BATTLE FOR THE BRIDGFORD HOUSE A Thankless and Fierce Fight To Preserve the Past
	MARCH 2005

by Thomas Trost
Photos by Russell Byrne

I’m on a mission to save a beautiful piece of East County history from the wrecking ball.

The battle for the Bridgford House has been a David vs. Goliath situation. The county has power and they are willing to exercise it against the people who refuse to march in lockstep with their policies. People running this county are being driven by money and power. The money is in the pockets of the developers. Some of our county bureaucrats are in their pockets, as well.

A Beautiful Home in a 1913 Wilderness
Judge Bridgford, who got his title by serving two terms as Superior Judge of Colusa County, bought the property for his Bethel Island house from Frank Bethell, whose last name became the root of the name for Bethel Island.

E.A. Bridgford was a very influential man in the Delta area during the early years of the past century. He was elected to the Legislature, rewrote the laws, and put together the Contra Costa County Irrigation District. Following Bridgford’s lead, the other islands were divided up into levee districts. Bridgford eventually gained control of the entire island. He used the place primarily as the site of a huge dairy business — Bethel Island Creamery — that he built up, together with his two sons. He used his beautiful house as a showcase.

Judge Bridgford built his lovely 7,200 square foot house on Bethel Island in 1913, which was 15 years before the first bridge to the island was constructed. Every piece of trim, every nail, every drop of paint — in short, everything that went into the house’s construction — had to be barged to the island and then packed to the building site by horse and wagon.

The house was built completely by hand. In 1913 there was no power, let alone power tools, on Bethel Island. Building this 7,200 square foot house by hand on an island was a remarkable achievement. George Shafer, who was responsible for its construction, was also responsible for much off the area’s growth at that time.

The house survived three floods — 1924, 1927, and 1932 — when the levees were breached by storm. It apparently also survived some hauntings. One former resident reported the presence of ghosts in the house. She said that strange shapes would appear in bedclothes on top of beds that hadn’t been slept on, and that she could feel the presence of unseen beings in the house. Two daughters of a former owner also talked about doors slamming and people moving.

I had a strange experience myself. At three o’clock one morning I heard people running up and down the hallway outside my room. Doors were slamming. People were laughing and giggling. I didn’t believe in ghosts. Still don’t. But I really heard that. I don’t know how to account for it.

Excellence at Every Point
The house was two years in the building and was considered to be one of the most beautiful residences in the whole Delta area. The Bridgford House was built in a style called Prairie that was developed by Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright at the beginning of the century. A company called Craftsman marketed the style (and continues to do so), but the Bridgford House is larger than any of the standard Craftsman patterns being sold at that time for this kind of building. The Bridgford house is, in other words, probably one of a kind. It is a completely unique structure.

The house is constructed of Douglas fir and clear heart redwood, and made from more excellent grades of wood than are available today. One of the most obvious distinguishing features of the house is that it is completely covered in cedar shingles. Other features include huge eaves, a large, rustic chimney, and a veranda stretching across the entire front of the house and supported by massive, shingled pillars.

The rooms in the house are designed to provide an elegant sense of openness and space. Some of the interior features of the house are just as impressive as the exterior, including an imposing 10-foot-wide staircase, beamed living room ceiling, a massive fireplace, and a large number of storage areas — cupboards, shelves, and drawers — that are built right into the interior design. The house was built with such tight construction design that former residences reported that when they built large fires in the huge fireplace, they sometimes had to open windows to let in oxygen.

All the alterations to the house since 1913 were made with great skill and care so as to not alter the original lines and style. Materials for the remodeling projects were so carefully chosen that even a trained eye can now discern no difference between the older and newer parts of the structure.

Looming Destruction
The future of the house was put in jeopardy by the Delta Coves development project, which for the past two decades has planned a massive development of the area where the house was located.

I used to farm the land where Delta Coves is going in and knew about the stately old structure. It seemed obvious to me that the house should be saved from destruction. An architect, Constance Brady, examined the house carefully and amply reinforced my own feelings in a clear judgment about the matter. She wrote,

“The entire East County has very few buildings of architectural interest remaining if they were ever present. It is important that the Bridgford house be preserved.”

Many local people besides Brady have officially gone on record to support my efforts, including Kathy Leighton, President of the East Contra Costa Historical Society, Robert D. Gromm, Historian, and the Bethel Island Municipal Advisory Council. Carlos Baladonna, himself, head building inspector for the county, had a meeting and brought all the code enforcers out to look at the building. He went inside and grudgingly said, “We cannot tear this down. There are features that need to be saved.”

When I set out to work for the preservation of this beautiful place, I had no idea of the awful struggles that I would be called upon to engage in. My first and most terrible problems were with county officials. Contra Costa County bureaucrats have been unable to comprehend or to deal with the circumstances involved with the place.

One of the earlier project owners actually sent fireman to the site to burn the house to the ground. Fortunately, when he got to the site, the Assistant Fire Chief at that time, Dave Wahl, refused to carry out the directions. He later wrote,

“We declined their offer due to the historical significance of the structure and, just as importantly, because of the very unique methods and materials used in its construction.”

And then added, “I applaud Mr. Trost in his efforts to preserve such an important structure in the history and development of the Bethel Island community.”

Leaping in to Save a Precious Gift from the Past
When I first learned that the house was slated for destruction I worked out a deal with the developer through which I bought the place for a buck. However, the developer at that time lost control of the project and my deal for the house evaporated. A later developer gave me a deadline to remove the house from the property — or he would demolish it. “I will sell you the house,” he said, “but you have to get it off the property in 30 days.” He made me put up a $25,000 bond.

I bought a piece of property about a quarter of a mile away, outside the perimeter of Delta Coves, and secured permission from the owner of the intervening property to move the house across her land. It was a great feat. One onlooker told me that seeing the 7,200 square foot house moving across the fields was a beautiful sight. It was like the Mayflower moving across dry land. More importantly, the new site retains the feeling and associations of the original site. If Judge Bridgford could be brought from the dead to spend a day with us, he would feel right at home.

I ran into a problem by moving the Bridgford House safely away from the destruction that would have descended upon it within a month because I had failed to secure permission from the county to move the structure. The complaining county officials ignored the reality that the house would have been a pile of kindling by the time the county processes ever would be able to deliver the required permission.

The persecution of the county officials was particularly baffling in light of the fact that I had made the move without going on a county road, or crossing any electrical or water lines. The county had no stake in anything I had done. They had no good reason to complain about the missing paperwork apart from the sterile fact that I hadn’t submitted it. They had no possible reason to give me a hard time except that it was within their power to do so.

End Run Around the County’s Stone Wall
I took on the task of moving the house to a safe location in a timely manner at the lowest possible cost. I met the deadlines, saved the day and preserved a piece of history. Under State guidelines the state should try to protect and support people like me. However, county functionaries continue persecuting me.

I discovered that older structures are exempted from compliance to modern codes if they become part of the county’s list of historical structures. I met with Dennis Barry, who was chair of the county agency charged with maintaining the list of historical sites. “How do I get on the agenda?” I asked. I attended almost every meeting of the committee for month after month.

In one particularly infuriating session, the county granted the historical designation to a district of 61 West County homes that, just incidentally, reportedly included the residence of Donna Gerber, who was County Representative for District 3 at the time. That action took the committee about an hour. However, when the Bridgford House came up before the same committee — and it came up repeatedly for more than a year — Barry continually deferred submitting it for approval because of inexplicable demands that I provide yet more documentation in support of granting the house historical status.

I finally learned that the state maintains a list of qualified historical, protected structures comparable to the county list. I got into contact with Tom Winters, who is the Head Architect of the State of California and was instrumental in saving the Marsh House. “Come up to my office,” Tom said, “and we’ll help you.”

We finished the application with the state the next year. Our final submittal was 22 long pages of text, forms, and records. However, the application was accepted and the Bridgford House was added to the California Registry of Historical Sites. Maryln Lortie, the official recorder, sent me notification that the house had been added to the approved list.

The Storm Continues to Rage
My problems with the county still aren’t over, however. The county won’t accept the approval of the state as final, even though the State Historical Building Code document explicitly declares that the state codes for qualified historical structures “have the same authority as state law and are to be considered as such.”

County officials continue to stonewall and to cite the house for code violations. Dennis Barry is now the Head Director for Development of Contra Costa County, but continues to hold the project in limbo because of non-compliance with county flood plain management. His staff currently is demanding another letter from the state at which point, they say, they will initiate a small-lot review. They will then, hopefully, approve the plans — even though the house has already gotten state approval.

A number of people have interceded with him, but Barry and the county officials are still threatening to tear the Bridgford House down. Mike Silva, head of all Code Enforcement, in particular wants to see the building destroyed.

“Why are you doing this?” he said to me once. “You are starting to give me indigestion.”

The comment is kind of mind boggling. It is like a fox complaining to a chicken that it was trying to eat for not standing still and just letting itself become lunch. It would be so much easier for the fox if the chicken would simply jump down the fox’s throat.

Things would be so much easier for Mike Silva if I would just step aside and let him destroy the house. For some reason, it would make him so pleased to demolish this beautiful piece of history forever. It would give him a thrill of accomplishment and would aid in his digestion.But Mike is going to have to keep his bottle of Pepto-Bismol in his desk drawer, I’m afraid, because I’m not going to back down.

A Blast on Liberty’s Trumpet
One reason I’m been fighting for five years to save this beautiful structure is because of lessons I learned from combat. I was raised in East County but grew up in Viet Nam. I spent three months in a Japanese hospital recovering from a wound. I spent those months as witness to a grim parade of young men with features destroyed, and arms and legs blown off. I got back from Nam with a new perspective on how things in America should work. Our government is for the people, not for the bureaucrats.

I don’t have a persecution complex about all this, I’m really being persecuted. I have four other properties and the county has cited all four of them for petty code violations. One of these was a property I bought from the county. The county sold it to me and now they want to tear it down because of non-compliance to absurd regulations. I asked the inspectors for some explanation of how this could be. “Did the county sell me a property that wasn’t compliant with the county’s own standards?” But the inspectors just ignore me. One of them told me, “We’re going to nickel-and-dime you until we break you.”

One code inspector told me, “I know you have properties on Bradford Island. I’m going out there to make inspections. You better not have violations.” Within a week I had a number of violations for doing such things as having farm equipment on my farm. “If you are not driving this when I am actually here, you have to put it in a dry storage area.”

An architect who examined the house, Constance Brady, wrote to me one day, “All of us are grateful that you, through your effort and expertise, were able and willing to rescue this house.” Brady got the “all of us” part wrong. I wish everybody actually shared her attitude towards my efforts. After all my work, however, it still is not absolutely certain that this beautiful work can yet be saved from county officials who seem bent upon destroying anything they cannot completely control.

But I’m not going to roll over. It’s my nature to persevere until a job is done. I’m never going to quit! Some things in life are just worth fighting for!