Speak Up for the Peabody-Werden House!

It's no secret that Boyle Heights' iconic 1895 Peabody-Werden house (technically a duplex) has been empty for years. It was originally across the street, but was moved to an empty MTA lot in 2016 to make room for the Cielito Lindo apartment complex.

East LA Community Corporation, or ELACC, stated that the house would be "remodeled to serve the community", such as by turning it into a community center. (This has been done very successfully with other historic homes like the South Seas House in West Adams.)

Fast forward eight years. The house is still empty and boarded up, with no apparent progress of any kind. See what it looked like before it was boarded up.

I am indebted to Boyle Heights' own Shmuel Gonzales for reaching out about tomorrow night's Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council meeting (Monday, May 13).

Shmuel told me the following:

Remember the huge community fuss over the preservation of the Peabody Werden House at First and Soto?

It looks like it's up in the air as to its ultimate future. It sounds like the developers East Los Angeles Community Corporation wants someone else to rehabilitate it and take over operation of the building from them.

It's going to be discussed tomorrow at 6pm at the Planning and Land Use Committee of the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council. We really need people to advocate for this building. We all fought so hard to save this 1895 house from demolition that has been left neglected and rotting since 2016. See the agenda and supporting documents at bhnc.net.

Here's the agenda.

Here are the supporting documents.

If you can go in person, it's at Boyle Heights City Hall, 2130 E. 1st Street, Council District 14 Conference Room, 2nd Floor.

If you can't, join via Zoom or call in at 877-853-5257. The meeting ID is 817 1178 5861.

Years ago, the Peabody-Werden house was also affordable housing. Perhaps it could return to that use after a thorough restoration (although anything serving the public good would be a win in my book). In any case, it's shameful to leave it empty.

Corner of 1st St and South Soto Street, Boyle Heights.