HISTORICAL NOMINATION of the Homer Delawie and Lloyd Ruocco Park Garden Apartments 1740 Upas Street ~ North Park Neighborhood San Diego, California Ronald V. May, RPA Kiley Wallace Legacy 106, Inc. P.O. Box 15967 San Diego, CA 92175 (619) 269-3924 www.legacy106.com June 2016 1 HISTORIC HOUSE RESEARCH Ronald V. May, RPA, President and Principal Investigator Kiley Wallace, Vice President and Architectural Historian P.O. Box 15967 • San Diego, CA 92175 Phone: (858) 459-0326 / (760) 704-7373 • http://www.legacy106.com 2 3 State of California – The Resources Agency Primary # ___________________________________ DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI # ______________________________________ PRIMARY RECORD Trinomial __________________________________ NRHP Status Code 3S Other Listings ___________________________________________________________ Review Code _____ Reviewer ____________________________ Date __________ Page 3 of 69 *Resource Name or #: The Homer Delawie and Lloyd Ruocco Park Garden Apartments P1. Other Identifier: 1740 Upas Street, San Diego, CA 92103 *P2. Location: Not for Publication Unrestricted *a. County: San Diego and (P2b and P2c or P2d. Attach a Location Map as necessary.) *b. USGS 7.5' Quad: Point Loma Date: 2015 USGS topographical T ; R ; ¼ of ¼ of Sec ; M.D. B.M. *c. Address: 1740 Upas Street City: San Diego Zip: 92103 d. UTM: Zone: 11 ; 490055 mE/ 3625264 mN (G.P.S.) *e. Other Locational Data: (e.g., parcel #, directions to resource, elevation, etc.) Elevation: 223 feet Legal Description: East 65 feet of Lots 13 to 18 inclusive, Block 246 of University Heights, 1740 Upas Street. It is Tax Assessor’s Parcel # 452-482-16-01. *P3a. Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries) The resource is a three-story Modern style multifamily residential complex designed by innovative Master Architects Lloyd Ruocco and Homer Delawie. The 1959 Modernist Post and Beam "garden apartment" residential complex front façade faces south directly onto Balboa Park with individual units featuring an expansive open view overlooking the Park or interior courtyard. The two attached structures have 24 units and was originally built as the Park Garden Apartments but has now been converted to condominium units now known as Upas Park. The multifamily complex structures were custom designed in 1959 by two recognized Master Architects, Lloyd Ruocco FAIA and Homer Delawie FAIA, during their brief partnership which lasted only a few years from 1958- 1961, before Delawie opened his own office in 1961 (which still exits to this day). The unique Modern Post and Beam resource exemplifies this brief partnership combining two of the most significant Modernist architects in San Diego. The rectangular multi-unit complex is an outstanding example of a mid-century custom designed modern "garden apartment" with lower level parking / open car port. The building has a flat roof and utilizes post and beam construction with alternating blocks of open balconies that cantilever and extend out with open balcony spaces recessed into the rectangular façade. The units are grouped facing the park and around an internal central open courtyard area with large glass sliding doors and windows blending indoor and outdoor spaces. The building's setting is near the southwest corner of the North Park community near the Hillcrest neighborhood in San Diego. (See Continuation Sheet.) *P3b. Resource Attributes: (List attributes and codes) HP 3 - Multi Family *P4. Resources Present: Building Structure Object Site District Element of District *P5b. Description of Photo: View of south elevation. Photo by Dan Soderberg, October 2015. *P6. Date Constructed/Age and Sources: Historic Prehistoric Both The Residential Building Record date of construction shows the building was built December 27, 1959. The Water permit is dated October 1, 1959. The Sewer permit is dated December 28, 1959. Original architectural plans and rendering, 1959. The notice of completion is dated July 15, 1960. *P7. Owner and Address: Upas Park HOA 1740 Upas St., San Diego, CA 92103 *P8. Recorded by: (Name, affiliation, and address) Ronald V. May, RPA and Kiley Wallace, Legacy 106, Inc., P.O. Box 15967, San Diego, CA 92175 *P9. Date Recorded: June 2016 *P10. Survey Type: (Describe) Intensive *P11. Report Citation: (Cite survey report and other sources, or enter "none.") Historical Nomination of The Homer Delawie and Lloyd Ruocco Park Garden Apartments, San Diego, California for the City of San Diego, Historical Resources Board, by Ronald V. May, RPA and Kiley Wallace, Legacy 106, Inc., June 2016. Legacy 106, Inc. is indebted to Alexandra Wallace and Dan Soderberg for assistance with the preparation of this report. *Attachments: NONE Location Map Sketch Map Continuation Sheet Building, Structure, and Object Record Archaeological Record District Record Linear Feature Record Milling Station Record Rock Art Record Artifact Record Photograph Record Other (List): DPR 523A *Required Information 4 State of California The Resources Agency Primary # DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI# CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial Page 4 of 69 *Resource Name or #: The Homer Delawie and Lloyd Ruocco Park Garden Apartments *Recorded by: Ronald V. May, RPA and Kiley Wallace *Date: June 2016 Continuation Update *P3a. Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries) (Continued): Modernist Post and Beam Architecture. The Homer Delawie and Lloyd Ruocco Park Gardens displays Modernist Post and Beam design style with its direct expression of the structural system showing the weight and mass of the upper two levels of the building suspended over the lower floor open entryway and open carport style auto storage area. The building also displays international influences and has an absence of applied decoration in keeping with its modernist style. Its use of industrial materials such as corrugated steel also shows the international influences. On the first floor, simple slender beams and side facing walls carry the weight of the upper levels, allowing the large rectangular mass to appear to levitate or float over the open space below. The structure has a flat roof with wide horizontal massing and repetitive facade geometry with alternating large windows and recessed open balconies. The apartment house was custom designed in 1959 by the architectural design team of Master Architect Lloyd Ruocco FAIA and Master Architect Homer Delawie FAIA. This is an outstanding example of a Mid-Century architect designed modernist so-called garden apartment. The building has a flat roof and a compound rectangular form. The horizontal design and massing contain almost no eave overhangs throughout. The style of the building is the Modernist sub-type of Post and Beam, named after the method of construction. The Post and Beam and International Modern substyles are mentioned and described in the San Diego Modernism Context. These garden apartment buildings have the character defining features indicative of the Modern Post and Beam Modern style. The structures have a rectilinear plan and form with a grid like site design and layout. The flat roof and interior upper and lower level colonnades are supported by extending steel structural beams seen on the upper two levels on the front building with living space supported by simple square concrete columns and side facing walls are seen in the open automobile parking area flanking the central landscaped entryway area. International Modernist Architectural influences. The horizontal design, window bands, simplified cubic massing and unadorned stucco surface displays the building's International Modern influences. While the San Diego Modernism Context describes asymmetry as a primary character defining feature of the style, many second generation International Modernist architects utilized symmetrical façade designs as seen on the subject resource. Other prominent examples of symmetrical International Modernism include the Bi-Nuclear House by Marcel Breuer and San Diego's own case study Triad houses built in La Jolla by architect Edward Killingsworth. All of these are examples of International Modernist designs with symmetrical façades. Also, the structure is raised up on thin columns and side facing structural walls with thin vertical profiles and living levels elevated one story above the ground level on a floating podium, providing for more privacy and a better view of Balboa Park and allowing for vehicle and human movements beneath, this is a principled International modernist design approach commonly used by French Master Architect Le Corbusier on his internationally famous Villa Savoy and others. The generous and integrated landscape give the buildings a cubist so called "sculpture in a garden" look that was also favored my international modern architects such as Le Corbusier and Mies Van de Rohe. Some of the most significant architecturally defining elements of this Mid Century Modern garden apartment are set back internal within the building complex itself. The inset central front entryway hints at the interior blending of indoor and outdoor courtyard spaces, which is framed with high palms and landscaping. The entryway has two long free standing walls revealing a deeply recessed mesh gate entryway with geometric masonry wall and integrated landscape planting drawing your eye into the natural light of the interior open courtyard. This interior