HHH Collections Management Database V8.0

1554 5TH STREET HABS CA-438 (Waldo Waterman Auto Dealership) HABS CA-438 417 Colorado Avenue, 1554-1558 5th Street, and 1550 5th Street Santa Monica Los Angeles County California PHOTOGRAPHS WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA FIELD RECORDS HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior 1849 C Street NW Washington, DC 20240-0001 HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY 1554 5TH STREET HABS CA-438 Location: 417 Colorado Avenue, 1554-1558 5th Street, and 1550 5th Street, Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, California. Latitude and longitude are 34.014661 and -118.491655.1 Present Owner: OTO Development Present Use: Vacant Significance: The property is important as an early automobile dealership in the City of Santa Monica and as the workshop of aviator and inventor, Waldo Waterman. The Spanish Colonial Revival building was commissioned by the business partnership of Goodrum and Vincent, Inc., for a Buick dealership and designed and constructed in 1928 by designers, H. Vernon George and P. Whitehall, and contractor, H. M. Roth Construction. The three spaces of the original building were organized by use with 1554-1558 5th Street as the primary showroom, 417 Colorado Avenue as the used car showroom, and 1550 5th Street as the repair shop, offering customers fully integrated service under the same roof. Waldo Waterman, an inventor and aviation pioneer, occupied the building from 1935 to 1938, during which period he designed and manufactured six prototype roadable aircraft, called Arrowbiles. Waterman subsequently purchased the subject property in 1941 and owned it until his death in 1976. Historians: Marissa Moshier and Erika Trevis, Chattel, Inc. Project Information: An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to satisfy requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) was prepared for a proposed project at 1554 5th Street, Santa Monica, California in May 2013. The EIR found that the building at 1554 5th Street does not retain sufficient integrity to be considered individually eligible as a historical resource at the federal, state or local level; however, the EIR also found that 1554 5th Street may be eligible as a contributor to potential local historic district in downtown Santa Monica (Central Business District Historic District). The EIR included a Cultural Resources Mitigation Measure requiring Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) documentation of 1554 5th Street prior to demolition. The language requiring HABS documentation is as follows: MM CUL-1a Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). A HABS Level II recordation document of the existing historic building on the project site shall be prepared. The HABS document shall be prepared by a qualified architectural historian, historic architect, or historic preservation professional who satisfies the Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards for History, Architectural History, or Architecture, pursuant to 36 Code of Federal Regulations 61. This document shall include a historical narrative on the architecture and history of the building, its architect, its occupants and their activities during the time of occupancy, and shall record the existing appearance of the building in professional large format HABS photographs. In addition, 1 Obtained from Google Earth, 2014. Measured approximately from center of 1554 5th Street building. 1554 5TH STREET HABS CA-438 (Page 2) any existing and available historic photographs as well as design and/ or as-built drawings shall be compiled, reproduced, and incorporated into the recordation document. The building exterior, representative interior spaces, character-defining features, as well as the property setting and contextual views shall be documented. All documentation components shall be completed in accordance with the Guidelines for Architectural and Engineering Documentation (HABS standards). Original archivally-sound copies of the report shall be submitted to the National Park Service, Library of Congress, and the Santa Monica Historical Society. Non-archival copies shall be distributed to the City of Santa Monica Planning Division, and the Santa Monica Museum of Flying.2 This documentation has been prepared in fulfillment of the Cultural Resources Mitigation Measure described above. The report was prepared by Marissa Moshier and Erika Trevis of Chattel, Inc. (Chattel), using the sources listed above. The black and white photographic documentation prepared to accompany this report was completed in March 2014 by Stephen Schafer of Schaf Photo. PART I. HISTORICAL INFORMATION A. Physical History: 1. Date of Erection: 1928 2. Architect: H. Vernon George and P. Whitehall 3. Original and Subsequent Owners, Occupants, Uses: The partnership of Goodrum & Vincent, Inc. acquired the parcel in 1926 and constructed the building as a Buick automobile dealership in 1928. By 1936, the building had reverted to bank ownership and Goodrum & Vincent, Inc. moved to another location. After several years of bank ownership, Waldo and Carol Waterman purchased the building in 1941. The Watermans leased space to other tenants during their ownership from 1941-1975 and sold the building to A & C Enterprise in 1975, which held the property until 1996. Beginning in 1996, the property passed through heirs of the Goode family, before being transferred to 1550 5th St, LLC, in 2008, and subsequently to OTO Development. Santa Monica City Directory research over a forty-five year period, in addition to research in local newspapers and secondary sources, indicates that tenants occupying the building were primarily associated with aviation, aerospace, and automobiles. The Buick dealership of Goodrum & Vincent, Inc. occupied the building from 1928 to 1935. According to Waterman’s autobiography, he “traded leases” with Goodrum & Vincent when the car dealers could no longer afford the th building at 1554 5 St. Waterman moved to the subject property and Goodrum & 2 AMEC Environmental & Infrastructure, Inc., “1554 5th Street and 501 Colorado Avenue Hotel Projects Environmental Impact Report,” May 6, 2013, <http://www.smgov.net/Departments/PCD/Environmental-Reports/1554-5th- Street-and-501-Colorado-Avenue-Hotel-Projects-EIR/>. Accessed March 28, 2014. 1554 5TH STREET HABS CA-438 (Page 3) Vincent moved to Waterman’s previous workshop at 1501 Santa Monica Blvd.3 Between 1935 and 1940, additional tenants occupying the building included automobile upholsterer Anderson Sanfred, newspaper publisher Santa Monica Topics Publishing Co., and the State Department of Employment. The Waterman Arrowplane Corp. is listed as a tenant in 1940; however, according to Waterman’s autobiography, the company was active in the building from 1935 to 1938. Waterman was using his unit for storage by 1940.4 Waterman’s autobiography and building permits reveal that Douglas Aircraft was using tenant space at 1552 5th St for storage in 1944.5 There were several vacancies in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Between 1947 and 1953, the Associated Telephone Company, Ltd., briefly occupied the space at 410 Colorado Ave. In 1954, Aerophysics Development Corp. became a brief tenant. The company was a small producer of defense weapons, including guided missiles. In 1955, Aerophysics Development Corp. was purchased by Studebaker-Packard Corp. and moved to a newly constructed research plant in Santa Barbara.6 It appears that Aerophysics Development Corp operated at 1550 5th St for a short period of time and the majority of the company’s large military contracts came after the move to Santa Barbara. Additional tenants in the late 1950s and 1960s include the Freight Salvage Depot, Brentwood Motor Co. Paint and Body Shop, Speedway Motors, Prestige Autobody, and Midas Muffler. Seagull Aircraft and Self-Soar Association occupied 1554 5th Street for only one year between 1973 and 1974. Waterman leased the space to Michael Riggs of Seagull Aircraft and Self-Soar Association for the construction of a replica of a biplane hang glider from his childhood.7 4. Builder, Contractor, Suppliers: H. M. Roth Construction 5. Original Plans and Construction: No original plans have been located. When the building opened as a Buick automobile dealership in 1928, the Santa Monica Evening Outlook included an advertising section with photographs of the building. It was designed and constructed as one building; however, the south and east elevations are differentiated with ornamentation to create the appearance of three separate buildings. As a result, the building is associated with three addresses corresponding to separate units: 417 Colorado Avenue (originally the 3 Waldo Dean Waterman and Jack Carpenter, Waldo: Pioneer Aviator, A Personal History of American Aviation, 1910-1944 (Carlisle, MA: Arsdalen, Bosch, & Co., 1988), 357. 4 Waterman and Carpenter, 395. 5 Waterman and Carpenter, 416. 6 Aerophysics Development Corp. (ADC) was founded in 1951 by William Bollay. According to the 1954 Santa Monica City Directory, the company operated a manufacturing shop at 1550 5th St and a research facility and office at 1452 4th St. After being purchased by Studebaker-Packard Corp. in 1955, the company consolidated research and manufacturing operations into a single new facility constructed near the municipal airport in Santa Barbara, California. In 1957, ADC began working on research for vehicles capable of traveling to space, in addition to defense systems and guided missiles. “Aerophysics Objectives Told,” Los Angeles Times, Jun. 15, 1957; and “”$1,000,000 Research Plant

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