 email to ELACC read: “I am writing in regard to the 1895 half-timbered double house at [2415 East 1st], which is slated for demolition under your proposed redevelopment project, Cielito Lindo. This is a rare example of Tudor-style architecture on the East side of the river, and is also unusual due to its scale and its retention of glass, wood and stone details. It has great bones, and deserves another chance. I urge you to explore options for moving this 120 year old community landmark, rather than destroying it.”
On September 28, ELACC President Isela C. Gracian President replied, with a message that was refreshingly different from the demolition plans that had been reported in the Los Angeles Times, Eastsider L.A. and Boyle Heights Beat.
Gracian thanked me for my interest in the property and continued, “Let me just start off correcting information, this building is not slatted (sic) nor has it been for demolition. This is incorrect information which has unfortunately been disseminated.We at ELACC support the preservation of historic places and [this] is a building we are working to preserve by moving it to a different location. The preservation of the building has been at the forefront since we acquired the property.”
The time elapsed between my initial email to ELACC and ELACC’s reply? Just thirteen hours and 52 minutes. But in that short window, dozens of people shared the image meme and sent their own emails of concern.
In late October, Richard and I took Ms. Gracian up on an invitation to participate in a discussion about possible future uses for the building, where we learned that an empty MTA lot directly across 1st Street might be available as a new home for structure, which ELACC had nicknamed The Blue House or The Peabody Werden House in honor of early residents. (see Attachment B – Peabody-Werden House Relocation Site Plan.)
And this Thursday, June 30 (8:00AM – 2:00PM), after 121 years facing south, the structure will be moved directly across 1st Street to its temporary, north-facing home. And Richard and I will be there to watch the show, tickled to know that because we stopped to take a look, and shared our concerns with the preservation-minded Los Angeles social media community, ELACC responded with a respectful plan to preserve a piece of Boyle Heights history for future generations. Won’t you join us?
And it’s a happy ending for the residents, too, as Union de Vecinos negotiated right of return for evicted tenants to go to the top of the list to move into the new development.
So what’s next for The Peabody Werden House? Metro is granting a one year license to stage the historic house on their vacant lot during construction of the approved Cielito Lindo project. which requires its removal. ELACC is exploring options for its future use, including restoring it as a community space for residents of the proposed Los Lirios development slated for the vacant lot. (see 1st_soto_board_report). Stay tuned to the Esotouric blog for updates as we get them.