Preserving Santa Clara’s Rural Past: Harris Lass Museum

The Harris Lass Museum on Market Street is named after James Harris and Captain Christian Lass, the former owners of the home.

Today, the Harris Lass Museum is a “must” on any tour of Santa Clara’s historic attractions. But not so long ago, that wasn’t the case. Without the determined effort of preservationists, the Harris Lass House may well have been joined the long list of historic California buildings demolished to make way for the signature structures of the mid-20th century ¾ parking lots, strip malls and freeways.

The exact date the home on 1889 Market St. was built is not known. What is known is that James Harris ¾ who followed the various trades of miner and cabinetmaker in Australia, Chile and Mexico before coming to California ¾ bought the land in 1863. The year 1877 finds Harris living at the Market Street address. In 1889, the property was sold to a sea captain, Christian Lass.

Born in the German province of Schleswig in 1843, Lass shipped out to sea as a cabin boy at the age of 15 and arrived in San Francisco in 1862, an able seaman.

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Captain Lass sailed a sloop for the Union government during the Civil War, and from 1868 to 1895, he was the master of several schooners on the Sacramento River and the Pacific Basin. Lass also purchased interests in some 18 schooners.

After his retirement resulting from a spinal injury in 1895, Lass lived in a home built on land between present-day Newhall and Bellomy Streets. In 1906, he purchased and moved into the house at 1889 Market St.

For the next 80 years, Lass’s descendants lived there, preserving the property and its furnishings as a living monument to rural Santa Clara life.

In 1986, passing up offers from developers, Johanna Lass Haynes, a granddaughter of the Captain, offered the property to the City at a below-market price on the condition that it be preserved as a historic site.

Austen Warburton, the well-known Santa Clara historian who was Lass Haynes’ attorney, and Bea Lichtenstein, then-president of the Santa Clara Arts and Historical Consortium, spearheaded efforts to save the property. The Consortium was also instrumental in preserving the Headen-Inman house.

Lichtenstein, a former chairman of the Historical and Landmarks Commission, says, “This was an ideal opportunity because the owners were willing to sell the property at a favorable price to the city.”

A Yearlong Feud

City records show that the City Council first discussed buying the Harris Lass property in March 1986. According to a Feb. 4, 1987 Mercury News story, a December 1986 city council vote did not gain the necessary five votes required by city charter to spend money not specifically listed in the annual budget.

The same story reports that public sentiment in favor of purchasing the property ¾ 84% of those questioned in a neighborhood survey ¾ and a recommendation from the Historical and Landmarks Commission prompted the council to reconsider and reopen negotiations.

A year of debate was capped by what Mercury News writer Mike Cassidy described in an April 30, 1987 story as a “raucous 1½ hour debate that typified the yearlong feud between supporters and opponents of the purchase.”

The final vote was 5-2 to purchase the property for $683,000. Voting for the purchase were Mayor Everett “Eddie” Souza and Council members Jim Ash, Vern Deto, Judy Nadler and David Tobkin.

Council members Sue Lasher and John Mahan opposed the plan because of concerns about the price and the cost of maintaining the property.

“Santa Clara is looking at a deficit of $3 to $4 million this year,” Councilman Mahan is quoted as saying by the Santa Clara American of May 1, 1987. “What program is this money going to come from?”

Living History for Future Generations

In 1991, after investing more than 10,000 volunteer hours and about $85,000, the Historical Preservation Society of Santa Clara opened the doors of the Harris Lass Museum to visitors. Because the Lass family was willing to leave all the furnishings intact with the house, Lichtenstein points out that this museum is truly living history.

The Society, a nonprofit public benefit corporation, operates the museum with a volunteer staff. Last year, 600visitors toured the museum, and the house is included in the annual Santa Clara Holiday Historic Home Tour, which sells about 1,000 tickets every year.

The Harris Lass Museum House is located at 1889 Market St. in Santa Clara. The house is usually open for tours on the first Saturday of the month, from 12 noon to 2 p.m. from March through November.

Mary Hanel, former Library Program Coordinator for Local History, contributed to this story.

Carolyn Schuk can be reached at cschuk@earthlink.net.