6/27 Redman House Moves Towards Opening Doors

BY ROGER SIDEMAN

More than six years after community members formed a committee to restore the historic Redman House, volunteers are literally starting to roll up their sleeves. Overgrown ivy and plywood boards still conceal the house’s once elegant Victorian facade, but renewal sprouts from decay just as perspiration follows inspiration. In anticipation of its multi-million dollar restoration, members of the Redman House Foundation spent the weekend clearing brush and hauling trash from around the house. Their hard work follows a vision set forth by community members to preserve the architectural jewel, which sits along Highway 1 at Riverside Drive.Renovation will include removing and cataloguing plaster and woodwork, structurally framing the house and installing new plumbing and electrical work, then adding original plaster and woodwork. The house was red-tagged after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.“The house is in much better shape than it looks from the outside,” foundation chair and Watsonville City Council memeber Dale Skillicorn said. Volunteer Barbara Powell admired an old pear tree that she thinks the Redmans planted. “It’s a tough old tree, just like the house,” she said.Skillicorn, volunteer Steve Bankhead and others removed old furniture and debris from the caretaker’s quarters adjacent to the house. They’re clearing the way for an archeology class from Cabrillo College. For a couple of weeks in July, the class will dig for artifacts left behind by generations past. Powell estimated the land has been farmed since 1843. A 14-acre organic farm on the property continues its legacy.Despite his comments on the condition of the house, Skillicorn said a new foundation is necessary because of structural damage from the 1989 earthquake. Foundation and roof work would take the rest of the year, he said.The Redman House was built in 1897 by Lamborn and Uren for James Redman and designed by local architect William Weeks. The Redman family sold the house in the 1930s to the prominent Hirahara family, who left the house during World War II when they were forced into internment camps for Japanese-Americans. Foundation members envision that the house, when fully renovated, will serve as a “gateway to the Pajaro Valley,” including an agricultural informational center and wine cellar. •••