A potential roadblock for a Pasadena Unified School District workforce housing project was removed Monday, June 2, when the Pasadena City Council unanimously voted to deny an application to make the site of the proposed housing, Roosevelt Elementary School, a landmark.
At its April 15 meeting, the city’s Historic Preservation Commission voted 5-4 to recommend the City Council approve the designation.
In a 6-0 vote, with Councilmembers Steve Madison and Justin Jones absent, the council followed the recommendation of members of city staff to deny the application because of the determination that the building in question, first built in 1953, did not meet the architectural criteria to be considered a landmark.
The district has other plans for the school.
A 110-unit affordable workforce housing project backed by a voter approved bond measure has been in development since 2021. At a joint meeting between the Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education and the City Council last month, district officials presented the project to the council members who offered suggestions and warnings for the project.
According to the district, if the school was designated as a landmark, it would delay the housing project for years and add millions to the cost.
“Ultimately we’d be risking a once-in-a generation opportunity to address this crisis,” PUSD Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco said.
Site of the former Pasadena Unified School District’s, Roosevelt Elementary School, which closed in 2019 taken on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)According to the city, the Roosevelt School, located near Orange Grove Boulevard and Walnut Street, was established in 1907. By 1930 it had become a school for children with physical and mental disabilities. It was reconstructed in 1953 after suffering damage in the 1933 Long Beach earthquake.
Pasadena resident Rene Gonzalez submitted the application for designation but Pasadena Unified School District, the site’s land owner, opposed the site becoming a landmark.
The Historic Preservation Commission denied Gonzalez’s first application for landmark designation citing the need for more work and clarification.
The second application was submitted in September 2024 arguing that the school was eligible because of its Mid-Century Modern style.
Gonzalez applied under the criteria that says a site “embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, architectural style, period or method of construction, or represents the work of an architect, designer, engineer, or builder whose work is of significance to the City or possesses artistic values of significance to the City,” the municipal code read.
Members of city staff determined that the site did not meet the criteria to be a landmark and recommended the council deny the application.
During Monday’s meeting Gonzalez presented the history of the Roosevelt School as serving children with disabilities and being a space of inclusion and acceptance. He said the site should be memorialized so that its history is not lost.
PUSD officials argued that the district needs the affordable housing for its employees especially after 120 staff members lost their homes in the Eaton fire. In addition, the district’s historical consultant pointed to the numerous architectural changes to the building over the years that in their opinion disqualified the site as eligible to be a landmark.
“Time is of the essence to have the quickest most economical path to ensure that adequate workforce housing can be established for our hardworking teachers, staff and their families,” Board of Education Trustee Scott Harden said during public comment.
About 15 other people echoed Harden’s message against making Roosevelt a landmark, most of them citing the need for affordable housing for PUSD teachers and staff. Six commenters, including representatives from the commission disagreed with the city’s appraisal of the site’s eligibility and argued for landmark status.
“This designation won’t stop a future housing project from happening but by acknowledging its status as a landmark you’ll be setting the stage for its story to be studied and documented in more depth in the future,” said Debi Howell-Ardila, the historian who assisted in the landmark application.
Councilmember Jason Lyon said the council’s decision had nothing to do with the affordable housing question but a narrow ruling on whether the site met the criteria for a landmark designation.
He said alterations to the school that included enclosing the site, dropped ceilings and change to the brick work destroyed the distinctive characteristics of the architectural style.
“There’s an important history of Roosevelt School but that the building is not particularly representative of that history and that preserving it would not be the best way to honor that history or to tell that story,” Councilmember Rick Cole said.
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