174 Kinney Street Landmark Assessment Report

174 Kinney Street Landmark Assessment Report Santa Monica, CA 90405 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 March 31, 2015 174 Kinney Street, Santa Monica Landmark Assessment Report Page 1 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 174 Kinney Street in Santa Monica, Los Angeles County. The property at 174 Kinney Street contains a one‐story commercial building constructed between ca. 1915 and 1926. It is commercial vernacular in style, with Art Deco elements. It was originally owned by the Pacific Electric Railway and built onto the rear of the commercial building at 171‐177 Pier Avenue; it was historically known by the Pier Avenue addresses. 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 3, 2015; 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, Senior Associate and Architectural Historian and Preservation Planner, Mary Ringhoff, Associate and Architectural Historian and Preservation Planner, and Evanne St. Charles, 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 174 Kinney Street appears eligible under City of Santa Monica Landmark Criteria 9.36.100(a)(1) and 9.36.100(a)(6). The following sections provide a contextual basis for analysis and a detailed discussion of how this determination was made. Architectural Resources Group, Inc. Architects, Planners, & Conservators 174 Kinney Street, Santa Monica Landmark Assessment Report Page 2 2. Architectural Description 2.1 Site and Setting The property at 174 Kinney Street is located in southwest Santa Monica, in a densely developed commercial and large‐scale multi‐family residential area one block from the waterfront. The building sits on the south side of Kinney Street, at the southeast corner of Kinney and Neilson Way. It is located within the Ocean Park neighborhood, roughly bounded by Lincoln Boulevard, Pico Boulevard, the waterfront, and Santa Monica City limits, and sits at the western edge of the Main Street commercial district. This district is composed of one and two‐story commercial and mixed‐use buildings, most of which date from the early 1910s to the mid‐1930s. While the topography of the area is relatively flat, Kinney Street slopes gently to the east toward Main Street in the block in which the subject property is located. The area 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 neighborhood’s commercial lots are consistent in size and shape east of Neilson Way, which was originally the Pacific Electric Railway’s right‐of‐way (known as Trolleyway); they are larger to the west toward the ocean, reflecting a long history of recreational occupations as well as the influence of the Ocean Park Redevelopment Project in the 1960s. This project demolished numerous early commercial and residential properties west of Trolleyway and resulted in the erection of large apartment and condominium complexes. Sited on a single rectangular parcel, the building at 174 Kinney Street is flush with the sidewalk and attached at its south end to a mixed‐use two‐story commercial building, constructed at the same time. Site map. The subject property, 174 Kinney Street, is outlined in red. Aerial imagery courtesy maps.google.com. Architectural Resources Group, Inc. Architects, Planners, & Conservators 174 Kinney Street, Santa Monica Landmark Assessment Report Page 3 2.2 Building Exterior The property at 174 Kinney Street is built in a commercial vernacular idiom, with Art Deco design elements at the primary façade. The one‐story rectangular building is constructed of reinforced brick and concrete with brick and stucco cladding and a low‐pitched, front‐gabled roof. The roof is sheathed with rolled asphalt and features three monitors at the roof ridge. The two northernmost monitors have hipped roofs and feature multi‐light wood skylights. The monitor toward the rear of the building has a flat roof and windows of unknown type and material. The roof is bookended by the adjacent two‐story building at the south and a stepped parapet at the north. The building’s primary (north) façade fronts on Kinney Street and is more decorative than the other elevations; it appears as though this façade was added to an existing ca. 1915 building in 1926. The façade is symmetrical and divided into three bays, which are articulated by brick pilasters. The central bay is taller than the flanking bays, creating a vertical appearance. A recessed entry of partially glazed double wood doors, surrounded by wide wood sidelights and a transom, is located in the central bay. Large paired fixed wood windows are located in each outer bay. Numerous signs, planters, an awning and various decorative elements have been added to the façade. The entrance doors, sidelights, and transom in the central bay likely replaced a vehicular (automobile) entry when the building became a restaurant in the late 1970s. The west elevation fronts on Neilson Way, a former Pacific Electric streetcar route. This elevation is fairly simple and flush with the sidewalk. The roof eave steps up approximately one foot toward the rear of the building to compensate for the slight change of topography; a rolled concrete cornice and pent roof clad with red clay tile finish the parapet. Paired multi‐light wood casement windows with thick concrete lintels are uniformly spaced on the façade. Near the center of the elevation are a single multi‐light wood casement window and a plain wood door. At the north end of the west façade, a concrete lintel (presumably topping what used to be a window opening) appears to have been truncated and an opening infilled with brick when the north façade was modified in the 1920s. The east elevation faces a narrow patio now used for outdoor dining purposes. Much of the façade is not visible from the public right‐of‐way. The elevation has been re‐clad with stucco, and two small wood additions have been constructed near its south end. Architectural Resources Group, Inc. Architects, Planners, & Conservators 174 Kinney Street, Santa Monica Landmark Assessment Report Page 4 North and west elevations, view southeast. ARG, 3/3/15. Primary (north) elevation, view south. ARG, 3/3/15. East elevation, view southwest. ARG, 3/3/15. West elevation and south end abutting building. ARG, 3/3/15. Detail: rear of primary façade. ARG, 3/3/15. Detail: northwest portion of building. ARG, 3/3/15. Architectural Resources Group, Inc. Architects, Planners, & Conservators 174 Kinney Street, Santa Monica Landmark Assessment Report Page 5 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, property data obtained from the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office, and historic Santa Monica business directories, ARG prepared the following chronology of development for 174 Kinney Street. This chronology provides a summary of the property’s development and alterations that have been made over time, as can be best ascertained from available primary and secondary sources. Sanborn maps and newspaper accounts indicate that the northwest corner of Trolleyway and Pier Avenue was occupied by a one‐story confectionery with a detached rear office, both with the address 171 Pier Avenue, from 1902 until about 1915. A second one‐story building with two storefronts sat 40 feet to the east, within the same large parcel that was part of the Los Angeles Pacific/Pacific Electric Railway right‐of way. Around 1915, these buildings were removed and a new, multi‐part, mixed‐use building was constructed. As shown on the 1918 Sanborn map below, this larger building had a two‐ story volume with five storefronts fronting on Pier Avenue with the addresses 171‐179 Pier Avenue; the upper story contained apartments. The building also included a one‐story volume fronting on Trolleyway with the addresses 2937‐2945 Trolleyway, and a large rear one‐story volume containing the Auto Inn Garage and repair facility, with no separate address. 1918 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map showing 171‐179 Pier Avenue. Santa Monica business directory research found a range of occupants at the Pier Avenue addresses over time, ranging from doctors and milliners to radio repair shops and grocers. In almost every year for which business directories are available, one of the occupants is related to auto repair or garage operations, suggesting the continuous use of the rear volume for auto‐related purposes. The first was the Reed and Layne Garage (1915‐1916), which became the Auto Inn Garage in 1917 and remained in operation under that name until around 1923, when it became the Ocean Park Garage. Between 1917 and 1920, business directories also list the Auto Inn Apartments in the building, presumably located in the upper story.

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