ROSEMEAD - The future of the Dinsmoor Heritage House - which is just off of Temple City Boulevard and Ellis Lane south of Valley Boulevard - is looking bright as the Rosemead City Council has come up with a plan to start fixing up the 1929 dwelling.

"Last year the city of Rosemead completed a preservation plan for the Dinsmoor Heritage House," said David Montgomery Scott, director of parks and recreation for the city of Rosemead. "Because it's a state point of historical interest, it's important that we preserve that piece of Rosemead's history."

Scott said the city took over the house in 1976, but that "little has been done structurally to maintain the facility. As an old house it now needs attention."

So, what's going to happen to the house?

"We are concentrating our efforts on the exterior of the façade to prevent water damage and weather damage, do stucco repairs, do some carpentry repairs," Scott said. "We'll do window repairs. We'll paint the facility, repair the chimney and do some seismic retrofitting work. In addition to that, since the city council has recently decided to rent the gardens out for community use, we are also going to do some extensive landscape work."

With a budget of around $80,000, Scott said there is still more that can be done with the money in hand.

"We're waiting for an architectural estimate for exterior repairs and our own public works crews will be doing the landscape work," Scott said.

He added this is a very important project for the city.

"It's one of the oldest existing houses in Rosemead," he said. "We want to make it a museum that people desire to visit."

Julie Gentry, secretary of the Dinsmoor Heritage House Cultural Museum, said she is very pleased with the funds the city is setting aside to fix the house.

"We are very happy," Gentry said. "Our group is supporting the city's decision to move forward with renovating and starting with the exterior and doing the landscape. They're going to put in flowers and make it look nice. With this idea, with people being able to rent it and use the gardens, it'll be more widely known. We can't wait to see the improvements over the deteriorating. It has suffered over all these years."

(Shel Segal can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .)