George G. Golleher Alumni House

A place to call home

The Mahr House after CSUF acquired it and State College Boulevard was widened. Faculty office was at the right end of the house.

On the original site, when the CSUF campus was only a vision beyond the sea of orange groves, there were four historic homes on the property. Two were the Beazeley Family's private home and barn located along Yorba Linda Blvd. Their home was used as the campus' first Speech and Hearing Clinic until both house and barn were torn down in the 1960s. The second historic home, now located in CSUF's arboretum, was known as the Heritage House. It was originally built in 1894 and owned by Dr. George Clark of Fullerton. As part of a preservation effort, it was relocated to its present site in 1972.

The latter two original buildings that remain are the Hetebrink House and the Mahr House, now known respectively as the   Titan House   and the   Golleher Alumni House.   The Henry Hetebrink house is used today as administrative offices by CSUF's Athletic department while the former Mahr House serves as the home for the Office of Alumni Engagement and the greater alumni community. Their presence on campus, amid the more modern structures, links the university with the cultural, agricultural and architectural growth of Orange County.

In 1928 a son of Henry and Rebecca Hetebrink built a house for one of his daughters, as a wedding gift, on a different section of the family's land. But the wedding never took place. Lotte Hetebrink never had the chance to live in this Spanish revival-style home, and the property was lost in the early years of the Great Depression. The Mahr family purchased the residence, completed it in 1931, and held it until the late 1950s when the State of California purchased it for the CSUF campus.

The current decor of the house's kitchen is meant to reflect the adobe Spanish style the house was built in.

The Mahr House served as the university's second administration building in the spring of 1960. Before that, the administration occupied a condemned Fullerton High School building. President Langsdorf and other university administrators occupied upstairs bedrooms-turned-offices while faculty squeezed into a room on the first floor. The Mahr house then became the business office, health center with Nurse Louisa Cooper, bookstore and even a poorly insulated communications classroom in the early 60's causing students to bring long coats and hot coffee to class. 

The garage of the Mahr House was converted into the eating area and patio at the north wing in late 1965 advertised as the faculty club: a place for faculty, staff, administration and retirees to exchange ideas. Unfortunately the renovation compromised the building's historic integrity, and due to its distance from campus at the time, the faculty club never caught on. 

In 1969, the Alumni Association was formed with the goal of giving graduates a way of maintaining contact with the university. In the 1990s, the Office of Alumni Engagement moved into the house and has used the house for a longer stretch of time than any other previous office, department or organization. It was restored in 1995 and renamed the George G. Golleher Alumni House after receiving a generous donation from the 1971 sociology alum and CEO of Ralph's Grocery.

  

Left: The OCSC administation moves into restored quarters at the Mahr House, March 28, 1960. Right: T he archway entrance to the George G. Golleher Alumni House Today.

 

The house now is a university hub of activity bringing together alumni, students, faculty and staff through events including Alumni Association and board activities, campus fundraisers and meetings, networking events, and seminars and workshops by colleges across the university campus.