The debate continues over whether Mid Valley Shopping Center architecture is historically significant.

Local architect Olof Dahlstrand, who designed the Mid Valley Shopping Center in Carmel Valley, was either a master architect in his own right or he was a good architect who copied the styles of others. That was the crux of the debate that played out between residents and the building’s owner on Thursday, Feb. 3 during a hearing before the Monterey County Historic Resources Review Board.

The board continued the matter to April 7 before rendering a decision about whether Dahlstrand's design is historically significant, but not before letting the public weigh in during a public hearing.

Ultimately the HRRB decision could determine whether or not owner Russ Stanley of the Stanley Group may update the center’s facade and remove the familiar breezeway of Dahlstrand’s 1966 design that connects buildings. He faces an uphill battle from angry residents who want the center kept as is.

Their ire was raised in 2019 when Stanley covered and painted with white primer some of the aggregate columns designed by Dahlstrand before he had a permit. The county issued a stop-work order and the painting stopped.

Residents were further alarmed when the beloved auto repair shop, Carmel Valley Auto Service, appeared to be on its way out, after a notice for an alcohol permit application for a wine tasting room was posted outside of the shop. They complained Stanley was trying to remake the center into a tourist destination rather than a neighborhood shopping spot. Stanley didn’t go through with the wine tasting room, and the auto shop remains.

“For whatever reason we got off on the wrong foot with the local groups,” Stanley told HRRB members. “That wasn’t our intent. We wanted to be an asset to the community, one the community could visit and be proud of.”

Due to contrary opinions on whether the shopping center is historically significant, Stanley was required by the county to complete an environmental impact report costing over $94,000. (The final EIR is due possibly by mid-March, Craig Spencer, the county’s chief of planning, told HRRB board members on Thursday.)

Architecture experts hired by Stanley say it’s not historically significant, and even if it once did have significance, numerous changes over the decades have negated it. They stated in reports that Dahlstrand borrowed from other architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright and the man who designed the Del Monte Shopping Center, John Carl Warnecke. (Dahlstrand reportedly did renderings of that shopping center for Warnecke.)

“The preponderance of the evidence is that this is not a historic resource,” Stanley’s lawyer, Anthony Lombardo, told the HRRB on Thursday.

Competing experts hired by the Carmel Valley Association say the buildings absolutely have historical importance and are worthy of saving. During the meeting a couple of local architects and numerous residents joined the chorus, contending that Dahlstrand was a significant architect in his own right. He designed over 20 commercial and residential projects in Monterey County, with the 1964 Well Fargo Bank Building in Carmel mentioned as a notable design. They rejected the idea that Dahlstrand was copying Wright and others.

“Yes, Wright founded the style, but many worked within that style,” architect Erik Dyar, past president of the Monterey Bay chapter of the American Institute of Architects. “Dahlstrand had his own voice in that style and created some important works for our area.”

On the line is potentially millions of dollars, Stanley argued, since his property would lose money as tenants vacate buildings that can’t be updated to modern standards to compete with other retail sites. He asked the board to consider that a historic designation would create a financial hardship. That is one standard that can be used to decide on a building’s historic significance, but Spencer told the HRRB board members that the planning staff determined Mid Valley did not meet that standard.