The Evolution of Los Altos Hills Town Hall

(The Original Town Hall)

 

A sleepy area of orchards and ranches becomes the Community Hub of a thriving town of upscale Silicon Valley homes. The date is the mid 1950's...

It all begins with the establishment of the Town of Los Altos Hills when it was incorporated as a Town by a vote of the area residents in 1956.

 

 

1)   Here is an aerial view of what the landscape looked like before the town was incorprated.

The land at the corner of West Fremont and Concepcion Road was basically all orchard fields with the occasional farmer's house on the property somewhere. This particular land happened to be owned by Arthur Fowle - one of the movers behind the original effort to incorporate the Town of Los Altos Hills and his son John Fowle, one of the Town's first council members.

 

2)   The Purissima School referred to here was located on the hilltop at the beginning of Duval Way and eventualy the structure of the original "one room school" became incorporated into what eventualy became St Luke's Chapel in the Hills. Note the very low table at which we assume the council conducted its business - presumably designed for use by younger pupils.

 

3)   Note that this newspaper article refers to "Jack Fowele". The last name has a typographical error - should be "Fowle", and the first name "Jack" is referring to the same person as "John" as listed on the original plaque.

To clarify: Arthur E. Fowle was the father and donated the land for the town hall. He was elected to the first council and polled the most votes so would have been mayor. He was sworn in to the council but resigned due to health before being sworn in as Mayor. It is a little confusing as the caption to the previous swearing in photo states the Mayor will be selected at the meeting. Perhaps, Arthur had already had the heart attack, and just wanted to be sworn in as a council member, and then resigned at the same meeting.

Arthur Fowle died on March 14, 1956, only two months after the voters approved the Town's incorporation on Jan 10th, and his son John (Jack) was appointed to succeed him on the Town Council.

 

4)   Construction of Town Hall was very much a community endeavour. Besides the donation of the land for Town Hall, many other donations were made either in hard cash (including a particularly generous gift by Earl Dawson) or in the form of materials and volunteer labor.

 

5)   Here we see the Town Hall taking shape and nearly complete - note the construction activity and materials towards the left, as well as the pick-up truck backed right up to the building on the left. At this point the iconic Cupola has not yet been placed on the roof.

 

6) The job is finaly completed, and Los Altos Hills Town Hall is open for business

 

7) This is how the photo appeared in the newspaper of the day (October 1957) with red headlines implicitly questioning the viability of this new Town, with a caption drawing attention to the fact that the Town Hall had been constructed on land that had not yet been subdivided for the purpose/  

 

8) The original design for the building had a reception area with counter just inside the front door (at the end of the building nearest the parking lot), and a "Council Chamber" capable of seating five council members at a table in front the audience area which was capable of accommodating five rows of six chairs. Behind that were two offices each of which could accommodate two staff members (Town Manager and three staff total) and bathrooms.

Town Hall was barely in business before it was became abundantly apparent that more office space was needed - so a new space was added for Council Chambers at the other end of the building, and the original space intended for the chambers was subdivided into more office space for staff.

 

9) This is one of the few real photos (as opposed to newspaper clippings) that we have been able to find of the "old" Town Hall before demolition started in June 2004..
Some elements worth noting in this picture:
  • The cupola on the roof became an iconic shape - repeated in many symbolic designs associated with Town Hall, including the Town Logo.

  • The "Front Entrance" of the original building (on the right) has been closed off and is now a wall with windows and the original reception lobby behind it now converted to office space. The Public Entrance and reception area is now at the far end of the building.

  • A new building has appeared (on the left) at right-angles to the main building. This was constructed in January 1975 as "the new Council Chambers".

    In addition to separate bathrooms for the public, it could now accommodate a separate dais for Council Members and staff to be seated at, as well as a greatly expanded public seating area. The old council meeting space in the original building could now fulfil the urgent need to accommodate more staff such as planners and engineering staff.

  • In the distance, jutting out above the roof of the new Council Chamber building on the left, we can see the top of what looks like an Oak Tree. This is the very same Oak Tree that still stands many years later. Today it anchors the new Town Hall, located in the space between the main administrative building and the council chambers.

    Behind the Oak Tree, an informal auxilliary parking area was established to cater for the increased number of cars visiting Town Hall. To access this "parking lot" a narrow dirt road was graded between the edge of the main building and Fremont Road (off the right of this picture.).

    If we look carefully through the gap between the two buildings, we can just get a glimpse of the Heritage House which was placed on the other side of this subsidiary parking lot.

  • The above picture was taken from underneath a Japanese Silk Tree, and looking toward the "new Council Chambers" Make a note of this standpoint as it will help you orient yourself in the next few pictures.

 

10) This picture was taken from almost the same standpoint as the previous picture, under the same Japanese Silk Tree but a little to the right.

It was taken in July 2004 and is the beginning of the end for the original Town Hall. Before major demolition can occur, all the asbestos in the buildimg (including for example all the original insulation) has to be carefully removed without particles of the hazardous material being allowed to escape into the atmosphere.. Large white plastic sheets are deployed to limit any particulate matter being relased.

 

11) Here is a picture taken from almost the same vantage point but a little bit further away - we can see the whole end of the building and the Japanese Silk tree under which the photographer was standing is now to the left.

The space that was designed to be the main entrance in the front wall of the original building, but was closed in to become a wall with windows, is now replaced by a large white vinyl sheet to contain the asbestos debris.

 

12) Standing even further back, we are now behind the roundabout at the end of the parking lot (with the flag pole in it) and in front of that the Japanese Silk Tree and the front of the old building.

But if we look to the left, we can see a part of the roof of another building jutting into the picture. At the time, this building (also located on the Town Hall Property) was leased to The Purissima Hills Water District. This building was not demolished at the same time as Town Hall but was refurbished when the new Town Hall was built and housed the "Parks & Recreation" Deprtment offices as well as a small conference room.

 

13) By way of orientation, here is a picture of the new Town Hall taken in 2020, showing on the left the "Parks & Rec" building" which had served that function since the new Town Hall was built.

By this time the original roundabout with the flagpole had become considerably larger (not visible in this picture but just behind the photographer) and as can be seen, the flagpole itself had been moved into the landscaped area to the right of the main building.

 

14) In 1976 (The Bicentenary Year) a photographer climbed onto the roof of the original Town Hall and took this picture of the flagpole in the middle of the roundabout. (Note the floral display in the roundabout in honor of the occasion)

What is interesting to note is that we also get a view of the old parking lot and the trees as they were in 1976. The parking lot of the new Town Hall is essentially unchanged from the original with the exception of the size and location of the roundabout at the end.

 

15) Looking at the other side of the main building (the side that faced Fremont Road) we can see similar vinyl sheets closing off all the holes in the building to keep the asbestos fibers from escaping.

Also note the mature Liquidamber tree in this picture. This tree still stands many years later, but now finds itself (without moving) in the landscaped area behind the serpentine "Tile Wall" between the main building and the path along Fremont Road.

 

16) Meanwhile the outer roofing material has all been carefully removed as well because of suspected asbestos content. The main building forms the backdrop here with the Council Chambers (added later) on the left.

 

17) Once all the asbestos has all been removed (under strict control and supervion as hazardous material), the real demolition can begin. The big Caterpillar has been positioned at the corner of the main building and the council chambers and the jaws have already taken a bite out of the latter (on the right) - a little over 45 years after the original Town Hall was opened.

 

18) Council Chambers bites the dust...

 

19) And now we turn our attention to the entrance Lobby at the end of the main building.

 

20) A couple more bites with the big machine...

 

21) ...and it is almost all gone - leaving behind the Liquidamber tree - which will survive and grace the facade of the New Town Hall when it is built

 

22) Another survivor is the iconic cupola whach had sat on the roof since the first Town Hll was built. As soon as asbestos mitigation had been completed (see the protective sheets pulled aside in the left picture) and before real demolition began, somebody (!) suggested that the cupola be saved as a historic remembrance of how things once were. The cupola was removed before the Caterpillar moved in, and was stashed in the orchard behind the Heritage House, to be quietly forgotten.

It would eventualy be "found" again and resurrected as a decorative memorial in front of the new Council Chambers in the fall of 2014 - exactly 10 years later.

 

23) The other survivor of the demolition was the Heritage House. At the time it also provided office space and a base for break facilities for the Sherrif's Officers who patroled the Town, but the landscaping and the sign outside the building suffered some neglect during the transition.

Click on a link below to go to another page in the album "The Evolution of Town Hall"