Heavy lifting at museum

slideshow

Historic Lopez House is once again on solid ground. At approximately 7 a.m. on Jan. 5 several strong men with even stronger equipment set about the task of lowering the 100 year-old house onto its concrete and wooden skirt foundation at the Kern County Museum. Using house jacks, rails, shovels and lots of elbow grease, crews from Cen-Cal Construction finished placing the former residence of long-time Tejon Ranch manager J.J. Lopez onto its permanent foundation approximately five-and-a-half hours later.

The Lopez family, from the Castile region of Spain, has been a part of California history since the 1700s. In 1795, Lopez’ grandfather, Stephano, hauled hides, olive oil and tallow from missions and haciendas in southern California to the ships and brought back manufactured goods to the Los Angeles area. J.J. Lopez came to Kern County in 1874 and at age 21 was hired to manage the Tejon Ranch sheep operations by General Edward F. Beale. He eventually managed the ranch and was a consultant until his death in 1939.

Lopez had the house built on California and Chester avenues in 1909. The home was purchased by Otis Coppock and moved to the corner of Rosedale Highway and Calloway Drive in 1953. Arlin and Lavern Hill purchased the home for $8,000 in 1966. After Lavern Hill died in 2005, the house was left to her children Glenda Rankin, Dianne Sharman, Arlin Wayne and Harvey Hill. In 2007, following their mother’s wish, they donated it to the museum. The house arrived at the museum on April 20, 2008.

There are some that say the house was actually built in 1906, but there is absolutely no question as to when it was moved to the Rosedale and Calloway location. Rankin, in the process of researching her historic home, ran across a woman who knew to the day when the house was moved in 1953. She should. The woman went into labor, and her husband, who was part of the crew moving the house, could not make it to the hospital in time to see the birth of their child, that same day.

Restoration continues through the volunteer efforts of the nonprofit Kern County Museum Foundation. Museum Director Carola Enriquez points out making the exhibit permanent is timely since it happened during the 100th anniversary of its original construction.

“We are so relieved to have it safely on the ground,” Enriquez said. “It looks like a permanent fixture, now. With some paint and landscaping, it will offer such an improvement to the museum’s entrance, situated directly across from the 1891 William A. Howell House. It is an important piece of our master plan.”

Work continues on renovating porches and solidifying the roof to preserve the structure. Enriquez gives credit to the Rankin family, as well as the museum foundation and individual donors for a recent increase of goods and donated services that are keeping the project on pace to have its exterior completely restored by the end of the year.

Donations are still needed to continue work on the interior to make it as true to the house’s original design as possible. Information about donating can be found on the Foundation’s Web Site, http://www.movethishouse.org.


Print This Page   Email This Page