Memories of the China House

Simon Brown

When the China House, a Corona del Mar landmark and China Cove’s

namesake was in danger of being torn down in 1986, it evoked protests

from preservationists and neighbors alike. Their pleas were in vain.

Nothing is left of the China House, but William O. Hendricks,

director of the Sherman Library & Gardens, will attempt to exhume

some memories of the home with a lecture and slide presentation at

the library at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. This program is part of an

evening lecture series celebrating the 100th anniversary of Corona

del Mar.

Hendricks hadn’t originally intended to include this lecture in

the series, but he received numerous slides of the historic house

from an elderly couple who recently moved away from China Cove. He

believes the lecture will draw a good crowd because “there is still a

lot of interest in it, enough for a talk about it,” he said.

China House was built during the Great Depression by William J.

Lindsey, a wealthy lawyer from Pasadena, for his wife who loved

Oriental architecture. Its most distinct architectural features were

its bubble-gum-pink stucco exterior, its sloped, forest green, tile

roof, its decorative dragons and a red wooden bridge that lead

through Japanese gardens to a private beach.

But by the 1980s, after several owners, the house was little more

than an anachronism, and it was sold to James and Marsha Beauchamp

and Ernest and Donna Shroeder for $1.4 million. After an eight-month

legal battle, the Newport Beach City Council voted 4 to 3 to demolish

the home and allow two modern homes to be built in its place.

Seymour Beek, 70, president of the Balboa Island Ferry Company,

recalls some sadness about the loss of the China House.

“It was kind of a shame, but I don’t know what could have been

done,” he said.

Any lingering grief over the loss of the house seems to stem from

the fact that it was one of just a few buildings in Newport Beach

that gave the area some local color.

“The places there now are very nondescript,” Beek said.

Even if it’s for only a short time, Hendricks’ presentation should

bring back a few memories of Newport’s charm.