Neighbors Ask City to Move Historic House

Efforts to preserve the historic Morrell House, which was moved to a city park last month, hit a snag this week when the building’s new neighbors petitioned the Redondo Beach council to move it somewhere else.

Neighborhood opposition to converting Perry Alison Playfield into a heritage park, along with rising costs, have contributed to a weakening of last November’s unanimous City Council support, said Councilman Stevan Colin. He is a staunch backer of the preservation effort and represents District 3, where the park is located.

The petition is signed by 95 people who live near the park where the boarded-up house has been sitting on blocks since it was moved by the city from 204 N. Catalina St. on March 15. The neighborhood is virtually unanimous in its opposition, the petition said.

If the house remains where it is , the petition said, children will lose a recreation area, motorists may be distracted and cause accidents, and visitors to the site may worsen a neighborhood parking problem.

If anyone wants to save Morrell House, the petition said, “it should be relocated immediately to Dominguez Park or the Lilenthal area at 190th Street and Anza Boulevard.”

Moreover, the petition said, the city, in its haste to rescue Morrell House from a scheduled demolition, failed to notify the park’s neighbors in central Redondo Beach.

After receiving the petition Tuesday night, the City Council scheduled a special hearing at 6:30 p.m. on May 9, for public comment on plans for the historic home.

Colin on Wednesday accused a City Hall adversary, outgoing Councilman Archie Snow, of fomenting the opposition to the heritage park.

Snow, who lost his bid for the mayor’s post in the March 7 election, countered that the neighborhood rebellion in Colin’s district started before he heard of it. Snow is continuing to serve on the City Council until his District 5 successor is picked in May 16 runoff elections.

Heritage Court Planned

The council had planned in November to use the park at 190th Street and Cluster Lane as an assembly point for several of the town’s remaining historic buildings. It was to have been called “Perry Alison Heritage Court.”

The council had agreed to pay about $30,000 to move each of possibly four buildings, including Morrell House, which are threatened by condominium projects. However, the cost of the Morrell move jumped to $80,000 and a second building tagged for rescue, the Queen Anne Cottage, stayed put at 318 S. Broadway after the owner changed his mind about razing it.

Colin, conceding that Morrell House in its present state of disrepair may “look kind of scary” to its new neighbors, said that neither he nor anyone else on the council remains interested in moving more historic buildings to Perry Alison.

“Any more would probably generate even more resistance,” he said. “We have to be careful we don’t bite off more than we can chew.”

Second Thoughts

Snow said he was also having second thoughts about the relocation effort. “I think we were reacting to a sense of urgency and a very vocal group (of preservationists),” he said. “It really gets to be a hot potato when people live close to a park and think, ‘Oh, my God, they’re going to dump those old houses in our neighborhood.’ ”

Jonathon Eubanks, president of the Redondo Beach Historical Society, said the restored building will be beautiful and enhance the neighborhood. The society, which will handle the project, says it will cost $150,000 to restore the former home of J. Edward Morrell, a major figure in Redondo Beach’s early years.

Eubanks said the society cannot go ahead with the restoration until the city completes its paper work and lays a permanent foundation.