9/26/06 Ready for Liftoff!
BY J.D. HILLARD
If you’re driving past the Redman House one day soon and it seems to be in a different spot, don’t be surprised.
The Redman House Foundation expected to receive a permit this week to lift the ailing 109-year-old William Weeks-designed Victorian-style home off its foundation and place it on cribbing about 75 feet away, said board member Bob Corbett. The measure is intended to allow for the rebuilding of the foundation.
The foundation has been working toward the restoration of the building, known for beautiful wood- and plater-work and an elegant design, for nine years. The first step in the many phases of rehabilitation planned for the building had foundation members excited, said Dean Coley, a foundation board member.
“We’re finally getting something concrete done,” Coley said. “We’re very excited about it.
”While the foundation woes have occurred in more recent decades, their source came before the Army Corps of Engineers built the Pajaro River Levee. When the river ran free, occasional flooding built up silt in the crawlspace beneath the house, Corbett said. While the flooding was controlled by the levee in the 1950s, the silt has since rotted the supports standing on the foundation. The weight of the house has been crushing the rotten posts, allowing parts of the building to sag, Corbett said.
The move involves jacking up steel beams beneath the structure, then supporting the beams on dollies to roll it off the foundation area, he said. Once it clears the foundation, stacks of wooden posts will be erected under supporting points in the structure to stabilize it. The move was expected to take place around the end of October.
The Redman House was built in 1897 by the firm Lamborn and Uren for James Redman. Architect Weeks was also responsible for a number of well-known buildings in the Pajaro Valley. 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.
The house was red-tagged after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.
While the building appears decrepit from a distance, the redwood-frame structure has actually held up well, Corbett said. Still, the list of renovation projects is long.
Prior to moving the building, the chimneys must be removed. While on a typical house this would involve a hauling truck and a sledgehammer, the Redman project will involve more care. Because the project aims to restore the structure rather than rebuild it, the chimneys will actually be disassembled and stored so they can be put back together when the house is back on its foundation, Corbett said.
The house needs a new roof and much of the woodwork is in such bad shape it must be replaced. Following any restoration work, however, surviving windows, woodwork and plaster designs will be put back in their original locations.
“It’ll all be very well documented before anything is removed,” Corbett said. “It’s going to be a very careful and very extensive restoration.”
Corbett called the permit to move the house the first piece of “the permit puzzle.” With the house moved, the group hopes to rebuild the foundation beginning in the spring, which will require another permit. The roof work and other projects would involve additional permits, he said.
Restoring the house was expected to cost roughly $4.5 million and take up to seven years, Coley said. A fund for operations and maintenance and additional development of educational facilities on the 14-acre property would bring the total project to about $12 million. How close is the foundation to that goal? Not very, Coley said.
The foundation hopes to put the funds together from government, foundation and corporate grants along with matching funds from local private donors. The hope is the coming activity on the project will demonstrate that the project is making progress, he said.
“Most people heretofore would not be forthcoming,” Coley said. “They haven’t had something to see.”
If you’re driving past the Redman House one day soon and it seems to be in a different spot, don’t be surprised.
The Redman House Foundation expected to receive a permit this week to lift the ailing 109-year-old William Weeks-designed Victorian-style home off its foundation and place it on cribbing about 75 feet away, said board member Bob Corbett. The measure is intended to allow for the rebuilding of the foundation.
The foundation has been working toward the restoration of the building, known for beautiful wood- and plater-work and an elegant design, for nine years. The first step in the many phases of rehabilitation planned for the building had foundation members excited, said Dean Coley, a foundation board member.
“We’re finally getting something concrete done,” Coley said. “We’re very excited about it.
”While the foundation woes have occurred in more recent decades, their source came before the Army Corps of Engineers built the Pajaro River Levee. When the river ran free, occasional flooding built up silt in the crawlspace beneath the house, Corbett said. While the flooding was controlled by the levee in the 1950s, the silt has since rotted the supports standing on the foundation. The weight of the house has been crushing the rotten posts, allowing parts of the building to sag, Corbett said.
The move involves jacking up steel beams beneath the structure, then supporting the beams on dollies to roll it off the foundation area, he said. Once it clears the foundation, stacks of wooden posts will be erected under supporting points in the structure to stabilize it. The move was expected to take place around the end of October.
The Redman House was built in 1897 by the firm Lamborn and Uren for James Redman. Architect Weeks was also responsible for a number of well-known buildings in the Pajaro Valley. 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.
The house was red-tagged after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.
While the building appears decrepit from a distance, the redwood-frame structure has actually held up well, Corbett said. Still, the list of renovation projects is long.
Prior to moving the building, the chimneys must be removed. While on a typical house this would involve a hauling truck and a sledgehammer, the Redman project will involve more care. Because the project aims to restore the structure rather than rebuild it, the chimneys will actually be disassembled and stored so they can be put back together when the house is back on its foundation, Corbett said.
The house needs a new roof and much of the woodwork is in such bad shape it must be replaced. Following any restoration work, however, surviving windows, woodwork and plaster designs will be put back in their original locations.
“It’ll all be very well documented before anything is removed,” Corbett said. “It’s going to be a very careful and very extensive restoration.”
Corbett called the permit to move the house the first piece of “the permit puzzle.” With the house moved, the group hopes to rebuild the foundation beginning in the spring, which will require another permit. The roof work and other projects would involve additional permits, he said.
Restoring the house was expected to cost roughly $4.5 million and take up to seven years, Coley said. A fund for operations and maintenance and additional development of educational facilities on the 14-acre property would bring the total project to about $12 million. How close is the foundation to that goal? Not very, Coley said.
The foundation hopes to put the funds together from government, foundation and corporate grants along with matching funds from local private donors. The hope is the coming activity on the project will demonstrate that the project is making progress, he said.
“Most people heretofore would not be forthcoming,” Coley said. “They haven’t had something to see.”
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