2125 arizona landmark assessment revised - santa monica · 2009-05-11 · the santa monica doctors...

Santa Monica Doctors Building 2125 Arizona Avenue Santa Monica, California City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation Report

Evaluation Report Parcel Map Sanborn Maps Photographs

Prepared for: City of Santa Monica Planning Division Prepared by: PCR Services Corporation Santa Monica, California May 1, 2009

Santa Monica Doctors Building City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation Report

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Santa Monica Doctors Building 2125 Arizona Avenue Santa Monica, California City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation Report

ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING

The subject property, the Santa Monica Doctors Building, is situated on the northwest corner of Arizona Avenue and 22nd Street, between 22nd Street to the east, 21st Street to the west, Wilshire to the north, and Arizona Avenue to the south. The three-story reinforced concrete office building is located within the Orchard Tract 199, on Block 3, Lot 30. The lot includes the original three-story medical office building and parking lot. The subject property is bordered by multi-family housing to the north and west, single-family housing to the east, and St. John’s Hospital to the south. Based on a site survey, early Sanborn Maps, and Los Angeles County Tax Assessor records, it appears that the original improvements to the subject property were made between 1950 and 1952.

REGULATORY SETTING

The subject property has been identified and assessed under the City of Santa Monica’s ongoing survey process. The subject property was assessed during Phase 3 of the City’s Historic Resources Inventory in 1993.1 It was given a National Register Status Code of 4S2 that identified the subject property as “individually eligible for the National Register if more historical or architectural research is performed on the property.”

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION

The three-story Santa Monica Doctors Building is a Streamline Moderne medical office building designed in 1946 and constructed during the early 1950s in Santa Monica in Santa Monica (Figure 1). Character-defining features of the style include stucco exterior surfaces, emphasis on curvilinear walls and overhangs, projections above doorways and windows, wide eaves, casement windows, and flat roofs. The subject property has a rectangular plan and stepped massing, with the tiered third floor and penthouse stacked on top of the first and second floors. The roof is flat with shallow coping at the roofline. Stylized wide curvilinear eaves extend a few feet beyond the primary south and east elevations. The building’s horizontal composition is emphasized by bands of metal casement windows, and by decorative band courses below the projecting first- and second-story eaves, and on both the third-story, penthouse.

The building has a distinctive, curved corner entrance located at the southeast corner near the intersection of 22nd Street and Arizona Avenue (Figure 2). The primary recessed entrance at the corner has terrazzo stairs, curved corner windows, curved pilasters flanking the glass doors (alteration), a black pigmented glass door surround and two square recessed entry lights. The non-original double glass entry doors are flanked by engaged fluted columns. 1 City of Santa Monica Historic Resources Inventory: Phase 3 Survey, 1994.

2125 Arizona Avenue City Landmark Assessment and Evaluation Report

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The decorative terrazzo entry flooring continues into the interior lobby (Figure 3). The entrance is covered by an original semi-circular canopy. The second-story above the primary entrance has four metal multi-light transom windows above multi-light casement windows (alteration).

The primary east elevation (Figure 4) facing 22nd street and the south elevation (Figure 5) facing Arizona Avenue both have curvilinear exterior walls. Both the east and south elevations feature eight-light casement windows topped by four light transoms. A low curvilinear concrete planter mirrors the curving horizontal lines of the east and south elevations. The alignment of the windows, eaves and planters reinforce the building’s horizontality.

The rear (west and north) elevations are flat stucco surfaces without ornamentation (Figure 6). The wide eaves wrap around the corners onto the rear elevations and extend a few feet before terminating. The north elevation has a metal fire escape, non-original doors, eight-light casement windows topped by four light transoms, four-light casement windows, and stringcourses above the first and second floors. The west elevation has double glass doors (alteration), eight-light casement windows topped by four light transoms, four-light casement windows, and awnings above some of the windows.

Alterations

The building’s exterior displays a high level of integrity and has very few alterations. The primary entrance’s glass double-doors and handrail on the front steps are later additions. The original second floor glass block window above the primary entrance was replaced with three casement windows between 1992 and 2008 (Figures 7 and 8). The two doors on the north (rear) elevation and the double doors on the west (rear) are also later alterations. Building permits indicate the interior has been substantially remodeled to accommodate later tenant improvements required by the changes in the needs of doctors and other tenants and improvements in medical technology, which is not uncommon in existing early to mid-twentieth-century medical office buildings.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Santa Monica.

In 1875, the original townsite of Santa Monica was surveyed, including all the land extending from Colorado Street on the south to Montana on the north, and from 26th Street on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west. Between 1893 and the 1920s, the community operated as a tourist attraction, visited mostly by wealthy patrons. Those areas located just outside of the incorporated city limits were semi-rural in setting and populated with scattered residences. Following the widespread acceptance of the automobile in the 1920s, Santa Monica experienced a significant building boom, with homes being constructed in the tracts north of Montana and east of Seventh Street for year-round residents.

In the 1920s, Santa Monica saw the arrival of large companies, such as Merle Norman Cosmetics and Douglas Aircraft. In the years immediately prior to America’s entry into


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World War II, Santa Monica’s development escalated as Douglas Aircraft received increasing numbers of government contracts. After the war, when Southern California was flooded with returning veterans and their families seeking homes, the demand for housing continued to be high in Santa Monica, and apartment construction in particular escalated.

Subdivision of the Orchard Tract and the Development of St. John’s Hospital and the Santa Monica Doctors Building

According to the 1918 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Santa Monica, the Orchard Tract was largely unimproved until the post-World War II era. Block 3, the future site of the Santa Monica Doctors Building, was undeveloped with the exception of two single-family residences fronting Wilshire Boulevard and two single-family residences fronting 21st Street. The lots of the subject property were vacant. The future site of St. John’s Hospital, directly to the south of Block 3, was occupied by the Golden State Plant & Floral Company and four single-family residences. The original location of McKinley Public School was on Block 129 southwest of the subject property. During the first two decades of the twentieth century, single-family residences were the predominant building type in the vicinity.

The 1950 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map illustrates the increase in building density after World War II; however, Lot 30, the site of the future Santa Monica Doctors Building, remained vacant. The subject property was the only vacant lot on the block. The block was developed with single-family residences facing 22nd Street and multi-family housing facing 21st Street. St. John’s Hospital, constructed in 1942, occupied the block directly to the south of the subject property. Single-family residences fronted the west side of the same block. McKinley Public School, west of St. John’s, moved to Block 125 near the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Chelsea Street. Ramsey Military School moved into the old McKinley Public School building. Many of the multi-family, institutional and mixed-use buildings originally constructed in the vicinity of the subject property remain today.

The Santa Monica Doctors Building was constructed at 2125 Arizona in close proximity to St. John’s Hospital, a prominent medical facility in the City of Santa Monica (Figures 9 and 10). St. John’s Hospital was opened in November 1942 by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth (Figures 11 and 12).2 The Archbishop of Los Angeles, John J. Cantwell, proposed the Sisters of Charity Leavenworth construct a five-story reinforced concrete hospital and auxiliary structure. The hospital was designed by J.E. Loveless and constructed by Pozzo Construction Company for $800,000. The hospital organization donated a forty-foot strip of their property on Arizona Avenue to the city for use in widening the street to its current eighty-foot width. As the population of Santa Monica grew, the demand for healthcare facilities also increased, so in June of 1949 St. John’s began the construction of a new seven story $2,3000,000 North Wing addition.3

Based on City of Santa Monica building permits, the Santa Monica Doctors Building was constructed between 1950 and 1952 as a medical office building with fourteen suites for

2 Warren, Charles Sumner, p. 93. 3 Warren, Charles Sumner, p. 94.


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doctors, dentists, and a pharmacy. The original set of construction plans date from May 1946. An application for a new building was filed on May 5, 1947, and later another application for a new building with nearly identical information was re-filed on March 23, 1950. The building permits do not list an architect, only a structural engineer, Leslie A. Irvin, and a contractor, David Johnson. The original owner was Edward J Talley, the president of the Santa Monica Doctors Building, Incorporated. The building construction delay may have been due to the lack of financing at the end of World War II. The subject property does not appear on the 1950 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Santa Monica and the Tax Assessor lists the date of construction as 1952. Occupants of the subject property were first listed in the 1952-53 Santa Monica City Directory.

Medical Facilities in Santa Monica

In the early twentieth century, the City of Santa Monica did not have public medical facilities. Articles in the Los Angeles Times from 1896 to 1897 described the City of Santa Monica’s urgency to construct a receiving hospital to care for injured patients4. The sick and injured were often nursed at private residences where doctors would make house calls (Figure 13). As the City of Santa Monica began to develop, accidents related to construction and transportation increased, so medical facilities for the injured were desperately needed. Finally on June 16, 1904 the Los Angeles Times reported the City collected enough funds to construct a hospital.5 However, the first hospital, the Santa Monica Bay Hospital, wasn’t constructed until 1907.6 The brick Santa Monica Bay Hospital was located at 4th Street and Pacific and contained twenty-five modern rooms (Figure 14). The 1918 Sanborn Map indicates the name of the hospital was changed to Saint Catherine Hospital.

During the 1920’s the Los Angeles Times featured many stories about the construction of proposed new hospitals in Santa Monica. In 1907 there was a plan to build a modern 200-bed hospital, to be named St. Luke’s Hospital, on Pico Boulevard across the street from Santa Monica High School.7 However, St. Luke’s Hospital was never constructed. Nineteen years later, there was a proposal to construct a new seven-story hospital on the site of Saint Catherine Hospital at 4th Street and Pacific in 1926, but the plans were never conceived (Figure 15).8 On July 26, 1926, the brick Renaissance Revival Santa Monica Hospital opened at 16th Street and Wilshire Boulevard (Figure 16). Originally, the hospital was a sixty-bed facility with three floors, a basement and a rooftop patio.9 Two thirty-bed wings were added in 1928 and 1936. 4 Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica: A Receiving Hospital Needed – The Veterans Aroused,” February 8,

1896; Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica: Active Steps to Provide Hospital Facilities – City Trustees,” February 8, 1897; Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica: Railway Accident Suggests Need of a Receiving Hospital,” November 20, 1897.

5 Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica: Hospital Certain,” June 16, 1904. 6 Los Angeles Times, “Hospital Nearly Finished: New Santa Monica Institution Thoroughly Modern,” April

17, 1907. 7 Los Angeles Times, “Plan to Build Big Hospital,” March 6, 1921. 8 Los Angeles Times, “Beach Hospital Planned: St Catherine to Be Devoted to Enterprise Involving Sum of

$1,000,000,” March 20, 1926. 9 Gray, Barbara Bronson. 120 years of medicine: Los Angeles County, 1871-1991. Houston: Pioneer

Publications, 1991, pgs. 100.


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As hospitals were proposed and constructed during the 1920’s, the construction of medical office buildings also occurred. One of the earliest medical office buildings in Santa Monica was the Wilshire Medical Building constructed in 1924 at 317-335 Wilshire Boulevard (Figure 17).10 The Wilshire Medical Building was designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style by Paul R. Williams. Another medical office building constructed in Santa Monica was the Mission Revival Santa Monica Health and Wellness Center at 1525 Euclid Street. The cornerstone was laid on March 28, 1928 by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (Figure 18).11 During the late 1920’s the County of Los Angeles began to decentralize healthcare by constructing small, permanent healthcare facilities in outlying communities. 12 At the corner-stone ceremony Dr. J. L. Pomeroy, county health officer, proclaimed:

A few dollars expended in health protection is cheaper than hundreds that funerals cost. Money is appropriated for fire prevention, better roads, and other construction work. The most constructive work of all is that of health protection. That is the chief function of the health center.13

By constructing smaller-scale medical office buildings, the County was able to make healthcare accessible to all of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles County Hospital was twenty-miles away from Santa Monica. The Santa Monica Health and Wellness Center was the fourth medical office building constructed in the County of Los Angeles. The Santa Monica Health and Wellness Center housed an emergency hospital and rooms for extended overnight stays.

The increased population in the post World War II period brought about a hospital shortage in Santa Monica. St. John’s Hospital was opened in November 1942, but the population boom necessitated the construction of a new seven-story addition to St. John’s Hospital in 1949, and shortly thereafter the construction of the adjacent Santa Monica Doctors Building circa 1950.14 In 1952 a Los Angeles Times article reported on the hospital bed shortage stating: “There should be 1200 beds for the 300,000 persons served by the two local hospitals (Santa Monica and St. Johns); but there are actually only 450 beds, a shortage of 750.”15 To fulfill the hospital bed shortage, other Post World War II medical facilities were constructed in Santa Monica and West Los Angeles, including the UCLA Medical School (1946), the West Los Angeles Medical Center addition (1959), the Santa Monica Hospital Medical Center addition (1954), and the Brentwood Division Administration Building for the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center addition (1946).16 The Santa Monica Community Book stated in 1953: “The Santa Monica Bay Area rapidly is becoming one of 10 City of Santa Monica, Historic Resources Inventory Update for the City of Santa Monica Central Business

District and the Third Street Promenade, April 12, 1998. 11 Los Angeles Times, “Health, Welfare Center Bids to be Open Monday,” December 2, 1927. 12 Los Angeles Times, “County Health Aims Disclosed: Supervisor Makes Address at Santa Monica,”

October 15, 1925. 13 Ibid. 14 Los Angeles Times, “Bids Requested for Hospital,” December 1, 1940. 15 Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica Hospital Faces Shortage of Beds,” December 18, 1952. 16 Gray, Barbara Bronson. 120 years of medicine: Los Angeles County, 1871-1991. Houston: Pioneer

Publications, 1991, pgs. 99-105; Los Angeles Times, “New West Los Angeles Medical Center Set,” August 24, 1958.


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the best medically equipped areas in the country.”17 The Santa Monica Doctors Building was designed during this period and is linked to the development of medical facilities in the Santa Monica Bay Area.

While Hospitals were being constructed in Santa Monica, the construction of medical office buildings was booming during the 1940s and 1950s. The number of medical office buildings constructed outweighed the construction of hospitals. Medical office buildings were cost effective to construct and often constructed adjacent to hospitals and commercial districts. They were designed in the latest architectural style with modern medical technology and automobile convenience. Medical office buildings at 1148 4th Street (1936-1942) and the Santa Monica Medical Center at 1137 2nd Street (1941) were constructed near commercial districts. The medical office building at 1530 Arizona (1942) was constructed near the Santa Monica Hospital, and the medical office building at 2200-2202 Santa Monica Boulevard (1951) and the subject property, the Santa Monica Doctors Building, were constructed near Saint John’s Hospital.

Additionally, there are many examples of medical office buildings constructed in Los Angeles during the 1950s: the Modern 6010 Wilshire Boulevard (1952, Sidney Eisenshtat); the International Style 4070 Buckingham Road in Baldwin Hills (1954, William Allen); the Modern 6225 Wilshire (Welton Becket & Associates, 1956); the Modern Linridge Medical Building at 16000 Ventura in Encino (1954); the Modern 6360 Wilshire (Maurice H. Fleishman, 1954); the Modern 1240 Venice Boulevard (1959); and the Modern medical building at 1321 N Vermont Avenue (1953).18

Medical Office Buildings in Los Angeles and Santa Monica

The medical office building is a building type that developed in the twentieth century. As the population in Los Angeles and Santa Monica grew and the medical profession became more specialized, the construction of medical office buildings increased. Medical office buildings gained prominence during the 1920’s and were often located adjacent to hospitals or commercial districts. The peak of medical office buildings construction was during the 1950s; with the popularity of medical office building construction, Architectural Record profiled the basic requirements for a modern physician office in 1950.19 Similar to commercial architecture, medical office buildings were designed in the prevailing architectural style popular during their era of construction.

In addition to the Santa Monica Doctors Building, there are other extant examples of medical office buildings in Santa Monica. Two of the earliest examples of medical office buildings

17 Warren, Charles Sumner, p. 92. 18 Los Angeles Times, “Large New Structure is Begun on Wilshire Site ,” December 9, 1950; Los Angeles

Times, “Medical Building Set for Baldwin Hills,” February 28, 1954; Los Angeles Times, “Encino Hospital and Medical Building Projects Advance,” April 4, 1954; Los Angeles Times, “New Medical Building Set for Wilshire Site,” April 4, 1954; Los Angeles Times, “$250,000 Medical Building Rising on Ventura,” November 2, 1958; Los Angeles Times, Medical Building Scheduled for Start of Construction,” December 14, 1952; Los Angeles Times, New Medical Building Ready,” February 8, 1953.

19 Architectural Record, “Physician’s Offices,” December 1950, pgs.118-119.


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are the Spanish Colonial Revival Wilshire Medical Building located at 317-335 Wilshire Boulevard (1924) and the Mission Revival Santa Monica Health and Wellness Center at 1525 Euclid (1928).

There are many later examples of medical office buildings constructed in Santa Monica during the 1940’s and 1950’s. The small Art Deco/Moderne medical office building located at 1148 4th Street was constructed circa 1936-1942 (Figure 19). In 1941, a two-story Santa Monica Medical Center was designed by W. D. Coffey, engineer, at 1137 2nd Street (Figure 20). The Santa Monica Medical Center is a Streamline medical office building with architectural elements of the Regency style, such as fluted columns, pediments above the entrances, and classical window surrounds. During the 1980’s the stucco was removed from the façade lessening impact of the Streamline style. In 1942, a Georgian Revival medical office building was constructed at 1530 Arizona, one block away from the Santa Monica Hospital (Figure 21). In 1951, a Streamline Moderne medical office building was erected at 2200-2202 Santa Monica Boulevard near Saint John’s Hospital (Figure 22).20 2200-2202 Santa Monica was one of the largest medical office buildings at 37,618 square feet; and a contemporary addition was later constructed for the John Wayne Cancer Institute.

Other medical office buildings constructed in West Los Angeles and the Pacific Palisades included: Medical Arts Building (Circa 1951) located at Santa Monica Boulevard and 21st Street, Santa Monica (Figure 23); Sunset Medical Centre and Felmore Associates (Circa 1952) located at Sunset Boulevard and Antioch Street, Pacific Palisades (Figure 24); and a medical office building (Circa 1960) located at Via de la Paz and Antioch Street, Pacific Palisades (Figure 25).

In Los Angeles, there are two extant examples of Streamline Moderne medical office buildings constructed in the 1930’s: in Hollywood, the Julian Medical Building and Owl Drug Store, 6380-84 Hollywood Boulevard, is a two-story Streamline Moderne medical office building designed by Morgan, Walls and Clements in 1934 (Figure 26); and another example is 3130 West 6th Street, a one-story Streamline Moderne medical office building constructed in 1939 (Figure 27).21

Streamline Moderne Style

Following the height of Art Deco in the early 1930s, the Streamline Moderne style was an economic and stylistic response to the ravaging effects of the Great Depression. A new style was needed to express optimism and a bright look toward the future. Streamline structures continued to suggest modern values of movement and rejection of historic precedents, but with far less opulence and more restraint than Art Deco of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Yet the Streamline Moderne differed from the “High Art Modern Architecture” of the early 20 Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica to Get Medical Arts Building,” March 11, 1950. 21 Los Angeles Times, “Large New Structure is Begun on Wilshire Site ,” December 9, 1950; Los Angeles



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1930s in that it “continued to regard design as ‘styling’ and that architecture should represent or perform as an image rather than be a used as a space to radically change ones everyday life. The boosters of Streamline Moderne argued that their purpose was not to create an architecture that functioned in the same way as the ocean liner, airplane, or locomotive; rather, the buildings would symbolize those things and therefore remind one of the ‘modern’ future.”22 Streamline Moderne architecture took its cue from the emerging field of industrial design and borrowed imagery from things swift and free – in particular, the ocean liner. The Streamline Moderne style of the Santa Monica Doctors Office Building reflects the national trends of the style which reached its height during the early 1940s and continued in use into the early 1950s.

Streamline Moderne Commercial Architecture

Streamline Moderne commercial architecture was relatively common in Santa Monica during its period of significance, 1930 to 1950. One of the earliest commercial Streamline Moderne buildings in Santa Monica was Ralph’s Grocery at 1301 3rd Street, designed by Morgan, Walls and Clements in 1935. One of the oldest extant commercial buildings is J. C. Penny’s at 1202 3rd Street, designed by M. L. Anderson in 1948. Other Streamline Moderne commercial buildings constructed in Santa Monica were the Merle Norman Building, 2525 Main Street, (1936, Architect H. G. Thursby); City Hall, 1685 Main Street, (1938, Architect Donald Parkinson); Shangri-la Hotel, 1301 Ocean Avenue, (1940, Architect William E Foster); Llo-da-mar Bowl, 507-517 Wilshire (1940, Architect W. Douglas Lee); and the Moderne Santa Monica Medical Center, 1137 2nd Street, (1941, Engineer W. D. Coffey).

The Santa Monica Doctors Building falls within the period of significance of Streamline Moderne architecture in Santa Monica. The subject property was designed in 1946, and constructed during the early 1950s. However, due to the characteristics of the property type, a medical office building, and the economic difficulties faced during its original construction, the Santa Monica Doctors Building does not exhibit the same level of architectural merit as other examples of commercial architecture in Santa Monica.

Saint John’s Hospital and Hygienic Architecture

The Streamline Moderne architecture of the Santa Monica Doctors Building appears to have been influenced by the design of St. John’s Hospital and Health Center (1942) directly to the south. A historic aerial view of the area shortly after its construction clearly shows that the Santa Monica Doctors Building was intended to relate directly to the adjacent hospital. The five-story, reinforced-concrete St. John’s Hospital was designed by J. E. Loveless and constructed by Pozzo Construction Company in the Streamline Moderne style (Figures 9 and 10).23

The Streamline Moderne style was most likely selected for St. John’s Hospital and the Santa Monica Doctors Building in response to the influence of the European Hygienic Architecture 22 Patrick Pascal, Kesling. Modern Structures Popularizing Modern Design in Southern California 1934-

1962, (Los Angeles: Balcony Press, 2002), 10. 23 Gilmore, Julia. Saint John’s and its people. St Louis: Western Publishing Company, 1967, p. 12.


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movement, as well as prevailing architectural trends. Hygienic Architecture is a variant of the early Modern style originating in Europe that emphasized clean, minimalist functionalism and promoted the use of natural sunlight and fresh air to heal patients. Turning away from traditional revival styles popular for hospitals during the early twentieth century, the design of St. John’s Hospital placed an emphasis on the hospitals scientific foundation and functional operation.24 The building’s clean, “hygienic” modern lines represented medicine’s scientific application and efficient success in medical facilities. The direct association both architecturally and physically of the Santa Monica Doctors Building with the adjacent St. John’s Hospital appears to have consciously drawn the allusion of clean, “hygienic” architecture between the two medical buildings.

The Streamline Moderne style of St. John’s Hospital most likely influenced the massing and design of the subject property. The architectural design elements of the Santa Monica Doctors Building appears to draw from the design features and massing of the hospital – rounded corners and projecting bays, horizontal bands, metal casement windows, setback towers, and stacked massing (Figures 9 and 10). Even though subject property was not an extension of St. John’s Hospital, the subject property most likely drew from St. John’s Streamline Moderne style for marketing purposes. The unifying Streamline Moderne style most likely appeared to strengthen the reputability and professionalism of the Santa Monica Doctors Building tenants, consisting of doctors and dentists, and visually symbolized the medical use inside.

Streamline Moderne Medical Office Buildings

There are many examples of the medical office building property type in Santa Monica, but few medical office buildings in the Streamline Moderne style. There are three medical office buildings that are variants of the Moderne style: the Art Deco Moderne medical office building (1936-1942) located at 1148 4th Street (Figure 19); the Moderne Santa Monica Medical Center (1941) with elements of the Regency style located at 1137 2nd Street (Figure 20); and the altered Streamline Moderne medical office building at 2200-2202 Santa Monica Boulevard (1951) (Figure 22).

It appears there are a few extant examples of other medical office buildings in Los Angeles constructed in the Streamline Moderne style. In Hollywood, the Julian Medical Building and Owl Drug Store, 6380-84 Hollywood Boulevard, is a two-story Streamline Moderne medical office building designed by Morgan, Walls and Clements in 1934 (Figure 26). Another example in Los Angeles is 3130 West 6th Street is a one-story Streamline Moderne medical office building constructed in 1939 (Figure 27).25

24 Sloane, David Charles. Scientific Paragon to Hospital Mall: The Evolving Design of the Hospital, Journal

of Architectural Education, Vol. 48, No. 2 (Nov., 1994), p. 88. 25 Los Angeles Times, “Large New Structure is Begun on Wilshire Site ,” December 9, 1950; Los Angeles



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Because there are so few extant examples of Streamline Moderne style medical buildings in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, the Santa Monica Doctors Building appears to be a rare example of a historical type, a Streamline Moderne medical office building.

EVALUATION OF SIGNIFICANCE

Person(s) of Historical Importance

Leslie A. Irving, the designer of the subject property, was a trained structural engineer. He attended the University of California at Berkeley and was a member of the California student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1934.26 Additional directory research at the UCLA Science and Engineering library did not yield additional biographical information about the structural engineer.

As previously stated, Edward J. Talley was the original owner and president of the Santa Monica Doctors Building. David Johnson was the contractor. Current research did not reveal information about Edward J. Talley or David Johnson. No further information could be found to support a level of significance sufficient to meet City Landmark criteria 9.36.100(a) (3).

Review of city directories to identify the occupants of the medical suites did not identify any doctors, dentists or pharmacists of significant historical importance (see appendix).

Statement of other significance

No other evidence was discovered in current research of the property to indicate other significance.

Is the structure representative of a style in the City that is no longer prevalent?

The subject property is a modest example of the Streamline Moderne architectural style as applied to a commercial building within the City of Santa Monica. The Streamline Moderne style is no longer prevalent in the City, although several good examples remain. Based upon a review of the City’s Historic Resources Inventory and a windshield survey of the Santa Monica commercial districts, it appears that there are still several good examples of the Streamline Moderne architectural style within the City of Santa Monica. Good examples of the Streamline Moderne style in Santa Monica include the Merle Norman Building at 2525 Main Street (Architect H. G. Thursby, 1936); City Hall at 1685 Main Street (Donald Parkinson, 1938); Shangri-la Hotel at 1301 Ocean Avenue (William E Foster, 1940); and J. C. Penny’s at 1202 3rd Street (M. L. Anderson, 1948). Also, the Santa Monica Medical Center at 1137 2nd Street (W. D. Coffey, 1941) is a good example of a Streamline Moderne commercial building with some elements of the Regency style. In comparison to the above mentioned properties, the subject property appears to be a modest example of the Streamline Moderne style.

26 The University of California at Berkeley – The Blue and Gold Yearbook Class of 1934.


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Does the structure contribute to a potential historic district?

The structure does not contribute to a potential historic district.

CONCLUSION

In summary, based on current research and the above assessment, the property located at 2125 Arizona Avenue appears to meet City of Santa Monica Landmark Criteria 9.36.100(a)(1) and 9.36.100(a)(4). The property was evaluated according to statutory criteria as follows:

Landmark Criteria

9.36.100(a) (1) It exemplifies, symbolizes, or manifests elements of the cultural, social, economic, political or architectural history of the City.

The subject property, a Streamline Moderne medical office building, manifests the cultural and economic history of Santa Monica in its historical type and architecture. The subject property is closely linked to the development of medical facilities in the Santa Monica Bay Area in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1942, Saint John’s Hospital was constructed in Santa Monica. During the Post World War II era, medical facilities were constructed on the west side in response to population growth and public health needs, including the UCLA Medical School (1946), the Brentwood Division Administration Building for the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center addition (1946), St. John’s Hospital addition (1949), and Santa Monica Hospital Medical Center addition (1954). The construction of medical office buildings occurred during the 1940s and 1950s in conjunction with the development of medical facilities. Examples of medical office buildings constructed in Santa Monica include: the Art Deco Moderne medical office building (1936-1942) located at 1148 4th Street; the Moderne Santa Monica Medical Center (1941) with elements of the Regency style located at 1137 2nd Street; the Georgian Revival medical office building at 1530 Arizona (1942); and the Streamline Moderne medical office building at 2200-2202 Santa Monica Boulevard (1951). The construction of the Santa Monica Doctors Building falls within the development period of these medical office buildings and related health facilities. Furthermore, the Streamline Moderne style of the subject property is emblematic of the adjacent Saint John’s Hospital, an anchor of Santa Monica’s healthcare. Among the handful of medical office buildings in Santa Monica, the subject property is the only example of a Streamline Moderne medical office building constructed adjacent to a prominent health facility. An aerial photograph shows that the siting, massing, and architectural design of the Santa Monica Doctors Building clearly referenced the architecture of the adjacent Saint John’s Hospital. As a result, the subject property is unique in exemplifying the cultural and economic history of the City of Santa Monica. Therefore, the subject property appears to satisfy this criterion.

9.36.100(a) (2) It has aesthetic or artistic interest or value, or other noteworthy interest or value.


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The resource does not appear to meet this criterion. As an example of Streamline Moderne architecture the building does not fully articulate the key design elements of the idiom to express an ideal of the style. Specifically, the property’s spatial arrangements, massing, fenestration, materials, and overall form, while functionally successful, do not reflect the deft aesthetic hand of a master designer. The subject property lacks sufficient aesthetic or architectural value necessary for designation.

9.36.100(a) (3) It is identified with historic personages or with important events in local, state or national history.

The resource does not appear to meet this criterion. Current research does not indicate that this resource is identified with historic personages or with important events in local, state or national history in local, state, or national history.

9.36.100(a) (4) It embodies distinguishing architectural characteristics valuable to a study of a period, style, method of construction, or the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship, or is a unique or rare example of an architectural design, detail or historical type valuable to such a study.

The property appears to satisfy this criterion. The Santa Monica Doctors Building is a rare, extant example of a historical property type in the City of Santa Monica: a Streamline Moderne style medical office building. It incorporates the massing, flat roof, overhanging eaves, stucco finish, metal casement fenestration, corner windows, and horizontality associated with Streamline Moderne architecture of the time period. Additionally, the subject property is one of four Moderne medical office buildings in Santa Monica: the Art Deco/Moderne medical office building (1936-1942), 1148 4th Street; the Streamline Moderne Santa Monica Medical Center with Regency style architectural elements, 1137 2nd Street (1941); and the Streamline Moderne medical office building, 2200-2202 Santa Monica Boulevard (1951). Furthermore, the Streamline Moderne style subject property appears to be a rare building type throughout the larger Los Angeles region. Two other known Streamline Moderne medical office buildings in Los Angeles are the Julian Medical Building and Owl Drug Store (1934), 6380-84 Hollywood Boulevard, and 3130 West 6th Street (1939). Therefore, the Santa Monica Doctors Building appears to satisfy this criterion as a rare, extant example of medical office building historical property type in the Streamline Moderne style.

9.36.100(a) (5) It is a significant or a representative example of the work or product of a notable builder, designer or architect.

The resource does not appear to meet this criterion. The property is not a significant or representative example of the work or product of a notable builder, designer or architect.

9.36.100(a) (6) It has a unique location, a singular physical characteristic, or is an established and familiar visual feature of a neighborhood, community or the City.


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The resource does not appear to meet this criterion. At the time of construction, there was a visual relationship between the subject property and St. John’s Hospital, but as a result of the expansion of St. John’s Hospital the visual relationship was dissolved. Currently, the resource does not have a unique location and is not an established and familiar visual feature of a neighborhood, community or the City.


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Architectural Record, “Physician’s Offices,” December 1950, pgs.118-119.

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

City of Santa Monica Historic Resources Inventory: Phase 3 Survey, 1994.

Gebhard, David and Von Breton, Harriette. Los Angeles in the Thirties: 1931-1941, Santa Monica: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc, 1989.

Gebhard, David and Winter, Robert. An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles, Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 2003.

Gilmore, Julia. Saint John’s and its people. St Louis: Western Publishing Company, 1967.

Gray, Barbara Bronson. 120 years of medicine: Los Angeles County, 1871-1991. Houston: Pioneer Publications, 1991.

Los Angeles County Tax Assessor. Property Information Records.

Los Angeles Times, “$110,000 For Hospital Wing Raised at Dinner,” February 5, 1948, p. 4.

Los Angeles Times, “First 10 Babies Dig Soil for Hospital’s Wing,” June 24, 1949, p. 4.

Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica: A Receiving Hospital Needed – The Veterans Aroused,” February 8, 1896.

Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica: Active Steps to Provide Hospital Facilities – City Trustees,” February 8, 1897.

Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica: Railway Accident Suggests Need of a Receiving Hospital,” November 20, 1897.

Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica: Hospital Certain,” June 16, 1904.

Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica: Will Have Hospital,” July 27, 1904.

Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica: Hospital in Sight,” October 11, 1905.

Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica: Planning for Hospital,” December 23, 1905.

Los Angeles Times, “Hospital Nearly Finished: New Santa Monica Institution Thoroughly Modern,” April 17, 1907.

Los Angeles Times, “Plan to Build Big Hospital,” March 6, 1921.


page 15

Los Angeles Times, “Seven Story Building to Cost $1,500,000 Proposed for Santa Monica,” October 15, 1925.

Los Angeles Times, “Beach Hospital Planned: St Catherine to Be Devoted to Enterprise Involving Sum of $1,000,000,” March 20, 1926.

Los Angeles Times, “Health, Welfare Center Bids to be Open Monday,” December 2, 1927.

Los Angeles Times, “County Health Aims Disclosed: Supervisor Makes Address at Santa Monica,” October 15, 1925.

Los Angeles Times, “Bids Requested for Hospital,” December 1, 1940.

Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica Hospital Faces Shortage of Beds,” December 18, 1952.

Los Angeles Times, “New West Los Angeles Medical Center Set,” August 24, 1958.

Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica to Get Medical Arts Building,” March 11, 1950.

Los Angeles Times, “Large New Structure is Begun on Wilshire Site ,” December 9, 1950.

Los Angeles Times, “Medical Building Set for Baldwin Hills,” February 28, 1954.

Los Angeles Times, “Encino Hospital and Medical Building Projects Advance,” April 4, 1954.

Los Angeles Times, “New Medical Building Set for Wilshire Site,” April 4, 1954.

Los Angeles Times, “$250,000 Medical Building Rising on Ventura,” November 2, 1958.

Los Angeles Times, Medical Building Scheduled for Start of Construction,” December 14, 1952.

Los Angeles Times, New Medical Building Ready,” February 8, 1953.

McMillan, Elizabeth. Deco & Streamline Architecture in L.A., Atglen: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2004.

Pascal, Patrick. Kesling Modern Structures Popularizing Modern Design in Southern California 1934-1962, Los Angeles: Balcony Press, 2002.

Patrick Pascal, Kesling. Modern Structures Popularizing Modern Design in Southern California 1934-1962, (Los Angeles: Balcony Press, 2002), p. 10.

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

Rollins, Bill, Los Angeles Times, “Streamline Moderne Architecture in Santa Monica,” June 19, 1983, p. N1.


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Saint John’s Hospital and Health Center Development Agreement: Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Assessment Final. Los Angeles: Environmental Science Associates, 1997.

Sloane, David Charles. “Scientific Paragon to Hospital Mall: The Evolving Design of the Hospital,” Journal of Architectural Education, Vol. 48, No. 2 (Nov., 1994), pp. 82-98.

Thomas, Bob, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Hospital of the Stars,” May 19, 1974.

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

Morgenthaler, Anne, The Outlook, “Landmark: Keller block turned down by SM panel,” December 8, 1977, 23.


page 17

CITY DIRECTORY RESEARCH 2125 Arizona Avenue

Year Entry

1952-53 Clark Geo Physician 1954 SM Doctors Building

Dr Physician Pharmacy Alexander Hard B Phys Clark Geo Phys Croft Leonard E Phys De Paulo Vincent J Phys Gruber Fred G Phys Kirshen Harry W Phys Madden Donald J Phys Smith Bernard H Phys Smith Blaine L Phys Smith V Lyman Phys

1958-59 Drs Prescription Pharmacy Smith Bernard H Phys Smith V Lyman Phys Dithmar Guenther Phys Alexander Hard B Phys De Paulo Vincent J Phys Gruber Fred G Phys Quiroz Jorge I Phys Croft Leonard E Phys Kirshen Harry W Dentist Madden Donald J Phys

1960-61 Santa Monica Doctors Building Christ HS Drs Prescription Pharmacy Baker HH Madden DJ Saruba V Gruber Fred G Croft Leonard E Alexander HB

Nov 1964 Alexander HB Drs Prescription Pharmacy Gruber Fred G Madden DJ Smith Vlyman Croft Leonard E Turchin Joseph M Zampetti MD, HA

Apr 1966 Alexander HB


page 18

Drs Prescription Pharmacy Gruber Fred G Madden DJ Smith Vlyman Croft Leonard E Turchin Joseph M

Apr 1967 Alexander HB Drs Prescription Pharmacy Gruber Fred G Madden DJ Smith Vlyman Croft Leonard E Turchin Joseph M Miller PhD, Louis I

Apr 1968 Santa Monica Doctors Building Alexander HB Drs Prescription Pharmacy Madden DJ Smith Vlyman Turchin Joseph M

Apr 1969 Santa Monica Doctors Building Alexander HB Drs Prescription Pharmacy Madden DJ Smith Vlyman Turchin Joseph M Croft, LE Phys/Surg

Apr 1970 Alexander HB Drs Prescription Pharmacy Madden DJ Smith Vlyman Turchin Joseph M Podtrst Croft, LE Phys/Surg

Apr 1971 Alexander HB Hoffman, I Kenneth Regent Square Pharmacy Salenger DDS, Gary H Smith Vlyman Turchin Joseph M Podtrst Croft, LE Phys/Surg

ATTACHMENTS

Assessor’s Map

Assessor’s Index Map

Sanborn Map 1918

Sanborn Map 1950

Plans

Current Photographs

Historic Photographs

Medical Office Buildings

Assessor’s Map

graphicsguest

Rectangle

Assessor’s Index Map

Sanborn Map 1918

graphicsguest

Rectangle

Sanborn Map 1950

graphicsguest

Rectangle

Site Plan

East and South Elevations

West and North Elevations

Current Photographs

Figure 1. Primary (southeast elevation), view northwest

Figure 2. Primary entrance (southeast elevation), view northwest

Figure 3. Entry, view northwest

Figure 4. East elevation, view northwest

Figure 5. South elevation, view north

Figure 6. Rear (northwest) elevation, view southeast

Historic Photographs

Figure 7. Primary (southeast elevation), view northwest, circa 1992 (SMPL Image Collection)

Figure 8. Primary (southeast elevation), view northwest, circa 1983

Rollins, Bill, Los Angeles Times, “Streamline Moderne Architecture in Santa Monica,” June 19, 1983, p. N1.

Figure 9. Aerial view of St. John's Hospital and surrounding area, Santa Monica Doctors Building is in the lower right corner, circa 1950’s (SMPL Image Collection)

Figure 10. Aerial view of St. John's Hospital and surrounding area, Santa Monica Doctors Building is in the upper-middle right corner, circa 1955 (SMPL Image Collection)

Figure 11. St. John’s Hospital, Primary (east elevation), view north west, circa 1941 (SMPL Image Collection)

Figure 12. St. John’s Hospital, Primary (east elevation), view west, circa 1974

Thomas, Bob, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, “Hospital of the Stars,” May 19, 1974.

Medical Office Buildings

Figure 13. Santa Monica doctor with horse and buggy, Circa 1890 (SMPL Image Collection)

Figure 14. Santa Monica Bay Hospital, 4th Street and Pacific, Circa 1907

Los Angeles Times, “Hospital Nearly Finished: New Santa Monica Institution Thoroughly Modern,” April 17, 1907.

Figure 15. Proposed Saint Catherine Hospital, 4th Street and Pacific, Circa 1926

Los Angeles Times, “Beach Hospital Planned: St Catherine to Be Devoted to Enterprise Involving Sum of $1,000,000,” March 20, 1926.

Figure 16. Santa Monica Hospital, 16th Street and Wilshire Boulevard, Circa 1926

http://www.ucmt.org/santamonica/html/about/history.shtml

Figure 17. Wilshire Medical Building, 317-335 Wilshire Boulevard, Constructed 1924, Circa. 1927 (SMPL Image Collection)

Figure 18. Santa Monica Health Center, 1525 Euclid Street, Constructed in 1928, Circa. 1999 (SMPL Image Collection)

Figure 19. Medical Office Building, 1148 4th Street, Circa 1936-1942

Figure 20. Santa Monica Medical Center, 1137 2nd Street, Santa Monica, (W. D. Coffey, 1941).

Figure 21. Medical Office Building, 1530 Arizona, 1942

Figure 22. Medical Office Building, 2200-2202 Santa Monica Boulevard, 1951

Figure 23. Medical Arts Building, Santa Monica Blvd. and Twenty-First Street, Santa Monica, Circa 1951(SMPL Image Collection)

Figure 24. Sunset Medical Centre and Felmore Associates, Sunset Boulevard and Antioch Street, Pacific Palisades, Circa 1952 (SMPL Image Collection)

Figure 25. Medical Office Building, Via de la Paz at Antioch Street, Pacific Palisades, Circa 1960 (SMPL Image Collection)

Figure 26. Julian Medical Building and Owl Drug Store, 6380-84 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, (Morgan, Walls and Clements, 1934)

Figure 27. 3130 West 6th Street, Los Angeles, (1939)

2125 arizona landmark assessment revised - santa monica · 2009-05-11 · the santa monica doctors...

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