Shangri-La Hotel 1301 Ocean Avenue Santa Monica, California City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation Report
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Shangri-La Hotel 1301 Ocean Avenue Santa Monica, California City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation Report Evaluation Report Parcel Map Sanborn Maps Photographs Prepared for: City of Santa Monica Planning Division Prepared by: PCR Services Corporation Santa Monica, California October 1, 2009 Shangri-La Hotel 1301 Ocean Avenue Santa Monica, California City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation Report ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING The subject property, the Shangri-La Hotel (Hotel Shangri-La), built in 1939 in the Streamline Moderne architectural style, is situated on the southeast corner of Ocean Avenue and Arizona Avenue between 2nd Street to the east, Ocean Avenue to the west, Arizona Avenue to the north, and Santa Monica Boulevard to the south. The Pacific Ocean is approximately one-quarter mile to the west. The seven-story reinforced concrete hotel is located in the Town of Santa Monica Tract, Block 148, on Lots V, W, and X and covers an area of approximately 150 feet by 200 feet. The Hotel Shangri-La has an L-shaped footprint and occupies roughly half of Lots X, W, and X. REGULATORY SETTING The Shangri-La Hotel has been identified and assessed under the City of Santa Monica’s ongoing survey process. The property was also previously surveyed in 1985-1986 during Phases 1 and 2 of the City’s Historical Resources Inventory. Both times the property was evaluated as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (National Register) and was given an evaluation code of 4 due to its age, less than 50 years, at the time of the evaluation.1 The subject property was reassessed during the Historic Resources Inventory Update (1995) and was given a National Register Status Code of 4S2 that identified the subject property as “individually eligible for the National Register if more historical or architectural research is performed on the property.”2 ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION Evoking the form of a grand ocean liner, the seven-story hotel, ca. 1939, was constructed in the Streamline Moderne style (Figure 1). Character-defining features of the style include stucco exterior surfaces, emphasis on curvilinear walls, projections above doorways and windows, casement windows, restrained detailing, horizontal accents, and flat roofs. The building’s L-shaped plan, built around a central courtyard, provides ocean views to the hotel rooms. Stepped massing, with the tiered sixth, seventh and penthouse floors stacked above the first five floors, creates roof decks for the penthouse rooms. The roof is flat with coping at the roofline. Curved horizontal pipe railings extend above the primary north and west elevations of the fifth, sixth and seventh floors. Bands of metal casement windows, pipe railings, and decorative “speed lines” on the primary north and west elevations all emphasize horizontality in the overall composition of the building. 1 City of Santa Monica Historic Resources Historic Resources Inventory, 1983. 2 City of Santa Monica Historic Resources Inventory Update, September 28, 1995. Shangri-La Hotel City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation Report page 1 The hotel has a curved primary entrance located at the northwest corner of the hotel near the intersection of Ocean Avenue and Arizona Avenue (Figure 2). The entrance is recessed and has concrete stairs with stylized metal railings, square pedestals (alteration), double glass doors (alteration), a glass block door surround, and two large fixed windows (alteration). Engaged fluted columns flank the building’s double glass entry doors (alteration). An original semi-circular canopy with a Shangri-La marquee (alteration) covers the primary entrance. Above the primary entrance, the curved corner is constructed of alternating rows consisting of five casement windows and five fixed black glass windows. The building’s overall massing, pipe railings, fenestration, and grooved “speed lines” create a strong sense of horizontality on the primary west elevation (Figure 3) facing Ocean Avenue and the north elevation (Figure 4) facing Arizona Avenue. The east and north elevations have bands of metal casement windows clustered in groups of two, four, and nine (Figure 5). The corners of the north and west elevations terminate into curved window ends. The short south and east elevations (Figure 6) have two bays of windows and “speed lines.” The rear elevation is comprised of the central elevator bay with a column of metal casement windows and the outdoor hallways. The lobby exhibits many distinctive Streamline Moderne elements, including a terrazzo floor (alteration), recessed ceiling with decorative molding (alteration), and a glass block door surround on the primary entrance (Figures 7 to 9). Photographs of the lobby from circa 1940 show the original terrazzo floor and recessed ceiling. It appears that the existing floor and ceiling were designed to be similar in the recent rehabilitation but not replicate the original. The glass block surround is original. ALTERATIONS The building’s exterior has high integrity and exhibits few alterations. The curved corner of the primary entrance has glass double-doors, pedestals, marquee and fixed side windows, which are all later alterations. At construction, the fixed side entrance windows were glass block, but were replaced at an unknown date with plate glass. The marquee was replaced in 1951 with a neon sign and, in 1958, two signs were installed on the south and west elevations. In order to comply with fire code requirements, the exterior stair from the alley to the patio deck was replaced in 1987. Building permits indicate that the patio was altered in 1948, 1957 and 1987. Since construction, the building’s interior has been substantially remodeled. The following table lists the completed building permits filed for the property from 1939 to 1987.3 3 City of Santa Monica, Department of Building and Safety. Shangri-La Hotel City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation Report page 2 # Date Owner Architect Contractor Description Valuation Tulsa-Santa William E. Tulsa-Santa Monica B651 2/15/1939 Monica Corp. Foster Corp. 62 Family Apartment 200,000 Tulsa-Oklahoma Santa Monica B4053 5/21/1948 Corp. Remodeling Co. Alteration - Patio 5,000 Santa Monica Neon B9885 8/31/1951 Shangri-La Hotel Co. Neon Sign 600 Shangri-La Hotel Peter Whitehill B21495 4/2/1957 Apts. (Eng.) Paddock Pools, Inc. Swimming Pool 3,300 Tulsa-Santa Tulsa-Santa Monica B23817 5/12/1958 Monica Corp. Corp. Install 2 Signs 500 Shangri-La Garden B51787 2/22/1979 Hotel James Mount Basement Alterations 5,000 55640 1/20/1983 W.W. Baureich Western Homestead Fire Depart Requir 3,000 Arnold E. Remove & Replace 59043 2/10/1987 Amad Ayata Foster Roy Hiljus Stair 6,000 Arnold E. Remove & Replace 59220 4/9/1987 Indus Investment Foster Roy Hiljus Pavilion 20,000 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND SANTA MONICA In 1875, the original townsite of Santa Monica was surveyed, including all the land extending from Colorado Street on the south to Montana on the north, and from 26th Street on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west. Between 1893 and the 1920s, the community operated as a tourist attraction and was visited primarily by wealthy patrons. Those areas located just outside of the incorporated city limits were semi-rural in setting and populated with scattered residences. Following the widespread acceptance of the automobile in the 1920s, Santa Monica experienced a significant building boom, with numerous homes constructed in the tracts north of Montana and east of Seventh Street for year-round residents. SANTA MONICA TOWNSHIP The area that includes the property at 1301 Ocean Avenue was part of the original town of Santa Monica. In the late 19th and during the early years of the 20th century, Ocean Avenue had residences that faced Linda Vista Park (Palisades Park) and the Pacific Ocean (Figure 10). Miramar, the Shingle Style home of one of the City’s founders, Senator John P. Jones, was located on the corner of Nevada (Wilshire) and Ocean. The site of Miramar is occupied by the hotel which perpetuates the name and a landmark Moreton Bay Fig tree, which was planted in 1899 on the Jones’ estate. The surrounding neighborhood was originally a residential district. Small hipped roof cottages occupied many of the empty lots located directly east of Ocean Avenue. The three lots (V, W, X) that comprise the subject property were vacant in the early years of the 20th century. The 1909 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map depicts a cottage on lot X with open land on neighboring Lots V and W. In ensuing years, low-density residential construction spread a few blocks to the north and east. In 1918, few buildings were erected east of Shangri-La Hotel City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation Report page 3 Lincoln Boulevard. In the 1920s and 1930s, the construction of numerous single- and multi- family residences on formerly open parcels created a dramatic imprint on the overall character of the local built environment. Many of the previously existing residences were either demolished or converted into multi-family units. In addition, the 3rd Street commercial area was burgeoning with commercial properties. By the mid 1920s, the block of the subject property was a lively mixed-use area that included both commercial and residential uses. In the 1930s, a significant minority of residences and commercial buildings were designed in the modernistic Art Deco or Streamline Moderne idiom. Extant examples of these styles constructed along Ocean Avenue include the Georgian Hotel (1415 Ocean Avenue) constructed in 1933 and the subject property, the Shangri-La Apartment Hotel, constructed in 1939. THE SHANGRI-LA APARTMENT HOTEL On October 30, 1938, the Los Angeles Times reported that plans were being prepared for one of the “largest apartment buildings constructed in Southern California in a decade” (Figure 11).4 A building permit for a new concrete apartment hotel for sixty-two families was filed on February 15, 1939.