| The Palo Alto History Project |
| The Fall of Big Blue 1021 College Avenue |
| 2006 |
| The Fall of Big Blue and the Rise of the Preservationalists In the mid-90’s, when the Silicon Valley economy was roaring, small houses from a bygone era were being torn down at an alarming rate all over Palo Alto. In their place, speculators were building castle-like mansions (called Taco Bells by some) for the nouveau rich. These new neighborhood additions --- dream homes for developers and their new stock-trading owners --- were more like oversized monstrosities to many of their new neighbors. While the battle for preservation was most contentious in the historic neighborhoods of North Palo Alto, the big fight would actually begin over an abandoned house in the College Terrace neighborhood. For preservationists, it was the last straw and it came in 1996, when a 97 year-old College Terrace Victorian house, affectionately nicknamed Big Blue, was bulldozed by the new owner on the same morning that he signed the deed. The two-story, light blue house had been built in 1899 by Christopher Ducker, who operated Mayfield's only brewery on California Avenue. But the once majestic house now had weeds, car batteries, paint cans and a big bus in its yard. It had also become a hangout for homeless. But when it came down, outrage over the destruction of Big Blue was intense. Preservationists were especially incensed because a Palo Alto couple --- Katie and Tom Ritchey --- said they had a verbal agreement with the owner to buy and restore the house. The owner reneged on the deal, sold it for 100 grand more to speculator John Low, who then had the bulldozers in the front yard before the Ritcheys knew what was happening. They only learned of Big Blue’s destruction from the story appearing on the cover of the Palo Alto Weekly days after it came down. Low built two 4-bedroom houses on the property at a substantial financial gain (he did claim that he would have tried to move Big Blue if he had known that the Ritcheys were willing to pay for it). And as one Big Blue defender predicted, “The new houses will have little character, huge garages and no front porches just like all the others springing up in our neighborhoods: maximum square footage for minimum cost.” (See the picture to decide for yourself) The fall of Big Blue became a rallying point in the fight to save historic homes in Palo Alto. College Terrace residents organized and united with preservationists in North Palo Alto to push the City Council to put an emergency stop on destruction of any Palo Alto house built prior to 1940. This controversial emergency ban stopped many demolition projects in their tracks. Three years of tortured debate followed, until the City Council finally came up with a version that they believed would satisfy most people. But not so fast. Homeowner-rights advocates pushed for a ballot initiative called Measure G, to overturn the new ordinance. The debate over Measure G was fierce and divisive. Preservationists believed they had finally been given the counter-weapon needed to stop wheeler-dealers from changing the look of their city --- and they fought Measure G tooth and nail. Homeowners and property-rights advocates saw the new ordinances as an elitist usurpation of their rights and they battled back hard. When the votes were finally tallied in the Measure G election, the preservationists had lost --- decisively. The voters had sided with the private rights of homeowners. It has proved a key loss in the history of the preservation movement in Palo Alto. -Matt Bowling |
| Big Blue's rather drab replacements |
| Homey College Terrace |
| Palo Alto Home Page |
| The map below shows the College Terrace area |
| A Monster Home being built on Louis Road |
| Sources: Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto Daily News, Palo Alto Historical Association |
