When you have a passion, you will even face things with which you are not comfortable—like fundraising. For the volunteers at Heritage House, the House is our passion. Inside the House are special items that are important to the story the House tells. One of those is the parlor suite of furniture which sits in the white parlor. The furniture was part of the House back in the late 1800s.

shawl covers split upholstery

Like all good furniture of the Victorian period that one found in upper society homes, it was upholstered in silk. Silk, by its nature, deteriorates over time and that has been the case with this suite. It has long been the desire of those devoted to Heritage House to have it reupholstered, but we had to get Museum concurrence and then determine the process and the cost so that we could proceed. We are now ready to proceed with raising the funds for this important project. High quality, period appropriate silk or silk blend fabric is expensive, and for this project will run in the $300 per yard range.

deteriorating silk

To redo all five pieces of furniture, we need to raise $18,000 to cover the material and labor. The stated goal is to have the furniture redone by September when the House reopens. However, due to the cost we cannot move forward until we have at least 75% of the funds as the fabric alone runs about $12,000 to cover the four chairs and the sofa. We have already had some commitments to this project, but we need much more.

If you share in our passion, please make a donation to Heritage House/RMA. The donation can be mailed to Robin Whittington, Heritage House Operations Co-chair, c/o the Riverside Metropolitan Museum, 3580 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA 92501. If you have any questions or would like to know more about this project please give me a call at 951-780-2003 or email me at desertair@sbcglobal.net.

For those of you who have followed Harada House’s history, have you ever wondered why we continue to fund raise for the House’s preservation?  Have you wondered just what has been going on with Harada House after all these years?  I asked that question the other day and now realize just how complicated is preserving Harada House and developing an interpretive center and why so much money has to be collected and on hand.

It is like a game of dominos.  One action triggers several others.  For example, if one were to replace the foundation, which is essential to preserve the house, so many things would shift that there is the danger (or probability) of unexpected things happening like all the plaster on the walls falling off, a not desirable reaction.  On some walls there are scribblings of the past that are a significant part of the family history which would be destroyed. One wall has an inscription written in pencil documenting the day and time the Haradas of Riverside left for the incarceration camps in WWII.  Too, the plaster has its own composition which has survived all these years and speaks to how things were done in the past.

If one were to start dismantling parts of the house for repair, that dismantling opens the house for other needed repairs like electrical, heating and air, preservation of the floor, wallpapers, windows and doors, etc.  Once exposed, it would make sense to address these issues rather than fix one thing, and then have to come back and repeat the process to fix another.  We don’t want to be like road crews where one crew comes along and stripes the road; then another crew comes along and fills pot holes; then another crew comes along and digs up the whole road to relevel it.  The preservation of the House has to be logical and systematic.  It needs to make sure the impact of changes has minimal effect on the character defining features of the House.

As I said, it is complicated.  Who knew?

Volunteering at Heritage House is a passion. We love history, we love the House, and we love sharing everything about the House with guests. If one volunteers at Heritage House, one can take the training and become a touring docent, giving guests an informed tour about the House and how it represents Riverside in the 1890s. One can also be a supporting volunteer and work in the gift shop, help with the Victorian teas, help with 3rd grade school tours, work on keeping the gardens spruced up and period appropriate, and/ or help with our outreach events.

We try to keep the facts about early Riverside interesting and fun. To help us do this, we offer two educational events that are fun for the whole family. One event is the Ice Cream Social (last Sunday in June) where we take guests back to a typical Fourth of July Celebration of the late 19th Century. We serve ice cream flavors popular for that time period, provide games and crafts, provide demonstrations of how things were done ‘back then’, and offer lots of entertainment. We even recruit guest ice cream scoopers from the local government entities, including the mayor, councilmen, and firemen.

Our other event is the Christmas Open House (2nd Sunday in December). On this day, guests are treated to the House fully decorated for Christmas with live greens and trees, our special mulled cider recipe and homemade cookies, crafts, and entertainment. These events are open free to the public and we love seeing everyone and love sharing what we know. It takes us 3 days to decorate the House for the holidays and we have a ball doing it.

The rain on our passion is the rising costs for these events. Local vendors assist us by donating things we need or selling to us at ‘special’ rates, but in order to do it right, it is expensive. One of our most expensive items is the cost of the crossing guards that keep the visitors safe while crossing Magnolia Avenue. They take up half of our budget. It doesn’t stop us, but it is a fly in the ointment.

If history is your passion, especially old houses, talk to us and come join our fun.