Historic Pasadena Home Moved Overnight

Following three years of planning and preparation, a historic early 1900s Pasadena house was moved Tuesday night from its original location at 164 Chestnut St. to its new address on South Grand Avenue in Pasadena.

The 1.5 mile late-night journey was a joint effort of Herbertson OG Inc., which performed the daunting task of literally slicing the eight-bedroom, 9,000-plus square foot former boarding house into two transportable pieces, and The American Mover Company, which supervised the actual crosstown move.

The relocation was doubly difficult since the actual house needed to be positioned atop an existing basement on the Grand Avenue lot.

Herbertson Construction workers will reattach the halves, and the home will undergo a remodeling that should take approximately eight months, according to new co-owner Brian Zamudio.

Zamudio told Pasadena Now that the lot is one of three properties originally acquired by his mother decades ago, following the demolition of a former elementary school on the site.

“We were splitting some lots,” said Zamudio, “and they were on the market, and then I had a phone call from a gentleman who wanted to purchase the Chestnut Street house with a plan to build apartment units there.”

Once they began talking, said Zamudio, they both realized the empty lot on Grand Avenue and the Chestnut Street house were a perfect match. Three years of planning and preparation for Tuesday night’s move ensued.

According to the City Planning Department, a new five-story multi-family residential building is planned for the historic Chestnut Street home’s former site, with 24 units of a total of 22,492 square feet of space, with two levels of subterranean parking.

The contemporary-style building will cover the entire site with a five-foot setback on the north side and 10-feet setbacks on the east, south and west.

“We had to get cleared as far as permitting went,” said Zamudio, “And then there was COVID. There were a lot of delays, but we’ve stuck with it. The city was very accommodating. They wanted to see the house move here, and it fits into the neighborhood. And now, here we are.”