Japanese family, Pasadena Waldorf School reach agreement over Altadena home

ALTADENA, Calif. (KABC) -- The Yuge family, one of Altadena's oldest families, and the Pasadena Waldorf School have reached a verbal agreement involving the home that the Yuge family has lived in for close to 100 years.

According to Cindy Yuge, the family agreed to move off the property by Friday, and the Pasadena Waldorf School has agreed that it would not immediately apply for a demolition permit for the historic cottage.

The Yuge family has inhabited the cottage ever since Cindy Yuge's great uncle, Hanjiro, was hired to work at the Scripps-Kellogg estate, known as Scripps Hall, nearly 100 years ago.

William Kellogg had built Hanjiro the cottage to live in, and in the 1920s, Hanjiro's nephew, Takeo, moved in and took over as groundskeeper.

Takeo is the father of Cindy Yuge and her sister, Joyce Yuge.

In 1986, the property was sold to the Pasadena Waldorf School. The school took over Scripps Hall and wanted the Yuge cottage, too.

An agreement between the Yuges stated that once their parents died, the family would have to move out within six months, Joyce Yuge said.

Their mother died in November at the age of 100.

Cindy Yuge says she is satisfied with the verbal agreement, but she still wants in writing that the home will be preserved.

The Pasadena Waldorf School will hire a historic preservationist to inspect the property to determine if the cottage can be used by the school. If the home cannot be used, the school has offered to move the cottage off the property to a location where it can be preserved.