Dear Editor:
The former Union Bank of California building was originally built by J.R. Pendergrass, a former mayor of Hollister. The Pendergrass Hotel was completed in 1927, but no one needed to tell Tim Lantz; he already knew from clues he discovered in the now vacant building.
Tim has taken careful stock of this concrete structure, and a loan is available from the Hollister Redevelopment Agency (RDA) for revitalization. These funds must be paid back to the city with interest.
Ignacio Velazquez, president of the Hollister Downtown Association, does not want the city to allow Tim an opportunity to work on this project. In contradiction, the HDA’s own Web site advertises, “a revitalization program, carried out jointly by the HDA and the RDA, (is focusing) efforts to preserve downtown’s historically significant architecture and encourage new economic ventures.” So why would you turn away an award-winning preservationist unless it is personal?
Tim Lantz is an expert in historical renovations. The March-April 1995 issue of Custom Builder magazine reports, “(Tim has) won several state and national awards, including the Grand Prize in 1993 in the Great American Home Awards program, sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, for the … rehabilitation of an earthquake-ravaged … Victorian in … Los Gatos. He’s been on the Architectural Review Board for the City of Morgan Hill and served as the community’s Cultural Resources Commissioner, and (was) a consultant for the Victorian Preservation Association of Santa Clara Valley.”
Tim’s resume demonstrates that he is qualified for the job and understands the importance of preserving history.
I completed extensive research of the former Pendergrass Hotel, the same as I helped Ignacio with research for both of his building projects. As reported in The Hollister Advance, June 10, 1927, the first floor of the Pendergrass Hotel had a main dining room and a coffee shop. The second floor office space was built to suit the tenants, and the top two floors had hotel rooms filled with the finest furniture available. The Hollister National Bank came much later. My research was passed along to Tim, and he has studied every detail, right down to the Chesterfields that were located in the lobby.
If you have talked with Tim, you know he has different ideas than Ignacio (and most other contractors), as to what is considered historical preservation, and as a result, a project of this nature may take longer.
If Tim is given an opportunity to revitalize the Pendergrass Hotel, we won’t see a 40-yard dumpster parked on the sidewalk. It makes more sense to add what is missing, rather than gut the building and replace everything with new.
In his interview for Custom Builder Tim said, “It’s essential to get into the mind of the person who first did the job and repress the urge to want to improve upon what’s there. If you make the determination to rip something out because it’s of no importance to you, and it turns out that you were wrong, it’s too late – a piece of history is gone.”
With these ideals, the renovation will take time.
I hope Tim has an opportunity to make the Pendergrass Hotel come alive, and that citizens of this community will become educated and aware of what can be done with less money and more craftsmanship.
Sharlene Van Rooy
Hollister
