You have to see how it leans and its structural engineering or lack thereof. The foundation has slipped out from underneath it, and unless you go in it and get scared about it collapsing, you can't really understand. Some are emotional. Some are business. History lies in unlikely places.
History is often more subtle and less polished.
In SLO County, some argue, it lies in a dilapidated shed behind the parking lot of a hardware store or in a dark corner of a modern underground parking structure. Today, on the first level, a glass display case reveals some of the stone footings that littered the ground. As an architect, Merriam says he usually looks for a creative compromise. But, Merriam adds, sometimes he finds that a building is just, well, a building. If every historical building was saved, we couldn't move forward.