MODERN MAKEOVER EMBRACES THE PAST

By SUZANNE SPROUL
Photos by GABRIEL LUIS ACOSTA

IRVING AND YESENYA CALDERON are in the business of reviving history. Owners of Calderon Construction Co. in San Bernardino, they have their hands full because renovating a house is one thing, but restoring a mansion is another.

The company has made its success through commercial and residential building and remodeling. It now is venturing into historic restoration and is in the midst of its biggest residential job to date — a historically accurate facelift of the 1910 French Colonial mansion on Center Street in Redlands, known locally as Villa del Sol.

“This is a huge job and a big responsibility because the owners want to maintain the historic character of the house, while making it modern,” Irving Calderon said.

Calling it a “huge job” doesn’t do the work justice. The home sits on four acres and measures 11,000 square feet.

The restoration involves peeling back 15 layers of paint on woodwork throughout the home, pulling up five inches of floorings layered one on top of the other, and plenty of work beyond that. The company doesn’t have copies of the original plans, but it is proceeding after extensively researching the architecture of the era and uncovering stories about the home.

“The more we get into this project, the more we find out,” Calderon said. “People come up to us and say they remember the house at a certain time. We’re putting together bits and pieces about the property. It’s almost like a giant puzzle.”

Make that a mysterious puzzle.

The story Calderon heard is that the house dates to 1907 when the project was first discussed in Redlands; building plans were finalized three years later. A transplanted New York doctor had it built for his French-born wife. It was a duplicate of her family’s ancestral home in France, where she grew up. There have been many changes to the structure during the years, with it starting as a residence, then becoming a maternity home for wealthy local women, a doctor’s office and then a residence again.

Tom R. Atchley, president of the board of directors of the Redlands Area Historical Society, says in the 1920s it served as the 80-bed Redlands Heights Sanitarium. By 1938, it became part of Redlands Community Hospital and was known as the Curtiss Memorial.

In 1948, Ruth Zelinsky asked the city for permission to turn the building into a guest hotel. The request was denied.

Tracking down the massive structure’s complete story seems a lot like peeling away all of those coats of paint. Whatever the history, the emphasis now is on its future.

Bringing back the home’s luster is only part of the project. The Montclair couple that own the property also want to add 8,000 square feet to it, bringing in modern conveniences and top-of-the-line comforts. The largest changes: doubling the square footage of the kitchen and increasing the size of the master bedroom.

“Our company has done all kinds of general construction and commercial construction, but this is quite the job and one I’ve really thrown myself into,” Calderon said. “I’m at the site every day because I like the history part of it and the challenge of bringing the old architecture of the home back to life while still incorporating new additions.”

This is the third historic restoration project the company has tackled. First was a Pasadena church and then an 800-square-foot San Bernardino home.

The Redlands home has been stripped to its interior framing and outside brick work. Calderon Construction is working with Southern California Edison on electrical upgrades for the house, which has all of its original wiring. Modern plumbing, air conditioning and heating units also will be added. “The carpentry that went into the building of this house isn’t around anymore,” Calderon said.

“Even some of the lumber that was used isn’t cut in those sizes anymore, but we’ve been asked to maintain the original integrity of the house wherever possible — even down to the thickness of the walls and the sizes of the windows.” Working on the house provides a bit of an architectural history lesson, with workers finding surprises on a regular basis. Since the building has been used for multiple purposes, some of the rooms have been changed and must be reconfigured.

“You can see where work was done on the house. Parts clearly were done in the 1950s and then again in the 1970s,” Calderon said. “The swimming pool dates back to the 1960s, and some of the trees on the property are 150 years old and we have to work around them. This house — I keep calling it that, but really it looks like a mansion — has value and is rich in history.”

Calderon and his company came on board in November 2007 and actual construction began two months ago. Although the owners hope to move in at the beginning of 2009, work will continue after that. With the cost of the property and all the restoration/renovations work, the final price tag is expected to be $13 million. “There’s a big difference between new construction and working on restoring an old house,” said Calderon, who has been in the business since 1990. “Projects today are so streamlined and structured. You have plans and you build. But this project is completely different and that makes it exciting.”

“All jobs — this one in particular — must have a proper assessment of what needs to be done and how,” he added. “Wood preservation is very important in this job. We want it to last because we believe our work is our calling card.” Calderon hopes to do more historic renovation projects.

“I like to get in and think, ‘What was the original carpenter thinking? How did he do this?’ ” he said.

“When we are finished, the ultimate compliment to us is that the restored house looks like it hasn’t been touched. We don’t want to be thought of as builders, but artists. Old World architecture is loved by everyone. We don’t want to leave our mark on the house. We want the original builder’s hand left in all of this because we retained his vision.”