Los Angeles Department of City Planning RECOMMENDATION REPORT CULTURAL HERITAGE COMMISSION HEARING DATE: November 15, 2007 TIME: 10:00 AM PLACE: City Hall, Room 1010 200 N. Spring Street Los Angeles, CA 90012 CASE NO.: CHC-2007-4877-HCM Location: 620 S. Main St. Council District: 9 Community Plan Area: Central City Area Planning Commission: Central Neighborhood Council: Downtown Los Angeles Legal Description: Lot 6 of Kerckhoff Tract PROJECT: REQUEST: Historic-Cultural Monument Application for the MAIN MERCANTILE BUILDING Declare the property a Historic-Cultural Monument APPLICANT/ Downtown Lofts OWNER: PO Box 2109 Hollywood, CA 90078 OWNER S REP: RECOMMENDATION Teresa Grimes Christopher A. Joseph & Associates 11849 W. Olympic Blvd., Suite 101 Los Angeles, CA 90064 That the Cultural Heritage Commission: 1. Take the property under consideration as a Historic-Cultural Monument per Los Angeles Administrative Code Chapter 9, Division 22, Article 1, Section 22.171.10 because the application and accompanying photo documentation suggest the submittal may warrant further investigation. 2. Adopt the report findings. S. GAIL GOLDBERG, AICP Director of Planning [SIGNED ORIGINAL IN FILE] Ken Bernstein, Manager Office of Historic Resources [SIGNED ORIGINAL IN FILE] Lambert M. Giessinger, Preservation Architect Office of Historic Resources Prepared by: [SIGNED ORIGINAL IN FILE] Edgar Garcia, Preservation Planner Office of Historic Resources Attachments: August 13, 2007 Historic-Cultural Monument Application ZIMAS Report
620 S. Main St. CHC-2007-4877-HCM Page 2 of 2 SUMMARY Built in 1906 and located in the Downtown area, this six-story commercial building exhibits character defining features of Chicago School-Beaux Arts design. Located on the east side of Main Street, the subject building is rectangular in plan and has steel columns, wood joists, and concrete side walls. Above the ground level, the façade is defined by a curtain wall of tripartite windows divided into four bays, each having a single large fixed window flanked by large casement windows. A bracketed metal cornice tops the façade. The south elevation is a blank concrete wall with a faded sign advertisement. Significant interiors include staircases, ornate trim around columns, and hardwood floors. The proposed Main Mercantile Building historic monument was designed by John Vincent McNeil. McNeil designed the c. 1909 Cohn-Goldwater Building in the Downtown area, recognized as the first Class A, reinforced-concrete factory building in Los Angeles (Historic- Cultural Monument #119). The subject building was built for the Main Street Realty Company, composed of three prominent Jewish American businessmen: Robert H. Raphael, Morris Cohn, and Julius Conrad. The residences of Raphael and Cohn were built on Alvarado Terrace and both homes have since been designated Historic Cultural Monuments (HCM #87 and HCM #84 respectively). Cohn would later commission McNeil to design the Cohn-Goldwater Building. The subject building housed furniture businesses from its opening to 1942. The first tenants were the Columbia Fitting Company, and later the Eastern Outfitting Company; these two companies would merge to become Eastern-Columbia which then built the famed Art Deco style Eastern Columbia Building on Broadway in 1930 (HCM #294). The subject building would later be used for commercial and manufacturing purposes. Alterations include the remodeling of ground level storefronts and interior spaces for manufacturing uses and the addition of wrought iron to façade windows. CRITERIA The criterion is the Cultural Heritage Ordinance which defines a historical or cultural monument as any site (including significant trees or other plant life located thereon) building or structure of particular historic or cultural significance to the City of Los Angeles, such as historic structures or sites in which the broad cultural, economic, or social history of the nation, State or community is reflected or exemplified, or which are identified with historic personages or with important events in the main currents of national, State or local history or which embody the distinguishing characteristics of an architectural type specimen, inherently valuable for a study of a period style or method of construction, or a notable work of a master builder, designer or architect whose individual genius influenced his age. FINDINGS Based on the facts set forth in the summary and application, the Commission determines that the application is complete and that the property may be significant enough to warrant further investigation as a potential Historic-Cultural Monument.