Murer House and Garden Learning Center

Murer House and Garden Learning Center

In approximately 1923, Guiseppe “Joe” Murer obtained the three parcels that now comprise the Murer House and Gardens property. At the time, the property included the two existing one-story detached buildings located at 1125 and 1127 Joe Murer Court in the City of Folsom, as well as the vacant land to the north of the buildings. The two subject buildings were likely constructed between 1900-1910 and 1910-1920, respectively, and were historically used as rentals by Joe Murer. Mr. Murer bought the property in 1921 for the purpose of building a residence on the vacant land immediately to the north of the two buildings. Mr. Murer constructed his private residence, detached garage (southwest of the residence), and small workshop (northwest of the residence) between 1925 and 1927. Following construction, Mr. Murer landscaped the property with ornamental and native Italian fruit and nut trees. The Murer residence, located at 1121 Joe Murer Court, and the associated garage, workshop, and landscaping are now collectively recognized as the Murer House and Gardens. Figure 1 shows the regional location of the project site, Figure 2 shows the immediate location of the site and nearby land uses, and Figure 3 shows the proposed site plan and location relative to the Murer House and Gardens (Appendix A). Murer House and Gardens Learning Center 2 Upon Mr. Murer’s passing in 1972, the Murer House and Gardens property was left to Barbara Baker. In 1997, the City acquired the property from Ms. Baker, which has since been under the management of the Murer House Foundation. In 2022, the Murer residence, garage, and workshop were listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and the California Register of Historical Resources (CRHR) as the Murer House and Gardens (NRHP no. 100007367). The two subject buildings at 1125 and 1127 Joe Murer Court, located immediately south of the historic Murer House and Gardens, were evaluated for their potential eligibility as historical resources in 1991 and 2022. Both evaluations concluded that the two subject buildings should not be listed on the NRHP and CRHR and should therefore remain outside of the historic Murer House and Gardens boundary. The City of Folsom retained HELIX Senior Architectural Historian, Nelson White, to prepare a Historical Resources Survey Report (HRSR) for the proposed project to ensure compliance with State laws and regulations as they relate to historical resources, including CEQA. The purpose of the HRSR, prepared in September 2024, was to determine if the two subject buildings proposed for demolition are individually eligible for listing in the NRHP and/or the CRHR, and therefore, whether either building constitutes a historical resource for the purposes of CEQA. The HRSR also evaluated the potential indirect impacts from the proposed project on the NRHP/CRHR-listed Murer House and Gardens, which is a historical resource per CEQA Guidelines. The findings of the HRSR are summarized in Section 4.0, Historical Resources Evaluation, of this report; the HRSR is included as Appendix B to this report.

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