Historic Sutter house
bulldozed in the night
YUBA CITY (2/27/03) -- Where the stately Onstott house stood Wednesday evening there was only a "pile of rubble" Thursday morning, angry historic preservationists said.
"It was there at six o'clock last night and it was gone at seven this morning," fumed Eleanor Mackensen, whose son, Eric, was among the first to notice the historic building had been demolished in the dead of night.
The white, two-story Italianate Victorian Jacob A. Onstott mansion is -- was -- located on the south side of Highway 20 at Harter Road said Bob Mackensen, a preservation architect and retired former executive director of the state Historic Building Safety Board.
It was built in 1880 by a pioneering farming family in Sutter County. Two Onstott brothers were responsible for introducing the Thompson seedless grape to the county.
Although the grape crop has moved to other areas, the Onstott family is still credited with propagating the grape stock on which the California raisin industry was founded.
Over the years there have been several attempts to buy the house and move it to save it from encroaching commercial development, but none were successful, Mackensen said.
The house had been purchased in recent years by Roy Lanza a high-powered commercial developer in the Yuba-Sutter area.
It sat on a 110-acre plot slated for a number of property projects including a new Yuba City High School, a church, commercial office space and low density housing, according to Brian Trudgeon, senior planner for Yuba City.
The house was located in the county area, but was in an area targeted for annexation to the city. It had been formally identified as an 'historic resource" in the general plan inventories for both the city and county.
Under that designation, the house enjoyed certain protections both in the city and the county, and preservationists were hoping it could still be saved.
"A lot of people wanted to move it off the property when they heard Roy (Lanza) wanted to raze it,"
Bob Mackensen said. The summary execution of the house represented a terrible loss to the area's historical patrimony, he said.
"Because of its historic value and visual prominence the community has been robbed of its most significant historic icon," Bob Mackensen said.
With the house gone and no immediate remedy in view, Bob Mackensen was angry and sad.
"The community is going to have to do something about this incident. It sends the wrong signal. We're signaling that anything goes in Sutter County and that everything goes in Sutter County," Mackensen said.
Lanza could not be reached for comment.
bulldozed in the night
YUBA CITY (2/27/03) -- Where the stately Onstott house stood Wednesday evening there was only a "pile of rubble" Thursday morning, angry historic preservationists said.
"It was there at six o'clock last night and it was gone at seven this morning," fumed Eleanor Mackensen, whose son, Eric, was among the first to notice the historic building had been demolished in the dead of night.
The white, two-story Italianate Victorian Jacob A. Onstott mansion is -- was -- located on the south side of Highway 20 at Harter Road said Bob Mackensen, a preservation architect and retired former executive director of the state Historic Building Safety Board.
It was built in 1880 by a pioneering farming family in Sutter County. Two Onstott brothers were responsible for introducing the Thompson seedless grape to the county.
Although the grape crop has moved to other areas, the Onstott family is still credited with propagating the grape stock on which the California raisin industry was founded.
Over the years there have been several attempts to buy the house and move it to save it from encroaching commercial development, but none were successful, Mackensen said.
The house had been purchased in recent years by Roy Lanza a high-powered commercial developer in the Yuba-Sutter area.
It sat on a 110-acre plot slated for a number of property projects including a new Yuba City High School, a church, commercial office space and low density housing, according to Brian Trudgeon, senior planner for Yuba City.
The house was located in the county area, but was in an area targeted for annexation to the city. It had been formally identified as an 'historic resource" in the general plan inventories for both the city and county.
Under that designation, the house enjoyed certain protections both in the city and the county, and preservationists were hoping it could still be saved.
"A lot of people wanted to move it off the property when they heard Roy (Lanza) wanted to raze it,"
Bob Mackensen said. The summary execution of the house represented a terrible loss to the area's historical patrimony, he said.
"Because of its historic value and visual prominence the community has been robbed of its most significant historic icon," Bob Mackensen said.
With the house gone and no immediate remedy in view, Bob Mackensen was angry and sad.
"The community is going to have to do something about this incident. It sends the wrong signal. We're signaling that anything goes in Sutter County and that everything goes in Sutter County," Mackensen said.
Lanza could not be reached for comment.
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