1613 Lincoln Preliminary Assessment mw€¦ · Blvd City of Santa ... Lincoln General Telephone...

233 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 130, Santa Monica, CA 90401 INTERNET www.pcrnet.com TEL 310.451.4488 FAX 310.451.5279

Memorandum TO: Scott Albright, Senior Planner, City of Santa Monica DATE: July 3, 2012 CC: FROM: Margarita Wuellner, Ph.D., Jon Wilson, M.A., M.Arch.,

Amanda Kainer, M.S., PCR Services Corporation, Inc.

RE: Preliminary Historic Assessment: Santa Municipal Garage, 1613 Lincoln Boulevard, Santa Monica, APN 4283-001-002

As requested by City’s staff, PCR Services Corporation (PCR) has conducted a site visit of the Santa Municipal Garage located at 1613 Lincoln Boulevard, between Colorado Avenue and Olympic Boulevard on the east side of Lincoln Boulevard, and has also reviewed archival data relevant to the history of the subject property. The legal description of the subject property is the Standard Tract, Lot 15. Based on Los Angeles County Tax Assessor records and Santa Monica building permits, it appears that the original improvements to the subject property, a 18,890 square foot Municipal Garage, were made in 1933.

The subject property has been identified and assessed under the City’s ongoing survey process on two previous occasions. The Municipal Garage was first identified and recorded as part of the Phase 3 Survey in 19941 The subject property was recommended eligible as a Santa Monica Local Landmark and given a California Historic Resources Status Code of 5S1. The subject property was found eligible for its significant historical association with the economic development and transportation industry in Santa Monica with the period of significance being 1875-1943:

This property is significant for its association with the transportation in industry in Santa Monica. By the late 19th century, Santa Monica had several trolley lines within the town and was connected to Los Angeles by the Pacific Electric Company. By the late 1920s, however, it was apparent that the automobile would be the dominant form of transportation in the future. Two bus lines were established, one private, one city-owned. This bus barn was built to service the municipal line in 1933. In 1951, the Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines bought out Bay City Transit, forming the company which still provides service in the City today.

The subject property was later reassessed during the 2006-07 Citywide Historic Resources Inventory Update.2 According to the survey, the subject property retained the prior recommendation (appears to be individually eligible for local listing or designation through survey evaluation) and was assigned a California Historic Resources Status Code of 5S3.

1 City of Santa Monica Phase 3 Survey, 1994. The property was recorded with the address of 1607 Lincoln Boulevard. 2 Historic Resources Inventory Update for the City of Santa Monica, September 30, 1995.

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RE: PRELIMINARY HISTORIC ASSESSMENT: MUNICIPAL BUS GARAGE, 1613 LINCOLN BOULEVARD,

SANTA MONICA, APN 4283-001-002

PCR Services Corporation July 3, 2012

The Santa Monica Municipal Garage, a former municipal bus barn, was designed by Chase Burke, an architect for the City of Santa Monica, in 1933 as a one-story warehouse building.3 The floor plan of the building is trapezoidal and the building has concrete slab floors, reinforced brick masonry exterior walls (stuccoed) with engaged wall piers on the front elevation, and a wood frame roof sheathed in composition asphalt and supported by arched steel trusses.. The primary façade is divided into five bays by six engaged wall piers/pilasters topped with pyramidal finials. There is an arched parapet over the large center bay between the wall piers. The windows and doors are later replacements, and the window openings on the secondary elevations have been filled (bricked). The interior is lighted by skylights. The rear elevation has a 1950s addition (stuccoed). Current photographs are provided in the attached exhibit.

Since the original construction in 1933, there have been several alterations. The original large openings for the buses to enter the garage have been in-filled with windows and doors on the primary facade. The arched awning above the central entrance (alteration) cuts into the original facade. The windows on the secondary elevations have been in filled. In 1959, the face of the building was sandblasted and coated with a thin coat of stucco. The signage has been removed and changed. There are several building permits on record with the City of Santa Monica for the subject property (see Table 1 below).

Table 1. City of Santa Monica Building Permits for 1613 Wilshire Boulevard

No. Date Address Owner Architect Contractor Description Valuation

5004 4/5/1933

1613‐1621 Lincoln Blvd

City of Santa Monica

Chas Burke

City of Santa Monica

Occupant: Municipal Bus Line. Masonry exterior walls, composition roof, 27' height, 1 story, 115' x 170', 18,000 sq ft 24,000

B14815 12/17/1953 1613 Lincoln General Telephone

Parr Construction, Co.

Construction 2 interior rooms for storage, 40'x38' and 32'x28' 4,500


Enlargement of shop area within the rear portion of the warehouse 6,500

B25748 4/3/1959 1613 Lincoln General Telephone Aero ‐‐‐ For sandblasting face of building


George H. Lenell

New partitions to enclose calibration room. Building used for equipment repair. 1,400


John H. Burt RME

Add wall and ceiling to 12'x62' interior room. 1,500

B36371 3/1/1965 1613 Lincoln Sam Posen Sam Posen

Fill in 3 window openings with brick or cement block on the secondary north elevation. 150

3 The Juniper Building. Phase I: Santa Monica Historic Resources Inventory, 1983.

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M&C Construction Enlarge existing room inside building. 1,800

B452128 12/31/1969 1613 Lincoln Sam Posen

Scott E. Campbell

Installation of automatic fire sprinkler system. 12,000

B42444 4/23/1970 1613 Lincoln Otto Zipper Alfa

A‐1 Sign Company

Marquee Sign. Supporting structure: 3/16" x 3" brass studs. Frame of sign: metal w/ 4" retainer. Plexiglas with metal stud mounts. Dimensions 2'x24', 42'x45'. Height approx 35'. 435

B44482 3/17/1972 1613 Lincoln

International Auto Parts Inc.

A‐1 Sign Company

Interior partitioning ‐ temporary not ones 3/4 height. 2x4 at 16" and plywood. 550

B45931 6/21/1973 1613 Lincoln Otto Zipper

Walter J. Drazan, Inc. Construction of car port in rear. 1,600

B46152 8/30/1973 1613 Lincoln Otto Zipper

Loed Nu/Prensuca Engineer Wall Sign. 1,000

B47645 4/17/1975 1613 Lincoln

Otto Zipper Alfa Inc. Replace existing windows. 500

52175 7/6/1979 1607 Lincoln Hill and Vaughn Owner Spray booth 14 1/2' x 26' 8" 1,125

52176 7/6/1979 1607 Lincoln Hill and Vaughn Owner Build 2‐96 sq. ft. offices and hallway. 1,125

56896 8/8/1984 1607 Lincoln Hill and Vaughn Owner

Improved stairway and exit to meet fire code. 2,000

62278 8/2/1991 1613 Lincoln

Russ Anderson (Applicant) AE Schmidt Temporary shoring for tank removal 9,500

62309 8/16/1991

1607‐1613 Lincoln

Santa Monica Antique Market, Inc.

Eric Parlee

Garrett Construction

Tenant Improvements, New Bathrooms, rebuild storage/office, new open partition 100,000

In 1928, the first Santa Monica municipal buses were parked at the gasoline station at the intersection of Lincoln and Pico boulevards, Hendricks Corner (Plate 1). 4 As the municipal fleet grew, it moved to the City Yards, located at the intersection of Colorado and Lincoln. The Santa Monica Municipal Garage (Plates 2 and 3) was constructed in 1933 and housed twenty-five buses and included fuel tanks, repair pits, a machine shop and a small office for management staff. The City buses began operation out of the new facility on July 1, 1933. The 1950 Sanborn map indicated the building held 80 cars and had concrete floors, steel trusses, and reinforced pilasters. The lots behind the Municipal Garage along Colorado Avenue were the Santa Monica Yards. There were three smaller structures in the rear of the building: an office, oil storage shed, and a miscellaneous shed. Adjacent to the Municipal Garage, was the garage for Santa Monica City Schools buses. After the Bay Cities fleet was acquired in 1951, the City needed to find a new site to accommodate the increased bus fleet, so the equipment and personnel were moved to the Bay Cities garage at 1726 4th Street. The maintenance and operations facility was the home of the municipal buses throughout the

4 Bob Ayer, History of Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus (Santa Monica, CA: City of Santa Monica, 1992): 16-19.

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1950’s. In 1962, a new bus facility was constructed on 6th Street, south of Colorado Avenue, the current site of the City of Santa Monica municipal garage and complex.

Subsequent occupants of the subject property include the General Telephone Company between 1954 and approximately 1965. In 1970 Otto Zipper Alfa, automotive dealer and owner of a car racing team, was an occupant of the property for five years. In 1979, Hill and Vaughn (Plate 4), a classic car restoration business, were occupants for six years. In 1991, the Santa Monica Antique Market, the current occupant, moved into the subject property. The directory research is presented in Table 2 below.

Table 2. Santa Monica Directory Research, 1613 Lincoln Boulevard

Year Entry

1933 Municipal Bus Line (garage) 1936 City Transportation Department – Municipal Bus Line Garage 1938 City Transportation Department – Municipal Bus Line Garage 1947-48 None 1952-53 Vacant 1954 General Telephone Co Warehouse 1958-59 General Telephone Co Warehouse 1960-61 General Telephone Co Warehouse May 1965 None October 1965 None October 1967 None October 1968 None October 1970 Otto Zipper Alfa October 1971 Otto Zipper Alfa October 1972 Otto Zipper Alfa and Global Auto Parts Inc. April 1973 Otto Zipper Alfa

CONCLUSION

In applying the City’s significance criteria for individual recognition as a proposed City of Santa Monica Landmark, the subject property appears to potentially rise to the threshold of

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significance for Landmark designation. The property appears to possess sufficient historical importance to warrant potential designation under Criterion 1, exemplifies, symbolizes, or manifests elements of the cultural, social, economic, political or architectural history of the City. The Santa Monica Municipal Garage, constructed in 1933 by a Charles Burke, was used as a bus barn by the City of Santa Monica between 1933 and 1951. The existing building appears to be a rare property type, a bus barn, in the City of Santa Monica associated with the development of transportation in the City. It is recommended that further research be conducted on the property type and its rarity in Santa Monica and the surrounding region. It is also recommended that criteria and integrity considerations be examined and developed specifically with regard to transportation-related warehouses/garages in Santa Monica and the surrounding region. Although the property is an altered example of a municipal bus barn, it appears to be a rare example of its property type. It appears to retain sufficient integrity to convey its historical associations; however, this should be confirmed or refuted through further investigation on the property type.

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Plate 1. The City of Santa Monica’s first eight buses purchased in July 1928. The First Big Blue Facility was a gas station at Hendricks Corner, Pico and Lincoln. (Bob Ayer, History of Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus (Santa Monica, CA: City of Santa Monica, 1992): 17.)

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Plate 2. Arrival of twelve buses photographed for the occasion in front of the Municipal Garage, 1933. (Bob Ayer, History of Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus (Santa Monica, CA: City of Santa Monica, 1992): 17.)

Plate 3. Santa Monica Municipal Garage, circa 1935. (Carolyn Bartlett Farnham Collection.Santa Monica Image Archives)

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Plate 4. Interior of 1613 Lincoln Blvd, Hill and Vaughn were occupants of the building between 1979 and 1985 (Email Correspondence with Glenn Vaughn, son of Ken Vaughn, March 27, 2012)

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Bibliography

Ayer, Bob. History of Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus. Linda Sullivan, ed. Santa Monica, CA: City of Santa Monica, 1992.

Basten, Fred E. Santa Monica Bay: Paradise by the Sea. Santa Monica: Hennessey and Ingalls, 2001.

City of Santa Monica Building and Safety Department. Building Permits.

Klein, Jake. Santa Monica: Then and Now. Utah: Gibbs Smith, 2003.

Los Angeles County Tax Assessor. Property Information Records.

Polk. Polk’s Santa Monica City Directory. Los Angeles, (various years).

Warren, Charles Sumner. Santa Monica Community Book. Santa Monica: Cawston, 1953.

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RE: PRELIMINARY HISTORIC ASSESSMENT: MUNICIPAL BUS GARAGE, 1613 LINCOLN

BOULEVARD, SANTA MONICA, APN 4283-001-002


EXHIBITS

Current Photographs

Assessor Map

Sanborn Map 1918

Sanborn Map 1950

Excerpt from History of Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus

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Current Photographs

1613 Lincoln Boulevard, primary (west) elevation, view to southeast (A. Kainer, PCR 2012)

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1613 Lincoln Boulevard, primary (west) elevation, view to northeast (A. Kainer, PCR 2012)

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1613 Lincoln Boulevard, west and south elevations, view to northeast (A. Kainer, PCR 2012)

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1613 Lincoln Boulevard, south elevation, view to north (A. Kainer, PCR 2012)

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1613 Lincoln Boulevard, north elevation, view to southwest (A. Kainer, PCR 2012)

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1613 Lincoln Boulevard, rear (east) elevation, view to south (A. Kainer, PCR 2012)

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1613 Lincoln Boulevard, interior (A. Kainer, PCR 2012)

A.Kainer

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