John L. Kennedy Residence

Los Angeles Department of City Planning RECOMMENDATION REPORT CULTURAL HERITAGE COMMISSION CASE NO.: CHC-2017-3323-HCM ENV-2017-3324-CE HEARING DATE: September 7, 2017 Location: 14999 West La Cumbre Drive TIME: 10:00 AM Council District: 11 - Bonin PLACE : City Hall, Room 1010 Community Plan Area: Brentwood- Pacific Palisades 200 N. Spring Street Area Planning Commission: West Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 90012 Neighborhood Council: None Legal Description: Tract TR 9377, Block 5, Lots 10-11 PROJECT: Historic-Cultural Monument Application for the JOHN L. KENNEDY RESIDENCE REQUEST: Declare the property a Historic-Cultural Monument OWNER(S): Kevin E. Ebenhoch, Trustee, JN and LSS Trust 1056 Chautauqua Boulevard Pacific Palisades, CA 90272 APPLICANT: Max Solomon 784 Ocampo Drive Pacific Palisades, CA 90272 RECOMMENDATION That the Cultural Heritage Commission: 1. Take the property under consideration as a Historic-Cultural Monument per Los Angeles Administrative Code Chapter 9, Division 22, Article 1, Section 22.171.10 because the application and accompanying photo documentation suggest the submittal warrants further investigation. 2. Adopt the report findings. VINCENT P. BERTONI, AICP Director of PlanningN1907 [SIGNED ORIGINAL IN FILE] [SIGNED ORIGINAL IN FILE] Ken Bernstein, AICP, Manager Lambert M. Giessinger, Preservation Architect Office of Historic Resources Office of Historic Resources [SIGNED ORIGINAL IN FILE] Melissa Jones, Planning Assistant Office of Historic Resources Attachment: Historic-Cultural Monument Application CHC-2017-3323-HCM 14999 West La Cumbre Drive Page 2 of 3 SUMMARY The 1930 John L. Kennedy Residence is a 5,699 square foot, two-story, single-family dwelling and detached three-car garage with chauffeurs’ quarters located at the corner of La Cumbre Drive and Alma Real Drive in the Huntington Palisades neighborhood of the Pacific Palisades region of Los Angeles. It was designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival architectural style by local contracting firm Rose and Rowell for prominent Nebraska attorney, banker, and United States Congressman, John L. Kennedy and his wife, Marguerite. Kennedy permanently resided at the subject property following his retirement from public service in 1933 until his death in August 1946. The property was subsequently sold in 1950 to Jerome Kummer, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California at Los Angeles and first practicing psychiatrist in Santa Monica, and his wife Sylvia. Designed around an octagonal interior courtyard, the subject property is asymmetrical in plan and has a low-pitched tile roof with two arched chimneys at each end and whitewashed smooth stucco cladding. The primary, southwest-facing façade features a recessed entry flanked by two floral tile murals, a carved wooden front door, and a covered porch on the second floor with carved wooden columns and corbels. The rear-facing façade features a loggia on the first floor that looks out onto the octagonal courtyard that has a fountain at the center. Fenestration consists of multi-lite steel casement windows in deep, recessed openings with shutters or wrought-iron grilles. On the interior, there is a rotunda entryway with hexagonal Saltillo tile flooring, a carved stone column, hand-painted ceiling beams, and a staircase decorated with Hispano-Moresque tile and floral wrought iron railings. To the left of the rotunda is the living room that has a barrel-vaulted ceiling and a stone fireplace. Off to the right of the rotunda is a doorway that leads to the dining room, breakfast area, kitchen, and servants’ quarters. Most prominently featured in the breakfast area is a faux wood coffered ceiling as well as a white oak geometric parquet floor, and built-in cabinets with leaded glass doors. Private areas of the single-family dwelling consist of six bedrooms, three on the first floor and three on the second floor, which all feature coved ceilings, individual patios, and/or connected balconies. There are also six bathrooms with English Art Deco/ Art Nouveau themed tilework. The subject property has experienced a number of alterations throughout the years which include a kitchen remodel in the 1950s and the addition of an elevator in the 1980s. In addition, a few original interior features have been removed which include hand-forged bronze and iron lighting fixtures, two leaded glass windows, wrought-iron window grilles, and a wrought iron interior gate with a floral motif. The citywide historic resources survey, SurveyLA, identified the subject property as individually eligible for listing or designation at the national, state and local levels as an excellent example of Spanish Colonial Revival residential architecture in Pacific Palisades. CRITERIA The criterion is the Cultural Heritage Ordinance which defines a historical or cultural monument as any site (including significant trees or other plant life located thereon) building or structure of particular historic or cultural significance to the City of Los Angeles, such as historic structures or sites in which the broad cultural, economic, or social history of the nation, State or community is reflected or exemplified, or which are identified with historic personages or with important events in the main currents of national, State or local history or which embody the distinguishing characteristics of an architectural type specimen, inherently valuable for a study of a period style or method of construction, or a notable work of a master builder, designer or architect whose individual genius influenced his age. CHC-2017-3323-HCM 14999 West La Cumbre Drive Page 3 of 3 FINDINGS Based on the facts set forth in the summary and application, the Commission determines that the application is complete and that the property may be significant enough to warrant further investigation as a potential Historic-Cultural Monument. PROPOSED MONUMENT DESCRIPTION: Built in 1930, the John L. Kennedy House is a 5,699 square foot, two-story, single family residence executed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style in Huntington Palisades1 . The Kennedy Residence stands on a triple lot at the corner of La Cumbre Drive and Alma Real and was designed around an octagonal interior courtyard. The exterior is clad in whitewashed cement stucco and features a tiled low pitched roof complete with two arched chimneys at each end of the residence. A symmetrical ground plan with sheer volume and setback massing characterizes the exterior facade. The Northwest portion consists of a horizontal single story massing while the entrance utilizes vertical massing of the Southwestern-most corner for the second story which continues to the end of structure East along La Cumbre Drive. Primary entrances to the house consist of the arched main entry, secondary entryway under the porte cochere off the Alma Real frontage, and servants entry at the Eastern most portion of the residence. The main entry is recessed within a raised arch and flanked by two Neoclassical floral “California” tile murals, striking examples of Los Angeles’ position as a tile manufacturing center of the period. Multiple carved bas-reliefs featuring various floral, geometric and Islamic designs as well as hand forged bronze hardware adorn the arched front door. Door types in the house vary from carved single panel to multi-paneled with decorative steel banding and hardware. Fenestration consists of multi-paned steel casement windows in deep recessed openings with either shutters or concrete grilles in alternating arrangements. Located on the Northwestern-most part of the property along Alma Real is the detached three car garage which includes 1 Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, Permit #8678, 4/17/1930 three original “Overland” retracting overhead doors, a detached porte cochere, and full chauffeurs quarters. This home's interior space features excellent elements of late 1920s Spanish Revival design. These spaces have suffered few alterations besides being painted in the 1950s by the second owner.2 The rotunda entryway is furnished with hexagonal Saltillo tile flooring, a carved stone Ionic column, a hand painted beamed ceiling and dramatic staircase decorated with Hispano-Moresque tile and floral wrought iron railings. To the to the left of the rotunda is a barrel vaulted living room featuring a twelve-foot-tall arched window on the end wall. Two six-foot-tall casement windows overlooking the front yard flank the stone fireplace. “Wallace Neff” style semi-elliptical sliding pocket doors on the opposite wall lead to the covered arcade and backyard. The right doorway off the rotunda leads to the dining room, breakfast nook, kitchen, and servants quarters. A gothic arched hallway goes from the dining room to the library. Most prominently featured in the dining room is the faux wood grained coffered ceiling. A large casement window overlooks La Cumbre, and now missing iron gates lead to the octagonal breakfast area. (They would have matched the stair railings.) Other dining room features include, a white oak geometric parquet floor, leaded glass china cabinets, a swinging door, and a pass-thru to the kitchen. From the dining room, a hallway leads to the library, which includes a corner fireplace and built-in bookcases lined in terra cotta tile from local manufacturer Santa Monica Brick Co(Monaco). Two areas make up the kitchen, connected by an arched passageway and is decorated in yellow and electric blue Art Nouveau tile by H&R Johnson Ltd of England. It was updated in the 1950s with new appliances and counters. An elevator was also added in the 1980s. Otherwise, it is intact. 2 Interviews with the children of Jerome Kummer Private areas of the residence consist of six bedrooms. Three are on the second floor, and three are on the first floor, which includes the spartan servant quarters off the kitchen at the eastern most end of the home, a guest room off the covered arcade and yard, and the utilitarian chauffeurs quarters in the garage. Second floor bedrooms all feature coved ceilings, casement windows, individual patios, and/or connected balconies.

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