This historic Sacramento home burned in 2021. What happened next? So far, not much
A long-running dispute between Sacramento officials and owners of a vacant midtown house damaged by a fire four years ago culminated with the city suing last month to put the house into receivership.
Sacramento Superior Court records show that Gustavo Martinez, who is interim city attorney, and Andre Martin, a deputy city attorney, sued Parmanandam Naga on Oct. 29. Naga and Annie Naga co-own a 1905 house located at 1315 22nd St. This house was part of a two-property bed-and-breakfast, Amber House, until the June 2021 fire.
An Amber House appeared to still be operating across the street at 1320 22nd St. The Nagas didn’t respond to a message seeking comment left there on Friday.
In its filing, the city requested “to have a receiver appointed to abate the nuisance” at 1315 22nd St. The house has been vacant since the fire, according to Athol Wong, who lives next door and whose own house was rendered uninhabitable for 22 months following the fire.
Wong and others expressed concern about the state of 1315 22nd St. City records and a visit to the property corroborated the state of disrepair. As of Friday, the house was exposed to the elements, a homeless encampment appeared to be set up on the front porch and urine could be smelled from the steps.
The house is considered a contributing property for the Capitol Mansions Historic District. In better times, the house helped illustrate a part of Sacramento’s history that the city has sought to preserve.
The question now is if the house can still be saved and if the city’s legal maneuver can help accomplish this. Receivership could potentially allow someone aside from the current property owners of 1315 22nd St. to oversee its repairs. But people like Wong are wary about how long the receivership process could take.
“If the house goes into receivership, I am not looking for that to be a year or two,” Wong said. “I am thinking that’s going to be six or seven years. But I would rather see something happening than nothing.”
Kelli Trapani, a spokesperson for the city, said that the city couldn’t comment due to the pending litigation.
How the property got to this point
Larry Hines, a 66-year-old who lives in West Sacramento, said he’d been doing landscaping work in the neighborhood of 1315 22nd St. since the house burned. He said the house looked the same as it did two years ago. His boss, he said, had been interested in purchasing the blighted property.
“I’m hoping my boss does get it, not just for another property for me,” Hines said. “I already take care of 17, so I don’t need another one. But I would like to see it just fixed up and looking better.”
The house’s problems started June 13, 2021, according to the city’s receivership petition on Oct. 29. Wong said she was hosting two guests and had just finished dinner. They were talking when the house’s lights dimmed. Wong’s friend asked her if this was because her house, which was built in 1912, was so old. Wong said no but that she then heard what sounded like a water leak.
“When I walked in the kitchen, I could see the flames coming out of the windows next door,” Wong said. “And I said, ‘Ah, folks, we have a fire, go up and get your stuff.’”
The Nagas, who have owned 1315 22nd St. since July 2020, appear to have hired a contractor following the fire, though repair work wasn’t completed. The city’s filing noted that the contractor abandoned the project around September 2022, which was about the time that the city opened a code enforcement case for the property.
Wong said that she believed some work at the property had been done without a permit.
In March 2023, city Housing & Dangerous Buildings staff “observed that over half of the roof covering had been removed and was lying in a trash heap at the rear of the property” leaving the house “open to the elements and promoting the further demise of this contributing structure within the Capitol Mansions Historic District,” according to the receivership filing.
The city’s code enforcement case remains active. The city listed the house in its code enforcement system it as a “dangerous vacant building” and noting several violations and that over 50% of the house had been exposed to rain and UV light.
The city has fined or assessed extra fees for the property repeatedly in recent months. On Nov. 18, the city council vote approved a $4,999 penalty for Parmanandam Naga related to the property.
In August, Wong spoke during public comment at a city council meeting.
“Nothing has happened at 1315,” Wong said then. “The only change in our neighborhood is that I am fearful of the danger every day because homeless people and vandals are going in.”
Wong said in an interview for this story that she had called the police at least half a dozen times since April because she could hear people at the property.
‘Something needs to happen’
Susan Cady is a board member of Friends of Capitol Mansions, a nonprofit that Wong is also involved with that helps beautify and preserve the neighborhood. Cady said her group hadn’t taken an official position on 1315 22nd St., but she would like to see the house either sold or renovated.
“Something needs to happen rather than sitting half-burned-out for four years,” Cady said.
Whether the property can be brought back remains to be seen. However, Sacramento property owners have restored other historic homes ravaged by fire.
Bill Burg, president of Preservation Sacramento, said an 1870s building at 1504 U St. caught fire last year and that the city seriously considered demolition before the owner began restoration work that’s now underway. He noted that another building at 1522 Q St. also had a fire in the last year or so, but that it, too, has had repairs since.
“A lot of our historic buildings have been damaged and repaired so it’s not something that can’t be done,” Burg said. “And we see many, many examples of it being done right now.”
