Landmark Assessment Report Date: April 28, 2021 For: Stephanie Reich, Design and Historic Preservation Planner Subject: 1132-1142 Princeton Street From: Elysha Paluszek, Associate Architectural Historian, and Amanda Duane, Senior Architectural Historian, GPA Consulting _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Executive Summary The properties at 1132 and 1142 Princeton Street comprise a courtyard apartment complex that was developed on two separate legal parcels (Los Angeles County Assessor’s Parcel Numbers 4266-016-058 and 4266-016-059). The two properties were nominated as Santa Monica Landmarks on November 2, 2020. The City of Santa Monica (City) retained GPA Consulting (GPA) to prepare this Landmark Assessment Report to determine if the properties are eligible for designation, and if so, under which criteria. The two properties will be considered as one unified apartment complex for the purposes of this report. The complex consists of four total buildings: two mirrored S-shaped apartment buildings and two detached garages. Both properties were identified in the 2010 Santa Monica Citywide Historic Resources Inventory (HRI) Update prepared by ICF International and in the 2018 HRI Update prepared by Architectural Resources Group (ARG) and Historical Resources Group (HRG). The 2010 HRI indicates that the property appeared to be eligible as a Structure of Merit for representing a unique or rare example of an architectural design, detail, or historical type, and as the work of architect Martin Stern, Jr. The property was assigned a status code of 5S3 in the 2018 HRI Update, which indicated that the property appeared to be eligible as a Landmark as an excellent example of a 1940s courtyard apartment as well as representing the work of notable architect Martin Stern, Jr. GPA evaluated the property under the six Santa Monica Landmark criteria. As a result of this analysis, GPA concludes that the property does not appear to be significant under any local criteria, and therefore does not appear to be eligible for designation as a Santa Monica Landmark. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Figure 1: 1132-1136 Princeton Street, view looking south. GPA Consulting, March 17, 2021. Figure 2: 1138-1142 Princeton Street, view looking southeast. GPA Consulting, March 17, 2021. Introduction The purpose of this report is to evaluate the courtyard apartment complex at 1132-1142 Princeton Street as a Santa Monica Landmark in response to two designation applications, one for each street address, received by the City of Santa Monica in November 2020. The complex is located on Princeton Street west of Wilshire Boulevard in the northeast and mid-city areas of the City of Santa Monica (see Figure 3).1 The property comprises two legal parcels (Los Angeles County Assessor’s Parcel Nos. 4266-016-058 and 4266-016-05). 1 The boundaries for the northeast and Mid-City areas overlap. The area between Washington Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard is located in both areas. Landmark Assessment Report – 1132-1142 Princeton Street, Santa Monica, CA 2 _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Figure 3: Apartment complex and parcel boundary. Base image courtesy of LA County GIS. Elysha Paluszek and Amanda Duane were responsible for the preparation of this report. They fulfill the qualifications for historic preservation professionals outlined in Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 61. Their résumés are included in Attachment A. Methodology In preparing this report, GPA performed the following tasks: 1. Reviewed existing information, including the 2010 and 2018 Historic Resources Inventory Updates and the Landmark Applications prepared by Chattel, Inc. 2. Conducted a field inspection of the property on March 17, 2021, to ascertain the general condition and physical integrity of the apartment complex. Digital photographs of the exterior of all buildings were taken during this field inspection. 3. Conducted research into the history of the property. Sources referenced included building permit records, city directories, newspaper archives, genealogical databases, and historic maps. Landmark Assessment Report – 1132-1142 Princeton Street, Santa Monica, CA 3 _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Reviewed and analyzed ordinances, statutes, regulations, bulletins, and technical materials relating to federal, state, and local historic preservation designations, and assessment processes and programs to evaluate the property for significance as a Santa Monica Landmark. 5. Evaluated the property under the Santa Monica Landmark and Structure of Merit criteria. Previous Evaluations of Property The property at 1132-1142 Princeton Street was previously evaluated as part of the 2010 and 2018 Historic Resources Inventory Updates. In 2010, the property was evaluated as a potential Structure of Merit and assigned a status code of 5S3 (appears to be individually eligible for local listing or designation through survey evaluation). It was evaluated in 2018 as a potential Santa Monica Landmark and assigned a status code of 5S3. Historic Context2 Theme: Multi-Family Residential Development (1899-1977)3 … In the years leading up to the United States' entry into the war in December 1941, a series of dramatic shifts began. Thousands of people migrated to Southern California from other parts of the country. The rapid influx of Douglas Aircraft and other defense workers exacerbated Southern California's already intense need for housing. In response, the federal government converted newly-built public housing complexes to "defense housing," and constructed additional "war worker" housing complexes. These investments provided temporary relief, but housing was a problem that persisted for many years after the war's end. Like many cities in Southern California, the defense workers of World War II transformed the landscape of Santa Monica. In 1940, the population of Santa Monica was 53,500. During the war, Douglas aircraft had 44,000 people (mostly women) on its payroll at the Santa Monica Cloverfield facility, nearly doubling Santa Monica’s population. Unlike other cities, Santa Monica had little open land on which to construct defense worker housing, even if the money and materials had been available. Instead, density increased in an already built-out city. Leslie S. Storrs, former zoning administrator with the City of Santa Monica, recounts that many people took in boarders and/or subdivided their single-family residences for defense workers out of patriotism in a time of national emergency. In one large home on Georgina Avenue, some 26 renters were accommodated. A review of Sanborn Maps indicates that many owners of single-family residences in the city erected small apartment units at the rear of their properties or over their garages. 2 The following, unless otherwise noted, is excerpted from Architectural Resources Group and Historic Resources Group, City of Santa Monica Citywide Historic Resources Inventory Update Survey Report (Santa Monica: City of Santa Monica Planning and Community Development, August 9, 2019). 3 Excerpt begins with most relevant postwar period. Landmark Assessment Report – 1132-1142 Princeton Street, Santa Monica, CA 4 _____________________________________________________________________________________________ “Santa Monica officialdom did what it had to do,” according to Storrs. “It in effect suspended all zoning regulations and urged that accommodations be created for the workers whether zoning violations resulted or not.” Variances were also created for wartime industry, under the guise that they were “for the duration of the emergency.” As with many reactive measures, the ill-defined nature of the variance (and a housing shortage that persisted well after the war was over) created a density problem in Santa Monica that was to persist for many years. It effectively changed the city composition from owner occupied single-family residences to a city of renters. In 1957, the City of Santa Monica enacted a master plan which “provided for multiple units in traditionally single-family neighborhoods.” By 1950, four out of five Santa Monica residents were renters. By 1960, 69 percent of housing units in Santa Monica were occupied by renters. The war not only made a mark on Santa Monica through population increases and the establishment of a substantial industrial base, it changed the city’s mix of single-family and multi-family residential housing forever. … In addition to the ad-hoc apartments created in the city, Santa Monica became home to a number of small garden apartment complexes. Due to the scarcity of land, large garden apartment complexes like those seen in the San Fernando Valley and other areas of Los Angeles were not feasible. However, two- and three- building versions of the property type were scattered about the city. Drawing upon the site-planning ideas of Clarence S. Stein (1882-1975) and Henry Wright (1890- 1978) and their “Radburn Plan,” these apartments emphasized a landscaped backbone over the urban grid. Buildings were typically sited to face green spaces rather than the street. Architect Kenneth Lind received recognition for his designs for garden apartments in Santa Monica in Architectural Forum. Large courtyard apartments also began to appear around the city. Although smaller versions of this property type had been