By Julie BUTCHER

At a special meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the Glendale City Council voted 5-0 to move forward with the renovation and rehabilitation of Rockhaven’s buildings, identified one building to be the location for a museum, and instructed staff to come back with details about relocating the Montrose Library to the Rockhaven property – with the possibility of affordable housing on part of the site – “if it helps the finances to move the Library and expand Fire Station 29,” Mayor Ardy Kassakhian summarized the council’s actions.

“Rockhaven opened in 1923 as a private women’s mental health facility that provided specialized care in beautiful, gated surroundings … one of a handful, perhaps three now, left in the county. It has made its way onto the national historical register. The city bought the property in 2008 for $8.25 million.

“The site has been in ‘mothballs’ for 15 years lacking more permanent safeguards to protect the integrity of those structures. To ready it for ‘limited public use’ will cost an estimated $3.2 million. Staff will be seeking authorization to replace roofs and gutters to aid in weatherproofing buildings with the ‘highest historic integrity,’” assistant community services director Bradley Calvert explained and the Crescenta Valley Weekly reported in October 2021 https://www.crescentavalleyweekly.com/news/10/28/2021/rockhaven-plans-to-move-forward/. This was in response to the announcement that State Senator Anthony Portantino had secured $8 million in state funding to restore and preserve Rockhaven and to create a museum honoring the history of what Agnes Richards built and the community and Friends of Rockhaven have worked to preserve.