All Saints design plan to go to Planning Commission

At issue is the 3,600-member Episcopal church's plan to put ultra-modern glass buildings beside the 1923 Gothic-style church across from City Hall. The church and cloister, on a 2.8-acre site, is part of the Civic Center's National Register of Historic Places designation.

All Saints ' rector, the Rev. Ed Bacon, sees the ambitious 15-year expansion plan as crucial to the church's growing mission as it celebrates its 125th anniversary in the city.

He called the plan's rejection a "slap in the face" to a church that's been deeply involved in city social programs, incubating such agencies as the AIDS Service Center, Union Station and Young & Healthy.

"We're obviously very disappointed. We followed all the rules," Bacon said after Wednesday night's Planning Commission meeting, which was packed with All Saints supporters and dozens of children from a church recreation program.

City staff had recommended approval.

Bacon called the plans, which include three new buildings and a 500-seat circular open-air forum, "an amazing architectural contribution to the beautiful center of Pasadena," with a world-class design driven by the church's growing needs and programs.

But some preservationists, including a few in the All Saints congregation, say it's not the expansion that's the problem; it's that the Richard Meier Partners-designed buildings simply don't belong in the city's historic core.

There's been no official public comment yet on the architecture. The design and planning commissions rejected the master plan on the grounds it was incomplete and that a basketball court didn't belong on the corner of Euclid Avenue and Walnut Street.

But several letters urging the commission to turn the plan down, including one from Claire Bogaard, suggest the edgy architecture could prompt a classic wrestling match between powerful forces in the city.

Bogaard, Mayor Bill Bogaard's wife and one of the founders of Pasadena Heritage 30 years ago, usually keeps a low profile in contentious preservation issues.

This time she took to the lectern in the City Council chambers and spoke of the "jarring" feeling the proposed buildings would give to anyone walking out of City Hall.

In her letter to the planning commission she referred to the All Saints project as "interesting."

But the new buildings "do not relate in a meaningful way to the historic church" in the city's symbolic center, she said, and don't follow design guidelines hashed out by a Civic Center Task Force a decade ago.

Bacon, obviously frustrated that some significant changes in the plans had not stilled critics, said church leaders would "huddle" and decide on their next move and whether to take the plan straight to the City Council.

"How much conversation is enough?" Bacon said. "This clearly retards our opportunity to move forward."

The church's plans include underground parking, restoration of the rectory and Regas House and demolition of three buildings, to be replaced by a three-story Children, Youth & Families center, a two-story, multiuse building and the Forum/Alternate Worship Center.

The project is all organized around a central courtyard and incorporates the historic Maryland Hotel wall on Euclid.

Sue Mossman, executive director of Pasadena Heritage, said the complex project was difficult to evaluate in the context of historic preservation and planning and design issues.

There's no question that the project is important to All Saints , and everyone involved understands the church's "good works, fine programs and commitment to the community," Mossman said.

"But that's not the issue for anyone reviewing the project," she said. "It's very difficult sometimes to separate the planning issues from the design issues and that's something we all have to work on."

Mossman said that even within Pasadena Heritage - many of whose members also belong to All Saints - there's "a whole range of opinions" on the concept of juxtaposing good modern architecture with historic buildings.

"That debate's still to come," she said.