Preservation and adaptive reuse of Orange County’s wonderful historic commercial and public buildings is always a topic of interest for those who want to save and celebrate our county’s history. We’re honored to feature long-time, local architect Don Krotee at our March meeting to speak about his work over the last 45 years in restoring and saving many historic properties in Santa Ana and other parts of Orange County.
Don and his company, the Don Krotee Partnership (DKP), usually do the entire planning and design work on projects – ensuring that it adheres to the Secretary of State requirements for National Register of Historic Places. Sometimes this includes a real property easement around the front elevation of the building (later administering the sale of the easement to a Historic Trust). In addition, they often coordinate the structural, mechanical, plumbing, and electrical engineering of the project itself.
Over the years, their projects have included the Arcade, Fogelman, and Yanez buildings in central Santa Ana. He’s also worked on the Musselman Block buildings, YMCA building, and Old OC Court House, among just a few. Under Don’s guidance, DKP has provided architectural and engineering services on over 550 publicly-bid projects serving more than fifteen municipalities, and multiple school districts and college campuses.
Don is also a recognized artist in both watercolor and line drawings. He’s had the opportunity to use his talents to show off the beauty of many of his historic projects. Some of those will be shown as part of his presentation.
Our meeting will be held on Thursday, March 8th beginning at 7:30 pm at the Trinity Episcopal Church, 2400 N. Canal St., Orange. As always, members and the general public are cordially invited to attend.