1035 21st street landmark assessment report

1035 21st Street

Landmark Assessment Report

Santa Monica, CA 90402

Prepared for: City of Santa Monica

Planning & Community Development

Department

1685 Main Street, Room 212 Santa Monica, CA 90401 Prepared by: Architectural Resources Group, Inc.

Architects, Planners & Conservators 8 Mills Place, Suite 300 Pasadena, CA 91105 May 1, 2015

1035 21st Street, Santa Monica Landmark Assessment Report Page 1

Architectural Resources Group, Inc.

Architects, Planners, & Conservators

1. Introduction At the request of the City of Santa Monica’s Planning and Community Development Department, Architectural Resources Group, Inc. (ARG) has prepared this Landmark Assessment Report for 1035 21st Street in Santa Monica, Los Angeles County. The one‐story, Craftsman‐style residence at 1035 21st Street was constructed in 1910 on a parcel in the Green Acres tract, which was initially subdivided in 1906. ARG evaluated the property to determine whether it appears to satisfy one or more of the statutory criteria associated with City of Santa Monica Landmark eligibility, pursuant to Chapter 9.36 (Landmarks and Historic Districts Ordinance) of the Santa Monica Municipal Code. Completion of this assessment involved a site visit and visual inspection of the building’s exterior on March 31, 2015; a windshield (reconnaissance level) survey of the Green Acres tract on the same date; compilation and review of historical building permits obtained from the City’s Planning and Community Development Department; archival research conducted at the Santa Monica Public Library and various online repositories; development of applicable historic contexts and themes; and evaluation of eligibility under Santa Monica Landmark criteria. This report was prepared by ARG staff Katie E. Horak, Principal and Architectural Historian and Preservation Planner, Evanne St. Charles, Architectural Historian and Preservation Planner, and Mary Ringhoff, Associate and Architectural Historian and Preservation Planner, all of whom meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards for Architectural History and History. In summary, ARG finds that 1035 21st Street appears eligible under City of Santa Monica Landmark Criteria 9.36.100(a)(1) and 9.36.100(a)(4). The following sections provide a contextual basis for analysis and a detailed discussion of how this determination was made.




2. Architectural Description

2.1 Site and Setting

1035 21st Street is located in northeast Santa Monica, north of Wilshire Boulevard, on the east side of 21st Street between Washington Avenue and California Avenue. The subject property is in an established residential neighborhood composed of modest single‐family residences, small‐scale multi‐family properties from the 1920s to the 1940s, and two‐ and three‐story postwar apartment buildings. The neighborhood adheres to Santa Monica’s skewed orthogonal street network and is divided into a series of rectilinear blocks that are roughly uniform in size and shape. The area’s lots are fairly consistent in size and shape (some of the buildings span two lots); they were subdivided as part of one tract in 1906. The property at 1035 21st Street is located about mid‐block, on a lot larger than those of comparable nearby property types.

Site map. The subject property, 1035 21st Street, is outlined in red. Aerial imagery courtesy maps.google.com.

2.2 Building Exterior The subject property is a one‐story, single‐family residence that was constructed in 1910 and designed in the Craftsman style, a popular choice for residential architecture in Santa Monica during the first quarter of the 20th century. It is separated from the street by an open front lawn with a concrete




walkway and a mature Yucca plant that appears to date approximately to the construction of the residence. The walkway is flanked by large palm stumps. A dirt driveway and new wood driveway gate are located on the north side of the property. An ancillary building is located at the northeast corner of the lot; it is not visible from the public right‐of‐way. The residence has an irregular footprint, and at 1,622 square feet is comparable in size to the other single‐family residences on the block. It is wood‐framed and has a side‐gabled roof. Its exterior walls are clad in wood shingles at the top half and wood clapboards below sill level. The roof is sheathed with wood shingles and retains wide, open eaves with bargeboards, exposed rafters, and exposed decorative purlins.1 The building’s primary (west) elevation is asymmetrical. A projecting porch spans the majority of the façade, beginning at its north end. The porch is reached by concrete steps bounded on one side by a wrought iron handrail. It is covered with a shed roof supported by triple wood posts atop brick pedestals that were repaired/replaced with like materials in the 1990s (a repair after the 1994 Northridge earthquake); the same brick seen in the pedestals extends across the primary façade at foundation level. A tapered wood beam ornamented with dentils spans the length of the porch. Beneath the porch is a tripartite wood window composed of a fixed central sash flanked by narrow casement windows. The top portions of the windows have divided lights. South of the window, also beneath the porch, is a single partially‐glazed wood door with a non‐historic metal screen. At the south end of the west façade is a canted bay composed of a fixed wood window (divided lights in the top portion) with double‐hung wood windows on either side. The windows and door on the primary elevation retain matching decorative surrounds. The north façade is lined with grouped wood multi‐light casement windows below a shingled awning with exposed rafters.2 The building’s south façade contains single wood windows (at least one of which is double hung; the others are not fully visible from the public right‐of‐way) and a small projecting volume with a shed roof. The east façade is not visible from the public right‐of‐way. The property retains high integrity, with minimal alterations visible from the public right‐of‐way.

1 The purlins may not be original to the building. 2 Two of the windows may actually be French doors, but they are not fully visible from the public right‐of‐way.




Primary (west) elevation, view east. ARG, 3/31/15. Primary (west) and north elevations, view southeast. ARG, 3/31/15.

South elevation, view northeast. ARG, 3/31/15. North elevation, view southeast. ARG, 3/31/15.

Context view, view southeast. ARG, 3/31/15. Detail: porch roof, posts and beam. ARG, 3/31/15.




3. Alterations and Chronology of Development Upon review of archive building permits obtained from the City of Santa Monica’s Planning and Community Development Department, historic aerial photographs, Sanborn Fire Insurance Company maps, and property data obtained from the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office, ARG produced the following chronology of development for 1035 21st Street. This chronology provides a summary of the property’s development and alterations that have been made over time.

Date Description of Work Performed Owner on Record

1910 One‐story residence constructed Unknown

1941 A covered patio was added at the rear of the residence Manola Maylor

1994 The piers of the porch and foundation were repaired/replaced with like materials, and the chimney was removed due to damage caused by the Northridge Earthquake

Andrew and Lorene Holm




4. Historic Contexts

4.1 Early Residential Development of North Santa Monica The roots of present‐day Santa Monica, which was originally inhabited by the Tongva people and was later incorporated into California’s network of expansive land grants during the state’s Mexican period, can be traced to 1875 when the original townsite was platted and recorded. Like many communities in Southern California, Santa Monica was incorporated in 1887 at the height of a real estate boom, brought on by the completion of a transcontinental rail line to the region and a subsequent fare “war” that emerged between the competing Southern Pacific and Santa Fe Railroad companies.3 Early in its history, the city was heavily marketed as a tourist destination and gained national acclaim for its recreational culture, balmy climate, bathhouses, opulent hotels, and amusement piers. Residential development in Santa Monica at this time tended to be concentrated in sites nearest the ocean and around the present‐day commercial core. Small communities of beach cottages, many of which were built as vacation homes for affluent out‐of‐towners, arose in those areas proximate to the shoreline, and several large residences were constructed on parcels atop the palisades that overlook the ocean.4 Prior to 1900, Santa Monica’s growth was primarily clustered between Washington Avenue to the north, Railroad Avenue (now Colorado Avenue) to the south, 7th Street to the east and Ocean Avenue to the west. The area of the city north of Nevada Avenue (now Wilshire Boulevard) and east of 6th Street was left largely unimproved in this early development period.5 Residential development expanded outward toward the city’s periphery as Santa Monica began to come of age as a residential enclave in the early 20th century. Subdivisions of small bungalows and cottages began to pop up in portions east of the city center. Residential development beyond the city’s core was aided by the proliferation of electric streetcar lines, increasing accessibility to areas that had previously been impractical to subdivide and develop.

Green Acres The Green Acres tract, a residential subdivision in northeast Santa Monica, was subdivided by three men, including T.H. Dudley, chairman of the Santa Monica City Board of Trustees and future mayor of the city.6 The tract comprises ten blocks bounded by 22nd Street, 17th Street, Washington Avenue, and Nevada Avenue (renamed Wilshire Boulevard in 1913). Land was subdivided into acre and half‐acre lots, which were then sold to individuals for “fine residences” to be built upon.7 Lots along Nevada Avenue were narrower, as they were subdivided for commercial purposes. W.B. Dowsing of the Santa Monica Realty Company and general agents Miles & Tegner managed much of the development.

3 George L. Henderson, California and the Fictions of Capital (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 154. 4 City of Santa Monica General Plan, “Historic Preservation Element,” prepared by PCR Services Corporation and Historic Resources Group (September 2002), 12‐13. 5 ICF Jones & Stokes, Santa Monica Citywide Historic Resources Inventory Update Final Report (prepared for the City of Santa Monica Planning and Community Development Department, 2010). 6 Luther A. Ingersoll, Ingersoll’s Century History, Santa Monica Bay Cities (Los Angeles: Luther A. Ingersoll, 1908), 427. 7 Classified Ad 108, Los Angeles Times, 22 April 1906, V9.




Development of the tract was slow at first, as the neighborhood was located a substantial distance east of the city center. With the 1920s population boom that occurred in Santa Monica and throughout Los Angeles County, rising numbers of single‐family residences, bungalow courts, and small apartment houses were built in the tract, and the large lots were re‐subdivided to accommodate more dwellings. Construction in the tract continued through the 1940s and primarily consisted of modest houses and small‐scale multi‐family properties. With increased demands for housing in Santa Monica and much of Southern California after World War II, many of the single‐family residences and smaller multi‐family properties were replaced with larger apartment houses in the Green Acres tract. Today, 1035 21st Street is the only extant building from the tract’s earliest period of development, predating the 1920s boom.

4.2 Owners and Residents of 1035 21st Street A previous recording of 1035 21st Street lists J.B. Longley as the property’s builder, although it is not known whether he was also the original owner.8 The 1913‐1914 Santa Monica city directory lists James Howland as the owner of 1035 21st Street.9 Howland, who was in real estate, owned the property until 1918. The 1915‐1916 city directory lists the property as vacant, suggesting the residence might have been a vacation home for Howland and his wife, Luella. In 1919, John C. Pelton and wife, Annie L. Pelton, bought the house. The Peltons likely owned the house until 1923 when Manola J. Maylor, widow of J.H. Maylor, acquired the property. From 1923 until 1948, Manola Maylor, and at various times her daughters Lillian, Lorraine (Lorene), and Muriel Maylor (as well as Lillian’s husband Arthur Grubbs), occupied the residence. By 1952, Andrew L. Holm, baker at Helms Bakeries, and wife Lorene Holm, owned 1035 21st Street. The Holms owned the house until at least 2010.10 Research into all the known tenants and owners of 1035 21st Street found no evidence of any of them being significant individuals in the history of Santa Monica.

4.3 Craftsman Architecture The property at 1035 21st Street was designed in the Craftsman style, a popular choice for Southern California residential architecture in the 1900s through the early 1920s. Santa Monica experienced an increase in residential construction in the first decades of the 20th century as affluent out‐of‐towners sought beach town vacation homes and as the city’s population grew during the 1920s boom years. Many of the city’s residences from this time period were designed in the Craftsman mode of architecture. Craftsman architecture is derived from the Arts and Crafts movement. The Arts and Crafts movement emerged in England in reaction to the “deleterious effects of industrialization on the quality of

8 Leslie Heumann, State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation DPR 523 Form for 1035 21st Street (prepared by Leslie Heumann & Associates for the City of Santa Monica Planning and Community Development Department, 1993). 9 The original construction permit for 1035 21st Street could not be located and city directories prior to 1913 were not searchable via address; thus, the original owner is unknown. 10 P. Moruzzi, M. Potter, and K. Lain, State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation DPR 523 Form for 1035 21st Street (prepared by ICF International for the City of Santa Monica Planning and Community Development Department, 2006).




manufactured goods and the separation of the worker from his product.”11 The movement, which was led by English designer William Morris, focused on simplicity of form, informal character, direct response to site, and extensive use of natural materials.12 Other styles that originated from the Arts and Crafts movement include Prairie (more common in the Midwest) and American Foursquare. The Arts and Crafts movement was adopted and molded into what we know today as the Craftsman style by brothers Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene, who practiced together in Pasadena from 1893 to 1914. The Greene brothers began designing simple Craftsman‐style houses around 1903. Their work was influenced by the English Arts and Crafts movement, their early training in manual arts, and an interest in Oriental wooden architecture. The result was a style that has often been referred to as the region’s first “modern” style: one that responded directly to local materials and climate rather than drawing from historicist styles imported from the east coast. The Craftsman style soon appeared in pattern books and magazines such as House Beautiful, Architectural Record, and Western Architect, popularizing the style throughout the country. Craftsman architecture was most commonly employed in the construction of single‐family residences and small‐scale multi‐family properties such as bungalow courts. The style helped to shape the architectural landscape of Santa Monica residential subdivisions during the first quarter of the 20th century.13 Buildings constructed in the Craftsman style range from modest one‐story “bungalows” and bungalow courts to grand two‐and‐a‐half‐story houses. Stylistic variations include the “Airplane Bungalow,” “Swiss Craftsman,” and “Japanese Craftsman.” Features of the style include low‐pitched gable (sometimes hipped) roofs; wide overhanging eaves with exposed rafters, purlins, and/or brackets; bargeboards (often decorative); partial or full‐width porches with battered piers; wood clapboard or wood shingle cladding; extensive use of rubble stone at foundation and porch rail/supports; and grouped wood double‐hung and/or casement windows.14

11 National Register of Historic Places, The Residential Architecture of Pasadena, CA, 1895‐1918: The Influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement Multiple Property Documentation, Pasadena, Los Angeles County, California, National Register #10240018, E1. 12 National Register #10240018, E1. 13 Virginia McAlester and Lee McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1984), 453. 14 Virginia McAlester and Lee McAlester, 454.




5. Regulations and Criteria for Evaluation

5.1 City of Santa Monica Landmarks and Historic Districts Ordinance Historic preservation in Santa Monica is governed by Chapter 9.36 (Landmarks and Historic Districts Ordinance) of the Santa Monica Municipal Code. The Ordinance was adopted by the Santa Monica City Council on March 24, 1976 and twice amended, first in 1987 and again in 1991.15 Among the primary objectives achieved by the Ordinance was the creation of a local designation program for buildings, structures, sites, objects, districts, and landscapes in the City that are of historical significance. With regard to individually significant properties, the Ordinance distinguishes between two tiers of designation: Landmarks and Structures of Merit. Landmarks, outlined in §9.36.100, are considered to exhibit “the highest level of individual historical or architectural significance.” Structures of Merit, outlined in §9.36.080, possess a degree of individual significance that is more limited in scope.16 Protections against demolition and alterations are commensurate with the tier of individual designation assigned to a particular resource. In addition to individual Landmarks and Structures of Merit, the Ordinance establishes statutory criteria and procedures for the designation of Historic Districts, defined in §9.36.030 as a “geographic area or noncontiguous grouping of thematically related properties” that collectively contribute to the historic character of an area within the City. Per §9.36.100(a) of the Ordinance, a property merits consideration as a Landmark if it satisfies one or more of the following six statutory criteria:

(1) It exemplifies, symbolizes, or manifests elements of the cultural, social, economic, political, or architectural history of the City;

(2) It has aesthetic or artistic interest or value, or other noteworthy interest or value; (3) It is identified with historic personages or with important events in local, state, or national

history; (4) It embodies distinguishing architectural characteristics valuable to a study of a period, style,

method of construction, or the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship, or is a unique or rare example of an architectural design, detail, or historical type valuable to such a study;

(5) It is a significant or a representative example of the work or product of a notable builder, designer, or architect;

(6) It has a unique location, a singular physical characteristic, or is an established and familiar visual feature of a neighborhood, community, or the City.

15 City of Santa Monica General Plan, “Historic Preservation Element,” prepared by PCR Services Corporation and Historic Resources Group (September 2002), 1‐2. 16 City of Santa Monica Planning and Community Development Department, “Historic Preservation in Santa Monica,” accessed 8 August 2014 < http://www.smgov.net/departments/PCD/Programs/Historic‐Preservation/>




6. Evaluation of Significance

6.1 Previous Evaluations The property at 1035 21st Street has been previously evaluated as part of the City’s ongoing historic resource survey efforts. In 1993, it was assigned a status code of 5S3 (appears to be individually eligible for local listing or designation through survey evaluation); in its update of the historic resource inventory, ICF Jones & Stokes recommended the property to be individually eligible for local landmark listing as an excellent example of the Craftsman style and for representing Santa Monica’s earliest patterns of development.17

6.2 Evaluation of Local Significance In summary, the property at 1035 21st Street, a single‐family residence, appears eligible for local listing as a Landmark. This determination was made by evaluating the property against each of the criteria as follows:

Landmark Evaluation 9.36.100(a)(1). It exemplifies, symbolizes, or manifests elements of the cultural, social, economic, political, or architectural history of the City. The subject property appears to satisfy this criterion for exemplifying major patterns in Santa Monica’s developmental and architectural history. It is a representative, intact, and rare remaining example of the type and style of single‐family residences that were constructed in Santa Monica during the first decades of the 20th century. As one of the first residences to be constructed in the Green Acres tract, subdivided north of Wilshire Boulevard in 1906, the residence is associated with the area’s earliest pattern of residential development and the eastward expansion of Santa Monica in the early 20th century. Its comparatively large lot is indicative of Green Acres’ initial period of development, as the tract was originally subdivided into acre and half‐acre parcels (which were re‐subdivided in the 1920s to accommodate the city’s substantial population growth). Furthermore, ARG’s March 2015 windshield survey and subsequent research of construction dates of other residences in the neighborhood revealed that 1035 21st Street is the earliest single‐family residence left in the Green Acres tract. As an intact example of the Craftsman style, 1035 21st Street reflects major patterns in the city’s early architectural history and continues to communicate the aesthetic and associative principles, values, and ideas of the period during which it was constructed.

17 Leslie Heumann, State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation DPR 523 Form for 1035 21st Street; P. Moruzzi, M. Potter, and K. Lain, State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation DPR 523 Form for 1035 21st Street; City of Santa Monica Planning and Community Development Department, “Historic Resources Inventory,” http://www.smgov.net/Departments/PCD/Historic‐Resources‐Inventory/.




9.36.100(a)(2). It has aesthetic or artistic interest or value, or other noteworthy interest or value. The subject property is a good representative example of Craftsman architecture and retains the typical character‐defining features of the style. However, as a comparably modest example, its aesthetic or artistic value is not highly significant, unusual or noteworthy. It does not appear to satisfy this criterion. 9.36.100(a)(3). It is identified with historic personages or with important events in local, state, or national history. No evidence was found that the property at 1035 21st Street is associated with historic personages or with important events in local, state, or national history. It does not appear to satisfy this criterion. 9.36.100(a)(4). It embodies distinguishing architectural characteristics valuable to a study of a period, style, method of construction, or the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship, or is a unique or rare example of an architectural design, detail, or historical type valuable to such a study. The subject property is one of only a handful of intact examples of the Craftsman style in the Green Acres tract. In addition, it is the oldest remaining house in the neighborhood, dating to the tract’s earliest period of development, prior to the 1920s boom years. Given the period during which it was constructed and its rarity as an intact Craftsman residence in the tract, the subject property embodies distinguishing architectural characteristics valuable to a study of the earliest period of development of this part of Santa Monica. For these reasons, the property appears to satisfy this criterion. 9.36.100(a)(5). It is a significant or a representative example of the work or product of a notable builder, designer, or architect. According to the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) form prepared for 1035 21st Street in 1993, the subject property was built by J.B. Longley, a local builder who had acquired a few lots in the Green Acres tract that he built houses on and subsequently sold to various individuals.18 Research did not suggest Longley was a notable builder in Santa Monica.19 Furthermore, the DPR form did not mention an architect, and the original building permit could not be located. Given the modest size and style of the property, it is unlikely a prominent architect or designer is associated with it. For these reasons, 1035 21st Street does not appear to meet this criterion. 9.36.100(a)(6). It has a unique location, a singular physical characteristic, or is an established and familiar visual feature of a neighborhood, community, or the City. The subject property does not occupy a unique location or a singular physical characteristic. Though its lot is slightly larger than the lots of comparable property types in the Green Acres tract, the lot size is not substantially different. Additionally, the lot conforms to the typical setbacks and uniform rectilinear

18 Leslie Heumann, State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation DPR 523 Form for 1035 21st Street. 19 An investor by the name of W.J. Langley had also owned and developed several lots in the Green Acres tract. It is unclear whether Longley and Langley are the same person; however, research did not indicate Langley was a prominent builder/developer either.




parcel and street grid pattern characteristic of this area of Santa Monica. As one of many one‐story single‐family residences on a relatively quiet residential street in the city, the property is not likely an established visual feature of the neighborhood. Therefore, 1035 21st Street does not appear to satisfy this criterion.

7. Conclusion Based on documentary research, site analysis, the development of historic contexts, and an evaluation against local eligibility criteria, ARG finds that the residential property at 1035 21st Street appears eligible under City of Santa Monica Landmark Criteria 9.36.100(a)(1) and 9.36.100(a)(4).




8. Bibliography

Books, Periodicals, and Other Published Materials: City of Santa Monica General Plan, “Historic Preservation Element,” prepared by PCR Services Corporation and Historic Resources Group (September 2002), 12‐13.

Classified Ad 108. Los Angeles Times, 22 April 1906.

Henderson, George L. California and the Fictions of Capital. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Heumann, Leslie. State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation DPR 523 Form for 1035 21st Street. Prepared by Leslie Heumann & Associates for the City of Santa Monica Planning and Community Development Department, 1993.

ICF Jones & Stokes. Santa Monica Citywide Historic Resources Inventory Update Final Report. Prepared by ICF Jones & Stokes for the City of Santa Monica Planning and Community Development Department, 2010.

Ingersoll, Luther A. Ingersoll’s Century History, Santa Monica Bay Cities. Los Angeles: Luther A. Ingersoll, 1908.

McAlester, Virginia, and Lee McAlester. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1984.

Moruzzi, P., M. Potter, and K. Lain. State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation DPR 523 Form for 1035 21st Street. Prepared by ICF International for the City of Santa Monica Planning and Community Development Department, 2006.

Santa Monica City Directories (various), accessed at the Santa Monica Public Library.

Scott, Paula. Santa Monica: A History on the Edge. San Francisco: Arcadia Publishing, 2004. “Sell New Tracts Near the Beach: Santa Monica Lays out Subdivisions: Grand Boulevard is Being Completed to Make a Broad Drive from Los Angeles to the Sea.” Los Angeles Herald, 1 April 1906. Upton, Dell, and John Michael Vlach. Common Places: Readings in American Vernacular Architecture. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1986.

Other Sources: Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on‐line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2002. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census.




City of Santa Monica Planning and Community Development Department. “Historic Preservation in Santa Monica.” Accessed online at http://www.smgov.net/departments/PCD/Programs/Historic‐Preservation/.

City of Santa Monica Planning and Community Development Department. “Historic Resources Inventory.” Accessed online at http://www.smgov.net/Departments/PCD/Historic‐Resources‐Inventory/.

City of Santa Monica Planning and Community Development Department. Building and alteration permits for 1035 21st Street.

Historic Aerial Images, 1947‐2005. Accessed online at http://www.historicaerials.com.

Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. Tract Maps. Accessed online at http://dpw.lacounty.gov/sur/surveyrecord/tractMain.cfm.

Los Angeles Public Library. Historical Los Angeles Times. Accessed online at http://www.lapl.org.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Company. Fire Insurance Maps, Santa Monica, California, 1918‐1950.

Santa Monica Public Library. Historical Maps of Santa Monica. Accessed online at http://digital.smpl.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/maps.

Santa Monica Public Library. Santa Monica Newspaper Index. Accessed online at http://digital.smpl.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/smfile.




Attachment:

Building Permits

1035 21st street landmark assessment report

Documents