The roof of the historic Octagon Building on Scotts Valley Drive was removed last week and will be stored until it can be reconstructed as a museum by the Scotts Valley Historical Society.
“Our plan is to construct a replica of (the Octagon Building), use the old top and have a museum,” the historical society’s Virginia Hooper said.
Hooper said the society is eyeing a vacant curbside site for the museum in the shape of a triangle owned by the city along Civic Center Drive.
The Octagon Building is 41 feet across, and a replica using the existing roof would fit perfectly on the site, Hooper said.
“You get into so much history in Scotts Valley,” Hooper said noting the Lost World, the Tree Circus and other attractions from Scotts Valley’s past. “We would have a really interesting museum.”
Scotts Valley City Manager Steve Ando said the city looked once before at the site on Civic Center as a location for the Octagon, but the building did not fit the parameters at that time.
However, Ando said that if the society finds a site for the museum, the members could bring a recommendation to the council.
“There is no hold-up on our end,” Ando said. “If they had a recommendation, we would analyze it and look at it.”
The Octagon Building was built in 1929 as an aviary for exotic birds on the grounds of the defunct Beverly Gardens – a 1930s tourist attraction – on the 4500 block of Scotts Valley Drive.
The building was moved in 1947 to its current location at 5032 Scotts Valley Drive and turned into a hardware store. It also served as a substation for post office boxes before there was a post office in Scotts Valley.
In 1990, Archaeological Resource Management recommended that the building and Beverly Gardens be considered “resources of merit” for Scotts Valley – essentially holding historical merit for the city.
Removing the building from the Scotts Valley Drive property is the latest hurdle cleared by property owner Anatol Schliapnikoff in his preparation to build a 112- to 119-room Holiday Inn Express on the property. He hopes to have the property prepared for construction by next spring.
After discussion with the city and the historical society, Schliapnikoff offered to store the roof and windows in a trailer for later use.
“It’s done,” Schliapnikoff said of more than three years of work, including the completion of a California Environmental Quality Report as part of the proceedings. “We’re moving in the right direction.”
Schliapnikoff was careful to follow all regulations in taking down the building after he was fined $16,000 in 2007 for trimming and killing a large protected oak tree on the property without permission.
