RENOVATORS MAY COVER UP STATE SEAL.

Byline: Lisa Friedman Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - There's a little piece of California in Washington, D.C., a tribute to the Golden State left by the man who cut the first viable path between the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, and one that is stirring controversy.

It is a wooden mosaic California seal that Gen. Edward Beale had embedded in the floor of his home in 1872 after returning to the nation's capital. While armies a continent away fought the Civil War, Beale had built the man-made Beale's Cut in Newhall, a stagecoach path to Los Angeles.

``It's always been our assumption that it was his reminder of home,'' Washington historian Carla Jones said of the wooden seal. Jones is spokeswoman for the Decatur House, the Washington home Beale bought after returning east.

Now the mansion is being restored its state in the days before Beale was master of the house - before Minerva with her scepter, overlooking the Sierra Nevada, were added to a home that already had a rich past.

In the name of architectural restoration, the National Trust for Historic Preservation plans to hide the giant seal under a rug.

Historian Harrison Scott, author of ``Ridge Route: The Road that United California'' called the cover-up a snub.

``Covering it up. I can't believe this,'' Scott said. ``I think the period of history which Beale represents was a high point of importance in this state. He has been sidetracked, and he's done so much for California.''

The impending move, part of a $5.3 million restoration slated for completion by 2005, has caused little reaction among Californians.

``Save our Seal!'' cried the winter issue of the Calitonian, a quarterly newsletter published by the California State Society - a Washington, D.C., social organization of Californians that includes lawmakers, lobbyists and others with ties to the state.

But beyond a few scattered letters, no one seems to have taken up the cause of preserving the state seal of the brigadier general who sparked the Gold Rush by taking the first sample of gold from California to Washington, D.C., built Fort Tejon in Lebec and opened the precursor to the Newhall Pass.

``No protesters are at our door yet,'' Jones said.

And California State Society President Bob Cochran, who also serves as chief of staff to Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, said beyond the newsletter announcement, the organization is doing nothing to save the seal.

And so the Decatur House changes are continuing as planned.

Benjamin Henry Latrobe, sometimes known as the ``Father of American Architecture'' for introducing the Federal style, designed the Decatur House and built it in 1819 for naval hero Commodore Stephen Decatur.

A parade of famous men lived there through the 1800s, including Kentucky politician Henry Clay and Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States, .

But Beale, who bought the Decatur House in 1872, had the most significant architectural impact of any of its later residents.

He, as Jones described it, ``Victorianized'' the Decatur House, particularly on the second floor - installing gas lighting, parquet floors and, of course, the California state seal.

A recent architectural home inspection shows the seal is a rich mixture of woods, including maple, cherry, mahogany and walnut.

Nevertheless, with the home's downstairs retaining its plain pine floors and other elements of Latrobe's Federal architecture, the seal became over the years part of what Jones calls a ``mishmash'' architectural story.

``This was very confusing to tourists,'' Jones said. So, the National Preservation for Historic Trust - to whom Gen. Beale's daughter-in-law Marie bequeathed it in 1902 - decided several years ago ``to restore the house to what it was before Edward Beale bought it.''

For now, the upstairs - the ``Beale-era'' rooms - remains untouched. But a period poster in the dining room shows what eventually may be there: a rug running the length of the floor.

``They would have had carpet. They didn't show plain wood floors in upper-class houses,'' Jones said.

Curators vowed that the seal will not be harmed. And, if possible, it could be removed from the floor and placed on display in a museum adjacent to the house. But Jones warned that the seal is fragile, and the Trust will decide to cover it with a rug if the alternative is to place it in jeopardy by trying to extract it.

An adventurer and a diplomat, Beale was born in 1822 to a distinguished Washington, D.C., family and at the age of 14 became a naval midshipman.

Sent to California in 1846 to help fight the war with Mexico, Beale and Western legend Kit Carson sneaked through enemy lines to get relief for beleaguered troops at San Pasqual, winning medals for their bravery.

In later years, the Navy sent Beale to Washington to report the news of gold discovery in California. Carrying 8 pounds of nuggets and gold dust, he became the first person to bring proof to the nation's capital.

He also played a little-known role in northern Los Angeles County - buying a small town then known as Rancho Castaic.

Beale is most famous in Southern California, however, for creating Beale's Cut, between Newhall and the San Fernando Valley. Once a 90-foot gorge, the historic site is filling with sediment over the years.

Beale's Cut, carved by Chinese laborers, actually was an improvement to a 30-foot-deep cut dug in 1854 by Gen. Phineas Banning. Heavily traveled and becoming inadequate, Beale had it deepened by 60 feet.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) The intricate wooden mosaic on the floor of the Edward Beale depicts Minerva with her scepter. It was created in 1872.

(2) Once a 90-foot gorge, the historic Beale's Cut is filling with sediment over the years. The Civil War-era project opened up travel from the San Fernando Valley to Newhall.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer