The Keller Block 1456-1460 3Rd Street/227 Broadway Santa Monica, California City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation Report
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The Keller Block 1456-1460 3rd Street/227 Broadway Santa Monica, California City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation Report Evaluation Report Photographs Parcel Map Sanborn Maps Prepared for: City of Santa Monica Planning Division Prepared by: PCR Services Corporation Santa Monica, California October 2008 The Keller Block 1452-1460 3rd Street/227 Broadway City of Santa Monica APN: 4291-016-012 City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation BACKGROUND INFORMATION Description of site or structure, note any major alterations and dates of alterations The subject property, the Keller Block, is situated on the northwest corner of 3rd Street and Broadway between 3rd Street to the east, 2nd Street to the west, Santa Monica Boulevard to the north, and Broadway to the south. The three-story brick masonry commercial building is located on the Third Street Promenade in the Central Business District. The property encompasses Santa Monica Lot L Block 172, which is approximately 50 feet by 150 feet. The Keller Block has a rectangular footprint and occupies the entire lot. The subject property has been identified and assessed under the City’s ongoing survey process on three previous occasions. The mixed-use commercial building was first identified and recorded as part of the 1985-1986 Phase I survey process.1 The subject property, commonly known as the Keller Block, was recommended eligible for the National Register as a contributor to the “Third Street District” and given a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) status code of 3. The subject property was later reassessed during the City’s 1994 Historic Resources Inventory Update following the 1994 Northridge earthquake.2 It was recommended eligible for listing individually and as a contributor to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). At that time it was also recommended that the Third Street and the Central Business Districts be reorganized into one district. No visible earthquake damage to the building was apparent at the time of the survey. Alterations noted in the 1994 City of Santa Monica Historic Resources Update included sandblasted and re-pointed brickwork. The subject property was assessed again as part of the Historic Resources Inventory Update for the City of Santa Monica, Central Business District and Third Street Promenade in 1996.3 Although the Keller Block had no apparent alterations since the previous survey, it was recommended the NRHP status code be lowered because the enlarged mortar joints “diminished the building’s integrity of design.” The Keller Block was still recommended eligible as a local landmark and as a contributor to the locally eligible Central Business District, but was no longer considered individually eligible for the National Register. The NRHP status code was downgraded from 3S to 5B per a Review Committee meeting, September 28, 1996. 1 Phase I: Santa Monica Historic Resources Inventory, 1983. 2 Historic Resources Inventory Update for the City of Santa Monica, September 30, 1995. 3 Historic Resources Inventory Update for the City of Santa Monica, Central Business District and Third Street Promenade, April 12, 1998. The Keller Block City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation Report page 1 Constructed in 1893, the architecture of the three-story commercial Keller Block appears to be a regional interpretation of the Romanesque Revival style (Figure 1). Originally the Keller Block was a mixed-use building with commercial storefronts on the first floor and a hotel on the second and third floors. The rectangular building was constructed with brick masonry and had cast iron storefronts that are still extant. A parapet with a distinctive decorative cornice (altered) encircles the corner tower, the east elevation, and the south elevation. The east and south elevations have both square windows with rectangular brownstone ashlar lintels and sills, and arched windows that have raised brick masonry surrounds and rectangular brownstone ashlar sills. A brick string course divides the first floor from the second floor. Cast-iron pilasters, cornices and mullions, by the locally important Llewellyn Brothers Iron Works of Los Angeles, frame the first floor storefronts (Figure 2). The original windows have been replaced with plate glass. The primary (south) elevation facing Broadway is asymmetrically divided into nine bays (Figure 3). The bays are divided by brick vertically-grooved pilasters that terminate at the top of the second floor windows. Each bay has a combination of paired or single arched windows, or rectangular paired or single windows (Figure 4). The main entrance to the building is located near the center of the south elevation. The main entrance is recessed beneath a heavy, rough-cut brownstone archway. A second large archway is just east of the primary (Figure 5). The central bay has paired square windows, a corbelled brick cornice and a parapet with decorative brick arches. The third story of the western-most bay has a heavy, rough cut brownstone archway over three square windows and a decorative stringcourse dividing the ground floor from the second story (Figure 6). The primary (south) elevation has four cast-iron storefronts (original) with large-plate glass windows (altered). The corner turret has four bays of narrow arched windows on the second and third floors above the corner storefront entrance at Broadway and 3rd Street (Figure 7). The turret has a high decorative parapet (altered) with false windows. On the corner storefront there is a decorative cast iron surround framing the commercial space. The secondary (east) elevation facing 3rd Street has seven narrow arches that begin above the ground floor commercial spaces and rise to the decorative cornice above the third floor. On the first and second floors narrow single-sash windows are set into the arches. The decorative cornice terminates into a corbel table (altered). The ground floor is composed of storefronts with cast iron surrounds. The rear (west) elevation is a flat brick surface without ornamentation (Figure 8). The windows have brick segmental arched window openings. There is a loading dock with a roll- up door on the lower southwestern portion of the rear façade (Figure 9). Alterations There are several building permits on record with the City of Santa Monica for the Keller Block. In 1942 a building permit on record (Building Permit No. 6229) describes minor alterations made to the building valued at $550. Alterations in the sum of $485 were The Keller Block City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation Report page 2 completed in 1948 (Building Permit No. 5239). Major alterations valued at $3,000 were completed by contractor, Arthur Moroney, in 1951 (Building Permit No. 9044). The exterior brickwork on the building was sandblasted in 1956 by contractor, Tim Gilligan (Building Permit No. 1956). In 1966, the south and east parapets were cut down to one foot as requested by the owner, Mrs. Harry J. Miller, Freeman/Bay Development Co., Inc (Figure 10). The alterations in the sum of $2,500 were completed by designer N. R. Olson and T. H. Kendall, and engineer Kevin Kelly. In 1987, the exterior envelope (shell) of the building was restored and the interior was renovated for office/retail use. The restoration included re-pointing, sandblasting and parapet reconstruction. In addition, a three-story brick addition was constructed in the northwest corner of the building, turning the originally L-shaped building into a rectangular building. The addition altered the rear (west) elevation. During the restoration the building was under the ownership of Third Street Limited. The restoration was valued at $845,000 and completed by architect Frank Dimster and contractor International Consolidated Center, Inc. A building permit for the construction of a telecommunications site was granted in 2001. The construction included four equipment cabinets over the roof pad, one four-foot high antenna and a fiberglass screen located on northeast corner of the east elevation designed to replicate the original parapet. The improvements were valued at $50,000 and completed by architect Bolend Jaworski and contractor Brookstone Telecom. A 1927 photograph indicates the Keller Block was painted white (Figure 11). This explains why the building was later sandblasted to remove the white paint during the 1950s and again in the 1980s. Other alterations not noted in the building permits are the replacement of the storefront glass windows and entrance doors. The main entrance double doors (227 Broadway) have also been replaced. The original Keller Block sign on the west elevation cornice has been removed. The Keller Block City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation Report page 3 SURVEY EVALUATION Statement of Architectural Significance The Keller Block is a good example of a regional interpretation of the Richardsonian Romanesque Revival style. The Romanesque Revival style originated in Chicago in the office of architect Henry Hobson Richardson who was one of the first American architects to study architecture at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. Richardson’s interpretation of the Romanesque Revival style incorporated architectural elements from Spanish, Italian, and southern French Romanesque architecture. The style was popular in America during the late nineteenth century and later came to be called “Richardson Romanesque,” after its creator. The style is characterized by building materials of large, rock-faced masonry, and wide arches quarried from local stone. The style was used for public and commercial buildings as well as elaborate residences. Modest interpretations of the style were also executed in wood frame with weatherboard and/or shingle siding. The restrained architectural detailing was in stark contrast with the elaborate Victorian style of the time. Richardson’s innovative plans and functional design philosophy first employed in the Romanesque Revival idiom eventually resulted in the development of the Shingle Style in residential architecture around the turn of the twentieth century. During the late 19th century, several Richardsonian Romanesque buildings were constructed in Los Angeles county, although few of them remain extant today.