BY ELAINE GOODMAN
Daily Post Correspondent
Local historians are seeking an official historic designation for the former Sunset magazine headquarters in Menlo Park — a move that could complicate plans to redevelop the property with three towers up to 461 feet tall.
The Menlo Park Historical Association worked with Los Angeles-based Chattel Inc., a historic preservation consultant, to nominate the property at 80 Willow Road for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The State Historical Resources Commission on Feb. 7 will review the nomination – just one in a series of steps toward listing the property on the National Register and the California Register of Historical Resources.
If a property is listed on the California register, or found to be eligible for listing, it is considered a historic resource under the California Environmental Quality Act. A developer would then have to address any impacts to the resource resulting from a proposed project.
Some possibilities might be redesigning the project to avoid adverse impacts, moving historic resources to a new location, or documenting the resource through photos and drawings.
The Sunset property is now owned by Russian businessman Vitaly Yusufov, the son of Igor Yusufov, a prominent Russian politician with close ties to Vladimir Putin. Yusufov wants to develop the seven-acre property with three towers housing offices, retail and a total of 665 units of housing. The towers would range from 301 to 461 feet tall.
The proposal is a so-called builder’s remedy project, in which developers of projects that include low-income housing can exceed city zoning limits because the city was late with its state-required housing plan.
The city deemed Yusufov’s application complete on Nov. 14. The proposal will now undergo an environmental review.
Although the developer’s proposal has been controversial, the nonprofit Menlo Park Historical Association noted that the register determination is strictly about meeting historic criteria.
“Accordingly, nomination hearings are not a forum for members of the public to express opposition to or support of proposed development on a site,” the association said in an emailed statement.
Even if the Sunset property is not listed on the national or state register, the city could still determine that it has historical significance. A previous owner of the property as well as the current owner have submitted expert historic reports to the city that acknowledge the historic nature of the property, according to MPHA.
The National Register nomination for the Sunset property includes the 1951 headquarters building and its landscape.
The building was designed by Cliff May, who is considered the father of the California ranch-style house. The Sunset headquarters was the first time May brought the style to an office building, highlighting the Western theme of indoor-outdoor living.
That theme was enhanced by the landscaping, designed by master landscape architect Thomas Dolliver Church. Church was known for a modernist approach in which gardens were designed for people to use. The Sunset garden also featured a series of climate zones showcasing plants from across the West.
“In bringing May and Church together, Sunset headquarters represents a collaboration between two celebrated California masters in their field,” the nomination form states.
The headquarters site was considered “a laboratory of Western living,” according to the nomination form, which noted the facility’s test gardens and test kitchens. The site was a popular Bay area tourist attraction.
Launched in 1898 as a publication of the Southern Pacific Railroad, Sunset Magazine was later acquired by Laurence William “L.W.” Lane in 1928. The L.W. Lane Publishing Company transformed the publication into “The Magazine of Western Living,” focusing on gardening, cooking and home decorating.
In 1990, Lane Publishing was sold to Time Warner. In 2015, Sunset left its Menlo Park campus for new headquarters in Oakland.
The fix is in. The council purposely was a year late in submitting a compliant Housing Element to allow this and other projects in the door. Then, once those proposals were filed with the city, council members were able to say, “don’t blame me — blame the state.” And they knew that most people wouldn’t get upset because they had pushed so many oversized developments on the city and nobody objected. Too bad people don’t pay more attention.