BUDGET WOES DELAY ARMENIAN HOUSE PLAN
By Paula Lloyd / The Fresno Bee

Fresno Bee
March 29 2010
CA

Question: What is the progress of the boarded-up houses on blocks in
Old Armenian Town?

— Dolores Monahan, Fresno

Answer: The five houses built between 1890 and 1908 were part of
Fresno’s historic Armenian Town settled by Armenian immigrants.

Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church at M and Ventura streets is
in the heart of the former neighborhood between Broadway and Inyo,
O and Los Angeles streets.

The homes were originally along N and O streets. Two of the houses
are listed on the city’s Local Register of Historic Resources:
the Hoonanian home built at 461 N St. in 1900 and the Schmidt home
built at 460 N St. in 1908. Both were constructed in the Queen Anne
architectural style.

The houses were moved in 2003 to a lot at Santa Clara and N streets
and were expected to be moved in the fall of 2009 to another lot at
Santa Clara and M streets as part of the revival of Old Armenian Town.

They can be seen from southbound Highway 41, looking to the right
beside the Van Ness Avenue offramp.

In July, state lawmakers voted to take more than $8 million in local
redevelopment money, which halted the project.

Plans are progressing to move the houses by the end of the summer,
said Terry Cox, project manager for the city’s Redevelopment Agency.