Walnut Street home steeped in history
By Eliav Appelbaum eliav@theacorn.com

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers RESTORATION- Moorpark resident Paul LaRussa has owned this 1920s building for almost a year. He uses the remodeled home as an office for his company, Premier Cru Wine Cellars.

As Moorpark changes and grows, the house at 760 Walnut St. has remained relatively intact.

Built in 1927, the house serves as a small reminder of the city's history. It sits adjacent to Moorpark First Baptist Church, originally the Somis and Epworth churches, which came to that location in 1909.

Despite its age, the Walnut Street house is in almost immaculate condition. The wood flooring, doublehung windows, redbrick fireplace and glass doorknobs are all original. There's even a mud room, which acts as a barrier between the outdoors and inside. There are small windows in the closets. The kitchen windowsills have space for pies to cool off.

"This is such a special property," said owner Paul LaRussa. "It's got a real charming feel to it, and it feels like you're going back in time."

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers CRAFTSMANSHIP- The previous owner of this 1920s house on Walnut Street, Pete Kier, worked diligently to maintain the original character of the home.

LaRussa, who has lived in Moorpark since 1989, is considering asking the city to make the house an official landmark so it will be protected from development. LaRussa shakes his head as he watches workers gutting and raizing the old fire station across the street. Fire Station No. 42 in Moorpark was originally built in 1931.

"My hope is that (this house) remains," he said. "If we keep tearing down everything, we're not going to have any history left."

The house consists of two bedrooms, a dining room, living room, mud room, den and kitchen with a small breakfast nook.

LaRussa uses the home for his business, Premier Cru, which specializes in designing and building custom wine cellars. LaRussa has been in the construction industry for 30 years but started Premier Cru in September 2006. A separate storage room and workshop are also located on the property.

For LaRussa, history is personal. On the fireplace mantel is a photo of his father, Sam, standing in front of his business, LaRussa Builders, in 1961 in Buffalo, N.Y. LaRussa says that in his wife's hometown of Aabenraa, Denmark, homes built in the 1750s are still occupied. He knows that the Walnut house sold for $5,000 in the 1920s and that a pastor and his family once lived on the property.

"It's so important to value these old structures," LaRussa said.

Pete Kier of Thousand Oaks, a self-proclaimed "professional house flipper," sold the property to LaRussa in July 2007. In the last five years, Kier has bought and restored about 15 homes in Moorpark and the Conejo Valley.

When Kier discovered the house on Walnut, he realized he had his hands on something special.

"When I saw the home, I said, 'I'm not going to update this thing.' I didn't gut the inside like I typically do," Kier said. "I just wanted to restore what's here and keep the character."

Kier landscaped the property, painted the inside and outside, and redid the porcelain kitchen sink. The owner before Kier, Eric Kale, matched the siding on the workshop/garage to that on the house. According to Kier, Kale extended the garage and added an office and bathroom.

Kier would like the home and others like it in Moorpark to remain intact.

"My vision would be to keep the old homes in the area and give them a facelift," Kier said. "A lot of people there can't afford to do anything to their homes, so maybe the city or Habitat for Humanity can give money to doll up the faces of all the houses rather than come in with a bulldozer. That's what's going to draw people to the city. People will walk around and look around at the character of the old homes. If they removed them, that would be sad."