Conservancy News

The latest Conservancy newsletter is now available online, as well as past editions. Our newsletter covers upcoming preservation events, preservation issues, features on the people and places of historic Santa Monica and much more.

In the current edition:

• Annual Holiday Party
• Call for Nominations: 2018 Preservation Awards
• City Hall Mural Controversy
• Conservancy Receives Fifth Award
• Conservancy Youth Program Awarded Grant
• KCK Architects Wins California Preservation Award
• and more news and events!

Download the December 2017 Newsletter or view past issues here.

Our newsletter is published four times per year. Conservancy members receive a copy of each new issue in the mail. If you’d like to become a member, please join today!

by Amy Green, Commissioner

Landmarks Commission meetings are held the second Monday of the month. Because of work being done on City Hall, they are currently displaced from the Council Chambers. Please check the City’s Boards and Commissions website for agenda and location details.

At the September meeting, owners of a multi-family residence at 2518-2522 4th Street submitted a request for a demolition permit as they had begun to remove exterior stucco in order to make foundation repairs to the building. They were cited by the city and told to request a permit through the Landmarks Commission. Due to the extent of the work and new provisions in the Zoning Ordinance it was required to be submitted as a demolition. Local residents and preservation activists requested consideration of the property as a Structure of Merit and a review of the nearby structures to determine if it might qualify as a historic district, which would strengthen the case for designating the property in question as a Structure of Merit. Despite a lukewarm preliminary consultant’s report, the Commission nominated 2518-2522 4th Street as a Structure of Merit and requested further study of the grounds for designation as a historic district.

2518 4th Street. Photo: Ostashay Associates Consulting

Additionally, renovation plans for the Sears Building continue to move forward. Seritage Growth Properties presented its latest plan to adaptively reuse this classic structure for creative office space and a market food court that highlights local chefs and cuisines. The Landmarks Commission granted the building Certificate of Appropriateness status.

Certificates of Appropriateness were also approved for replacement trees in Palisades Park, the expansion of Big Dean’s at 1611- 1613 Ocean Front Walk, landscape and hardscape changes at the E.J. Carrillo House, 1602 Georgina and 220 San Vicente Boulevard, as well as signage at two businesses on the Pier, the Albright and Marlene’s Beachcomber.

Finally, the following four landmarks, three of which were designated during the past year at the request of their owners, were recommended for Mills Act Contracts at the September meeting:

• 2433 28th Street, Sun Tech Townhomes
• 927 Ocean Avenue
• 909-911 Montana Avenue
• 401 Ocean Avenue, The Henry Weyse/Charles Morris House

The Mills Act is Santa Monica’s most powerful incentive for owners of designated properties, usually resulting in substantial reductions in property tax. A 10-year maintenance and rehabilitation plan must be submitted. This year’s contracts were approved by City Council and forwarded to the County Assessor in October.

Every year the Conservancy celebrates the preservation of Santa Monica’s architectural and cultural heritage by honoring exemplary projects and contributions.

Since 2004, award-winning projects have included residences, commercial and institutional buildings, from small to large, ranging from restoration, renovation, rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse to contemporary additions to historic buildings and homes. Awards are also presented to individuals for their stewardship of historic properties as well as for community service contributions as volunteers and advocates of preservation.

The awards presentation will be held at the Conservancy’s 2018 Annual Meeting. Don’t miss this spectacular event as we celebrate, recognize, and are inspired by the people and the projects that bring preservation to life in Santa Monica. A complete history of the Preservation Awards can be found here.

Nominate a person, structure or group for a 2018 Award! Send an email to awards@smconservancy.org by January 31 and include:

1. A brief description of the individual, organization or project, and why you believe it warrants an award. A specific award category can be included in your proposal, but is not mandatory.
2. Your contact information (name, address, phone number).
3. A photo of the site if possible.

by Amy Green, Commissioner

Each Landmarks Commission meeting begins with a historic exploration of a physical or built detail unique to Santa Monica. The history of accessing the Santa Monica Beach was the topic of the July meeting. Commissioner Margaret Bach addressed the natural and man-made access points that have led residents and visitors to Santa Monica’s sandy shores since the late 19th century. Bach’s presentation encouraged more questions than answers as she appealed to Santa Monica residents and patrons to share any information they might have about the history of the stairs, inclines and overpasses leading to the beach.

927 Ocean Avenue.

The Commission reviewed demolition permits, considered the potential designations of Landmark Structures, and approved Certificates of Appropriateness for two historic properties. All of 909-911 Montana Avenue has been landmarked; this includes two multi-residential buildings and one commercial structure as well as the land on which they are sited. This property is both unique in its blending of Streamline Moderne and Spanish Revival architecture and a representative example of a 1940s mixed-use property that reflects both multi-family residential and commercial development on the Wilshire and north of Montana areas of Santa Monica.

The second newly designated property, 927 Ocean Avenue, was built in 1922 and is a rare example of a 1920s Mediterranean Revival apartment hotel built for the early tourism industry. After thorough research and evaluation, Planning Department staff concluded that the apartment hotel exemplified, symbolized, or manifested “elements of the cultural, social, economic, political or architectural history of the City.” Originally constructed as an apartment hotel, it illustrates major patterns in the development of Santa Monica’s business and architectural history and is now an apartment house.

At the June 27 City Council Meeting, Council voted unanimously to support moving forward on the “temporary” multipurpose sports field in place of the surface parking lot on the Civic Center site and to move forward with the Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking a development team to reimagine, renovate and operate the Civic Auditorium. The motion included a parking study intended to plan for the loss of parking resulting from the addition of the field and an effort to work with current users of the parking, including the Courthouse, and possibly the Coastal Commission to develop alternatives to provide replacement parking as needed. Moving forward with plans for additional field space at Memorial Park was also included.

We are delighted to see the commitment to issue an RFP for the Civic Auditorium reconfirmed. However, the one concern that was not resolved was the softball field overlay proposed in the staff report, pending additional conversations with the school district.

The request to add a softball field overlay to the “temporary” multipurpose sports field at the Civic causes great concern because of its impacts on the landmark Civic Auditorium, which is still without a plan for rehabilitation more than a year after the Civic Working Group made its report to Council. The multipurpose sports field as defined in the 2005 Civic Center specific plan was intended for sports like soccer that are played on rectangular fields. The softball overlay will add 25% to the area required for the sports fields, moving the boundaries of the field very close to the Auditorium, and includes fencing and containment netting 26 feet high, as well as chain-link protected dugouts and bullpens. The visual impact of such a field on the Landmark structure seems totally inappropriate, and it would place additional limitations on the space available for shared use by a revitalized Civic Auditorium.

It seemed clear that all council members saw the placement of the softball addition to the temporary field at the civic, even temporarily, as a negative impact, but they supported further conversations with the district regarding the need and district funding of the additional expense. The Conservancy will remain concerned about the potential negative impact on the future of the Civic Auditorium until a different site is found for the softball field.