Former 1920s-era hotel in downtown Fresno being demolished. ‘It’s a prominent location’
The owner of what’s left of a once multi-story downtown Fresno hotel recently began demolishing the remaining single-story structure.
Heavy machinery began last week knocking down the Fink & Skopp building, which was all that remained of what used to be the Sequoia Hotel, according to a Fulton Corridor survey by Fresno city planners. The survey described the hotel as “1920s-era.”
The building owner Lance Kashian Co. did not immediately respond to requests for comment on plans for the lot near the corner of Van Ness and Tulare avenues.
That area is represented by Councilmember Miguel Arias, who on Tuesday told The Bee that the developer was interested in plans for a seven- to 10-story building to replace the building under demolition and an empty neighboring lot.
None of that plan is set in stone, Arias added.
The corner is designated as “Downtown Core” in the area’s zoning plans, which leaves room for residential use, a hotel, mixed use and underground parking, among other options.
“It’s a prominent location with the most flexibility and density-use there is (in downtown),” Arias said.
Fink & Skopp moved into 925-935 Van Ness Avenue in 1962 as a single-story furniture store. The Sequoia Hotel had all but its first floor demolished and a new brick facade was built over it under the eye of local architect Robert W. Stevens before the furniture gallery moved in, the city survey said.
The survey described the single-story building as a “good example of mid‐Century Modern commercial architecture.”
Demolition plans initially denied, then OK’d
The Lance Kashian Co., which also owns River Park among other Fresno properties, applied for the demolition in August 2021, according to city records.
The city’s Historic Preservation Commission denied the application for demolition in October 2022 during a meeting in which they discussed the building’s connection to its architect, who designed a handful of other nearby buildings.
The commission instead recommended the building be placed on the local register of historic resources.
Ultimately the City Council did not agree with the commission and on April 27 voted unanimously to approve the demolition.
A Fresno architect, Armen Devejian, who spoke publicly at the April hearing, said the old hotel fit in with other architecture downtown but the more modern single story — which was in the New Formalist style — did not.
The Sequoia Hotel was built in 1905 or 1906, he said, and lost about three-quarters of its history in the 1960s demolition. It would also need significant retrofitting to meet earthquake standards, he said.
“It does not meld with the original architecture nor does it match anything in downtown that we would consider to be a historic resource,” he said in April.
Kashian Co. also owns the lot just north of Fink & Skopp that has been vacant for two decades, according to the preservation commission.
Fink & Skopp has been empty for more than a decade other than being used as a temporary office for a construction project in 2019, the commission said.
