Why is historic SLO building being painted white? Sudden work sparks outcry online
A prominent building in downtown San Luis Obispo is sporting a noticeably fresh coat of paint — a cosmetic change that confused some who were concerned about the historic nature of the structure being threatened.
As of Friday, work was ongoing on painting the almost 120-year-old H.M. Warden Jr. Building — sometimes known as the Tower Building — located at the intersection of Chorro and Higuera streets.
A large crane was parked next to the building, and a bright white coat of primer had been painted along the first floor of the structure.
Senior planner Brian Leveille told The Tribune the paint job was at first a bit of a surprise since the owner had not notified the city of the intention to paint the outside of the building.
“It was noticed by staff just walking around town,” Leveille said. “It was like, ‘Hey, there’s some painting going on this building — a historic building.’”
Leveille said the situation was “a little complicated because it’s not clear in our ordinance or in our current requirements that you have to get a permit necessarily for painting a building.”
Major changes made to historic resources are typically subject to review by the city and its Cultural Heritage Commission, but Leveille said there is some vagueness in the ordinance that allows property owners to make minor cosmetic changes as long as they don’t conflict with the historic nature of the building.
Where exactly a new paint job fits into this isn’t very clear, Leveille said.
It’s something he said he hopes the city will consider as it begins the process of updating its historic preservation ordinance soon.
In this case, the building owner had applied for approval to change the awnings along the structure’s first floor but had not specifically sought approval for new paint, he added.
Leveille said once the work was brought to his attention last week, workers were ordered to pause while his department looked over the planned changes to ensure they didn’t conflict with the city or state’s historic preservation regulations.
“At the same time, the work was already underway,” Leveille added. “We wanted to try to get this resolved as quickly as possible.”
After speaking with the architect in charge of the project as well as the building owner and looking over historic photos of the property, he determined the work was consistent with the city and state’s standards and could continue.
New paint job at SLO historic building angers some online
Much like the city staff who noticed the work on the Warden building, other local residents were also struck by the abrupt change to a prominent downtown structure.
Some took to online app, Nextdoor, to complain about the stark white paint on the building, expressing concern about potential damages to what they thought to be antique brick.
“Big fat bummer for the old bricks,” one poster wrote under a photo showing the partially painted building on Wednesday.
“It is defacing those historic buildings,” another wrote. “No respect.”
What is today called the H.M. Warden Jr. Building was built in 1904 by then-prominent businessman Horatio M. Warden after much of the block was destroyed by fire.
Over its almost 120-year history, the building has undergone numerous transformations.
Most notably that included removing the building clock tower structure in 1955 when the tower began leaning, according to Thomas Kessler, executive director of the History Center of San Luis Obispo County. The former clock tower was why the building has also been known as the Tower Building.
It has been painted and renovated a number of times throughout its history, Kessler said, including notably being described as “done over with billboards, stucco and bright red paint” at one point.
“Preserving history does not mean freezing anything in amber,” he said. “It’s very much acknowledging that things come and go. It’s been sort of sandy brown for a long time, and now it’s apparently white. So that’s just sort of the way things go.”
What else is changing with historic downtown building?
Though many on the online commenters were concerned about antique bricks being damaged by the paint, the lower half of the building — where the majority of the new cosmetic work is concentrated — has actually been stuccoed over for some time, Leveille said.
That was a common thing during renovations downtown in the 1950s and ‘60s, he added.
Besides the lower portion of the building, Leveille said the building’s cornices are also getting a new coat of paint, since they were in “a pretty deteriorated condition.”
Other trimmings will be painted light gray, and new awnings will be installed, he said.
“The property owner just wanted to refresh it and make it look nicer,” Leveille said. “I think they had good intentions and wanted to do something nice for the building and just kind of update it, how to have it sort of present a little better.”
As for that jarring white coat of paint some called out online — it’s actually just the primer.
Leveille said the final color is expected to be a more subtle off-white color that is already seen on some downtown buildings.
“At the end of the day, I think it looks a lot more jarring now than it will be at the end,” he said. “Once they conclude, hopefully, it should fit in a lot better with downtown. And I think it won’t be attracting quite so much attention.”
This story was originally published July 10, 2023 at 10:34 AM.
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