College Heights Lemon Packing House

The College Heights Lemon Packing House, built in 1922, sits along the train tracks of downtown Claremont. A striking industrial building with corrugated metal walls, huge skylights, and a saw-tooth roof, it is the largest historic building
in downtown.

As the only citrus packing house still standing in Claremont (the other three were demolished), the College Heights Lemon Packing House is one of the last remaining monuments to the city's pioneering role in the citrus industry during the first half of the 20th century, a role that dwindled by the late sixties when tract housing development became more lucrative.

Until recently, the College Heights Lemon Packing House was also slated for demolition. Thanks to visionary community members, however, it instead opened to the public in April 2007 as a mixed-use building with upstairs lofts and ground-floor restaurants, shops, a jazz club, a non-profit used bookstore, and the long-awaited Claremont Museum of Art.

The Museum occupies the rear west end of the building and includes 7,400 square feet of exhibition space, a store, sculpture garden, offices, and a storage room. The building's industrial architecture is ideal for a museum. The open space, exposed ceilings, and industrial details are a perfect compliment to the Claremont Museum of Art's exhibitions.

The Packing House includes many 'green' features that benefit the Museum and fellow tenants by providing a healthier environment and lower energy and water bills. The building contains a striking amount of natural light, many operational windows, and elements like low-flush toilets, an energy-efficient central boiler, and energy-efficient insulation. Solar panels will be installed on the roof by 2008. Other environmentally friendly building features include the many materials that were reused - from the hardwood floors to the corrugated metal ceiling and siding - as well as the landscaping, comprised mostly of drought-tolerant plants.

The Packing House redevelopment is part of the five-phase, multi-block Village Expansion Project, which includes housing, an art-house theatre, an upscale boutique hotel, and dozens of stores. While the Packing House and housing are already complete, the other components will open by winter 2007.