Commercial Building 1202 3Rd Street Promenade Santa Monica, California City Landmark Assessment Report

Commercial Building 1202 3rd Street Promenade Santa Monica, California City Landmark Assessment Report Evaluation Report Building Permit History City Directory Research Photographs Tax Assessor Map Sanborn Maps Prepared for: City of Santa Monica Planning Division Prepared by: PCR Services Corporation Santa Monica, California June, 2006 Commercial Building 1202 3rd Street Promenade City of Santa Monica APN: 4291-002-001 City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation BACKGROUND INFORMATION Description of site or structure, note any major alterations and dates of alterations The subject property is situated on the southwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard and the 3rd Street Promenade on Lots A, B, and Y of Block 122 of the Town of Santa Monica tract in the City of Santa Monica. The rectangular-shaped lot size is approximately 100 feet by 150 feet. Until 1998, when it was converted for use as a Banana Republic retail clothing store, the property had operated continuously since its construction in 1949 as a branch of the J.C. Penney Company department store chain. The property consists of a two-story commercial building with a rectangular footprint that occupies the entire parcel at the property line. The building’s main ground floor entrances face the now vehicle-restricted 3rd Street Promenade with a secondary entrance facing Wilshire Boulevard. The subject property is bordered on the west by a narrow paved alley and on the south by a one-story commercial building. The property is located within the City’s Central Business District. The property located at 1202 3rd Street Promenade was previously identified and evaluated in the City’s Historic Resources Inventory (1983) and given a National Register 5D rating code indicating that it was a contributor to a potential historic district eligible at the local level of significance. The City’s Historic Resources Inventory Update of historic structures affected by the Northridge Earthquake (1996) upgraded the subject property’s status to 3S, indicating that the building appeared potentially eligible for individual listing in the National Register for its architectural quality. Most recently, the City’s Historic Resources Inventory Update of the Central Business District and The Third Street Promenade (1998) reconfirmed the property’s 3S status code. Description. Erected in 1949, the two-story commercial building with basement is located at a prominent corner of the 3rd Street Promenade. The building is of steel frame construction with reinforced concrete floors and is designed in the Late Moderne architectural style. Stucco sheathes exterior surfaces of the east, north and south elevations. A flat roof caps the building with the roof supported by exposed steel trusses and steel joists. The roof features a high parapet that is distinguished by a cylindrical fluted tower on the building’s northeast corner that rises above the roofline to form a prominent anchor to the retail store building as seen from Wilshire Boulevard and 3rd Street. Finished in smooth stucco, the two-tiered tower is recessed slightly from the north and east-facing elevations, its curved form continuing to the pavement. A projecting cantilevered canopy sheathed in stainless steel wraps around the primary elevations following the curve of the building and tower at its northeast corner. Beneath the canopy on the east elevation, the storefront windows and entrance are canted diagonally inward to direct pedestrians into the store from the sidewalk. A terrazzo entry area contains the “Banana Republic” logo beneath the projecting canopy, which is supported by a single freestanding concrete column clad in beige terracotta glazed tiles. Similar glazed terracotta tiles frame the plate glass storefronts on the south end of the east elevation and the spaces beneath the building’s remaining 1202 3rd Street Promenade City Landmark Assessment Report page 1 storefronts. Stainless steel mullions secure the large plate glass windows within the recessed storefronts. Punctuating the second story elevations near the south and west ends of the property’s east and north elevations, respectively, are horizontal window bands each containing six rectangular windows framed by bezels that are typical of the Late Moderne architectural style. Both the Wilshire Boulevard and mall entrances feature stainless steel double-doors centered by fixed glazing. The less prominent Wilshire Boulevard entrance is sheltered by a cantilevered canopy that mirrors the building’s main canopy in its design, materials and craftsmanship, although without the supporting column. Ground floor elevations between storefronts are distinguished by horizontal bands consisting of wide recessed metal strips set within the building’s stucco exterior surface. The banding continues along the structure’s secondary west elevation, which contains recessed delivery and service entrances accessed from a narrow north-south service alley. Another recessed service entrance is located near the south end of the east elevation. The building’s south elevation is attached to the adjacent commercial building that abuts the subject property at the parcel line. Building Permits. While an original building permit apparently was utilized when the subject property was initially assessed as part of the Central Business District Historic Resources Inventory in 1983, the permit was not located during the current survey process. However, an addition to the original building permit dated August 1949, indicates that a retail store located at 1202 3rd Street Promenade was erected in that year for the J.C. Penney Company designed by architect Milton L. Anderson. The firm of MacDonald, Young and Nelson served as contractors. Three years later, in 1951, a permit for a small three-foot by four-foot sign was issued, although the location of the sign, since removed, was not specified. The following year, two large flat wall signs that were erected flanking the corner tower above the canopy (since removed) costing approximately $100 were approved by the City. While still occupied by J.C. Penney, the building’s original glazed entrance doors were replaced in 1985 for an estimated cost of $7,000. Following the departure of the J.C. Penney Company from 1202 3rd Street Promenade in the mid-1990s, City staff issued two memoranda (September 14 and November 2, 1998) to the City’s Architectural Review Board regarding the approval of building design, colors, materials, and sign adjustment for the subject property in its proposed conversion to a Banana Republic retail store. Staff recommendations (and subsequent City approval) included the addition of three storefront windows along Wilshire Boulevard, the sheathing of the cantilevered canopies with stainless steel, and the attachment of metal letters spelling “Banana Republic” atop the canopies. However, documentation was not located that approved the replacement of the original terrazzo entry area with new terrazzo imbedded with the “Banana Republic” logo or for the installation of horizontal banding in the exterior surface of the property’s east, north, and west elevations. Additionally, the original “JCP ” logo in a condensed, sans serif typeface of the period was removed from the upper portion of the circular corner tower. On November 24, 1998 a building permit with a $2,000,000 estimated valuation for interior and exterior renovations of the subject property was issued to the CIM Company with the project to be designed and supervised by the Gensler architectural firm. Three months later, another building permit for interior renovations of the subject property costing 1202 3rd Street Promenade City Landmark Assessment Report page 2 approximately $5,000,000 was issued to the CIM Company, with Gensler serving as architect. Statement of Architectural Significance The subject property located at 1202 3rd Street is a very good, although altered, example of a department store building designed in the Late Moderne architectural style typical of the early post-World War II years in Southern California. The Late Moderne style was the initial style expressing the post-war boom of Los Angeles that lasted from approximately 1945 through the early 1950s. The World War II years essentially halted the evolution of architectural styles such that immediately following the war many Southern California commercial buildings were strongly influenced by architectural designs seen in the latter years of the Great Depression. As such, the Late Moderne was a stylistic melding of the Streamline Moderne that was popular in the mid- to late-1930s with the International Style that originated in the 1920s. Specifically, the idiom borrowed the horizontality, curved canopies, and curved corners from the Streamline Moderne style, and the flat roof, window bands, and boxy form of the International Style. Unique to the style were the prominent bezels that surrounded window bands. Broad cantilevered rectilinear or curved canopies were also a character-defining feature of the style. Additionally, commercial buildings designed in the Late Moderne style often featured prominently soaring sign pylons that dominated the building’s façade. In the early post-war years, a number of Southern California’s most prominent architects designed important Late Moderne style buildings in the region. Some of the best examples include Bullock’s Pasadena Department Store (now Macy’s) located at 401 South Lake Avenue (1947, architects Walter Wurdeman and Welton Becket), Milliron’s Department Store (now Target) at 8739 Sepulveda

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