Conservancy News

Following nearly a year of organized public engagement, including outreach, learning workshops, and discussions, Meztli Projects released an Executive Summary of their highly anticipated Phase 1 report this month. The Summary includes the consultant team’s long-awaited list of recommendations for the murals in City Hall. The report does not recommend removing or covering the murals, rather it focuses on commissioning new artwork and interpretive panels, assessing the City’s public art collection through the lens of equity and belonging, as well as suggesting how the City might “materially address issues related to the exclusions seen in the mural” beyond the cultural sphere of City Hall. (Metzli’s Working Circle meets at Historic Santa Monica City Hall. Photo by Kenneth Lopez, Meztli Projects, 2023.)

On October 17, the Conservancy filed a City Landmark nomination for a 65-year-old meeting hall built and owned by the Philomathean Charity Club, Inc. The organization, which is still in existence today, is one of the oldest African American women’s clubs in Southern California. Founded by seven African American women in 1921, the Philomathean Club has supported a wide range of social services, given financial support, and provided educational opportunities in the community for over one hundred years.

Click here to access the nomination.

Women and girls pose at a Philomathean Charity Club Inc. social event in the 1950s. Credit: Quinn Research Center.

Club members made a wise investment in 1958 when they built a meeting hall that included two retail spaces, allowing them to engage in community building while paying their mortgage. The rental income has been directed into a college scholarship program for Black high school students since the mortgage was paid in the 1970s. Known as Philomathean Hall, the mid-century commercial building is located at 1810 Broadway, in the heart of what was once a thriving Black community before construction of the 10 Freeway in the 1960s severed the neighborhood and displaced many residents. Once designated, Philomathean Hall will become the first landmarked building along this historic stretch of Broadway to celebrate Santa Monica’s African American history.

Philomathean Club Building, October 2022. View of Broadway elevation. Credit: Nina Fresco.

In recognition of the club’s deep significance to the local community, the Conservancy worked closely with Philomathean officials and the Quinn Research Center (QRC) to prepare the Landmark application. The nomination is supported by all current members of the Philomathean Club and will be submitted for review and approval by the Landmarks Commission next year. In the meantime, the Conservancy has made the full site history from the application available online. Click here to access the document.

“This structure visually represents a century of charitable deeds provided to people in Santa Monica and other communities. It will tell the story about seven ladies who had a dream that has multiplied over the years and is still being carried on by current members,” said Carolyne Edwards, Conservancy Board member, Philomathean Club member and co-founder of the QRC, an archive of local Black history. “Soon people will see the corner of 18th and Broadway in a more meaningful way, and future generations will have the opportunity to know this history.”

Photo of the Civic Auditorium by Julius Shulman in 1958. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

Since making their Civic Auditorium Feasibility Study public in August (click here to access the Study), the School District has been meeting with City Council members in small groups to discuss and answer questions, as well as scheduling outreach presentations with local stakeholder groups. Under the Surplus Land Act (click here to read the City’s FAQS for Designation of the Civic Auditorium as Surplus Land), the City Council will discuss any proposal from the School District in closed session, tentatively at their Oct. 10^th meeting. The public could be expected to know more about the District’s proposal after that.

Last week the Conservancy submitted a letter to the School District to articulate our views on their current Feasibility Study. As part of the letter, the Conservancy has identified the following critical priorities for any proposal for the rehabilitation and revitalization of the Civic Auditorium:

• All of the work must be completed in compliance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards.
• The landmark must remain under the purview of the Santa Monica Landmarks Commission for design review, following the procedures in the Landmarks Ordinance.
• The property should not be fenced or screened, limiting physical or visual access to the parcel or views toward the Civic Auditorium.
• The building’s cultural and architectural history should be shared through historic programming, school curricula, cultural memory projects and/or interpretive displays at the site.

The Conservancy now adds to that list of priorities that:

• The property should be revitalized consistent with the original public uses of the building – or any compatible community-serving use which can be implemented consistently with the Secretary of the Interior Standards.

Click here to read the Conservancy’s letter in full.