Memorandum TO: Roxanne Tanemori, City of Santa Monica DATE: August 30, 2007 CC: FROM: Jon L. Wilson, M.Arch., Architectural Historian RE: Preliminary Historic Assessment: 315 Palisades Avenue (APN 4293-015-015) As requested by City staff, PCR has conducted a site visit of 315 Palisades Avenue, the subject property, and has also reviewed archival data relevant to the residence. The legal description of the subject property is the Palisades Tract, Block C, Lot 39. The large, two-story Spanish Colonial Revival single-family residence, known as the A.W. McPhearson House, was originally identified in the City s Historic Resources Inventory in 1983 during Phase 1 of the City s Historic Resources Survey. The subject property was determined to be a contributor to a potential historic district called the Palisades Tract Historic District, and was given a California Historical Resource (CHR) status code of 5D1, which is defined as a contributor to a district that is eligible for local listing or designation. The potential district includes the 100-600 blocks of Georgina Avenue, plus small portions of 4 th Street, 7 th Street, Ocean Avenue, Marguerita Avenue, and Palisades Avenue. In addition, the Historic Resources Inventory Update: North of Montana Survey Area (2002) confirmed the property s status as a contributor to a potential historic district. According to the significance evaluation in the 1983 survey, the residence was described as having harmonious proportions and careful detailing, and that it contributes in terms of its age, style, and scale to the Palisades Tract district. 1 The A.W. McPhearson House is a substantially altered example of the Spanish Colonial Revival architectural style. The period revival styles grew in popularity just after World War I, and were patterned after buildings of earlier stylistic periods associated with America and abroad. Throughout the Southwest, the most common style was the Spanish Colonial Revival. Inspired by the Panama California Exposition of 1915 hosted by the City of San Diego, many architects found Southern California the ideal setting for this architectural type. Numerous publications argued in favor of this style for the Mediterranean environment of California, including W. Sexton's Spanish Influence on American Architecture and Decoration (1926) and Rexford Newcomb's The Spanish House for America Its Design, Furnishing, and Garden (1927). Typical character-defining features of this style include asymmetrical facades, courtyards, red clay tile roofs, stuccoed walls, wood framed windows with prominent lintels and sills, arched doorways, wrought iron window grilles, canales, projecting vigas, decorative carvings, and mosaic tile. The original Palisades Tract neighborhood includes many extant examples of early twentieth-century architecture, primarily dating from the years 1906 to 1930. Opened as a tract in 1905, it was laid out with broad, tree-lined streets that open onto Ocean Avenue and the Palisades bluffs to the west, while the eastern border of the original tract ended at Seventh Street (the tract was 1 Historic Resources Inventory Survey Form 315 Palisades Avenue, 1983. 233 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 130, Santa Monica, CA 90401 INTERNET www.pcrnet.com TEL 310.451.4488 FAX 310.451.5279
Memorandum RE: PRELIMINARY HISTORIC ASSESSMENT: 315 PALISADES AVENUE (APN 4293-015-015) extended further inland in 1912 and 1913). Fourth Street with its landscaped median bisects the district and serves as the primary north-south circulation through the original Palisades Tract. In the middle of the 600 block of Palisades Avenue, a circular park forms an island in the development. It appears to have been intended by the developer to be one of a series of such spaces, although it is the only one that was realized. Shortly after the tract was opened, the area in which it was located, stretching from Montana to Adelaide, was annexed by the City of Santa Monica. Several prominent members of the community, as well as residents of Los Angeles and Pasadena in search of a seaside summer home, commissioned residences in the Palisades. During the first fifteen years of development homes were built in the Craftsman mode. The more intense period of construction in the twenties yielded numerous fine revival style homes, most of which were intended for year-round occupation. According to the original survey forms recorded in 1983, the proposed Palisades Tract Historic District includes 126 properties. Four of these properties were determined eligible for the National Register and 10 were determined eligible for listing as a local landmark. All 126 properties were listed in the City s Historic Resources Inventory as contributors to the potential district. Contributing properties to the proposed Palisades Tract Historic are predominantly one- and twostory single-family residential buildings. Architectural styles in the neighborhood include Craftsman and period revivals. The neighborhood is characterized by its wide tree-lined streets and its large lots. The street facing facades are united by their common setbacks. This unity was made possible by alleys, which bisect each block and provide access to rear garages. A high degree of integrity characterizes the contributing buildings in the district. The A.W. McPhearson House at 315 Palisades Avenue was designed and constructed in 1924 for A.W. McPhearson by the general contractor and architecture firm, Ostrandes Brothers. Ownership of the residence remained in the McPhearson family from the time of its construction until at least the 1950s. On the 1918-1950 Sanborn maps, the original building footprint is shown with the garage in the rear, which was probably accessible from the alley. On May 21 st, 1924, a building permit application for 315 Palisades Avenue was filed with the City of Santa Monica. A.W. McPhearson was described as the owner of the lot with both the general contractor and architect listed as the Ostrandes Brothers. The value of the proposed building was assessed at $9,000. Later alterations and additions include interior remodeling and the addition of a second story which occurred over two phases. The first phase of the second story addition began in 1981 and the second phase began in 1991. Also, a new garage was constructed in the early 1990s. The A.W. McPhearson House is located on the north side of Palisades Avenue between 4 th Street to the east and Ocean Avenue to the west. The residence is oriented to the south facing Palisades Avenue and is situated towards the south end of the lot. Upon inspection of the property, PCR Services Corporation Page 2 August 30, 2007
Memorandum RE: PRELIMINARY HISTORIC ASSESSMENT: 315 PALISADES AVENUE (APN 4293-015-015) it appears that the subject property is a substantially altered example of what was originally a onestory Spanish Colonial Revival residence. The existing two-story residence has a cross-gable redclay tile barrel mission roof with wide overhanging eaves. The residence is primarily side gabled except for the street-facing west bay which has a front gable roof. On the primary street-facing elevation, the soffit of the roof appears to be exposed wood framing and wood sheathing, while the eaves fascia is barrel mission tile. The wall surfaces are stucco with a paint finish. There is a decorative red-clay tile vent on the west bay wall surface above the window. The original apertures on the ground floor appear to have a consistent large scale, which allows for a high degree of interaction between the landscape and interior of the residence. The ground floor windows appear to be casements that are fit between a wide sill and thick lintel. In the original survey forms, the reviewer interpreted the presence of the thick lintel to be evidence of adobe construction. 2 The primary street-facing entrance is arched with a decorative archivolt with a wood paneled door. The materials used on the second-story addition appear compatible with the design of the original residence. The stucco walls, the red-clay barrel mission tile roofs and the wood lintels and sills around the windows are all compatible materials on the addition. The massing and scale of the second-story addition, however, appear to be incompatible to the original design of the building and not in conformance with the Secretary of the Interior s Standards for Rehabilitation. The rounded west bay of the second-story addition appears to be an incompatible addition added to the clearly orthogonal geometry of the original design. On the east bay of the second-story addition, the frontgable vent dormer on top of the side-gable roof breaks the horizontality of the long side of the original L-shape design. Also, while the massing of Spanish Colonial Revival dwellings often had bays of differing floor heights, the massing tended to be asymmetrical. The entire second-story addition of the A.W. McPhearson House is stacked behind the original dwelling creating a stepped arrangement from one-story to two-stories as the building moves north. This stepped massing where the second story follows the plan of the ground floor appears unusual for the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The scale of the apertures on the A.W. McPhearson House s second-story addition is not compatible with the original design. Although it appears that the window geometry and proportions were intended to replicate the apertures of the ground floor, the second story windows are too small to function like the large openings at the ground floor. The lintels are out of proportion with the window size. In applying the City s significance criteria for individual recognition as a proposed City of Santa Monica Landmark the subject property does not appear to rise to the threshold of significance for Landmark designation. As an individual resource, the property does not possess sufficient historical importance or architectural merit to warrant such designation. The subject property, 2 Historic Resources Inventory Survey Form 315 Palisades Avenue, 1983. PCR Services Corporation Page 3 August 30, 2007
Memorandum RE: PRELIMINARY HISTORIC ASSESSMENT: 315 PALISADES AVENUE (APN 4293-015-015) situated within the proposed Palisades Tract Historic District, has been previously identified in the City s Historic Resources Inventory and in subsequent survey updates and evaluations as being a contributor to the proposed Palisades Tract Historic District within the City of Santa Monica. Although the second-story addition is largely incompatible with the original design of the dwelling, it appears that the additions left intact the original footprint of the building, and therefore, the additions are a reversible non-contributing feature of the building. It is recommended that the subject property retain its current status as a contributor to the proposed Palisades Tract Historic District based upon its architectural merit as a representative example of a Spanish Colonial Revival single-family residence, which is a resource type threatened by encroaching development. PCR Services Corporation Page 4 August 30, 2007
ATTACHMENTS Sanborn Map 1918 Sanborn Map, paste-up 1950 Tax Assessor Map Photographs
Primary (South) Elevation, View North.
Front (South) Elevation, Door, Barrel Mission Tiles, and Addition, View North.
West Bay, Ground Floor, View Northeast.