Javed Siddiqui managed to save a number of historic building from the bulldozers at his family’s Historic Wildrose Farms, 5190 Garden Highway. He invited a few people from the Preservation Community who encouraged his dogged efforts to prevent the wholesale destruction that was originally slated as part of a levee upgrade project. From left to Right: Mike Malinowski AIA; Javed, Paul Boghosian prominent local preservation consultant and her partner Don Cox, Tim Sullivan Engineer and former City Building Official, and Roberta Deering Sacramento’ Preservation Director. We traded stories at Swabbies on the River over lunch, and then drove the short distance along the levee road to the site. It is really hard to understand why so much property was razed and taken, as looking at the result does not provide any clue why a fraction of the swath of now empty land would not have more than sufficed for the needed flood control project. The original water tower was saved, along with a few ag buildings; but much was lost including three houses from the early 1900’s and a large two story bunkhouse from the same era that was nearly intact in its historic presentation. The buildings that were salvage now act as a demarcation of the ‘new’ property boundary – adjacent to an empty field stripped of the native oak grove as well as the many historic structures lost.
