Preservationists Not Charmed : History: The city of San Diego plans to demolish the House of Charm in Balboa Park and replace it with a new structure.

SAN DIEGO — Against the advice of historic preservation experts, San Diego plans to demolish the House of Charm, one of the earliest buildings in Balboa Park, and replace it with an entirely new structure unfaithful to the original.

The ornate, 1915 Spanish Colonial structure was designed by New York architect Bertram Goodhue, who also designed other park buildings, including the California Tower, for that year’s Panama-California Exposition. The House of Charm was remodeled under the direction of renowned San Diego architect Richard Requa for the California Pacific International Exposition, held in 1935 and 1936.

Although the exterior of $10-million new building proposed by San Diego architects BSHA would be very similar to the original as it appeared in 1935-1936, the interior would be a radical departure from the old barn-like exhibition hall, with its wood-truss roof supports. The new building would quadruple the usable space to 76,000 square feet in a configuration that would not capture even a hint of the original interior. Instead of a large exhibition hall, the building would contain four levels, including two new underground floors.

Tentative approval has already been granted the new building by the city’s Historical Site Board, a preservation watchdog agency appointed by the mayor, generally the most stringent judge of projects as they make their way through the city planning and approval process. The San Diego City Council is expected to endorse the project after its own review, probably early next year. Construction would begin soon after, with completion expected in 1995.

BSHA’s design would gracefully shoehorn the new interiors into a replication of the original shell. But the loss of the original interior, and the lack of even a vestigial trace of it in the new building, will be a significant blow to the historical value of the Balboa Park buildings, another sign of the city’s tendency to value economics over preserving local history.

Situated on the Prado, the central pedestrian promenade through the center of the park, the House of Charm is the last remaining building in the park with authentic, original exhibition space. The interior is far from elegant, especially in its current rundown state, but its design accurately represents what it was like to be at the expos.

The building is also among the few remaining early structures of wood and plaster with straw and horse hair mixed in for reinforcing. Other structures have been rebuilt over the years with different materials.

In 1915, these initial buildings were intended as temporary exhibition spaces, hence the thin, flimsy, foundation-less construction. But, over the years they became a valuable, romantic piece of local history. They represent a period when architects designing buildings in San Diego began looking toward the Mediterranean for inspiration.

The ornate decoration of many 1915 park buildings was in marked contrast to San Diego architect Irving Gill’s famous modern buildings from the same period. Gill wanted to design primary structures for the 1915 exhibition, but Goodhue got the nod. Some historians believe the popularity of Goodhue’s Spanish Colonial revival mode sped the decline of Gill’s popularity.

Driven by the need for more interior space in the park, the city has made historic accuracy a low priority. San Diego architects Wayne Donaldson, an expert in historic preservation, and Richard Bundy teamed up to apply for the job of designing the new House of Charm. They suggested an interior that would have resembled the original while meeting modern structural codes, but were not hired (Donaldson is now serving as a consultant to BSHA on the project).

Historic preservationists fear that the new House of Charm, an example of superficial historicism that would give only the illusion of authenticity, could set a dangerous precedent for the future of other important buildings in the park. One of these is 1915’s House of Hospitality, another major building the city plans to replace.

The House of Charm project has renewed friction between preservationists and the city.

Preservationists say the city’s handling of the proposed reconstruction has been careless from the start, while the city claims it has been conscientious.

The city couldn’t decide whether the new building should look like the 1915 Goodhue original or Requa’s 1935-1936 remodel. It first asked for the Goodhue version, then switched to the later one at the direction of the Site Board. So the architects have added some of Requa’s modifications. These were minor, mostly external, and included new windows, glass doors and glass display windows--all of which will bring extra natural light into the building.

Also, preservationists are irked that the city is proceeding with the House of Charm project without having adopted the Central Mesa Precise Plan or an accompanying Environmental Impact Report, two broader planning documents governing the future of the heart of the park.

The city has also kept important information on the House of Charm project away from preservationists and has yet to justify the demolition and new construction in all the normal ways, according to Vonn Marie May, a landscape architect who chairs the Historical Site Board.

“If the will is there, I believe you can restore almost anything,” said May, who believes the city is ramrodding demolition through, without even investigating rehabilitating the original building, or at least reusing substantial portions of it. “They should approve a precise plan and EIR, then go into project like this. That’s just good planning.”

As part of its tentative approval of the project, the site board has asked for the city to document exterior features that might be preserved and reused on the new building, or saved as archival pieces, and for a full environmental and structural report that would justify the demolition and reconstruction.

The National Park Service, which reviews projects in national historic landmark districts, such as Balboa Park, has also criticized the project. Though its approval is not mandatory, a letter from Paul Alley, an architectural historian in the service’s San Francisco office, states that the new building should include “a large and simple central exposition space recalling the general character and feeling of the 1935-1936 interior.”

Alley also said in a phone interview this week that the fiber-reinforced plastic the city plans to use to create ornamental details is still considered experimental, its life span a big question mark. Even so, within the city’s budget, Alley said the plastic appears to be a logical choice.

The city has had a tough time with other historic buildings in the park.

The Casa del Prado was remodeled during the 1960s with thick concrete walls that do not capture the essence of the original wood-frame-and-plaster construction.

And, when the Casa de Balboa burned down in 1978, its replacement used fiber-reinforced plaster moldings to re-create ornate plaster detailing--the same technique that will be used to replicate the House of Charm’s ornamentation.

Quality of the moldings was inconsistent on the Casa de Balboa. Donaldson said fiber-reinforced plastic can work well for period detail, but requires painstaking craftsmanship and installation.

Aside from the controversy, BSHA, whose earlier historic projects include the restoration of the Home Federal building at 6th and Broadway downtown, has thoughtfully designed the proposed new House of Charm, although a complete evaluation won’t be possible until the tenants finish the designs of their interior spaces in the months ahead. BSHA is doing interiors for the Children’s Museum and the Old Globe, while San Diego architect Ken Kellogg has consulted with the Art Institute.

BSHA’s design would introduce new skylights, hidden within a prominent bell tower that is absent from the building today but shown in early photos.

Beneath the tower, a vertical light well would pierce the center of the building, spilling natural light down into the interiors.

A bank of ground-level skylights, inconspicuously installed on the building’s west side, would admit additional natural light to the lower levels.

The highly visible north and east sides of the building would match the 1935-1936 version. New windows and other minor details added by BSHA elsewhere will be designed in a style distinct from the original, so they won’t be mistaken for authentic, while keeping with the building’s Spanish Colonial flavor.

But, no matter how good the design of the new House of Charm, the old one will be sorely missed. For San Diegans who appreciate Balboa Park as the single most vital slice of local architectural and planning history, the absence of the House of Charm’s original exhibition hall, the last such space remaining in the park--or at least a facsimile of it within the new structure--will hurt. A significant artifact from a romantic, optimistic era would be gone for good.