A noteworthy artist’s work not enough to save this Carmel hotel

What happens when a building slated for demolition features noteworthy works of art on it? Should it all come down? Or is it up to the powers that be to protect it even if consensus is that the structure is no longer viable … not to mention a bit of an eyesore? 

These are the questions facing Carmel-by-the-Sea as the 76-year-old Hofsas House, a four-story Bavarian-themed hotel — owned and operated by the same local family for three generations — now faces a date with the wrecking ball.

In 1947, Fred and Donna Hofsas purchased four side-by-side cottages on the footprint of the current hotel. Initially, they lived in one of the homes and used the others as an inn.  

A decade later, the success of their little venture warranted an expansion, and the hotel was built. The couple divorced in 1960 and Donna took ownership of the property and added a swimming pool and a meeting room, and expanded the number of guest rooms to 38.

The hotel has hosted generations of visitors. It’s a four-story, non-enclosed structure, which means each room opens up to a walkway with the top two floors enjoying sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean. Located just a few blocks from Carmel’s main retail and restaurant corridor, Ocean Avenue, the hotel is also tucked into a residential neighborhood that is serene and understated. It is, as owner and current general manager Carrie Theis described it to SFGATE on Tuesday, “a perfect retreat.”

“My son and my grandchildren, we just had the 75th anniversary, and we’re really looking to see how we can take the hotel into the next 75 years,” Theis said. “We want to let the family stay in Carmel and make it comfortable to our guests.  

“We want a top-tier destination here, and sometimes you have to make difficult decisions around that.”

One of the signatures of Hofsas House is the Bavarian-themed architecture, mosaics and paintings that adorn its walls. The hotel features a welcome mural by artist Maxine Albro, who was a Carmel resident and friend of the Hofsas family. The work was commissioned in 1957.  

Albro agreed to step out of her comfort zone for the project and completed the mural along with several exterior window treatments and a trio of framed pictures for the property’s lobby. The work is still intact today.  

San Francisco residents and visitors may not recognize Albro’s name, but there’s a good chance they’ve come across her work. She participated in the WPA’s Federal Art Project during the early 1930s, creating several notable installations that have been stitched into city lore. Her first commission, the Coit Tower Murals, later became a lightning rod for anti-communist efforts (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms).

She also did a mosaic at the entrance of San Francisco State Teachers College on Haight and Buchanan (the mosaic did not remain once campus was moved). Albro painted several frescos for private homes, including the Julia Morgan-designed Williams House in Berkeley.  

She did not steer clear of controversy during her career. In 1935, Albro painted a quartet of nudes for the Ebell of Los Angeles, a women’s club, images that were viewed at the time as offensive. “Due to the conservative nature of the Los Angeles art scene at the time, the nudity of the sybils were considered obscene,” a biography of Albro for the Sullivan Goss gallery noted. “In fact, the controversy surrounding the Roman sybils, consequently led to the destruction of the mural.”

In spite of the works attached to the Hofsas House, its owners say the building is beyond rehabilitation. Over the last two weeks, a pair of preliminary hearings took place to formally introduce a proposed project to replace the Hofsas House with a new structure.  

Members of the public, as well as the city’s decision-makers, got an initial look at renderings of a contemporary building — and the reaction was mixed.  

On one side, some feel the kitschy pink hotel is, and has always been, a bit of an eyesore — even keeping its history and artwork in mind.  

Longtime Carmel resident Joe Levy told planning commissioners during their preliminary review last week that he has lived on San Carlos Street near the hotel for 36 years. Levy was seemingly set up by planning commissioner Michael LePage to deliver the zinger of the day when he asked what color the hotel was.  

“Like a dead flamingo,” Levy deadpanned.

Levy, along with several other neighbors and businesses, including representatives of the chamber of commerce and owners of neighboring inns, praised the new design by local architect Eric Miller and touted the potential benefits of the project’s proposed traffic mitigation efforts and additional parking provided at the hotel’s footprint.  

Others, meanwhile, aren’t so sure about the new design nor the haste with which the project seems to be getting pushed through the approvals process. 

“No, I’ve not seen anything like this before, never seen a project go before the planning commission before it goes to the HRB,” she told SFGATE on Tuesday.  

Hall noted that Theis — who had spent a decade as a city councilperson for Carmel and knows well the intricacies, and inherent difficulties, of bringing a new project to the fore — is well-suited to see a project of this scope through. “She came prepared,” Hall admitted, noting that the city hired former Monterey County Cultural Affairs Manager Meg Clovis to be a consultant on the project.

“The whole point of the facade of the commercial building — it’s the most important aspect, it’s what the public sees,” Hall continued, noting she did not fully agree with Clovis’ assessment that the existing building does not meet all preservation criteria. “I felt they could still do a lot [of updates] and keep that facade.”

Hall admitted that a Bavarian-style building is not mentioned in the Carmel-by-the-Sea Historic Context Statement, a bible of sorts, or at least a strong set of guidelines, first adopted in 1997 that the city uses to determine what should stay and what could go. 

“The fact that Bavarian style is not mentioned in the Historic Context Statement; well, many buildings that don’t have a label,” Hall said, noting the Richardson Log Cabin, which was submitted to the California Register of Historical Resources in 2002 in part because of its ties as the onetime residence of poet Robinson Jeffers, also did not initially meet historical context guidelines. “Even if it isn’t named [in the statement], in terms of architecture doesn’t mean it lacks specific attributes that make it historic,” Hall noted.

Despite her personal views, Hall, along with the rest of the Historic Resources Board, on Monday voted unanimously to preliminarily approve, in concept, the replacement of the Hofsas House.  

Does this mean Carmel is out of options to preserve the building and the artwork on it? Jay Correia, a historian at California State Parks who specializes in architectural preservation, told SFGATE via email Thursday that he is “unaware of any special state guidelines for preserving artwork on or around buildings that are in danger of being demolished.

“Local government retains authority over local land use decisions in the case of privately owned property,” he continued. “… Preservation of murals often falls more under the museum/art conservation profession, however, any person or organization interested in preserving historic property should also consult the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.”

Theis insists the family worked tirelessly to figure out a way to do a remodel to the hotel before coming to the conclusion that the only financially viable way to take on the project was as a teardown.  

“We wanted to remodel, but we have a hotel built into the hill,” she explained. “We have a four-story building with no elevator. We have a very steep driveway. When you remodel more than 50 percent of a property in California, you have to upgrade it to current standards: plumbing, electrical, ADA.

“We tried every way imaginable to make this happen, but in the end, it would cost as much as if we tore it down.

“But we are mindful of the legacy — it’s my grandmother’s legacy — and want to continue it in every way we can.” 

The hotel project to replace Hofsas House, once completed, will be named Carmel Legacy Hotel. The plans for the new hotel feature the same number of rooms (38) on a similar footprint (about 32,000 square feet), Theis said. According to the plan, the steep driveway off of San Carlos Street will go away and the new facility will feature a 50-space parking garage, a porte cochere for valet parking along with a restaurant, spa, cafe, pool and lounge. The owners’ historic home, an angular, midcentury structure built at the base of the property and practically jutting out onto Dolores Street, will be preserved.  

“It’s funny,” Hall said. “I thought, ‘Well, at least we’ll get rid of that crazy house,’ but that’s the thing that’s staying.”

Theis said she hopes the plans can get approval in early 2024, with the project breaking ground in 2025 and a projected completion date of late 2027 or early 2028. She noted that the town is still reeling from lingering unfinished projects like the construction of a new office-and-retail building just two blocks away, affectionately known to locals as The Pit for the gaping hole it left in the center of town for years.  

She avers that the family’s hotel project is different in its inception and potential execution.  

As for the spirit and decor of Hofsas House, Theis noted that her own family legacy is literally on the walls of the current hotel; along with the work of Albro, Theis’ grandfather Fred Hofsas, who was also an artist, created the Hofsas House coat-of-arms tile mosaics, which also remain on the building. The family plans to pay homage to it in the new building.

“At some point you have to look to the future and realize and recognize what needs to change to go ahead,” Theis concluded. “At this point, we’re looking to the future.”