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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Appeal Application No. 2024-01 for Construction of a 23'-4" Tall Accessory Building (2221 N Heliotrope Drive) November 19, 2024 Page 9 Section 30-6 (a) of the SAMC states that, "No exterior physical modifications, other than those identified by the historic resources commission for administrative approval by city staff, shall be permitted with respect to an historic structure until the historic resources commission approves such request at a duly noticed public hearing and issues a certificate of appropriateness." The proposed structure is not physically altering or changing the exterior of the Maharajah House. Therefore, no additional review by the Historic Resources Commission is required for this project. Moreover, a review of the developmental history of the Maharajah House's back yard shows the area has continually evolved since the property's original construction in 1938 and 1939. The earliest available depiction of the internal setting of the property is an aerial photograph taken in 1947, which shows 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 the 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, they began a program of major alterations to the backyard. These alterations include a general remodeling of the area and the installation of a handful of buildings and structures of historical, antiquity, and cultural interest imported from Vietnam, as one of the current owners is a descendant of a high-ranking official who served the last royal family of Vietnam and the items in the collection, including the subject Moon Pavilion, form part of a collection belonging to a prominent official during the 1800s. 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