A Look At The Errea House
By Charles White - 6/27/06
Looking over old articles, notes and minutes from previous committee meetings and board meetings, I find that the current Board is on track with the planned renovation and eventual opening of the Errea House Museum. It seems that everything takes too much time, due to budgetary constraints, so we currently need to fine-tune a workable plan and gather the momentum needed to set priorities and a time line for accomplishing our goals.
Original Restoration Plan
From the Committee meeting notes of 2002, headed by Glenn Beerline, I found that the Board considered the following plan: because the Errea House is an historical building, no major changes would be made, only to replicate as far as possible to the original, and remain faithful to a chosen period in time. A period a decade or two would be chosen of to furnish house, possibly the 20’s, 30’s or pre-WWII. Glenn’s vision was to make the house “A window to the past.”
A restoration would be undertaken to make the house more interesting and representative of Tehachapi, with the Errea House an extension of the Museum.
Brief History From Del Troy
The house now known as the Errea House was built by a local doctor between 1870 and 1875 in Williamsburg, more commonly known as Old Tehichipa. After the railroad tracks were laid through what is now the present site of Tehachapi, many houses and other buildings were moved from Williamsburg to the present town site.
Around 1900, E. L. Vidaillet moved the house from Old Tehichipa to its present site at 310 South Green Street on log rollers. It was rented to the LaFarge family.
Antonio Redin (Grace Errea’s uncle) acquired the house from E. L. Vidaillet In 1923. Grace’s mother inherited the house upon Antonio’s death in 1927.
Constructed from redwood, the original architectural style of the house is known as a saltbox, a simple rectangle. The current kitchen and bathroom were added after city water and sewers became available, replacing the well and outhouse in the backyard. The current back porch replaces an older, canvas roofed porch that was destroyed in the 1952 earthquake when a water tank collapsed onto it.
The oldest structure in the city of Tehachapi, the THL rented and later purchased the house from Dr. Jerry Gassaway in 1998. Without his assistance, the building might well have been demolished. Dr. Gassaway also paid for landscaping and yard work, which allowed the THL to later restore the garden under the supervision of Mary Farrell.
At the time the THL first rented the house, there was extensive vandalism. After securing the house and replacing windows and screens, with the assistance of the Knights of Columbus and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it was used as an office, library and storage for the THL, as well as the Tomo Kahni Resource Center. A grant was received from the Arkelian - West Foundation to replace the roof. John Sammis and Evelyn Eccleston, along with other volunteers painted the exterior, while Jerry Pattison painted the inside.
On July 29, 1997, the Errea House was officially placed on the National Register, the nation’s official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation which provides a number of incentives for preservation of historic properties, including special building codes to facilitate the restoration of historic structures. On the same date, the property was also placed on the California Register of Historical Resources.
Remembrances Of Mary Farrell From The July 1996 “Settler’s Gazette”
Mary Farrell was baby-sat by Grace Errea in the mid 1920’s. She remembers many stories about the history of the Erreas: Along with many Basque wood-choppers, Jose Errea came to United States, then returned to Spain to find a wife. Coming to California with his new wife, they settled in Tehachapi, where Jose worked as a woodsman at the nearby lime kiln. Later, they purchased the house at 310 S. Green from Louis Vidaillet, when their children were old enough to go to school. Their children, Grace, Martin, Joaquin and Joe lived most of their lives in the home.
The three Errea boys served in the military during WWII and old timers remember Grace at Squires’ Drug Store, making the best milkshakes in Kern County. She later retired as a Kern County Health Department worker, having started at the Keene TB facility after she left the drug store.
Martin worked in local grocery stores and food services for many years before retiring. Joe did not return to Tehachapi when the war ended, and Joaquin and his wife eventually moved to northern California.
Grace and Martin remained in the house, which was purchased from the Errea estate by Dr. Curtis Madding. He later sold the property to Dr. Jerry Gassaway.
New Acquisitions For The Errea House
Several months ago, Andy and Sandy Sciacca donated a wonderful Eastlake Victorian sofa to the THL, which will be used in the parlor when the house is restored.
Merrily and Frank Flanagan, whose business, Collector’s Eye, features antiques and vintage jewelry, have donated many furniture pieces and light fixtures to be used in the Errea House Museum.
Winda Garcia Rice and Matthew Rice, owners of The Merry Widow Antiques, have offered to assist in relocating the front door to its original location, and moving one of the window casements. They have also pledged to donate items to help furnish the house.
These new acquisitions will add to the small collection that has been built up over the past few years from other donors. There are still many gaps in the collection of items needed to furnish the completed house. If you have items to donate that would have been found in a working class family home from the turn of the century to the 1930’s please let us know. Any items relating to the Basque heritage would be welcomed as well.
Current Plan
The Errea Holiday Open House was held 3 weekends in December of 2005, which gave us an opportunity to clean out the house, remove stored items and move the library to the new office space. Now that we have relocated the office, computer and library, we need to focus our attention on restoration priorities: foundation work, interior carpentry to return to a more original appearance, replacing floors, rewiring, new plumbing, a heating and cooling system, insulation, interior paint and wallpaper, and finally the furnishing.
Financial
As a non-profit organization, the necessary funds for these improvements will come from the following sources:
In-kind donations of labor and materials
Fundraisers
Grants
Adopt-A-Room Contributions
Community Appeals
Any assistance you can offer, even a few hours to help with the planning and implementation will be greatly appreciated. If you have a fundraising idea, please let us know, so that we can move swiftly towards the goal of opening the fully restored and furnished Errea House Museum!
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