Historic Status May Not Save Former CV Library

Castro Valley’s old library building on Redwood Road should indeed be registered as a historic building, the county’s Parks, Recreation and Historical Commission decided at its meeting last Thursday.

But even if it is historically significant, the building itself may be torn down and replaced with veterans’ housing based on a March 2020 vote of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. 

Several speakers at the historical commission meeting urged the building to be preserved. The issue of replacing it with housing was not directly discussed at the meeting. 

Eileen Dalton, director of the county’s Economic & Civic Development Department, said that no proposal has been formally made to build housing there and that any decision to do so would require a new vote of the supervisors. 

Dalton said that a proposal had been made to the supervisors to put a veterans’ building there instead, but that county supervisors voted to prioritize housing for the site. However, her agency is pursuing establishing a veterans' and community center on the ground floor of any housing built there.

Local resident Mike Martin said there are several thousand signatures on a petition to keep it as it is. That sentiment was echoed by speakers Roxann Lewis (director of the Eden Township Healthcare District) and John McPartland (BART Board of Directors). Both spoke as individuals, not on behalf of their agencies.

“The way the light comes into its spaces is amazing,” said Peter Rosen, who also wants it kept as is.

Wendy Torres and Mike Martin spoke of keeping the building available to veterans for their use.

The historical commission relied on an October report by Architectural Resources Group (ARG) which found that the library was a good example of the Mid-Century Modern architectural style and thus qualified as a historic building. The commission vote puts the building on both county and state registries of historically important buildings.

Buildings on the registries can either be preserved as is, with minor modifications allowed to keep it in good repair, have modifications done that are compatible with the original design, or be demolished after the building’s significance has been fully documented for posterity.

However, said Dalton, a whole new set of reports and public hearings would be triggered by any demolition plans, making the building likely to be with us for some time even if that option was chosen. 

“Having the building registered as historical is one more thing to be taken into account in the process of deciding what to do with the site,” Dalton said. “That process continues as we continue to hear from the public.”

The library opened in 1962 and served Castro Valley until 2009.

According to the ARG report, “On October 31, 2009, on opening day of the new Castro Valley Library, 2,000 people participated in a human chain in which books were passed from the old library to the new, located more than half a mile away at 3600 Norbridge Avenue.”

The old library has been sitting behind a chain-link fence awaiting decisions on its fate since then. It remains Alameda County property and has not officially been declared surplus by the county. The Board of Supervisors has the final word on what becomes of the building and site.