Registration Requirements for Postwar Historic Resources (1945-1970)

Table of Contents

Theme: Residential Development ...... 3 Registration Requirements...... 5

Theme: Business and Commerce ...... 10 Subtheme: Retail and Entertainment ...... 10 Subtheme: Office Buildings ...... 11 Subtheme: Auto-Related ...... 12 Registration Requirements ...... 13

Theme: Industry ...... 16 Registration Requirements...... 17

Theme: Institutional Development ...... 20 Subtheme: Schools ...... 20 Subtheme: Churches ...... 21 Subtheme: Social Organizations ...... 23 Subtheme: Hospitals ...... 23 Registration Requirements ...... 24

Theme: Civic Improvements and Municipal Infrastructure ...... 27 Subtheme: Parks and Recreation ...... 27 Subtheme: Government ...... 28 Registration Requirements ...... 29

Theme: Postwar Architectural Styles in Fremont ...... 33 Subtheme: Late Moderne ...... 34 Subtheme: International Style ...... 35 Subtheme: Mid-Century Modern ...... 37 Subtheme: Googie ...... 40 Subtheme: New Formalism...... 41 Subtheme: Minimal Traditional ...... 43 Subtheme: Ranch ...... 44 Registration Requirements ...... 47

Theme: Residential Development The 1940s and early 1950s were transformative times for residential development patterns in Washington Township. Before World War II, landowners platted small subdivisions, but relatively few homes were constructed on the empty parcels, which were sold to individuals to build on as they pleased. Following the war, landowners carved additional parcels out of their agricultural land near existing towns, mostly enlarging existing tracts.

The principles dictating the design of subdivisions in the Fremont area have their roots in regulations set by the Federal Housing Authority. The FHA published a series of informational pamphlets to help spread these ideas and to inform land developers and speculative builders of the economic advantages of good planning in the creation and maintenance of real estate values.1 In 1944, the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, more commonly known as the GI Bill, authorized the Veteran’s Administration (VA) to oversee a package of benefits that included federally insured mortgages with no down payment and 30 years to maturity. Both the FHA and VA concentrated their investment on new houses in the suburbs. Moreover, the FHA developed specific guidelines that were set for qualifying houses including the price range between $6,000 and $8,000 and the size range between 800 and 1,000 square feet. In addition, the government also dictated a modest house style and form, furthering the emergence of the conservative Minimal Traditional style and Ranch styles

(described under the Postwar Architectural 2 Profile of Orchard Homes residential development (Architect and Styles Theme). Engineer, January 1950)

The typical township developers of the late 1940s and early 1950s were not large-scale builders; they sold empty lots to individuals or to builders who constructed less than twenty houses on speculation. The first postwar subdivision in Washington Township was in Niles. It was an extension of a tract initially subdivided by Joseph Shinn in 1935 and then expanded in 1945.3 Other tracts, including the Orchard Homes Tract in Niles and the Hansen Tract in Centerville, followed this postwar pattern of expanding

1 Excerpted almost directly from HRG, Cultural Resources of the Recent Past, City of Pasadena, p. 28. 2 Excerpted almost directly from San Diego Modernism Historic Context Statement, p. 38. 3 Minor, “Historic Context of Glenmoor Gardens,” 7.

previously undeveloped subdivisions.4 The Hansen Tract was the largest residential subdivision prior to the 1950s and encompassed 105 lots by 1947.5 Prewar patterns of small residential tracts slowly expanding evolved into larger scale residential developments in the early 1950s.

The pattern of development changed dramatically in the early 1950s. Developers such as John Brooks’ Besco Company and James R. Meyer’s Glenmoor Homes took over the entire process of subdividing former agricultural land, constructing and selling houses on a massive scale.6 The Glenmoor subdivision, constructed by Glenmoor Homes Incorporated beginning in 1951, had 1,624 homes, more than ten times the size of the Hansen Tract.7 Washington Township was a prime location for developers constructing middle class homes within commuting distance of the Bay Area’s growing industrial and commercial employment opportunities.

Typical ranch house subdivision, Westwood Avenue in Typical ranch house subdivision in Mission San Jose area, LeMarc Glenmoor Gardens neighborhood (GPA Consulting, 2015) Street house built in 1953 (GPA Consulting, 2015)

Subdivision activity on a massive scale would expand, peaking in 1956. Roy Dean, a resident of Mission San Jose, noted that developers, “…seemed like they had no regard for the aesthetics of the city or of what people wanted.”8 Longtime and new residents recognized that more attention to planning and zoning was needed to control developments expanding across the township, sparking their desire to incorporate Fremont as its own city.

After incorporation, existing subdivisions were expanded and new developments took over swaths of former agricultural land. The existing subdivisions of Glenmoor and Cabrillo were expanded between 1956 and 1960. Centerville was a hub of development activity, with new residential neighborhoods planned by

4 Orchard Homes was originally platted in 1941 and then expanded in 1947. The Hansen Tract was originally platted in 1926 and expanded in 1947. Minor, “Historic Context of Glenmoor Gardens,” 7; Woodruff Minor, et. al, “Kvistad Homes Inc. Tract House, 3673 Kvistad Drive: Department of Parks and Recreation Primary Record and Building, Structure and Object Record,” (July 2009), 3; Minor, “Domingos Silva House,” 3. 5 Minor, “Domingos Silva House,” 3. 6 John Brooks was a large scale developer who began selling Washington Township homes in the early 1950s and would go on to lead Besco and Singer Housing Company, building one of every four houses in Fremont. Carl Nolte, “John Brooks—major developer in Fremont, Co-founder of Raiders,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 24, 2015: D7. 7 Holmes, Centerville, Fremont, 88. 8 Mission Peak Heritage Foundation, The First Thirty Years, 23.

developers, including Parkmont (after 1960) and Brookvale (1966-1970), emerging in the northeast areas.9 Typical resources representing residential development are single-family housing tracts from the 1950s and 1960s.

Associated Property Types Fremont is largely a postwar, suburban city comprised of large single-family housing tracts. Thus, the most common property type associated with this theme is the single-family residential housing tract. Multi-family developments, such as garden apartments and bungalow courts, appear to be few and far between, as developers in the areas clearly focused on tracts of single-family homes. The tracts usually feature Ranch or Minimal Traditional style buildings, one to two stories in height. Street features, such as setbacks, sidewalks, driveways, and trees, vary significantly from tract to tract.

Registration Requirements The property type that will be best able to represent the significant trends of residential development in Fremont’s postwar period is the single-family housing tract. Tracts would be evaluated as historic districts, rather than evaluating each house individually. It is very unlikely that an individual tract house would be able to represent the larger trends on its own, as a standalone resource, and they should not be evaluated as such. Only tracts with demonstrated significance and integrity are eligible for designation. Significant tracts may include: those developed early in the city’s postwar history, those that represent specific city planning efforts, and those as representative examples of the work of important developers.

Property Type Significance: A district evaluated under this theme may be considered significant if it is an important example of a single-family housing tract directly related to the postwar residential development of Fremont or if it represents the work of an important developer. In many cases, if a district is significant under this theme, it may also be significant under the architecture themes of Ranch or Minimal Traditional.

Period of Significance: 1945 -1970

Period of Significance Justification: Tracts developed prior to incorporation in 1956 would be able to convey the city’s pre-incorporation development, while those after 1956 would represent the more regulated development following the creation of city government and implementation of local planning policies. Important developers may have worked in the city at any time during the postwar period.

Geographic Location: Citywide, in areas of single-family residential zoning. Earliest examples will be located in Niles, Centerville, and Irvington.

Area(s) of Significance: Postwar residential development

9 Centerville Committee, “Centerville Area Plan,”6.

Criteria: National: A/B California: 1/2 Local: 1/210

Associated Property Types: Single-family housing tracts (districts)

Property Type Description: Single-family housing tracts are neighborhoods of detached residences developed over a short period of time by a single developer. Postwar tracts usually exhibit a few different house plans and styles which repeat throughout. Setbacks, streets, sidewalks, driveways, streetlights, and street plantings are typically uniform throughout. Street patterns are often curvilinear with narrower streets bisected by wider main boulevards. Many streets dead-end into cul-de-sacs. Earlier tracts will likely be smaller and have more traditional street grids than later tracts.

Eligibility Standards:

• Has a direct and significant relationship to postwar residential development and/or represents the work of a significant developer

• Was constructed during the period of significance

• Simply being a postwar tract is not enough to justify significance. An eligible tract must have been important in the overall residential development of the city. Examples might include very early tracts or ones that set precedents.

Character Defining / Associative Features:

• Clearly defined tract boundaries

• Made up of single-family residences constructed within a distinct period of time, usually by a single developer, but not always

• Houses designed in popular styles of the period

• Uniform setbacks and lot plans (driveways, attached or detached garages)

• Uniform street pattern

• Often will have uniform street plantings (trees, medians, planting strips between sidewalks and streets), streetlights, curbs, and sidewalks (or deliberate lack of sidewalks)

Integrity Considerations:

• Tract as a whole should retain integrity of Location, Setting, Design, Feeling, and Association from its period of significance

• Must be composed of a majority of contributing resources (more contributors than non- contributors)

10 Housing tracts may also be significant under Criterion C/3/3. Details on what would make a tract significant under Criterion c/3/3 are provided in the Postwar Architectural Styles Theme.

• Contributors would include all buildings and street features that both date from the period of significance and retain sufficient integrity

• For contributors to retain sufficient integrity, they should retain integrity of Location, Setting, Design, Feeling, and Association from the district’s period of significance

• Contributors’ integrity of Materials and Workmanship may be compromised somewhat by limited materials replacement, though on the whole the original materials and workmanship must remain intact

o Replacement of some windows and doors may be acceptable if the openings have not been resized and original fenestration patterns have not been disrupted

o Replacement of cladding material may be acceptable if the new materials are compatible with the rest of the district and if they would have been used during the period of significance (see the Postwar Architectural Styles Theme for more information)

• If a tract is a rare surviving example of its type and/or period, a greater degree of alterations that have already occurred may be acceptable, when evaluating the resource’s integrity.11

The following table was compiled during research for this context statement and contains information about active firms, people, and residential developments from the postwar period in Fremont. This table is intended to be a foundation, but is by no means a comprehensive list of all firms, people, and places involved with postwar residential development in the Fremont area. It is provided for informational, future research purposes only. Several of these firms were also involved in other types of postwar development that are not listed in the table, including commercial shopping centers, industrial buildings, and institutional facilities.

Table of Fremont Postwar Developers Associated Development Firm Name Developers, Years Active Postwar Residential Developments or Tracts Postwar Period* Barlow Unknown 1960s • Build-your-own home developments in Paramont and Warm Springs Besco and Singer Housing John “Jack” Brooks 1954-1980s • From offices at 390 Thornton Avenue in Centerville, Company the company was responsible for constructing 25% of the homes in Fremont. Developments include: o Arden Forest-New Town o Brookvale o Cabrillo Park (partial) o Mission View o Northgate o Rancho Coronado o Sundale Bodily Construction Company Dan Bodily 1943-1970s • Centerville, unknown tract name, first building project started in 1943 • Orchard Homes tract: Tract of speculative homes

11 A greater degree of alterations may be present and yet the resource may still be considered eligible when it is initially evaluated. This statement is not related to future alterations proposed for a historic property. In other words, it does not mean that a rare example of an important property type may be allowed to be more altered in the future than other examples; it means that it may still be eligible at the time of its evaluation, despite some of its previous alterations. Future projects proposed for such resources should strive to restore as much historic fabric as possible.

Table of Fremont Postwar Developers Associated Development Firm Name Developers, Years Active Postwar Residential Developments or Tracts Postwar Period* designed by Herbert T. Johnson in 1950. An extension of Ellsworth's 1941 tract. • Niles Crest: Extension of Orchard Homes tract which was originally subdivided in 1949. Niles Crest contained 50 lots, constructed. • Valley Sierra: Contained 100 lots, located next to California Nursery in Niles, purchased land from Joseph Shinn's widow, begun in 1954. • Parkmont: Between Niles and Centerville. Designed by Hale and Jacobsohn architects. First townhouse- type apartments constructed in Fremont. Brad-Rick Homes Unknown 1964 • Way Out West Ellsworth family Edward Ellsworth 1940s • Orchard Homes tract: Ellsworth family platted in 1941 and expanded it in 1947. In 1949, Dan Bodily built a speculative tract with the name Orchard Homes. • Ellsworth Tract • Niles Glen Tract • Overacker Tract in Centerville FJ Leonardo & Sons Frank J. Leonardo 1950s • Cabrillo Park: Leonardo was developer and owner John “Jack” Brooks of builder Best-Bilt Construction Company. Built at least 425 of 1,700 homes in Cabrillo Park. Jack Brooks worked for the company through 1953. Glenmoor Homes, Inc./ James R. Meyer 1950-1960s • Glenmoor Gardens contained 1,624 houses. Glenmoor Companies Originally, the firm was based in San Leandro, but moved to Centerville in 1952 and changed its name to Glenmoor Companies. KP Suhnel KP Suhnel 1940s • Mt. Vernon Avenue was developed by this smaller scale developer based in Centerville. Mt. Vernon was 16 houses. • Suhnel Tract of 1946 was the second post-World War II subdivision in the Centerville area. Kvistad Homes David Kvistad and • Small-scale builder-developers throughout Fremont Robert C. Dickey area, Kvistad Drive one of its developments. Lincoln Lumber Company Richard H. Lincoln 1950-1954 • Tract name unknown: Sixty houses at the north edge of Centerville near Peralta, near the 1920 Overacker Tract, constructed between1950-1951. • Tract name unknown: 300 houses and a shopping center, the first postwar tract in Mission San Jose, constructed between 1952-1954. Mason Enterprises Unknown • Friendly Woods in Warm Springs McGah & Cramer Unknown c. 1965 • Thornton Meadows Oliver Rousseau Oliver Rousseau 1960s-1970 • Mission Valley Homes • Pepperwood Otto Hirsch Otto Hirsch 1947-1956 • A family of early settlers who subdivided sections of a dairy farm in Irvington beginning in 1947. • Mission Ranch and the Hirsch tract: Homes built by JH Holland. Mission Ranch was the last subdivision before the city incorporated in 1956. Peter Hygelund Peter Hygelund 1948 • Peter Hygelund constructed homes in the Hansen Tract, a tract in Centerville. He expanded the tract

Table of Fremont Postwar Developers Associated Development Firm Name Developers, Years Active Postwar Residential Developments or Tracts Postwar Period* by two streets in 1948. Shinn Family Shinn Family 1930s-1950s • A family of early settlers who subdivided large land holdings over generations. • Tract 508: Extended west along Niles Boulevard from E Street to D Street, one of the earliest developers in Niles. • Tract 623 of 1949: Extended west along Niles Boulevard from D Street to the vicinity of Hillview Drive and the California Nursery. Block C contained a row of 10 lots on the north side of First Street, or Main Street (Niles Boulevard). Smith-Peters, Inc. George O. Smith 1950-1952 • Development name unknown, but was located in Centerville. Smith-Peters built 165 houses across four blocks on Thornton and Blacow. Stanley Davis Stanley Davis 1930s-1960s • Davis was an insurance broker in East Bay who began working in development around 1930. • Westward Homes was begun in 1952. • Development around Central Park (including streets directly south of the park). Part of Civic Center constructed on this land. Also developed in Irvington. Starlite Homes Development Unknown 1962-1967 • Starlite Hills Stevenson family E. Maxwell 1947-1950s • Tract 783: First post-World War II subdivision in Stevenson and Jack Irvington, and third postwar subdivision in Fremont Stevenson area. Homes built by JH Holland between 1947- 1949 • Stevenson Gardens: Development west of Grimmer Boulevard began in 1953. Unknown A.L. Brandon • Peralta Village Unknown Unknown • Canyon Heights Unknown Unknown • Lindsay Gardens Unknown Unknown • Rancho Arroyo Subdivision *Only includes individuals associated with the firm during the postwar period.

Theme: Business and Commerce

Subtheme: Retail and Entertainment Washington Township after World War II was a region of connected small towns, each with its own commercial buildings and social centers. Movie theaters, skating rinks, and bowling alleys were the centers of town life. Fremont had many bowling alleys, in fact. One extant example, the Cloverleaf Bowl in Irvington, was constructed in 1959 and expanded in 1963 and 1974.12 Elsewhere in the city, Fremont and Peralta Boulevards through Centerville had a “Restaurant Row” with large restaurants and cocktail lounges.13 Centerville was the largest commercial center 14 at the time of incorporation. International Kitchen logo from matchbook, c. 1960s (http://www.ebay.com/itm/International-Kitchen-1065- After incorporation, new forms of suburban commercial Fremont-Niles-CA-Alameda-County-Matchcover- development in Fremont boomed as residents and 070315-/351453512392) consumers poured into the city. The preliminary general plan recommended the quick development of a completely new and central community shopping district for the city.15 The plan recommended the selection of an undeveloped core area, preferably in the vicinity of Fremont Boulevard and Mowry Avenue. This would become the Fremont Hub, planned by the

Fremont Hub Shopping Center, advertisement (left, Fremont City Directory, 1969) and as remodeled (right, GPA Consulting, 2015)

Hapsmith Company in 1956 and opened in 1961.16 The Fremont Hub, an open-air pedestrian mall, provided a model for future commercial shopping centers in the city. The selected site supposedly avoided competition with the established commercial centers of Centerville, Irvington, Niles, and Mission

12 40645 Fremont Blvd in Irvington. Holmes, Irvington, Fremont, 104. 13 Weibel Vineyards, a popular sparkling brand, built a hacienda-style tasting room, but it was primarily for tourists. Holmes, Warm Springs, Fremont, 88; Holmes, “Rose City and the International Kitchen.” 14 Reimer, Washington Township Incorporation Survey, 3. 15 Mission Peak Heritage Foundation, The First Thirty Years, 57; Wise Associates, “Preliminary General Plan for Fremont, California,” 16. 16 Holmes, Centerville, Fremont, 122.

San Jose.17 However, over the next fourteen years, competition from new shopping centers, including the Fremont Hub, “undermined the economic viability of the historical centers of Washington Township.”18

Community shopping centers typically consisted of a junior department store, a branch bank, grocery stores, restaurants, clothing shops, and similar retail and personal service establishments to serve the weekly convenience-shopping needs of a community of people. The centers were accessible from major thoroughfares without interfering with through-traffic circulation. Large areas of parking were located at the perimeter.19 Though surrounded by parking, walkways within the shopping centers connected shops, creating pedestrian-only areas. Centers were often named after the nearby residential developments they served, such as the Brookvale, Glenmoor, and Cabrillo shopping centers. These types of comprehensively planned shopping centers were the commercial centers of Fremont through the 1970s.

Associated Property Types Extant associated property types observed during the fieldwork for this project include strip malls, shopping centers, restaurants, bowling alleys, and storefront buildings constructed as infill within older commercial districts. They are typically low-rise buildings, one to two stories tall. Styles, details, and construction materials vary widely. The buildings constructed as shopping centers or along major boulevards have large parking lots, designed to accommodate the automobile. Those constructed within the older commercial districts of the original five towns sometimes have small associated parking lots, but not always. Some of the buildings and centers have original, freestanding signs in their parking lots.

Subtheme: Office Buildings Office buildings were not a prominent feature of the postwar commercial landscape of Fremont, though a number of Advertisement for Brookvale Center, opened in 1970 (Progress Edition, examples exist. Many of the city’s residents special section of The Argus, no date). either commuted elsewhere to work or were employed in the city’s industrial sector, so there was not a great demand for office space, especially prior to incorporation. Locally- oriented businesses, such as local banks, newspapers, and medical offices, were the exception. Two

17 Mission Peak Heritage Foundation, The First Thirty Years, 57. 18 Niles commercial had been in decline since the 1940s, following the Mission Boulevard Bypass project. Basin Research Associates, “Kraftile Company: Historic Recordation Report,” 5; Gardiner, Fremont: A Modern History of an All-American City, 27. 19 Wise Associates, “Preliminary General Plan for Fremont, California,” 16.

newspapers serving the township, the Centerville News and Township Register, for example, merged in 1954 and moved to a small office building at 3684 Peralta Boulevard in Centerville.20 Centerville was also home to the Southern Alameda County Office Building (2550 Peralta Boulevard, completed in 1948).21 A private airport, Center Field Airport, was located on eighty acres at Blacow and Mowry between 1945 and 1961 (demolished).22 In 1956 the Oakland Aviation Center for Federal Aviation Administration opened an office building (5125 Central Avenue).23 After incorporation, office buildings were increasingly constructed, and replaced former manufacturing facilities.

The office buildings from the period were often constructed as individual infill projects within or adjacent to the older commercial centers of the former small towns. They were also constructed as isolated developments along major boulevards newly zoned as commercial after incorporation. Bank buildings were often located on the same parcels as shopping centers, but constructed as stand-alone buildings with their own architectural styles, rather than connected to the larger commercial strips of the centers. In the 1970s and later, office parks developed in the southeast area of the city, but these all postdate the period of study for this project.

Associated Property Types

Extant associated property types observed during the fieldwork for this project include low-rise office buildings. Most range from one to two stories, though a few examples as tall as four stories exist, as well. Styles, details, and construction materials vary widely. Most are simple in terms of plan and design, exhibiting basic references to Mid-Century Modern, New Formalism, and the International Style. Office buildings tended to house locally oriented businesses, such as doctors, dentists, newspapers, insurance agencies, banks, and the like. The bank offices typically exhibit the most fully developed architectural designs.

Subtheme: Auto-Related As a postwar city, Fremont was planned with particular consideration for the automobile, especially after incorporation. In addition to I-880, the city has wide, long boulevards to provide local connectivity. Businesses and shopping centers were designed with ample, prominently located parking lots and tall, freestanding signs to attract passersby. The automobile industry was not just an inspiration for planning decisions in the city; it was also a major employer with the opening of the General Motors plant in 1961.

Associated Property Types

Given the city’s auto-centric planning and economy, one would expect to find a large number of auto- related resources; however, not many resources from the period appear to exist. There are a limited number of extant car washes, freestanding signs, and drive-up/roadside restaurants, based on the fieldwork for this project. The Pacific Car Wash located at 41080 Trimboli Way appears to date from the period, for example. There may be service stations and auto dealerships, as well, but none were observed.

20 Located at 3684 Peralta Blvd. Holmes, Centerville, Fremont, 95. 21 Southern Alameda County Office Building was located at 2550 Peralta Blvd., Fremont, California. It is now the New Horizons School. Reimer, Washington Township Incorporation Survey, 3. 22 Bendel, History of Washington Township, 110; Paul Freeman, “Abandoned and Little Known Airfields: California- San Jose Area” Airfields, Accessed September 2015, http://www.airfields-freeman.com/CA/Airfields_CA_SanJose.htm#centerville. 23 Holmes, Centerville, Fremont, 8.

The extant auto-related properties are usually located along commercial streets, though not necessarily along the major commercial boulevards. They are simple and utilitarian in terms of plan and style, exhibiting common details and materials from the period, such as low-pitched shed roofs, stucco, wood siding, large panes of glass, and stone, brick, or lava rock as accent materials.

Registration Requirements The property types with the potential to represent the significant trends in business and commerce include shopping centers, strip malls, bowling alleys and other commercial entertainment venues, stand- alone retail and restaurant buildings, office buildings, banks, car washes, drive-up/roadside restaurants, and signs. Only properties with demonstrated significance and integrity are eligible for designation. Groupings of commercial buildings, such as those found in shopping centers or along a commercial corridor, may be significant collectively and constitute a historic district. Commercial buildings may also be significant individually. Significant buildings, signs, and districts may include: those developed early in the city’s postwar history, those that represent specific city planning efforts, and those that were the primary place of business for an important business or for a person significant within the business and commerce theme.

Property Type Significance: A building, sign, or district evaluated under this theme may be considered significant if it is importantly and directly related to postwar commerce in Fremont or if it was the location of an important business. It may also be significant under this theme if it was the primary place of work for an individual who was significant within the theme of business and commerce. In many cases, if a resource is significant under this theme, it may also be significant under one of the postwar architecture themes.

Period of Significance: 1945 -1970

Period of Significance Justification: Commercial resources developed prior to incorporation in 1956 would be able to convey the city’s pre-incorporation development, while those after 1956 would represent the more regulated development following the creation of city government and implementation of local planning policies. Important business may have developed at any time during the postwar period. Likewise, important businesspersons may have worked in the city at any time during the postwar period.

Geographic Location: Citywide, in or near the downtown commercial centers of the five original towns and along commercial corridors and major boulevards

Area(s) of Significance: Postwar business and commerce

Criteria: National: A/B California: 1/2 Local: 1/2

Associated Property Types: Shopping centers, strip malls, bowling alleys and other commercial entertainment venues, stand-alone retail and restaurant buildings, office

buildings, banks, car washes, drive-up/roadside restaurants, signs, and districts composed of these property types

Property Type Description: Commercial resources from the period are largely one to two stories tall, though a few taller examples exist. Some are large centers with multiple businesses; others are stand-alone buildings built for one particular business. Most are simple in terms of plan and architectural design. They exhibit elements of the popular commercial styles of the day, such as Late Moderne, Mid-Century Modern, New Formalism, Googie, and International Style (see Postwar Architecture Styles Theme for information on each style). Common materials include stucco, wood, large plate glass windows, brick, stone, tile, and lava rock.

Eligibility Standards:

• Has a direct and significant relationship to postwar commercial development; and/or was the primary location of an important business; and/or was the primary place of work of an individual important within the theme of business and commerce

• Was constructed during the period of significance

• Simply being a postwar commercial resource is not enough to justify significance. An eligible resource must have been important in the overall business and commercial development of the city. Examples might include resources related to very early businesses, pioneering businesses, and businesses particularly important to the local economy.

Character Defining / Associative Features:

• Constructed in one of the popular architectural styles for commercial buildings of the period or may have a utilitarian design without many architectural details

• Features typical of commercial design, such as large display windows and signage

• In or adjacent to original town centers, often constructed right up to the sidewalk with no setback

• In later, more suburban areas, large, prominently located parking lots

Integrity Considerations:

• Eligible resources should retain integrity of Location, Design, Materials, Workmanship, Feeling, and Association from their period of significance

o Setting may be compromised by nearby construction that post-dates the period of significance

o Limited door and window replacements may be acceptable if they are located on secondary elevations, do not change the original fenestration pattern, and are compatible with the original design of the resource

• If a resource is a rare surviving example of its type and/or period, a greater degree of alterations that have already occurred may be acceptable.24

24 A greater degree of alterations may be present and yet the resource may still be considered eligible when it is initially evaluated. This statement is not related to future alterations proposed for a historic property. In other words, it does not mean that a rare example of an important property type may be allowed to be more altered in the future than other examples; it means that it may still be eligible at the time of its evaluation, despite some of its previous alterations. Future projects proposed for such resources should strive to restore as much historic fabric as possible.

Theme: Industry Industrial development in the immediate postwar period was scattered across Washington Township and catered to the construction and defense industries. Gravel and aggregate companies, in demand to supply massive highway construction projects throughout the United States, dug new quarries across the township.25 By 1953, five different lumber companies supplied building materials for the construction of new housing.26 As part of the Cold War defense industry, a Nike Missile site was built in the northwest section of the future city at Coyote Hills.27

Aerial view of General Motors Corporation automotive assembly After incorporation, industry in Fremont plant under construction, 1962 (Sourisseau Academy for State geographically shifted from Niles and Centerville and Local History) to zones concentrated in the southeast sections

of the city that had been specially designated for industrial development.28 In Centerville, office buildings replaced former manufacturing industries.29 Planners designated industrial zones in southeast areas that were served by two railroads, Southern Pacific and Western Pacific, and the Nimitz Freeway.30 The railroads and freeway served as desirable “buffers between the industrial area, with its heavy truck traffic and other disturbing features, and the living areas of the city.”31

Large areas of perpetually vacant land, marshes, and areas formerly used for agriculture created opportunities for large factories and industrial General Motors Corporation automotive assembly plant building, 1965 (Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History) office parks. Near Warm Springs, 2,500 acres were zoned for future industrial development.32 The large tracts were not suitable for other development because the locations were too far from other residential areas or the soil quality was too poor for agriculture. Planners recognized the unusual

25 Bendel, History of Washington Township, 28; Holmes, Irvington, Fremont, 95. 26 The lumber companies were: PC Hansen, Newark Lumber Company, Newark Mill and Lumber Company, Colma Mill and Lumber Company, and Warm Springs Lumber Company. Bendel, History of Washington Township, 37. 27 Holmes, Centerville, Fremont, 114. 28 Wise Associates, “Preliminary General Plan for Fremont, California,” 20; Centerville Committee, “Centerville Area Plan,” 9. 29 Holmes, Centerville, Fremont, 8. 30 Mission Peak Heritage Foundation, The First Thirty Years, 56. 31 Wise Associates, “Preliminary General Plan for Fremont, California,” 20. 32 Harold F. Wise Associates, “Industrial District Plan for Fremont, CA,” (1958), 1.

opportunity in Fremont “to encourage the establishment of integrated industrial ‘parks’—in place of scattered, haphazard development.”33 The General Motors plant (now the Tesla factory) was the most significant industrial development in Fremont during the midcentury period. The 411-acre plant opened in Warm Springs in 1964.34 The plant became the city’s largest employer, initially employing 4,150 people.35

Associated Property Types

Property types associated with the theme of industry include individual industrial facilities and industrial parks. The individual facilities were typically constructed by a particular business for the production, refinement, and/or packaging of goods. They range in size from small, singular buildings to larger campuses of multiple buildings. The smaller facilities often have administrative offices integrated within the building; the larger facilities may have an entire building dedicated to administration. Most are located in the areas zoned industrial after incorporation, though some may exist in non-industrial zones, if they predate the comprehensive planning efforts of the late 1950s and early 1960s. They are often utilitarian in plan, design, and materials, but some exhibit elements of the International Style and Mid- Century Modern.

From research and fieldwork, it appears that most of the industrial parks post-date the period of study for this project; however, early examples from the 1960s may exist. They were planned and developed similarly to residential housing tracts: developers laid out and constructed groups of industrial buildings on spec and then leased or sold them to businesses. Simple plans and the use of concrete, steel, and curtain walls with references to the International Style are common. The parks are located in areas zoned industrial after incorporation, particularly in the Warm Springs area.

Registration Requirements The property types with the potential to represent the significant trends in industry include industrial buildings constructed for important local businesses. Since most, if not all, of the industrial parks post- date the period of study for this project and since many were built on spec, it is unlikely that they would be eligible for designation at this time, though the property type may require study in the future. Only properties with demonstrated significance and integrity are eligible for designation. A grouping of industrial buildings located along an industrial corridor or a campus of buildings constructed for a particular important business may be significant collectively and constitute a historic district. Industrial buildings may also be significant individually. Significant industrial resources may include: those developed early in the city’s postwar history, those that housed an important industrial business, and those that were the primary place of work for a person significant within the industry theme.

Property Type Significance: A building or district evaluated under this theme may be considered significant if it is importantly and directly related to postwar industry in Fremont or if it was the location of an important industrial business. It may also be significant under this theme if it was the primary place of work for an individual who was significant within the theme of industry.

33 Wise Associates, “Preliminary General Plan for Fremont, California,” 20. 34 “Fremont’s Giant GM Plant Formally Opens,” San Jose Mercury, March 18, 1964: 17; Holmes, Warm Springs, Fremont, 96. 35 Gardiner, Fremont: A Modern History of an All-American City, 26; “Chevrolet-Fisher Body Fremont Fact Sheet,” September 19, 1961, located in Fremont Library local history archives.

In some cases, if a resource is significant under this theme, it may also be significant under one of the postwar architecture themes.

Period of Significance: 1945 -1970

Period of Significance Justification: Industrial resources developed prior to incorporation in 1956 would be able to convey the city’s pre-incorporation development, while those after 1956 would represent the more regulated development following the creation of city government and implementation of local planning policies. Important industrial companies may have developed at any time during the postwar period. Likewise, important persons may have worked in the city at any time during the postwar period.

Geographic Location: In the southern parts of the city with industrial zoning, such as Warm Springs; older industrial resources near the original downtowns and along the railroad tracks

Area(s) of Significance: Postwar industry

Criteria: National: A/B California: 1/2 Local: 1/2

Associated Property Types: Individual industrial buildings and districts composed of multiple industrial buildings, such as within campuses or along corridors

Property Type Description: Industrial resources from the period are largely one to two stories tall. Many are high-bay buildings. Most are simple and utilitarian in terms of plan and architectural design. Some exhibit elements of the popular industrial styles of the day, such as Mid-Century Modern and International Style. Common materials include concrete, steel, stucco, large plate glass windows, and brick.

Eligibility Standards:

• Has a direct and significant relationship to postwar industrial development; and/or was the primary location of an important industrial business; and/or was the primary place of work of an individual important within the theme of industry

• Was constructed during the period of significance

• Simply being a postwar industrial resource is not enough to justify significance. An eligible resource must have been important in the overall industrial development of the city or within its larger respective industry. Examples might include resources related to very early industries, leaders within their respective fields, and industrial companies particularly important to the local economy, such as major employers.

Character Defining / Associative Features:

• Utilitarian plan and materials

o May exhibit elements of the popular architectural styles for industrial buildings of the period

• Features typical of industrial design, such as loading docks, large roll-up doors, and exposed structure and materials

Integrity Considerations:

• Eligible resources should retain integrity of Location, Design, Materials, Workmanship, Feeling, and Association from their period of significance

o Setting may be compromised by nearby construction that post-dates the period of significance

• If a resource is a rare surviving example of its type and/or period, a greater degree of alterations that have already occurred may be acceptable. 36

36 A greater degree of alterations may be present and yet the resource may still be considered eligible when it is initially evaluated. This statement is not related to future alterations proposed for a historic property. In other words, it does not mean that a rare example of an important property type may be allowed to be more altered in the future than other examples; it means that it may still be eligible at the time of its evaluation, despite some of its previous alterations. Future projects proposed for such resources should strive to restore as much historic fabric as possible.

Theme: Institutional Development The centers of institutional and social life in Fremont from the end of World War II to 1970 were typical for a city of the period and included schools, social organizations, and churches. The city’s Portuguese and Japanese communities created many of the social organizations, which included clubs and language schools. The city also welcomed its own hospital during this era, an important local development.

Subtheme: Schools Individual towns managed their own public schools in Fremont until 1964, even in the years after incorporation. After World War II, construction of schools struggled to keep pace with growing school- age populations in the expanding residential developments of the city. Enrollment in schools increased exponentially. In the fall of 1949, 3,675 students registered, an increase of 1,100 students from the previous year.37 Districts applied for funding based on the number of homes in their jurisdiction.38 At a minimum, a foundation had to exist for a house

to count towards funding calculations, and “It was not Mattos Elementary School, 1960 (GPA Consulting, 2015) uncommon for superintendents to spend their 39 Saturdays counting foundations!” The school districts of Centerville, Mission San Jose, and Irvington all opened new schools between 1952 and 1955.40 Forty-five new public schools opened in Fremont between 1950 and 1979.41 During the mid-1960s, student enrollment increased by about 1,000 per year; one third of Fremont’s 90,000 residents were enrolled in school.42

Fremont Unified School District formed in 1964 following state legislation to encourage unification. 43 Irvington and Mission San Jose merged their school districts earlier, in 1959. In the early 1960s, the state of California provided incentives to eliminate small districts by

Irvington High School, 1960 (GPA Consulting, 2015) providing

37 Bendel, History of Washington Township, 35. 38 Gardiner, Fremont: A Modern History of an All-American City, 32. 39 Philip Holmes and Dolores Rose. Reflections: The Educational Heritage of Fremont. Fremont: Fremont Unified School District, 1983. 40 Gardiner, Fremont: A Modern History of an All-American City, 32. 41 Minor, “Historic Context of Glenmoor Gardens,” 6. 42 Holmes, Reflections: The Educational Heritage of Fremont. 43 Holmes, Irvington, Fremont, 7.

additional state funding for the first five years after unification. This appealed to districts with tax rates that were increasing to provide for rapidly growing enrollments. Centerville, with lower tax rates, and Warm Springs with a large tax base provided by the General Motors plant, felt removed from the anxiety about taxes.44 Fremont Unified School District formed in 1964 and comprised forty-eight schools by 1975.45 Each new grammar school had an associated playground and associated park called a neighborhood park.46

A junior college district was established around the same time as the formation of the unified school district. In 1967, the junior college was named Ohlone College and began leasing space at the Serra Center for Girls from the Dominican Sisters, which had closed in August 1967.47

Private schools, including Washington College, Curtner Seminary, Anderson Academy, operated in various buildings throughout the Fremont area beginning the nineteenth century; however most were no longer in operation by the postwar era. Private religious schools were often constructed on church campuses. The California School for the Blind and California School for the Deaf both moved to Fremont in 1980, outside of the period of significance for this study.

Associated Property Types

Property types associated with the subtheme of schools include individual school buildings and larger school campuses composed of numerous buildings and related features, like playgrounds and stadiums. Fremont has both public and private school buildings. While most, if not all of the public schools were built expressly as schools, some of the private schools currently occupy buildings which were originally used for other purposes. Fremont’s smaller schools are located in residential neighborhoods. Its larger campuses are often located on major boulevards on the perimeters of residential areas. Many of the schools are adjacent to community parks. Mid-Century Modern is the dominant architectural style for schools in Fremont, though some other styles exist. Common materials and features include stone, block, and brick masonry, stucco, synthetic wall panel systems, wood post and beam structures, gabled and flat roofs, large plate glass windows, clerestories, and covered outdoor walkways. Site planning was often more important than architectural details in the design of schools.

Subtheme: Churches During the postwar period, many existing organizations expanded their facilities or commissioned new buildings to accommodate the larger population of the region. Churches expanded to larger campuses with prominent main buildings and ancillary school buildings in the 1950s and 1960s.48 After years of renting facilities, the Japanese-American community constructed its own church and language school in Union City in 1962.49

44 Holmes, Reflections: The Educational Heritage of Fremont. 45 Holmes, Centerville, Fremont, 28. 46 Gardiner, Fremont: A Modern History of an All-American City, 28. 47 Gardiner, Fremont: A Modern History of an All-American City, 29. 48 For example, in 1969 the Holy Ghost Catholic Church and School enlarged and become the Holy Spirit church. Holmes, Centerville, Fremont, 86. 49 The church and language school is located on Alvarado Niles Road in Union City, near the north border of Fremont. Corbett, “George’s Fruit Stand,” 30.

Front and side elevations of Irvington Presbyterian Church, 4181 Irvington Ave, 1964 (GPA Consulting, 2015)

Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints, 810 Walnut Ave, built c. 1969-1979 (GPA Consulting, 2015)

Associated Property Types

Property types associated with the subtheme of churches include individual church buildings and larger church campuses composed of numerous buildings and related features, like office buildings, living quarters, and schools. Fremont’s churches vary in size, but many are quite large and surrounded by large lawns and parking lots. They are located both in residential neighborhoods and on major boulevards. Mid-Century Modern is the dominant architectural style, though there are also examples of New Formalism. Many of the churches feature dynamic roof shapes and geometric fenestration patterns. Common materials and characteristics include stone, block, and brick masonry, stucco, gabled and folded plate roofs, large plate glass windows, stained glass windows, and clerestories.

Subtheme: Social Organizations Social organizations were important to the city in the postwar period. The Niles Veterans’ Hall, originally constructed after World War I, was expanded in 1958.50 Fraternal organizations of men, women, and children in the Portuguese community were popular social gathering places.51 The Japanese community created language schools, which functioned as another kind of social group. Other clubs met at International Kitchen and the Fremont Motor Inn, the first modern motel in Warm Springs.52 The Washington Township Country Club, a women’s club founded in 1896, constructed a clubhouse on Parish Avenue in 1914. Their clubhouse was a Niles Veterans Memorial Hall, construction began in 1930 and the meeting location for many other groups until its first renovations took place in 1958 (GPA Consulting, 2015) sale and demolition in the 1990s.53

Subtheme: Hospitals In 1946, the Washington Township Country Club first proposed constructing a local hospital. At the time, there was no major medical facility in Washington Township. A site at the exact center of the township was purchased in 1952 from the Stivers family and voters passed a bond issued to fund construction.54 Washington Hospital opened in 1958.

Associated Property Types

There is only one known property associated with this subtheme from the period: Washington Hospital. It is a campus of related buildings, some of which may be original. Based on historic imagery, the original main building was four stories tall and composed of intersecting rectangular volumes. It exhibited features of the International Style. Washington Hospital is located at 2000 Mowry Avenue.

50 Holmes, Niles, Fremont, 99. 51 John S. Sandoval, A Century of Portuguese in the East Bay (Hayward: Hayward History Society, 1971), 32. 52 Holmes, Warm Springs, Fremont, 101. 53 “History: The Country Club of Washington Township,” Tri-City Voice, August 5, 2009. Accessed September 8, 2015, http://www.tricityvoice.com/articlefiledisplay.php?issue=2009-08-05&file=Washington+Township.txt. 54 Carrie Carruthers, Washington Township: A Pictorial History (Fremont, CA: Washington Hospital Healthcare Foundation, 2000), 141.

Advertisement for votes in favor of the bond issue to fund construction of Washington Hospital, 1952 (from collection of Washington Township Museum of Local History)

Registration Requirements The property types with the potential to represent the significant trends in institutional development include school buildings and campuses, churches and associated church buildings, like rectories, schools, and offices, buildings that housed important social organizations, and the original buildings of Washington Hospital. Buildings associated with important social organizations may take a variety of forms. Some may have been built expressly for use by a particular organization; others may have had different primary uses, such as an individual’s home, offices, churches, retail stores, hotels, and restaurants, but were utilized by organizations after hours or on weekends. Only properties with demonstrated significance and integrity are eligible for designation. Groupings of institutional buildings, such as school and church campuses, may be significant collectively and constitute a historic district. They may also be significant individually. Significant buildings and districts may include: those developed early in the city’s postwar history, buildings that were the primary home of important social organizations, schools that represent important planning principals and building programs, the original buildings of Washington Hospital, churches that were the locations of important events or associated with important community leaders or congregations, and any institutional buildings that were directly associated with a person significant within the institutional development theme.

Property Type Significance: A building or district evaluated under this theme may be considered significant if it is importantly and directly related to postwar institutions in Fremont or if it was the location of an important event, such as a political rally, speech, or march. It may also be significant under this theme if it is the place most directly associated with the work of an individual who was significant within the theme of institutional development. In many cases, if a resource is significant under this theme,

it may also be significant under one of the postwar architecture themes. This appears to be especially applicable to Fremont’s churches.

Period of Significance: 1945 -1970

Period of Significance Justification: Institutional resources developed prior to incorporation in 1956 would be able to convey the city’s pre-incorporation demography and values, while those after 1956 would represent the growth and demographic shifts associated with new infrastructure and governmental organization. Important institutions may have developed at any time during the postwar period. Likewise, important community leaders may have contributed to the city at any time during the postwar period.

Geographic Location: Citywide, in or near the downtown commercial centers of the five original towns and along commercial corridors and major boulevards, some may also be present within residential neighborhoods

Area(s) of Significance: Postwar institutional development

Criteria: National: A/B California: 1/2 Local: 1/2

Associated Property Types: School buildings and campuses, churches and associated church buildings, buildings constructed specifically for social organizations, other property types (residences, offices, commercial buildings, etc.) used by social organizations as meeting places, the original buildings of Washington Hospital, and districts composed of these property types

Property Type Description: Institutional resources from the period are largely one to two stories tall, though a few taller examples exist. Some are clustered into campuses; others are stand-alone buildings built for one particular institution. Many of the schools exhibit elements of the Mid-Century Modern style (described under the Postwar Architectural Styles Theme). Churches are often dynamic and modern in design, exhibiting elements of both Mid-Century Modern and New Formalism. Buildings related to social organizations vary widely in terms of style and level of design detail. Washington Hospital’s original buildings were designed in the International Style. Common materials among the different property types and styles include stucco, brick, stone, tile, lava rock, and large plate glass windows.

Eligibility Standards:

• Has a direct and significant relationship to postwar institutional development; and/or was the primary location of an important organization; and/or was the primary place of work of an individual important within the theme of institutional development

• Was constructed during the period of significance

• Simply being a postwar institutional resource is not enough to justify significance. An eligible resource must have been important within its community. Examples might include resources related to veterans’ organizations, ethnic groups, important church congregations and leaders, Washington Hospital, schools representing important planning principals, other types of pioneering institutions, and institutions particularly important to the local community.

Character Defining / Associative Features:

• Constructed in one of the popular architectural styles for institutional buildings of the period

o May also have a utilitarian design without many architectural details • Features typical of its property type, such as steeples and stained glass windows for churches

• Most will have at least one large gathering space, such as an auditorium at a school or the nave in a church

• In or adjacent to original town centers, often constructed right up to the sidewalk with no setback

• In later, more suburban areas, large, prominently located parking lots

Integrity Considerations:

• Eligible resources should retain integrity of Location, Design, Materials, Workmanship, Feeling, and Association from their period of significance

o Setting may be compromised by nearby construction that post-dates the period of significance

• If a resource is a rare surviving example of its type and/or period, a greater degree of alterations that have already occurred may be acceptable. 55

55 A greater degree of alterations may be present and yet the resource may still be considered eligible when it is initially evaluated. This statement is not related to future alterations proposed for a historic property. In other words, it does not mean that a rare example of an important property type may be allowed to be more altered in the future than other examples; it means that it may still be eligible at the time of its evaluation, despite some of its previous alterations. Future projects proposed for such resources should strive to restore as much historic fabric as possible.

Theme: Civic Improvements and Municipal Infrastructure When the city was incorporated, the preliminary general plan recommended that Fremont construct a central Civic Center with a Central Park.56 The Civic Center and Central Park were the grandest projects of the new city, though the Recreation and Leisure Services Department played an important role in creating community space throughout the city. In addition to concerns about planning, incorporation efforts were driven by a need to consolidate services, especially fire departments.57 A public safety department was the first operational department of the new city and a citywide fire department was established in 1958. Community center buildings were an important property type to emerge after incorporation, but somewhat surprisingly, no public libraries were constructed in the postwar period.

Subtheme: Parks and Recreation Land acquisition for the Civic Center and Central Park took nine years. The city made its initial land purchase of twelve acres for Central Park from Stanley Davis, a local developer.58 The first public building in the city of Fremont was the community center constructed in 1962 on those first acres.59 As plans progressed, planners recommended that the park have a flood control basin that could double as a recreational lake, now known as Lake Elizabeth.60 Central Park officially opened in 1969.61

While Central Park was a major focus of planning efforts in Fremont’s early years as Central Park and Lake Elizabeth (GPA Consulting, 2015) a city, several smaller, neighborhood parks appeared throughout the city during the late 1950s and 1960s. Theodore Harpainter, leader of the Recreation and Leisure Services Department from 1959 to 1979, designed most parks during this period.62 Under Harpainter’s leadership, the park system grew from zero to thirty-seven parks and developed thirty miles of street landscaping.63

Public parks were financed through fees paid to a park benefit fund by residential developers. Space for public parks was allocated by developers through programs such as the Planned Unit Development

56 Wise Associates, “Preliminary General Plan for Fremont, California,” 26. 57 Mission Peak Heritage Foundation, The First Thirty Years, 21-22. 58 4375 Cahill St, Fremont, CA 94538. Tinney, Life and Liberty at Lake Liz, 5. 59 Gardiner, Fremont: A Modern History of an All-American City, 31. 60 Tinney, Life and Liberty at Lake Liz, 6. 61 Holmes, Irvington, Fremont, 112. 62 Holmes, Irvington, Fremont, 109. 63 Holmes, Warm Springs, Fremont, 121.

Program that incentivized developers to allocate space for public parks.64 Parks were often planned adjacent to schools. Homeowners’ associations privately maintained many parks.65 Because much of Centerville was built prior to the city’s incorporation, the park benefits funds for this area were too small for new park developments. Consequently, Centerville has fewer parks than other areas of the city.66

Many of Fremont’s parks grew from the industries that characterized the first century of Washington Township’s development. In 1962, for example, the Shinn Ranch became the first of several older ranches and remaining agricultural properties to become a 67 Community Center in Central Park, opened in 1962, park. Quarry pits around the city, once part of asphalt designed by Norman D. Hale (GPA Consulting, 2015) and gravel companies, were re-engineered into ponds.68 Recreational activities took place at a raceway and glider airport opened on a former Army Air Corps airfield from World War II.69 Though these industries no longer played a role in Fremont’s economy, their legacy remained imprinted on the landscape of the city.

Associated Property Types

Property types associated with the subtheme of parks and recreation include Central Park, smaller neighborhood parks adjacent to schools, parks located in former industrial areas such as gravel pits, and community centers. Central Park is a relatively enormous park comprising over 450 acres. Other recreational areas and parks range in size. Community centers are typically located within parks and exhibit Mid-Century Modern design details. Common materials and characteristics include stone, block, and brick masonry, stucco, synthetic or wood wall panel systems, wood post and beam structures, gabled roofs, large plate glass windows, and clerestories. Other features of parks include playgrounds, playing fields, designed landscaping, walking/running trails, ponds, and furnishings, such as benches, trash receptacles, picnic shelters, and light standards.

Subtheme: Government Although the city did not incorporate until 1956, it was home to at least one government building by 1953: the Southern Alameda County Office Building (now the New Horizons School at Martha Avenue and Peralta Boulevard). At the time, it was surrounded by agricultural land, though new residential tracts were quickly encroaching. Other than the county building, the main government buildings from the postwar

64 John Brooks was first developer in Bay Area to allocate space for public parks under this ordinance. “John Brooks,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 21, 2015: C3. 65 Centerville Committee, “Centerville Area Plan,”21. 66 Centerville Committee, “Centerville Area Plan,”21. 67 Remaining sections of other historic landholdings were designated as historic resources in the City during the 1960s, but did not become public parks until the 1970s and 1980s. These included the California Nursery 1972 and the Patterson Ranch, now Ardenwood, which was designated in 1965 and donated to the City in 1978. 68 The Army Corps of Engineers redesigned Alameda Creek to a flood-control channel. Completed in 1972, the flood control plan created the Shinn and Grau ponds from re-used gravel pits. In the 1990s, the Kaiser and Lonestar Quarry Pits were later reengineered to increase groundwater capacity. Holmes, Niles, Fremont, 101. 69 Holmes, Irvington, Fremont, 116.

period in the unincorporated towns were fire stations. Prior to incorporation, each town had its own fire department staffed largely by volunteers. Immediately following incorporation, police and fire duties were both carried out by firemen. In 1958, the Fremont Fire Department was officially established, and by 1969, volunteer firefighters were phased out. At least six fire stations were constructed between 1946 and 1964.

Of course, the most important government building constructed during the postwar period was Fremont’s first city hall. The brutalist building by Robert Mittelstadt was completed in 1968, but has since been demolished. It was vacated in 1992 after the city discovered that it was located atop the active Hayward fault. The building was completely demolished in 2004. Fremont Fire Station No. 1, 1963 (GPA Consulting, 2015)

Rendering of Fremont City Hall (Robert Mittlelstadt Architecture, http://www.rmarch.net/Fremont/fremont.html)

Associated Property Types

Property types associated with the subtheme of government include buildings constructed for city, county, state, and federal entities. They include fire stations, office buildings, and potentially police stations, though no postwar police stations were identified in the reconnaissance survey. The buildings observed in the survey exhibit elements of the Mid-Century Modern and Late Moderne styles.

Registration Requirements The property types with the potential to represent the significant trends in civic improvements and municipal infrastructure in the postwar period include parks, community centers, and government buildings, like offices and fire stations. Eligible parks may be large or small. Some may have associated buildings and structures, while others may just be designed landscapes. Community centers and government buildings may also vary in size. Only properties with demonstrated significance and integrity

are eligible for designation. A park with multiple buildings and structures may constitute a historic district. Other property types will likely be considered as individual resources. Significant buildings and districts may include: those developed early in the city’s postwar history, buildings and parks that represent important planning principals and building programs, and those that were the locations of important events or associated with persons significant under this theme.

Property Type Significance: A building or district evaluated under this theme may be considered significant if it is importantly and directly related to postwar civic and municipal development in Fremont or if it was the location of an important event, such as a political rally, speech, or march. It may also be significant under this theme if it is the place most directly associated with the work of an individual who was significant within the theme of civic and municipal development. In many cases, if a resource is significant under this theme, it may also be significant under one of the postwar architecture themes.

Period of Significance: 1945 -1970

Period of Significance Justification: Civic and municipal resources developed prior to incorporation in 1956 would be able to convey the city’s pre-incorporation infrastructure, while those after 1956 would represent the actions of the city’s early government. Important civic and municipal resources may have developed at any time during the postwar period.

Geographic Location: Citywide, within Central Park, in or near residential neighborhoods and schools

Area(s) of Significance: Postwar civic improvements and municipal infrastructure

Criteria: National: A/B California: 1/2 Local: 1/2

Associated Property Types: Parks, community centers, government office buildings, and fire stations

Property Type Description: Civic and municipal resources from the period vary. The parks range from very large to small in size. Some have numerous associated buildings and structures; others are strictly landscapes. Many of the buildings exhibit elements of the Mid-Century Modern style. Common park materials include manicured grasses, native and non-native trees, and lower shrubs and plantings around buildings, structures, and pathways. Other park materials vary widely. Buildings exhibit materials common to their architectural style. Since many are Mid-Century Modern, these include brick, stone, tile, lava rock, wood post-and-beam, and large plate glass windows.

Eligibility Standards:

• Has a direct and significant relationship to postwar civic improvements and municipal infrastructure; and/or was the primary location of an important event; and/or was the primary place of work of an individual important within the theme of civic and municipal development

• Was constructed during the period of significance

• Simply being a postwar civic or municipal resource is not enough to justify significance. An eligible resource must have been important within its community. Examples might include the earliest fire stations and government office buildings, as well as parks that exhibit important planning principles and recreational programs.

Character Defining / Associative Features:

• For buildings, constructed in one of the popular architectural styles for government buildings of the period

• For parks, large areas of landscaping

o May include buildings constructed in one of the popular architectural styles of the period, such as Mid-Century Modern and International Style.

o May include recreational facilities, such as fields, courts, and playgrounds

o May be either formal and heavily designed or informal and more natural • Features typical of its property type, such as large garages for firetrucks at a fire station

Integrity Considerations:

• Eligible resources should retain integrity of Location, Design, Materials, Workmanship, Feeling, and Association from their period of significance

o Setting may be compromised by nearby construction that post-dates the period of significance

o The majority of the resource's original materials and design features must remain intact and visible, including wall cladding, windows, fenestration pattern, roof features, and details related to its architectural style for buildings, and plant materials, site plan, and related buildings, structures, and fixtures for parks

o For buildings, limited door and window replacements may be acceptable if they are located on secondary elevations, do not change the original fenestration pattern, and are compatible with the original design of the resource

o For parks, minor changes to the overall site plan or replacement of limited plant materials with similar materials may be acceptable, but significant demolition or reconfiguration of spaces and amenities would not

• If a resource is a rare surviving example of its type and/or period, a greater degree of alterations that have already occurred may be acceptable. 70

70 A greater degree of alterations may be present and yet the resource may still be considered eligible when it is initially evaluated. This statement is not related to future alterations proposed for a historic property. In other words, it does not mean that a rare example of an important property type may be allowed to be more altered in the future than other examples; it means that it may still be eligible at the time of its evaluation, despite some of its previous alterations. Future projects proposed for such resources should strive to restore as much historic fabric as possible.

Theme: Postwar Architectural Styles in Fremont This section describes the architectural styles currently represented in Fremont among resources constructed between 1945 and 1970. The following are descriptions of the origin of each style and its presence in the local landscape. Where possible, architects known to have worked in the style locally are identified, and representative local examples are listed. In addition, character-defining features are provided to aid in the identification of the style in Fremont, as well as to guide in future assessments of historical significance.

Architectural styles of the postwar period in Fremont are typical of a low-rise community with numerous large-scale developments of single-family homes. The majority of postwar-era buildings in Fremont date from the 1950s and 1960s phases of the postwar housing boom. Though many buildings in Fremont are typical of the period, with Minimal Traditional and Ranch-style houses by far the most dominant, the commercial and institutional buildings of the period often display more sophisticated statements of modern architectural design. This distinction is logical, because while the residences were built largely by contractors and developers as part of sprawling, speculative housing tracts, the commercial and institutional buildings were often designed by architects for specific clients. Naturally, the resulting commercial and institutional buildings are more customized and reflective of the needs and tastes of specific clients. Characteristics evident in the majority of designs from this period, regardless of property type, include: honest expression of structure, use of contemporary materials and techniques, integration of outdoor and indoor spaces, and functional floor plans.

Architects active in Washington Township and later in Fremont during this period include: Frederick Reimers, an early Ranch-style practitioner; Hale & Jacobsohn, modernist designers of public and commercial buildings; Herbert T. Johnson, designer of Modern residential tracts; Robert Mittelstadt, architect of the brutalist city hall; and nationally recognized modernist William Wurster. Buildings designed by these architects are discussed within the following themes for architectural styles. Biographical information on architects who worked in Fremont is included as Appendix C. Within the scope of this project, seven postwar architectural styles were identified as particularly relevant to Fremont:

• Late Moderne

• International Style

• Mid-Century Modern

• Googie

• New Formalism

• Minimal Traditional

• Ranch

Subtheme: Late Moderne The Late Moderne style was popular during and immediately after World War II. Late Moderne buildings are typically more boxy and angular than their Streamline Moderne predecessors and emphasize verticality over rounded edges. The most readily identifiable design element of this style is the bezeled window. Windows are often outlined in a protruding, bezel-like molding. Frequently the molding extends beyond the windows to wrap around corners. While Late Moderne buildings were usually solid wall structures with punched windows, sometimes they featured continuous lateral window bands, which increased the ratio of void to solid. Because of the limited construction activity during the Depression, World War II, and immediately following the war, buildings of this style are relatively rare in Fremont. Extant examples may be constructed prior to the Postwar

Development period of 1945 to Southern Alameda County Office Building, 1948 (GPA Consulting, 2015) 1970.

Character-defining Features of Late Moderne • Boxy angular masses • Flat rooflines • Smooth stucco or concrete exteriors often incised with grid-like patterns • Brick or stone sometimes used as secondary accent material • Projecting frames around windows • Pronounced canopies over entrances • Horizontal bands of steel

sash windows Cloverdale Creamery building on Fremont Boulevard, a “main street” shop • Bezeled windows founded in 1938 and closed in 2001 (GPA Consulting, 2015)

Select examples in Fremont • Cloverdale Creamery, 37085 Fremont Boulevard, built 193871 • Center Theater, 37405–37415 Fremont Boulevard, built 1945-1946 (altered) • Southern Alameda County Office Building, 2550 Peralta Boulevard built 1948 (now New Horizons School)

71 Susan Dinkelspiel Cerny, An Architectural Guidebook to San Francisco and the Bay Area (Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2007), 234.

Associated Property Types

Property types associated with the Late Moderne style observed during the reconnaissance for this project include commercial and institutional. Examples of industrial buildings may also exist. It is highly unlikely that there are any residential buildings in this style. Representative properties are likely to be located within or adjacent to the original commercial districts of the five original towns. They may also be located in early postwar commercial strips.

Subtheme: International Style The International style developed as an architectural style in the 1920s and 1930s, during Modernism’s formative years prior to World War II. The International style originated in Western Europe, but it had an impact on architectural design throughout western society. The style rejected vernacular or traditional building forms in favor of simplification of forms and absence of ornament. Common features include square or rectangular building footprints, horizontal bands of windows, flat roofs, and the use of

stucco, concrete, brick, and glass. After World Grau Medical Offices, 37250 Niles Boulevard, designed by William War II, the International style was used in the Wurster completed c.1941 (GPA Consulting, 2015) design of public and residential buildings in the postwar building boom of the 1940s. The acceptance of the style in America grew considerably after World War II.

Walters and Wolf Precast offices at 41777 Boyce Road (GPA Within the International Style, two dominant trends Consulting, 2015) emerged after World War II. Walter Gropius, a leader of the Bauhaus in Germany, was the primary influence on the first postwar interpretation of International Style. This first trend borrowed materials and methods of construction from modern technology and industrialized building techniques, including standardization and prefabrication. Gropius introduced the curtain wall system that utilized a structural steel frame to support the floors and which allowed the external glass walls to continue without interruption. No examples of this first trend were observed in Fremont during the fieldwork for this project; however, examples may exist, given the large number of buildings in the city from the time period.

The second postwar trend in the International Style was represented by Mies van der Rohe and his followers. Within the Miesian tradition there are three subtypes: the glass curtain wall skyscraper, such as his design for the Seagram Building (1954) in New York, the glass and steel pavilion used in his design for the Barcelona Pavilion (1929), and the modular office. Mies van der Rohe created the modular office building prototype with his designs for the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago (1939-40), and considered Crown Hall (1956) at IIT, with its main floor an undivided space measuring 120 by 220 feet, as his finest creation.72

The most common subtype of the Miesian International Style observed during fieldwork was the modular office building, which was used as the style for many office parks in the late 1960s. This trend continued through the 1980s.

Most of the buildings of this subtype in Fremont Office building at 4510 Peralta Boulevard in Centerville post-date the period of study for this project. (GPA Consulting, 2015) The modular office building encloses open and adaptable “universal” spaces with clearly arranged structural frameworks, featuring pre-manufactured steel or precast concrete shapes filled with large sheets of glass or precast panels. In Fremont, the style was more often executed with precast concrete panels than with large sheets of glass. This may be due to the historic presence of the concrete and gravel industry in the area.

Character-defining Features of Gropius Subtype of the International Style • Single or groups of rectangular masses • Balance and regularity, but not symmetry • Clear expression of form and function • Placement or cantilevering of buildings on tall piers • Flat rooflines • Frequent use of glass and steel • Horizontal bands of flush windows • Windows meeting at corners

72 Christopher A. Joseph & Associates, “City of Riverside, Modernism Context Statement,” 2009, 15.

• Absence of ornamentation

Select Examples in Fremont • Grau Medical Offices, 37250 Niles Boulevard, built 1941, architect: William Wurster73

Character-defining Features of Miesian Subtype of the International Style • Single rectangular shapes • Horizontal lines of perspective • Flat rooflines • Steel frame structure used as an organization device • Absence of ornamentation • Glass curtain walls • Column free interior spaces

Select Examples in Fremont74 • Irvington Savings Bank, 40587 Fremont Boulevard, built 1963 • Office building, 4510 Peralta Boulevard, built 1966 • Walters & Wolf Precast Company, 41777 Boyce Road, built 1969

Associated Property Types

Property types associated with the International Style observed during the reconnaissance for this project include commercial and industrial. It was a particularly popular style for banks, both in Fremont and elsewhere. It is highly unlikely that there are any residential buildings in this style. Early examples are likely to be located within or adjacent to the original commercial districts of the five original towns and along early postwar commercial strips. Later examples will likely be standalone buildings located in larger shopping centers.

Subtheme: Mid-Century Modern Mid-Century Modern is a term used to describe the evolution of the International Style after World War II and encompasses a range of buildings forms. Mid-Century Modern architecture is more organic, its materials less industrial, and its approach less doctrinaire and more lighthearted than the International Style. The Mid-Century Modern style often references local vernacular traditions, particularly in the use of materials such as local wood. It is characterized by more solid wall surfaces. It was during this period that stacked brick became a popular material in commercial and educational buildings. In residential buildings, post-and-beam with an exposed wood structural system became the preferred method of construction for Mid-Century Modern architects.

As a residential style in the Bay Area, Mid-Century Modern evolved from a regional variant of modernism, the Second Bay Area Tradition, which emerged in the 1930s. The First Bay Area Tradition dated to the early twentieth century and the work of Julia Morgan and Bernard Maybeck, who designed buildings for

73 “History: Dr. Eugene and Ethel Grau,” Tri-City Voice, June 25, 2008. Accessed September 9, 2015. http://www.tricityvoice.com/articlefiledisplay.php?issue=2008-06-25&file=History+Eugene.txt 74 There are many examples of the Miesian subtype in the office parks in the Warm Springs area; however, these buildings post-date the period of study for this project. They are from 1970s and later.

steep sites with an emphasis on verticality and wood construction.75 The modernism and design characteristics of the Second Bay Area Tradition were unique to the San Francisco Bay Area and borrowed influences from vernacular farmhouses and local materials. Sometimes called redwood post-and-beam, the style was applied mostly to residential buildings. Buildings had open plans, glass walls, low pitched roofs, and exposed wood truss support systems. The style was common in middle class suburbs of the Bay Area.76 William Wurster was the preeminent architect of the style, emphasizing the “relaxed way of indoor-outdoor living in the Bay Area.”77 Wurster’s mastery of style occurred after his work in the Fremont area, and further research is necessary to identify examples of his Second Bay Area Tradition designs in Fremont. The style would heavily influence Ranch-style houses constructed en masse in suburban developments of the 1950s and 1960s.

The Mid-Century Modern style appeared mostly in the commercial and institutional buildings and campuses of Fremont. Horizontal massing and flat roof motifs of modernism were introduced to Fremont by Bay Area regional modernists such as Wurster and Gardner Dailey in the early 1940s.78 A few small- scale commercial buildings in Niles and Centerville exhibit basic elements of the style, such as canted walls, dominant roofs, and brick and stone veneer. Large campuses constructed by churches exhibit design flourishes unconstrained by the boxy, square doctrine of the International Style, with swooping roofs, geometric folded plate roofs, and distinctive dormers. The schools constructed to meet the massive population increases of the 1950s and 1960s are all Mid-Century Modern in style and plan, exhibiting simple geometric masses, post-and-beam construction, and open site plans, as are other public buildings, such as fire stations and community centers. The local firm of Hal and Jacobsohn was responsible for the design of many Mid-Century Modern buildings in the Fremont area, including the city’s first institutional building, the Community Center in Central Park.

Portion of John G. Mattos Elementary School campus (GPA Consulting, 2015)

75 Roth, American Architecture, 313-314. 76 Dave Weinstein and Linda Svendsen, Signature Architects of the San Francisco Bay Area (Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2006), 100. 77 Roth, American Architecture, 363. 78 Minor, Johnson House, 4.

Commercial building at 37495 Niles Boulevard (GPA Consulting, 2015)

Character-defining Features of Mid-Century Modern • Simple geometric forms • Post-and-beam construction • Flat or low-pitched gabled or shed roofs • Geometric roof forms, such as folded plates, dramatic gables, and A-frames • Flush mounted steel framed windows or large single-paned wood-framed windows • Brick or stone veneer often used as primary or accent material • Wood or stucco siding, often used in combination • Canted walls • Large, single pane windows • Clerestories

Select Examples in Fremont • Commercial building, 37495 Niles Boulevard, built 1956 • Fremont Hub, Fremont Boulevard and Mowry Avenue, opened in 1961 (altered) • Community Center, Central Park, opened in 1962, architect: Norman D. Hale of firm Hale and Jacobsohn • Fire Station Number 1, 4200 Mowry Avenue, built 1963 • United Auto Workers Building, 45201 Fremont Blvd, built 1965 (altered) • Peralta Plaza, Peralta Boulevard and Maple Street in Centerville, (multiple buildings and sign), built circa 1965 • Numerous elementary and middle schools all over the city, such as John G. Mattos Elementary School and Mahoney Elementary School

Associated Property Types

Property types associated with the Mid-Century Modern style observed during the reconnaissance for this project include commercial and institutional. It was a particularly popular style for community centers and park buildings, schools, and commercial strips. While no specific examples were identified in the

reconnaissance, it is possible that residential tracts of Mid-Century Modern residences exist within the city. Examples of the style exist citywide.

Subtheme: Googie During the 1950s and 60s, a unique form of roadside architecture developed that made dynamic use of a variety of building materials, structural forms, and spectacular signage. Such innovative architecture was utilized in cities throughout the nation, but the style was particularly prevalent in automobile-centric Southern California. Referred to today as Googie, a term coined from the boldly-designed Googie’s coffee shop that once graced the Sunset Strip, the style is characterized by contrasting building materials, bold angles, distinctive roof lines, expansive glass windows, and oversized signage. The term “Space Age” has also been applied to examples of Googie architecture in which futuristic shapes and forms utilized for buildings and signage were inspired by the optimism engendered by the popularity of the Space Age. With space travel so much a part of the national consciousness, architects decided to give the people a taste of the future. The Googie, or Space Age style was characterized by designs that depicted motion, such as boomerangs, flying saucers, atoms, starbursts, and parabolas. These shapes were boldly applied to over-scaled roofs and signs. Materials typically included glass, steel, and neon.

There are notable examples of the style in Fremont, including the Cloverleaf Bowl (1959). While much of the surrounding shopping district consists of fairly conventional Mid-Century Modern storefronts, the more exuberant elements associated with the Googie style, such as the angled roofline and natural stone are used throughout. Fremont also exhibits freestanding signs related to the Googie style. In some cases, the shopping center or business associated with the sign no longer exists or has been altered, so it no longer reflects the postwar period, but the sign remains intact.

Character-defining Features of Googie • Organic, abstract, and parabolic shapes • Distinctive rooflines such as folded-plates and boomerangs • Assortment of materials including concrete, steel, plastic, lava rock, and tile • Large and expansive plate glass windows • Thematic ornamentation including Polynesian and Space Age motifs • Bright colors • Oversized signage

Select Examples in Fremont • Cloverleaf Bowl, 40645 Fremont Blvd, built 1959

Associated Property Types

Property types associated with the Googie style observed during the reconnaissance for this project include commercial buildings and signs. Googie buildings appear to be rare, which is somewhat surprising, given the city’s auto-centric planning history. Examples of the style are typically located along major boulevards where they are best positioned to attract motorists.

Prominent roofline and boomerang, exemplifying Googie style at the Cloverleaf Bowl, established in 1959, expanded in 1963 and 1974 (rendering in Argus newspaper, 1962)

Cloverleaf Bowl following alterations (GPA Consulting, 2015)

Subtheme: New Formalism New Formalism developed in the mid-1950s as a reaction to modernism’s total rejection of historical precedent. A maturing modernism grasped the many commonalities with classicism, such as emphases on structure and a uniform construction grid, a carefully organized hierarchy, and clarity of geometric form.

Searching for symbolic meaning, modernist architects of the mid-1950s through the early 1970s embraced classical precedents in establishing building proportions; in the use of the arch, stylized classical columns, and entablatures; and in the use of the colonnade as a compositional device, as well as the elevated podium. Historically expensive materials such as travertine, marble, or granite were used (usually as thin veneers), as were manmade materials that mimicked their luxurious qualities. However, they were used in a panelized way that was non-traditional. On a larger urban design scale, grand axes and symmetry were used to achieve a modern monumentality. Primary in developing New Formalism were three architects: Edward Durrell Stone, Philip Johnson, and Minoru Yamasaki, all of whom had earlier achieved prominence working within the International Style and other modernist idioms. Stone’s well- published American Embassy in New Delhi (1954) is considered by many to mark the origin of the movement.

In California, the style was applied mainly to auditoriums, museums, and educational facilities. In these campus settings, buildings were often arranged symmetrically along grand axes and landscape features to achieve a modern monumentality. There are very few examples of New Formalism in Fremont, mostly applied to commercial buildings. For example, the former bank building at 35880 Nicolet Avenue reflects many of the characteristics of the style with its classical round plan and abstract column supports, as does the Fremont Bank building at 39200 Fremont Boulevard with its wide entablature and sculptural colonnaded perimeter walls.

Unoccupied bank building at 35880 Nicolet Avenue (GPA Consulting 2015)

Character-defining Features of New Formalism • Symmetrical plans • Evidence of classical precedence • Flat rooflines with heavy overhanging entablatures • Full height colonnades and elevated podiums used as compositional devices • Repeating arches and rounded openings • Large screens of perforated cast stone or concrete or metal grilles • Smooth wall surfaces • Tile accent

• Buildings set behind plazas

Select Examples in Fremont • Unoccupied bank building, 35880 Nicolet Avenue, built 1970

Associated Property Types

Property types associated with the New Formalism style observed during the reconnaissance for this project include commercial buildings, especially bank and office buildings. Examples from the period of study for this project appear to be rare, though later examples from the 1970s exist. They are typically located in shopping centers along major boulevards.

Subtheme: Minimal Traditional The Minimal Traditional style is defined by a simple exterior, with a simplified use of traditional architectural motifs from the American Colonial Revival and other Period Revival styles without extensive architectural detailing. The style had its origins in the principles of the modern movement and the Federal Housing Authority and other Federal program requirements of the 1930s. The Minimal Traditional style was reproduced on a massive scale and dominated the large tract housing developments of the 1940s and 1950s. Modern construction methods addressed the builders’ need to keep homes affordable for the middle class and the style’s open plan reflected the developer’s desire for greater efficiency. Conventional detailing appealed to conservative home buyers and mortgage companies. Primarily associated with the detached single-family house, Minimal Traditional detailing may also be applied to apartment buildings of the same period.79

Row of Minimal Traditional residences on Niles Boulevard (GPA Consulting, 2015)

79 Virginia and Lee McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984), 478.

In Fremont, the style was popular in Mission San Jose and areas of Centerville, Irvington, and Niles developed from the 1930s until the city’s incorporation in 1956. Because the style could be replicated on a massive scale, tracts of Minimal Traditional homes may vary in size, but usually feature rectilinear streets and very little architectural differentiation from one house to the next.

Character-defining Features of Minimal Traditional • One-story configuration • Rectangular or L-shaped plans • Medium or low-pitched roofs with shallow eaves • Hipped, cross-gabled, or side-gabled roofs • Smooth stucco wall cladding, often with wood lap, clapboard, brick or stone veneer accents • Wood multi-light wood windows (picture, double-hung sash, casement) • Projecting three-sided oriels (bay windows) • Shallow entry porches with slender wood supports • Wooden shutters • Lack of decorative exterior detailing

Select Examples in Fremont80 • Hansen Tract, Centerville, 1920s-1940s • Tract 508, Niles, 1930s • Suhnel Tract, Centerville, 1946 • Mt. Vernon Avenue, Centerville, 1940s • Tract 783, Irvington, 1947-1949 • Tract 623, Niles, 1949

Associated Property Types

Property types associated with the Minimal Traditional style observed during the reconnaissance for this project include single-family residences and tracts of single-family residences. They are typically some of the older residences from the postwar period. Consequently, they are located in the earliest subdivisions.

Subtheme: Ranch

80 Original tract maps of all except the Suhnel Tract are located in Appendix D. The tracts likely expanded from their original boundaries. More information may be on file with the City’s Engineering Department.

The Ranch style has its origins in the hacienda Modern Ranch on Cashew Way (GPA Consulting, 2015) ranch homes of early California families of Mexican and Spanish decent. California architect Cliff May is attributed with developing the Ranch style as early as the 1930s; however, it did not gain popularity throughout the United States until the late 1950s and 1960s. A uniquely American residential style, Ranch dominated the Californian and American housing markets after World War II, when America’s demand for single-family housing reached high levels. Ranch houses were the first to directly address the growing importance of the automobile to urban living, with attached garages or carports incorporated into the design.

Across California, the Ranch style morphed into a variety of sub-styles, but generally it is characterized by its one-story horizontal massing and sprawling L- or U-shaped floor plan around an outdoor patio area. While there are many variations in the postwar ranch houses of Fremont, most Ranch-style residential developments were constructed in variations of the Modern Ranch and Traditional Ranch (also known as California Ranch). Within a housing tract, building massing and siting had little variation. Differentiation was typically limited to minor variances in decorative details.

The Modern Ranch style is characterized by minimal exterior detailing.81 It adapted the clean, bold lines and liberal use of glass characteristic of mid-century post-and-beam architecture to the rambling, pitched-roof Ranch house building form. Though not nearly as common as Traditional Ranch, local variations of Modern Ranch were constructed throughout the

1960s. Modern Ranch in Glenmoor (GPA Consulting, 2015)

Traditional Ranch house on Joyce Road (GPA Consulting, 2015)

81 Virginia and Lee McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984), 479.

The Traditional Ranch is characterized by more exterior detailing and combinations of siding materials across elevations. Traditional Ranch designs incorporated fanciful interpretations of rustic building forms, including half-timbering in gable ends, board-and-batten siding, Dutch doors, diamond pane windows, and dovecotes above garages.

Character-defining Features of Ranch Style • One-story configuration Traditional Ranch house on Converse Street (GPA Consulting, 2015) • Low, horizontal massing and wide street façade • Horizontal rambling layouts • Overhanging eaves, extended roof beams, and exposed rafter tails • Low-pitched hipped, cross-, or side-gabled roof • Recessed front porch • Large wood or metal-frame windows • Wide masonry chimney • Attached garage or carport

Features Specific to the Modern Ranch Subtype • Extending rectangular or L-shaped plan • Exterior cladding of stucco, board-and-batten, or clapboard siding • Brick or stone veneer accents • Clerestory windows • Minimal decorative details • Replicated across development tract • Plain fascia board trim • Decorative elements of the Mid-Century Modern or International Styles

Select Examples of Modern Ranch Subtype in Fremont Housing tracts with Modern Ranch buildings are found throughout Fremont’s postwar residential developments with concentrations in Glenmoor Gardens and Niles.

Features Specific to the Traditional Ranch Subtype • Sprawling plan, often with radiating wings (L-shaped, U-shaped) • Exterior cladding of board-and-batten siding, shingles, or stucco, often used in combination • Brick or stone veneer accents • Wood shutters • Half-timbering • Rustic-looking elements, such as railings, dovecotes, and garage doors with barn-like “X” patterns • Exposed rafter tails • Carved fascia boards • Replicated across development tract

Select Examples of Traditional Ranch Subtype in Fremont Housing tracts with Traditional Ranch buildings are found throughout Fremont’s postwar residential developments with concentrations in Glenmoor Gardens, Irvington, Centerville, Niles, and Warm Springs.

Associated Property Types

Property types associated with the Ranch style observed during the reconnaissance for this project include single-family residences and tracts of single-family residences. They typically date from later in the postwar period and are located in subdivisions developed after incorporation.

Registration Requirements The property types with the potential to be considered distinctive and important examples of postwar architecture in Fremont include commercial, institutional, industrial, and residential. The residential properties are almost always located in tracts of repeated models and therefore are best considered as districts, rather than as individual buildings. The other property types are more likely to be isolated examples and best considered as individual resources, though some districts, like a particularly well- designed Mid-Century Modern school campus or an International Style office complex, may exist. Only properties with demonstrated significance and integrity are eligible for designation.

Property Type Significance: A building or district evaluated under the postwar architecture theme may be considered significant if it embodies the distinctive characteristics of one of the styles outlined as subthemes.

Period of Significance: 1945 -1970

Period of Significance Justification: The postwar architecture theme covers a variety of styles from the period. Buildings constructed prior to incorporation will likely exhibit elements of the Late Moderne, Mid-Century Modern, or Minimal Traditional, while those constructed later will exhibit Ranch, International Style, or New Formalism details. Significant buildings may have been constructed at any time in the postwar period.

Geographic Location: Citywide

Area(s) of Significance: Postwar architecture

Criteria: National: C California: 3 Local: 3/4

Associated Property Types: Single-family residences, housing tracts, commercial, institutional, and industrial buildings, signs

Property Type Description: Property types associated with this theme include all buildings and structures designed in one of the identified architectural styles from the

postwar period. Significant examples of each style will truly reflect the important design features and principles of the style.

Eligibility Standards:

• Was constructed in one of the identified styles from the period

• Was constructed during the period of significance

• Exhibits most, if not all, of the listed character-defining features of its style

• Represents a distinctive example of its style, rather than a typical or common example

• Exhibits a high degree of integrity

Character Defining / Associative Features:

• See character-defining features listed under each style and sub-style

Integrity Considerations:

• Eligible resources should retain integrity of Location, Design, Materials, Workmanship, Feeling, and Association from their period of significance

o Setting for individual resources may be compromised by nearby construction that post- dates the period of significance, but setting for districts must remain intact