CULTURAL RESOURCES Assessmevts
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APPENDIX D CULTURAL RESOURCES ASSESSMENTS March 05, 2013 Jaime Murillo, Associate Planner CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH 3300 Newport Boulevard Newport Beach, CA 92663 Re: HISTORIC RESOURCES ASSESSMENT LETTER REPORT, NEWPORT BACK BAY Dear Mr. Murillo: This Historic Resources Assessment letter report, completed by PCR Services Corporation (PCR), documents and evaluates the federal, state, and local significance and eligibility of the properties located at Back Bay Landing Project Area, Newport Beach, Orange County, California. The Historic Resources Assessment letter report includes a discussion of the survey methods used, a brief historic context of the property and surrounding area, and the identification and evaluation of the subject property. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The Back Bay Landing project waterfront village will be located on 6.974 acres in the City of Newport Beach (“City”) in Orange County, California. Subsequent to the requested legislative approvals, future development on-site would be regulated by the development standards and design guidelines established in the PCDP, which would allow for a mixed-use development with the maximum development limits. A future on-site mixed-use development project would be designed with a Coastal Mediterranean architectural theme. It is proposed that existing Orange County Sanitation District 5 Bay Bridge Station (Pump House) (1966) will be rehabilitated and the commercial storage garages on the eastern side of Parcel 3 (1961) will be demolished. RESEARCH AND FIELD METHODOLOGY The Historic Resource Assessment was conducted by PCR’s Historic Resources Division staff, Margarita J. Wuellner, Ph.D., Director of Historic Resources, Murray Miller, M. Arch., Principal Historic Preservation Planner, and Amanda Kainer, M.S., Assistant Architectural Historian, who meet and exceed the Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards in history, historic architecture and architectural history. Resumes are included in the Appendix. The historical resources evaluation involved a multi-step methodology. A review of the National Register of Historic Places (National Register) and its annual updates, the California Register of Historical Resources (California Register), the California Historic Resources Inventory Database maintained by the State Office of Historic Preservation (OHP), and the City of Newport 201 Santa Monica Boulevard, Suite 500, Santa Monica, CA 90401 INTERNET www.pcrnet.com TEL 310.451.4488 FAX 310.451.5279 CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH March 05, 2013 - Page 2 Historic Resource Inventory and General Plan was performed to identify any previously recorded properties within or near the survey area. An intensive pedestrian site survey was undertaken to document the existing conditions of the property. The National Register and California Register evaluation criteria were employed to assess the significance of the property. In addition, the following tasks were performed for the study: • Searched records of the National Register, California Register, the California Historic Resources Inventory Database, and the City of Newport Beach. • Conducted field inspections of the study area and subject property, and utilized the survey methodology of the State OHP. • Photographed the subject property and examined other properties in the area that exhibited potential architectural and/or historical associations. Conducted site-specific research on the subject property utilizing building permits, assessor’s records, Sanborn fire insurance maps, city directories, historical photographs, California Index, historical Los Angeles Times, archives at the Orange County Sanitation District, and other published sources. • Reviewed and analyzed ordinance, statutes, regulations, bulletins, and technical materials relating to federal, state, and local historic preservation, designation assessment processes, and related programs. • Evaluated potential historic resources based upon criteria used by the National Register and the California Register. REGULATORY FRAMEWORK National Register Criteria To be eligible for listing in the National Register, the quality of significance in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, or culture must be in a district, site, building, structure, or object that possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association, and:1 A. Is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; B. is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; 1 How to Complete the National Register Registration Form, National Register Bulletin, U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, 1997. This bulletin contains technical information on comprehensive planning, survey of cultural resources, and registration in the National Register of Historic Places. CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH March 05, 2013 - Page 3 C. embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or that represents the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; D. It yields, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. A property eligible for listing in the National Register must meet one or more of the four criteria defined above. In addition, unless the property possesses exceptional significance, it must be at least 50 years old to be eligible for National Register listing. However, the National Register does not prohibit the consideration of properties less than fifty years in age whose exceptional contribution to the development of American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, and culture can be clearly demonstrated. As defined in National Register Criteria Consideration G: Properties that have Achieved Significance with the Past Fifty Years, a property achieving significance with the past fifty years is eligible only if it is of exceptional importance, or if it is an integral part of a district that is eligible for listing in the National Register.2 In addition to meeting the criteria of significance, a property must also have integrity. “Integrity is the ability of a property to convey its significance.”3 According to the National Register Bulletin, the National Register recognizes seven aspects or qualities that, in various combinations, define integrity. To retain historic integrity a property will always possess several, and usually most, of these seven aspects. Thus, the retention of the specific aspects of integrity is paramount for a property to convey its significance.4 The seven factors that define integrity are location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association. The following is excerpted from the National Register Bulletin, How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation, which provides guidance on the interpretation and application of these factors: 1. Location is the place where the historic property was constructed or the place where the historic event occurred.5 2. Design is the combination of elements that create the form, plan, space, structure, and style of a property.6 2 National Register Bulletin: Guidelines for Evaluating and Nominating Properties that have Achieved Significance Within the Past Fifty Years, (U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1979, Revised 1990, 1996, 1998). 3 How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation, National Register Bulletin, (U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, 1997), 44. 4 Ibid. 5 “The relationship between the property and its location is often important to understanding why the property was created or why something happened. The actual location of a historic property, complemented by its setting is particularly important in recapturing the sense of historic events and persons. Except in rare cases, the relationship between a property and its historic associations is destroyed if the property is moved,” Ibid. CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH March 05, 2013 - Page 4 3. Setting is the physical environment of a historic property.7 4. Materials are the physical elements that were combined or deposited during a particular period of time and in a particular pattern or configuration to form a historic property.8 5. Workmanship is the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture or people during any given period in history or prehistory.9 6. Feeling is a property's expression of the aesthetic or historic sense of a particular period of time.10 7. Association is the direct link between an important historic event or person and a historic property.11 In assessing a property's integrity, the National Register criteria recognize that properties change over time, therefore, it is not necessary for a property to retain all its historic physical features or characteristics. The property must retain, however, the essential physical features that enable it to convey its historic identity.12 For properties which are considered significant under National Register Criteria A and B, the National Register Bulletin, How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation states that a property that is significant for its historic association is eligible if it retains the essential physical features that made up its character or appearance during the period of its association with the important event, historical pattern, or person(s).13 In assessing the integrity of properties which are considered significant