TORRANCE TRACT HISTORIC PRESERVATION PLAN TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA MAY 2018 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CITY COUNCIL CITY STAFF Patrick J. Furey, Mayor Jeff Gibson, Director of Community Heidi Ann Ashcraft Development Department Tim Goodrich Linda Cessna, Deputy Director Mike Griffiths Gregg D. Lodan, Planning and Environmental Milton S. Herring Manager Geoff Rizzo Carolyn Chun, Project Manager / Senior Kurt Weideman Planning Associate Kevin T. Joe, Planning Associate CITY CLERK Sunny Lai, Systems Analyst - GIS Rebecca Poirier PREPARED BY: CITY TREASURER Page & Turnbull Dana Cortez 417 S. Hill Street, Suite 211 Los Angeles, CA 90013 PLANNING COMMISSION www.page-turnbull.com Robert Rudolph, Chair John Lesak, Principal Steven Polcari, Vice Chair Flora Chou, Project Manager/Cultural Resource Sarah D’anjou Planner Mary Lou French Kimberly McCarron, Historic Architect Scott Gobble Josh Bevan, GIS Mapping G. Rick Marshall Richard Tsao CITY ATTORNEY John Fellows, III Patrick Sullivan TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 MISSION STATEMENT ................................................................................................ 4 WHY PRESERVATION MATTERS ................................................................................. 4 PREPARING THE DOCUMENT .................................................................................... 5 2. HISTORY AND CHARACTER ................................................................................. 6 TORRANCE TRACT HISTORY ..................................................................................... 6 NEIGHBORHOOD CHARACTERISTICS ....................................................................... 11 ARCHITECTURAL STYLES ........................................................................................ 13 3. PAST AND CURRENT PRESERVATION EFFORTS .................................................... 15 1979 HISTORIC RESOURCE SURVEY .......................................................................... 15 SMALL LOT, LOW MEDIUM OVERLAY ZONE ............................................................. 15 OLMSTED TRACT SURVEY AND HISTORIC CONTEXT STATEMENT ............................ 16 TORRANCE TRACT OVERLAY ZONE ......................................................................... 20 HISTORIC PRESERVATION ORDINANCE .................................................................... 20 4. HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN THE TORRANCE TRACT .......................................... 23 TORRANCE REGISTER OF HISTORIC RESOURCES ..................................................... 23 BENEFITS OF HISTORIC DESIGNATION .................................................................... 25 TORRANCE TRACT OVERLAY ZONE VS. HISTORIC DISTRICTS .................................. 27 PROCESS FOR HISTORIC DESIGNATION ................................................................... 30 WHAT MAKES A GOOD HISTORIC DISTRICT? ........................................................... 34 CONCENTRATIONS OF CONTRIBUTING RESOURCES FOR POTENTIAL HISTORIC DISTRICTS ...................................................................................................... 36 THEMATIC HISTORIC DISTRICTS .............................................................................. 40 5. PROJECT REVIEWS IN HISTORIC DISTRICTS ......................................................... 41 MINOR PROJECT REVIEW ......................................................................................... 42 CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS (C OF A) ......................................................... 45 CERTIFICATE OF DEMOLITION ................................................................................ 48 CERTIFICATE OF ECONOMIC HARDSHIP .................................................................. 51 6. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR PROJECTS IN HISTORIC DISTRICTS....................... 53 PROJECTS INVOLVING PARTIAL DEMOLITION .......................................................... 53 NEW CONSTRUCTION IN HISTORIC DISTRICTS ......................................................... 53 THREE COMMON PROJECTS IN THE TORRANCE TRACT ........................................... 55 7. RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................ 62 8. SOURCES CITED ............................................................................................... 63 9. APPENDIX ........................................................................................................ 64 A. 2014 OLMSTED TRACT SURVEY .......................................................................... B. RELEVANT ORDINANCES .................................................................................... C. NATIONAL AND STATE PRESERVATION PROGRAMS ............................................ D. SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR’S STANDARDS FOR THE TREATMENT OF HISTORIC PROPERTIES ....................................................................................... E. CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION F. PRESERVATION RESOURCES ............................................................................... G. ABBREVIATIONS AND NOTES ............................................................................. Report is best viewed as a two-page spread with cover sheet and printed double-sided. 1. INTRODUCTION Torrance has long recognized the original, historic core of the city as an important part of its identity. Now known as the Torrance Tract (also as the Old Torrance Tract or Olmsted Tract), the city’s core was developed by Jared Sidney Torrance in the early twentieth century as a planned company town for the oil industry (Figure 1). To lay out the town, Mr. Torrance retained the famed Olmsted Brothers, sons of master landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. The Olmsted Brothers’ plan divided the approximately one square mile area into three districts, creating an area for industry, an area for commercial uses, and an area for housing defined by a central green. The new town was well connected to the greater Los Angeles region by railroad and streetcar lines. The Pacific Electric streetcar line carried people and goods to and from Torrance with arrival into town punctuated by Torrance’s signature arched bridge, designed by noted Southern California architect Irving Gill (Figure 2). Figure 1: Brochure map showing the planned residential and commercial areas surrounded by industry. Source: Torrance, The Modern Industrial City, 1913. May 2018 - 1 - Torrance Tract Final Historic Preservation Plan Over time, the industrial uses found within the Torrance Tract have evolved and while many of the commercial businesses and buildings have come and gone, the residential areas have remained remarkably constant. Primarily developed between 1912 and 1945, the housing stock ranges from grand houses lining Post Avenue and the El Prado central green to modest cottages, bungalows, and apartment. The pre-World War II neighborhood character can still be seen and felt through original built features: buildings, streets, and landscapes. Since the 1970s and 1980s, Torrance has approached protecting the unique character of the Torrance Tract’s residential areas in mostly informal, voluntary ways. Demolition of older homes that contributed to the tract’s character was discouraged, but not prevented. Though new development of properties was encouraged to be sensitive-- to the street pattern, setbacks, and scale of the surrounding neighborhood-- compatibility with the community’s physical character was not required. On some blocks, accumulated changes over time have created an inconsistent mix within the streetscape; on other blocks, the sense of an early twentieth century neighborhood has already been lost. A survey of the Torrance Tract conducted by the Torrance Historical Society between 2013 and 2014 documented where Figure 2: Pacific Electric Railroad Bridge relatively unaltered pre-1945 homes remained, but also where designed by Irving Gill, as seen in 1988. they no longer exist. Source: National Register of Historic Places nomination. May 2018 - 2 - Torrance Tract Final Historic Preservation Plan In response to the Torrance Historical Society’s survey results, and to address development pressures, the Torrance City Council enacted a temporary Torrance Tract Overlay Zone in March 2016 that became permanent in December 2017. As a planning tool, the Torrance Tract Overlay Zone extended an existing Planning Commission review process long used in one portion of the Torrance Tract to about 850 relatively unaltered, pre-1945 residential properties throughout the Torrance Tract boundaries. The overlay zone covers the area bounded by Dominguez Street to the north, Western Avenue to the east, Plaza del Amo to the south and Crenshaw Boulevard to the west (Figure 3). At the same time, City Council initiated efforts to establish a historic preservation ordinance to formally recognize and protect historic buildings and historic districts. The preservation ordinance offers those who own historic buildings, or live in an area where there is a concentration of historic buildings, a more proactive and direct tool to manage change. This Torrance Tract Preservation Plan is intended to guide property owners, community members, Figure 3: Boundary of Torrance Tract and the city’s decision makers in using the historic preservation Overlay Zone, outlined in orange. Source ordinance within the Torrance