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Welcome to the San Buenaventura Conservancy website.
Please enjoy the histories, photos, landmarks and
historic preservation tools we have gathered in our
pages.
We look forward to your participation in our
programs and events, and hope you become a member to
help support the valuable historic and pre-historic
landmarks in our area.
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The San
Buenaventura Conservancy Board has voted to not take a
position on paint color.

We believe the E.P.
Foster Library is eligible as a Ventura Historic
Landmark, and would be eligible for the California
Register of Historic Resources and the National Register
of Historic Places based upon it's local significance
(in any color). It is one of the best examples of the
development of Ventura in the mid-century. Since the
City of Ventura is the owner of the Library it would
need to begin the process of making the building a local
landmark, which the Conservancy would wholeheartedly
support.
The
following text is quoted from the San Buenaventura
Conservancy 2007 Architectural Then & Now Calendar:
Mr.
Foster loved trees and the (original Foster Library
and city Hall) building was beautifully situated
with an original star pine from the old Theodosia
Burr Sheppard Gardens – it had a grand presence on a
grassy hill with welcoming steps from the street...
The
post World War II push for “progress” erased the
memory of Mr. Foster’s library. The “new”- 1959
Ventura County & City Library building was sited on
the (grassy hill) of the original building. Today,
the old building still stands (although faceless)
behind the modern edifice and is used as a storage
repository. It awaits an uncertain future and is
currently not a landmark. In
1960, the new Ventura County & City Library was
literally built onto the original Foster Library
facade. The front steps, entry, and columns that
made up the striking brick facade were demolished so
that a new modern library could be built on what had
been the front lawn. The 1921 library building had
grown too small, so City Librarian Elizabeth Topping
advocated for a new, larger facility...
Today,
the virtually unchanged E.P. Foster Library
represents the most prominent example of Mid-Century
Modern architecture in San Buenaventura. It has now
become a landmark in its own right, as the
architecture of the ’50s, and ’60s, becomes
appreciated after being out of fashion for decades.
In 1999, the City of Ventura Public Art Commission
sought an artist to integrate public art into the
library’s complete renovation. Local artist Sally
Weber was selected and transformed the foyer of the
library with Matrix – an artwork inspired by the
design of integrated circuits in computer chips –
consisting of colored digital film laminated within
the glass walls of the library entryway.
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Follow our
Facebook feed to get preservation action alerts, find out
about local and regional tours and events and see historic
postcards of Ventura County uploaded on a regular basis.
It's where the action happens! click on the Facebook link
at the top to check it out. (It works even if you don't
use Facebook)
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