Fate of historic Kenwood house shaky

A historic Kenwood house is crumbling in the wake of last year’s Napa earthquake – and support for its salvation is crumbling even faster.

More than a century old, the Maroni house, at 98 Shaw Ave. in Kenwood, was red-tagged by the county in August due to structural damage suffered from the Napa earthquake.

The building, built by 19th-century stonemason Peter Maroni, is composed of limestone mortar, stone and plaster. The quake cracked the plaster open, caused cracks in the floor and eroded the mortar, leaving the house a risk to habitants.

Maroni was one of a handful of legendary Italian stonemasons who immigrated to California in the late 19th century – his distinctive masonry work can be found on the St. Rose Church in Santa Rosa, various buildings on Santa Rosa’s historic Railroad Square and Jack London’s famous Wolf House in Jack London State Historic Park.

The property on Shaw Avenue is believed to be a speculative development built by Maroni in around 1896.

Records show he transferred the title rights of the house to his wife in 1911, suggesting Maroni leased the house when it was constructed.

The house is currently owned by John and Elizabeth Figliolini, who live in New Jersey. Following the quake, the Figliolinis hired general contractor Greg Lucas to inspect the house for faults and provide an assessment of the house and its damage.

Kelley Johnson, a civil engineer working with Lucas, said, “We’re looking at a pretty damaged house.”

“Basically, the lime mortar that puts this house together dissolves when you rub it with your hand,” said Johnson. “These walls aren’t reinforced and up to modern building code.”

Johnson added that any modern upgrades to improve the foundation of the house compromise its eligibility as a state landmark.

“One of the strategies we use when reinforcing homes this old is adding steel beams to reinforce the walls,” Johnson said. “But if the house is basically rubble that’s held together with this kind of mortar, support beams aren’t going to protect the walls from earthquakes.”

At an April 7 meeting of the Sonoma County Landmarks Commission, officials discussed possible options to either raze or restore the Maroni house. Documentation from Lucas’s construction firm to the commission said it would require a potential overhaul to bring the property back to code – and the cost would be approximately $1.1 million.

The Figliolinis proposed a demolition of the property so they can make a modern home up to building code.

Denise Peter, a staffing planner for the Landmarks Commission, lamented the “lack of options.”

“It was either save the whole thing or destroy the whole thing,” said Peter. “We’d like to go over a range of options that would include saving portions of the building for historic value. Currently, the Maroni house has value as a local landmark. Because of the builder’s history with the state, it would qualify for state registration, but only if the house is still standing. Changing the reinforcement of the walls and, obviously, destroying the whole building would disqualify its potential for state registration.”

The Commission decided to seek more information before coming to a vote authorizing any action on the property, which included researching any historical value of the land itself and more options for partial recovery of the historic property.

“There aren’t that many buildings from that era left,” Peter said. “We’d like to preserve at least something, if not the whole house.”

The Landmarks Commission plans to meet again in June to further discuss the future of the Maroni House.

‘Obviously, destroying the whole building would disqualify its potential for state registration.’

– Denise Peter