Item 34 - Public Hearing - Appeal Application No. 2024-01 for Construction of a 23’-4” Tall Accessory Building (2221 N Heliotrope Drive)

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CUP No. 2022-06 — Maharajah House Moon Pavilion (2221 N. Heliotrope Drive) August 26, 2024 Page 7 1938 and 1939. The earliest available depiction of the internal setting of the property is an aerial photograph taken in 1947, which show the back yard was walled as it is today and was entirely landscaped, principally with a broad lawn. In addition, the photos suggest the wall or fence at the north end of the property was likely set back approximately 10 to 20 feet from the public right-of-way (Orange County aerial photographs 1947). City building permit information suggests the first documented alteration of note to the backyard occurred in 1955, when a swimming pool (not extant) and a cabana (the existing two story ancillary building) were constructed. These changes are further documented in a 1960 aerial photograph depicting the long, rectangular swimming pool situated immediately east of residence and the cabana located just east of the pool. Available sources, including building permit records and historical aerial photographs show there were no notable changes to the backyard until the late 1980s or early 1990s. In 1989, a permit was issued for the construction of a new six -foot -tall wall. While the location of the wall is not indicated in building permit information, a 1991 aerial photograph suggests the wall was then erected at its current location, tracing the north property line, approximately 10 to 20 feet north of the wall's apparent historical location. By the time the current owners acquired the property in 2000, the back yard had already undergone substantial alterations to its plan and design. Since around 2003, when the property's current owners received a permit to demolish the swimming pool, there began a program of major alterations to the backyard that included a general remodeling of the area and the installation of a handful of buildings and structures of historical and cultural interest imported from Vietnam. Structures relocated from Vietnam to the back yard include a roughly 20-foot-tall wood pavilion with intricately carved details and a tile -clad roof system; a nineteenth-century, traditional residence with an iron wood structural system; and multiple additional smaller structures of a traditional Vietnamese character. The series of changes to the backyard described above, especially the introduction of the imported buildings and structures from Vietnam, have introduced new architectural and landscape elements with no apparent relevance to the original architecture of the property or to its significant historical associations with the Maharajah. As such, in its current condition, the backyard would be highly unlikely to contribute to the significance of the property, and the addition of a new pavilion would not affect the property's continued eligibility as a Santa Ana Landmark or a contributor to the National Register -listed Floral Park Historic District. Proposed changes, which would be confined to the back yard, also would not affect the historical integrity of the Floral Park Historic District as a whole. As proposed, bamboo would be planted near the north property line to obscure the proposed pavilion from view from the public rights -of -way on Santa Clara Avenue and Heliotrope Drive. While the new bamboo would be clearly visible from the rights -of -way, its appearance alongside the existing wall would be consistent with the internal setting of the Floral