Trustees reopen Hill House Museum
After severing ties with the Lodi Historical Society and closing the Hill House Museum for a few weeks for repairs, Hill House trustees overseeing the museum reopened the house for tours last Sunday.
According to Jane Lea, who was recently designated a successor trustee by her father and original trustee Ralph Lea — Nancy Schmer, also Ralph Lea’s daughter, was also named a successor trustee — they’re gradually in the process of opening the house to the public, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
Jane Lea said the museum, located at 826 S. Church St., won’t be open consistently every Sunday until they are able to get everything in order. The house is filled with a lot of items that need to be sorted through and organized, she said.
“You can’t go 25 years with deferred maintenance and never do anything and expect that it corrects itself when you’re not looking. We have been hiring people here everyday,” she said.
In addition to having to reorganize the house, they are also dealing with the aftermath of the upstairs toilet leaking and flooding a room downstairs.
Last Sunday, they did a trial run and allowed people to tour the house. However, some of the rooms had to be closed off to the public due to the damage from the leak and the overflow of items.
“It’s a very daunting task. It hasn’t been a month yet and we’re over here working on it ourselves as much as we can and then hiring where expertise that we don’t have is needed,” she said.
The plan is to move some of the items into the garage after they finish cleaning it out.
“Once the garage is free, we can start moving that stuff into there to make it look more like a home because that is what I want it to look like,” she said.
Lea said they plan to keep the museum open with the same hours before they closed, but noted the hours may change in the future. They will try to open on Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m., with the last tour starting at 3 p.m. Walkins are welcome, however appointments are preferred. Lea said those wishing to schedule appointments to tour the house can contact her at 775401-1479. The house will be open for tours tomorrow.
“We’re still premature to be open every weekend but we want to open up as we can on Sundays to the public and we’ll post the sign out front,” Lea said.
Lea and her sisters will take turns giving tours of the house, and will only be touring four people at a time to make sure no historical items go missing.
The Hill House was the home of the Hill family and was left by Maurice Hill to be turned into a museum upon his death. The house was designed by George Washington Hill and built in 1901 by the Cary Brothers, who were popular builders in that era. George Washington Hill, his wife Mary Lewis Hill, their two children Nellie and Maurice and Mary's half-sister Daisy lived in the home.
“We’re just still in the mode of just trying to clean the place and get it organized and everything behind glass or Plexiglas so that it doesn’t walk away,” she said. “We’re still missing a bed of Nellie’s, we’re still missing Maurice’s bed and his vanity that went to his bedroom set. They’re not here.”
Lea claims that some of Maurice’s artworks and writings were transferred to the garage and have been damaged by the weather, mice and silver fish.
“That’s the guy who gave us the house and you throw his stuff in the garage to rot?” she said. “We’re trying to make room for his stuff to come back into the house and stuff that doesn’t belong in the house, we’re trying to get rid off.
Now that they have broken ties with the Lodi Historical Society, Lea said the plan is to take the house in a more artistic direction and provide scholarships to Lodi youth for poetry, music, writing and artwork. Lea said they would like to be able to offer the house for weddings and photo opportunities, and let it be a venue for small family gatherings and community organizations to hold fundraisers.
“We really want to accent Maurice’s love for the community and his love for the arts,” Lea said. “We want to accent that and expose people to that and encourage them to participate in those kinds of things in the community.”
In response to rumors that she or her sister Susan are trying to live in the house, Lea said that there have been caretakers that have lived at the Hill House in the past.
“If we hadn’t caught that plumbing thing and it flooded out a couple bedrooms it would have destroyed half the house, so having someone here if something like that happens, it makes a difference,” she said. “With nobody here, we’re just one step away from someone breaking in.”
According to Lodi Historical Society President Loren Perry, no one ever resided in the house during the society’s years of operating the museum because it was used as a museum, not a residence.
Both Jane and Susan Lea have said that the Hill House has not benefited from the money the Lodi Historical Society solicited for the house via donations and fundraising events. Perry maintained that all the money the society raised went into the care and upkeep of the house, noting that the society made several major repairs and upgrades over the years.
Jane Lea says the repairs and upgrades were donations from local businesses and not work the society actually funded themselves.
“I ask you to ask to see his (Loren Perry) books and where did they transfer and write a check for us,” Jane said. “The last works that were done around here were donated so they didn’t cost them a penny.”
Lea said it was never the intention of her or her sisters to take over the house. She says that she had just retired and had her own plans when her father, 92, begged them to take over the house.
Perry said the Lodi Historical Society refutes any allegations of misuse of monies or misconduct or of not maintaining the property. He said that the Lodi Historical Society was locked out of the house without proper legal notice and were refused their records along with many artifacts that were donated to them. He said the society has no desire to take over the Hill House again but would like to receive their artifacts and records.
On May 25, Ralph Lea, who is an original trustee of the Maurice Hill Estate and is listed on the property deed as owner in trust of the house, designated his daughters Jane and Nancy successor trustees and named the Hill House Historical Society, Inc., as the beneficiary. The deed states that in 1991 Ralph Lea created a “public benefit charity” known as the Hill House Historical Society, Inc., to continue the preservation and operation of the Hill House.
The deed also states that the successor trustees are “empowered to substitute an alternative non-profit organization and more suitable beneficiary as the Trust’s named beneficiary in order to preserve the purposes of the said trust.”
When asked who made up the Hill House Historical Society, Inc., Jane Lea replied, “I can’t answer that right now, I don’t even know.”
A search of the California Secretary of State website lists the Hill House as an active non-profit under the name Hill House Historical Society, Inc.
Lea said she and her sisters are in the process of looking for new board members for the house. So far, four people have interviewed for a position on the board and she is still reaching out to other “like-minded individuals.”
Since taking control of the house, Lea says she and her sisters have been the subject of threats and nasty comments from members of the community.
“It’s like a bad divorce. You hope you go away as friends but sometimes someone gets bitter, and they are not nice about it,” she said. “We can both serve the community but in different ways, so let us move forward with our vision. You guys move forward with your vision.”
Lea said it’s all about fulfilling Maurice’s wishes and she plans to do that until she passes the house on to the next generation.