News & Advocacy

by Dolores Sloan, Chair Pro Tempore

Two multi-family sites were recently designated as Santa Monica landmarks by the Landmarks Commission. These designations were significant in that they were both owner-initiated.

SunTech Townhomes

The eighteen-unit Sun-Tech townhome complex at 2433 28th Street, recognizable by its smokestacks, metal frame windows, and tubular pipe railings, has been cited for its historic, aesthetic and architectural significance. Postmodern, with references to Modern and Industrial precedents, the property was completed and first occupied in 1981 and is the first landmark designation in its Sunset Park neighborhood. Although the complex is less than the fifty-year landmarks threshold recommended by the National Parks Service, the Commission agreed that the association of its architectural team with the then Santa-Monica-based Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) satisfies the National Parks Service standard of “exceptional importance.” SCI-Arc has encouraged innovation and openness to unstructured approaches in design and architecture.

Purser Apartments

Generations of professional, amateur and tourist photographers have long memorialized the five-arch colonnade of 1659 Ocean Front Walk as a backdrop for the body builders on Santa Monica beachfront’s Muscle Beach. In the landmark designation for the Purser Apartments, Commissioners noted it as a familiar feature south of the Santa Monica Pier since its construction in 1913. The three- and four-storied vernacular style structure, with Italian Renaissance Revival features, was part of the Seaside Terrace Tract, developed to serve those seeking the recreational offerings of the burgeoning beachfront.

Other properties in the popular pier neighborhood have also received recent Commission attention. Earl’s SeasideTavern, which is replacing Ristorante al Mare in the historic Billiard Building at 250 Santa Monica Pier, has been granted a façade remodel and signage request, and as reported in the Conservancy’s December newsletter, nearby commercial structures at 1601-1619 Ocean Front Walk have received landmark designation.

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