MISSION HILLS : Pico Adobe to Remain Closed Another Year

The historic Andres Pico Adobe, closed last December for earthquake stabilization work, will be off-limits to the public and the historical society for another year, city officials said.

The adobe, the second-oldest building in the San Fernando Valley, was closed just before Christmas last year. Approval of the stabilization plans for the Mission Hills structure could take another two to three months, said Ralph Lew, project manager for the city.

The delays have put a crimp in the activities of the San Fernando Valley Historical Society, which normally operates out of the 1834-built structure. The organization has cut back its operations and has been working out of a small portable trailer in the adobe’s parking lot.

“It’s been difficult for us this year, said Bobbette Fleschler, president of the historical society. “We’re not happy about having to face another year, maybe longer, being out of this facility.”

Saving the adobe in the 1960s was the historical society’s first and largest project. From about 1845 to 1875, the building was the home of Andres Pico, a general in the Mexican army and brother of Pio Pico, who was the last Mexican governor of California and the man Pico Boulevard is named after.

The society has cut back its hours from four days to one day a week and can’t rent out the adobe for conferences or weddings to raise money. Tours by the public and visits by schoolchildren have also been canceled.

“We’re kind of upset about that because it’s taken an inordinate amount of time for the plans to be completed,” Fleschler said.

She said the city had estimated that the project would take about a year, but project manager Lew said stabilization work generally takes about 18 months.

“We have to go through so many processes,” he said. “There’s no way to do it within a year.”

In the meantime, the historical society will keep its files in storage and continue working out of the trailer.