In the wake of the June 1 grand opening of the paradisaically beautiful Lemon Grove Library and our brave City's continuing effort to renew its grand entrance neighborhood near The Big Lemon and trolley station, we reflect on the following historical context:
In September 1867 a Venetian bomb fell on a Turkish powder keg and blew the Parthenon to pieces. The Venetians who bombarded, and the Turks who used the Parthenon for a powder magazine did not intend its destruction But human heedlessness and the act of war were decisive. An edifice which had stood for over 2,000 years as one of the supreme works of Athenian culture lay in ruins.
We moderns don't use bombs and powder kegs to destroy irreplaceable structures related to the story of America. We use the corrosion of neglect, the thrust of bulldozers, erratic planning, heedless haste, and the absence of historic preservation ordinances to obliterate buildings that are portraits of our vanishing inheritance.
The result is the same as in the case of the Parthenon. Connections between generations are broken by demolition and the sources of memory cease to exist. Why, then, are we surprised when surveys tell us that many Americans, especially the young, lack even a rudimentary knowledge of the national past?
We create the blank spaces by doing nothing when the physical signs of our previous local and national life are removed from our midst. We breed an alienated landscape when planning and culture are ignored. Just as our driving entrepreneurialism spurs us to new innovations and new profits, so does our restless impatience with the past make obsolescence a veritable national credo.
The U.S., in general, and Lemon Grove, in particular, have many social, economic and political questions, some old, some new, to settle in the near future, but none so fundamental as the true relation of the land to national and local life.
The first act in the progress of any civilization is to provide homes for those who desire to sit under their own vine and fig tree, and community settings for all to enjoy, work in, and relate to as the sustenance of urban life.
These thoughts sprang to mind as we walked through architect Raul Diaz's splendid creation, the Lemon Grove Library, and then went outside to view it from all sides. We were moved by the dramatic relationship of the facade with the street and by the consistently interesting visual pictures created as one gazed along Lincoln Street and School Lane toward the amazing new offspring of our city's architectural rebirth.
We were uplifted by the pristine, sun washed white stucco, the stately arcade, the graceful romanesque windows, the calm lines, the spacious, welcoming entrance and the powerful punctuation mark of the bell tower, now home to "Mrs. Bell," the historic doyenne of the library and school district.
We found Lemon Grove's heritage of Spanish Mission Revival architecture--reflected in buildings around town--to be perfectly evoked, such that the library appears to have risen out of the ground, so rooted and authentic is its presence.
The library was designed and built with posterity in mind. In 2063 it will reach age 50, the benchmark year when a landmark building can qualify as a California State Historic Site. This building has all of the criteria the State requires in spades. Moreover, it is the first major public building in Lemon Grove to have benefited from an architect's skill and artistry.
Certainly, our City has other structures designed by important architects like Frank L. Hope, Alberto Treganza, Frederick Clemeshaw and Sam Hamill, dating from the early to mid 20th century. Comes now Raul Diaz in the 21st century to join his brethren and take up the perpetual challenge of making architecture and municipal forms a benediction on city life.
It is fitting that our design heritage should come full circle with the brand new library, a place where lifelong learning, art and culture are offered freely to all ages. And it is inspiring that our City, in the face of daunting economic pressure, continues to move the Trolley Promenade and History Walk forward as a further benediction on civic life.
Lemon Grove. Rising.
