Bidwell Mansion faces long, uncertain recovery. What are the options?
Years of recovery lie ahead for what’s left of Bidwell Mansion as the historic Chico estate remains fenced off and hollowed out nearly three months after being ravaged by flames.
For now, when ash and debris left in the estate will be removed is unclear, as is when the fate of the historic site will be decided, said Matt Teague, North Buttes District superintendent of California State Parks, in an interview.
“The site has remained in the condition it was in after the fire,” he added.
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Kevin Alexander Carlson, the man who set the iconic landmark on fire in the early morning hours of Dec. 11, was sentenced Wednesday to 11 years in prison — the maximum length for his felony arson charge — and ordered to pay more than $37 million in restitution.
But the process of cleaning up the charred remnants and deciding the fate of what’s left of the historic building may take years.
“No matter what the term or the restitution amount, it’s nowhere near the amount that’s lost by this historical place and this landmark in Chico,” Teague said, “and the loss the community will continue to go through with the loss of this treasure.”
What to do with the mansion?
State Parks is awaiting final hazardous materials reports before getting the go-ahead to clean up the mansion, Teague said. At that point, the agency can take a formal inventory of what was damaged and destroyed.
The landmark, part of the National Register of Historic Places, is in the care of state parks and served as a museum dedicated to its former owners John and Annie Bidwell, who are credited with founding Chico.
Adrienne Glatz, president of the Bidwell Mansion Association, gave a statement during Carlson’s sentencing hearing and listed some of the historic pieces lost in the fire: John’s map table, taxidermy case and life-sized portrait; Annie’s piano and wedding portrait; out-of-print books and indigenous artifacts belonging to the couple.
“It tore away an essential part of who we are,” Glatz said of the fire. “In a single night, decades of preservation work, priceless artifacts and generations of memories were reduced to ash.”
Teague said at a Chico City Council meeting in early February that the process of assessing the damage and planning for what’s left of the mansion could take years.
“We don’t know a lot of what the future holds right now,” he said at the meeting.
Restore or memorialize?
At the time, state parks had planned to secure the site as a crime scene through mid-February. The agency expected to begin damage assessment after that, and would, in conjunction with stakeholders — including the Bidwell Mansion Association — eventually decide whether to restore, rebuild or memorialize the historic site.
Teague estimated that clean up, damage assessment and site recovery would take about a year. From there, it would be a matter of deciding what to do with the site and then implementing that plan.
California State Parks has become familiar with other — and what are otherwise — unique recovery projects.
Big Basin Redwoods State Park has undergone recovery since a 2020 fire burned it, Teague said. More recently, the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles County claimed most of Topanga State Park and Will Rogers State Historic Park, including Will Rogers’ original ranch house. A historic 54-room hotel built by William Hurst was also taken by the fire.
“Hate to say it’s the norm these days but we’re going through a lot of tragic, historic cultural resource losses in our department and this planning process is becoming not so unique,” he said at the meeting.