2400 Bath Street

2400 Bath Street Designation Status: Listed on the Potential Historic Resources List Assessor Parcel Number: 025-061-015 Constructed: 1923 / 1928 addition Historic Name: Knapp College of Nursing Property Description: Two-story, U- shaped Spanish Colonial Revival structure with low-pitched, hipped roofs covered in terra-cotta tiles. Decorative wood brackets support the wide overhanging eaves. The tiles create a decorative transition from the roof to the smooth stucco. Double-hang sash windows with transoms and wood frame casements locate on the stucco wall, and the windows on the second floor appears to be narrower and shorter than the ones on the first floor. Conjunctions between sections varied between direct connection and hyphens with arches. Stairs lead up to the main entrance of the house with a paired wood entry door that expresses solidarity with an arched decorative stone surround that sets it apart from the other façade openings. Doors are made of wood with glass panels and recess in the wall plane with a stucco return and no trim. Architect: Carleton Winslow Builder: Snook & Kenyon Architectural Style: Spanish Colonial Revival Property Type: Commercial Original Use: School of nursing Significance: The Historic Landmarks Commission listed the property on the Potential Historic Resources List since 1986 when the State of California Office of Historic Preservation determined the building was eligible as Structure of Merit. The City of Santa Barbara establishes historical significance as provided by the Municipal Code, Section 22.22.040. Any historic building that meets one or more of the eleven criteria (Criteria A through K) established for a City Landmark, or a City Structure of Merit can be considered significant. The structure may be significant as a Structure of Merit per the following criteria: Criterion A. Its character, interest or value as a significant part of the heritage of the City, the State or the Nation: 2400 Bath Street, the Knapp building, is associated with the development of Cottage Hospital, which initially had been planned by a committee of 50 civic-minded women in the late 1880s under the leadership of Mary A. Ashley, widow of Dr. James A. Ashley. Incorporating as a Hospital Committee, in 1888, a year later they purchased a quarter-block parcel at the comer of Fourth (Junipero) and Castillo Streets from fellow-Committee members W. H. Woodbridge and his wife in what was Block 3 of Neal's Addition, a proposed subdivision of undeveloped agricultural land in the northern part of the City. At the time of purchase, this lot on the outskirts of town was not served by any utilities, or public transit, and only Castillo Street was paved, forcing the Committee to sink a well and build a water tower to service the lot. They envisioned creating a new hospital as a series of small cottages but turned to a single building design because of their limited budget. Designed by Peter Barber and completed in 1891, the new 25-bed hospital, at the comer of Junipero and Castillo Street, was a large elegant redwood building with decorative shingles, wide porch, and a four-story tower. With the arrival of the first chief surgeon, Dr. Richard John Hall, this hospital became the only surgery center between Los Angeles and San Francisco (San Buenaventura Research Associates 2003: 2- 3). Expanding in the 1920s as a result of the increasing demand for services, the hospital added research and pathology laboratories, a four story wing donated by George Owen Knapp in 1927, a four-story surgical wing donated by Max Fleischmann in 1929, and that same year a new auditorium and office building donated by the Bissell family. The City of Santa Barbara grew to meet the hospital, extending the trolley line, paving roads, and a new concrete hospital, designed by Russell Ray, was finished in 1913. The original hospital housed nurses. With the addition of the Potter Memorial Clinic in 1917, whose chief Dr. Nathaniel Bowditch Potter researched diabetes, and the initiation of insulin treatment for diabetic patients by Drs. William David Sansum and Norman R. Blatherwick in 1922, the Hospital attracted many new patients. The hospital had trained nurses since 1892, when the Cottage Hospital School of Nursing was established, one of the first of its kind in California. The nursing students initially were housed on the third floor of the original hospital, which became entirely theirs after the new hospital was completed in 1913. The school became accredited in 1914, but overcrowding was still an issue. When George Owen Knapp was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Hospital in 1915, he immediately began to raise funds for a new classroom and dormitory building for the nurses. He donated property at 2400 Bath Street and spent $160,000 to construct a new Nurses' Hall, which was named for his wife Louise Savage Knapp (San Buenaventura Research Associates 2003: 3-5). The new Nurses' Hall was built on land owned by the Knapps, on Lot 3 of the Pierce Tract. Designed by noted architect, Carleton Momoe Winslow, and constructed in 1923 by contractors Snook and Kenyon. Knapp had previously hired Winslow to design the terrace and upper gardens at his Arcady estate, and also presumably knew of his previous work as the architect for the Bliss estate in Montecito (1917), the Santa Barbara Clinic building (1920) and the Museum of Natural History (1922-23). By 1927, the nursing school separated from the hospital and was incorporated as the Louise Savage Knapp College of Nursing. In 1928, the building was expanded to the north with an addition housing an auditorium, demonstration room, and technical library. The architect again was Winslow. The nursing college operated until 1968, graduating almost 900 nurses, until financial problems led to its close in 1968. It was used for storage for a number of years before being completely renovated in 1982 to serve as administrative offices for the hospital (Permit Log, #9494; San Buenaventura Research Associates 2003: 3-5). The building is important for its association with the development and growth of Cottage Hospital, and as such is the only building remaining which dated form the historic period of the hospital history. The building is also significant for its association with. In 1916, Bertram Goodhue, author of a book on Spanish Colonial architecture, helped to kick-start the new Spanish style with his designs for the Panama California Expo in San Diego. Until then, the only Spanish themed architecture mimicked Mission prototypes. Soon, however, architects and patrons began to look to Spain itself for detailed examples of the Spanish style. Throughout the territories initially settled by the Spanish in the Southwest, as well as Texas and Florida, the Spanish Colonial Revival flourished. Santa Barbara had many architects including George Washington Smith, Lutah Maria Riggs, Winsor Soule, Reginald Johnson, William Edwards, and Joseph Plunkett talented in designing in the style. Another key to the success of the Spanish Colonial Revival in Santa Barbara was the Plans and Planting Committee through which Pearl Chase and others helped to sway Santa Barbara towards a more unified architectural style based on the City’s Spanish Colonial and Mexican past. After the earthquake of 1925, much of the rebuilding of State Street and the El Pueblo Viejo area was in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The central plateresque style entry smooth stucco walls and terra-cotta roof reflect the design envisioned by the planners as Character defining features of the Spanish Colonial Revival style, a theme carried throughout downtown demonstrates the architect’s attention to intricate details. The cast concrete ornamental surrounds that adorn the entrance and window surrounds are highlighted against the smooth stucco walls. The school took inspiration from Spain’s Renaissance, Plateresco style. The origins for the decorative style were from the sixteenth-century Italian sculptors and artisans who came to Spain to execute commissions for tombs and altars for Spanish nobles and church officials. This period produced a defined style. In California, the ornamental Spanish Renaissance, Plateresco style was intermixed with other Spanish Revival styles as it appears around the ornate entrances with exuberant stucco and stone ornament. This style is seen in many dramatic entrance doors and window treatments of offices and shops in the Los Angeles area. Such formality of style worked well for offices and apartment buildings. Winslow, the architect of the Cottage Hospital Nursing School practiced in Los Angeles where the style was more popular than the simpler Spanish Colonial Revival styles seen in Santa Barbara. The style is unique and an important addition to architectural repertoire of Santa Barbara. The building qualifies under criterion A as an excellent example of original Spanish Colonial Revival style commercial building that is essential to the identity of Santa Barbara as the last remaining buildings from the historic period of Cottage Hospital’s founding and development. Criterion C. Its identification with a person or persons who significantly contributed to the culture and development of the City, the State or the Nation: The buildings are eligible under Criterion C for their association with George Owen Knapp and his wife Louise Savage Knapp and with Dr. William Sansum. George Knapp was a civil engineer from Massachusetts, who formed the Union Carbide Company in 1898 with his colleague C. K. G. Billings. He and his wife Louise Savage Knapp wintered in Montecito from 1904 on, and built a house there, Arcady, in 1912. From the outset of their move to the Santa Barbara community, they became involved with philanthropic pursuits, primary among them Cottage Hospital. In 1915, Knapp was appointed to the Board of Directors of Cottage Hospital, where he served as President.

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