But this is Chico, too

This is a companion piece to my most recent “But this is Chico� entry in the Enterprise-Record.
This week’s newspaper column is about the Little Chapman Mansion. Michele Shover and her husband Don Lillibridge, who own the country house surrounded on all sides by one of Chico’s oldest neighborhoods, took my wife and me on a tour of the house and two-acre grounds a little over a week ago.

Shover and Lillibridge have applied high standards in preserving and maintaining their historically and architecturally significant structure. The attention they’ve lavished on it is based, of course, on a sense of caring. People have a way of becoming attached to their houses, especially if they’ve had the pleasure of living in the same place for 20 or 30 years.

But their approach to their house also reflects a sensibility that transcends pride of ownership and the sense of cozy domesticity it can bring. It’s based on the idea that in some ways the house belongs to the community. The house is an integral part of the city’s 150-year history. Shover’s interest in preserving the Little Chapman Mansion grew as she accumulated information about its past owners and the imprint each of them made on the house during the time they lived there.

This sensibility is in marked contrast to the one that starts with the statement “I own this property. I can do anything I want with it.� That kind of approach puts the community in an awkward position. We don’t have the financial resources to purchase and maintain every historically and architecturally significant property that owners propose to radically alter or tear down. Preserving Chico’s heritage usually depends on owners who appreciate how much their properties mean to the community.

Ripples of this kind of understanding first appeared in Chico in the 1960s and spread across the placid ocean of indifference. As time has gone by, the ripples have become an undercurrent. People who own historically significant properties are becoming more appreciative of values that extend beyond their own interests.

This is a heartening sign. But I’m not willing to let it go at that. The city needs a historical preservation ordinance. It needs to have something on the books that allows it to cite a building’s historical value as the basis preventing it from being demolished or radically altered. Many other cities have taken this step. Chico needs to follow suit. Physical evidence of its historical heritage is still abundant, but over time it could be lost, building by building.