City of Fullerton
Community Development Department
CALIFORHIN
Appeal of Zoning Administrator / Director Determination Landmarks Commission / Planning Commission Action
REQUIREMENTS - Appeals of actions by the Zoning Administrator, Director Determination, Landmarks Commission, or Planning Commission must be made within ten (10) working days from the date on which the original action was taken. The Community Development Department will need all of the following before an appeal can be processed:
1. Contact Information: APPELLANT Name: Fullerton Heritage - Ernie Kelsey, President APPELLANT Mailing Address: PO Box 3356
Fullerton, CA. 92834-3356
APPELLANT Phone Number: (714) 749-2787
APPELLANT Email Address: [email protected]
2. Project Information: PROJECT File No. ZON-2022-0131
PROJECT Address: 801 S. Acacia Avenue Fullerton, CA
3. Reason(s) for appealing the action taken (Please fill in below or attach a separate letter)
2. Processing Appeal Fee (Non-Applicant) ... $25% of App. Fee (Max $2,000) OR
3. Processing Appeal Fee (Project Applicant) ....O $2,571.00 B. PROCEDURE
Appeals of decisions made by the Community Development Director or Zoning Administrator will be scheduled for review by the Planning Commission and a public hearing will be held within 60 days from the date of the appeal request; the decision by the Planning Commission is final unless appealed to the City Council. Appeals of decisions made by the Landmarks Commission or Planning Commission will be scheduled for review by the City Council and a public hearing will be held within 60 days from the date of the appeal request; the decision of the City Council shall be final.
Reason for Appeal: See attached
Form updated 09/18/2023
ZON-2022-0131
Planning Commission Appeal
Fullerton Heritage - Ernie Kelsey, President
The environmental report provided by FirstCarbon Solutions (FCS) to Planning Staff regarding the subject property is inaccurate and omits key information about the architects and the economic contribution the enterprise located at 801 S. Acacia Avenue made to the City of Fullerton.
Attached is a detailed (and accurate) description of the building including the notable architects, the innovative design and its economic contribution to the city.
The Planning Commission did not have all the facts when they approved the development allowing the building to be demolished without further study. If FCS had conducted a thorough analysis of the property, they would have discovered everything included in the attached document. A call or email to the Local History Room at the Fullerton Public Library would have uncovered so much more than their generic search of public records.
As a key point, the report did not even mention the architect's names.
If the building is found to be worth saving after further inspection, the environmental document then needs to be updated to include an alternative plan to save the building, like the Beckman Instruments project several years ago. The plan should include any tax advantages the building may receive if it's listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Having nominated multiple Fullerton properties to the National Register over the last twenty years - all approved by the state and federal governments - Fullerton Heritage is confident the Arcadia Metal Products building easily qualifies for listing. The pros and cons of the alternative plan should be part of the document and available for the City Council to evaluate as part of their decision-making process.
Fullerton Heritage is willing to assist in any way we can. It's unfortunate this very simple-to- find information was not uncovered as part of the environmental review earlier in the project timeline.
Fullerton
Heritage
Arcadia Metal Products, Inc. Administration Building and Factory 801 South Acacia Avenue, Fullerton, California
Constructed in 1955, the Administration Building and Factory were designed by two premier California architects: A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons (Jones & Emmons). The general contractors were Chotiner & Gumbiner, Inc., of Beverly Hills, founded by two childhood friends: Willard Chotiner and James Gumbiner. The two builders constructed over 300 buildings throughout Southern California. The engineering firm was the Donald R. Warren Company.
The Administration Building would qualify as a Fullerton Local Landmark and for listing on the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A (social history) and Criterion C (architecture). Together and individually, Jones and Emmons designed buildings that are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Their modernist offices on West Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles have been designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.
Historic Background
Following World War II, Fullerton remained largely an agricultural community of only 11,328 residents.
Revenues from the oil industry had begun to fade after the war, and the city's economy depended heavily on crop production and food canning and preserving. While these were still multimillion-dollar industries, it became increasingly obvious that profitability was declining as one orange grove after another was replaced by housing tracts, with the population doubling by 1953.
Realizing that the costs of city services for an expanding population were going to rise faster than tax revenues, the Fullerton City Council adopted a new and innovative industrial policy designed to move the still largely rural town toward manufacturing and away from the agricultural economy that had existed since the city was founded in 1887. City Council members designated two large areas - one of 500 acres in the southwest part of the city and another of 200 acres in the northwest section - for industrial purposes. Mayor Tom Eadington hired Robert (Bob) L. Clark (1914-1997) as Industrial Coordinator for Fullerton, the first such position created by a California city. Clark's job (1952-1958) was to bring new industry into the city. He sought out and informed industrial prospects of local opportunities and then smoothed the way for agricultural lands to be developed for manufacturing facilities.? Clark, who would later be honored by the Fullerton City Council and named Man of the Year in 1976 by the Fullerton Chamber of Commerce, brought in more than $30 million in new industries in his first three years alone. The new industrial plants led to so many new residents that real estate firms began specializing in homes for relocated workers. One full-page advertisement in the August 25, 1954, issue of the Fullerton News Tribune listed brokers available to "Find Homes for Industrialists" 4 Clark's first big catch was Beckman Instruments, Inc., which opened its new complex in 1954. Other major companies - Helms Bakery, Hughes Aircraft, Catalina, American Electronics, National Cash Register, Kimberly-Clark, Sylvania Electric Products, etc. - soon followed. Arcadia Metal Products, Inc., located in Arcadia, California, was one of a number of up-and-coming companies enticed to Fullerton by Clark; groundbreaking ceremonies for a new Arcadia headquarters office and factory were held on May 11, 1955. Fullerton's industrial growth soon surpassed the rate of development in other Orange County communities as the city became nationally famous for "its favorable conditions for industry"S As new manufacturing facilities were added to the southeast area, Fullerton's population continued to climb.
Arcadia Metal Products, Inc.
Arcadia Metal Products was established by engineer Henry E. North, Jr., who served as president, and Charles B. Le Bon Ill, who served as vice-president, in a Quonset hut in Arcadia, California, in 1948.10 The firm's engineers invented and then patented latches and other mechanisms - Patent Nos. 2, 688,318; 2,701,157; 2,719,340, etc. - that perfected the sliding patio door, and Arcadia soon became the nation's largest producer of framed sliding glass doors. The doors were widely used in new home construction and remodeling, but were also installed extensively in schools, hospitals, commercial buildings, hotels, and apartment houses.
When the firm moved to Fullerton, the construction of a new 50,000-square foot Arcadia Metal Products plant on a 10-acre site was greeted with considerable interest by both residents and business owners. Not only was the production of the company's sliding glass doors a new local industry, but the selection of two premier architects added to the excitement. Both the Los Angeles Times® and the Fullerton News Tribune' tracked the construction of the new Fullerton plant from groundbreaking ceremonies to opening day in October 1955. Both papers published an architectural rendering of the new building.® The striking building was also featured in the July 1955 issue of Arts & Architecture? Unlike Fullerton factories built prior to World War II, the Arcadia plant was built of tilt-up concrete wall panels with poured-in-place concrete columns. Modular units within the administrative unit and factory allowed the company to quickly adapt to production changes. The unusual exterior combination of wood, glass, steel, brick, and concrete, coupled with two garden courts in the lobby area, resulted in a midcentury modern structure that looked like no other building in Fullerton.
The company's aluminum sliding glass doors transformed the midcentury modern tract home, allowing homeowners for the first time to purchase affordable, easy-to-operate sliders that brought the outside into the interior. The sliders quickly became an integral part of the California lifestyle.1 The doors were installed in thousands of new Fullerton ranch and mid-century modern homes as one tract after another was developed in Fullerton in the 1950s and 1960s. Fullerton and Southern California homebuyers were so familiar with Arcadia doors that they were frequently listed as an amenity in sales brochures and advertisements.'2 Fullerton residents were proud that the sliding glass doors were produced in the city, but even more impressed because the glass for the doors was manufactured by another Fullerton firm, the Mississippi Glass Company, located at Brookhurst Road and Raymer Avenue in an earlier industrial zone established by the city in 1923.13 At the time, the Mississippi Glass facility was the only flat glass plant on the West Coast. 14
Arcadia staff worked closely with both developers and architects, who often preferred the firm's sliding glass doors, including such notable midcentury modern architects as Craig Ellwood, Richard Neutra, Samuel Robert Anshen, and William Allen, Jr. Arcadia doors were used exclusively by the Alexander 2 Construction Company, the premier developer of Palm Springs. In 1953, nationally known builder Joseph Eichler, speaking at an American Institute of Architects convention in Seattle, noted that the "success of his developments was greatly due to the use of the best obtainable products, such as Arcadia Sliding Glass Doors" 15
In 1961, the Northrop Corporation acquired both the Acme Metal Molding Company, the West's largest producer of aluminum storefronts, and Arcadia Metal Products, forming a subsidiary, Northrop Architectural Systems, with Harold E. North, Jr., as the president. 16 Architects A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons (Jones & Emmons) The Arcadia Metal Products building was designed by modern Master Architects A. Quincy Jones and Frederick E. Emmons. The two architects also designed the $90,000 Fullerton Congregational Church (1600 North Acacia) in 1959, which was later razed. The midcentury modern Forever Homes in southwest Fullerton utilized housing plans created earlier by Jones & Emmons for Joseph Eichler.
Frederick Earl Emmons (1907-1999) was born in Olean, New York. He graduated from Cornell University in 1929. He began his career by working for McKim, Mead & White (1930-1932), followed by architect William Wurster (1938-1939), and Allied Engineers (1940-1942), where he met future partner, A. Quincy Jones. After serving in the United States Naval Reserve (1942-1946), he started his own practice in Los Angeles in 1946, the same year he became a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He retired in 1969.'5
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Archibald Quincy Jones (1913-1979) was raised in Gardena, California. He graduated with an architecture degree from the University of Washington in 1936. He returned to Los Angeles, working in the offices of modernist architects Douglas Honnold and George Vernon Russell (1936-1937), Burton A. Schutt (1937-1939), Paul Williams (1939-1940), and Allied Engineers of San Pedro (1940-1942). After serving in the United States Navy in World War II, Jones opened an office in Los Angeles. He partnered with Paul Williams on several projects in Palm Springs, including the Palm Springs Tennis Club (1947), the Town and Country Restaurant (1948), and Romanoff's On the Rocks (1950). 16 In 1960, he was hired by William Pereira as a planning partner in the development of the city of Irvine, and as master plan architect for UC San Diego from 1965 to 1975. For decades, he was a lecturer at United States academic institutions and served as dean of the USC Architecture and Fine Arts School from 1975 to 1978.
After Jones and Emmons formed a partnership in 1951, the two men designed major religious buildings, educational facilities, and civic spaces, along with restaurants, offices, and factories. They designed multiple buildings on five University of California campuses. Some of their most notable projects include the Shorecliff Tower Apartments (1961) in Santa Monica; St. Michael and All Angels Church (1961) in Studio City; the Peninsula Library Center (1967) in Palos Verde; the Congregation Church of Northridge (1959); and the Southdown Estates (1953) in Pacific Palisades.17 The two men are most celebrated for their work with Joseph Eichler, with their designs reflected in some 5,000 Eichler houses in Orange, Pacific Palisades, San Rafael, and Palo Alto. Throughout their partnership, Jones and Emmons utilized new technologies that decreased costs and production time. They favored structural innovations, including post-and-beam construction with pre-assembled parts. Jones and Emmons were the winners of numerous honors, including the AlA Firm of the Year award in 1969. 3 Note: Extensive research on the Arcadia Metal Products building is on file in the Local History Room of the Fullerton Public Library. Included are newspaper and journal articles, books, advertisements, company catalogs, patent abstracts, and photographs. A plan of the Arcadia plant was published in the July 1955 issue of Arts & Architecture, but the original architectural drawings and specifications are on file at UCLA in the Special Collections Department of the Charles E. Young Research Library.
The Online Archive of California also has an online guide to the A. Quincy Jones Papers at UCLA. The Arcadia plant Job Numbers are 137.00 584; 137.01 601; 137.02 544; and 137.03 561.
References:
Sylvia Palmer, Richey, Debora, and Cathy Thomas. Fullerton: The Boom Years. Charleston: History Press, 2015: 47-54. 2"Bob Clark's Path Took Many Turns: His Rainbow of Careers Included Special Effects and Ranching." Orange County Register September 12, 1997, p. B5; "Clark, 83, Dies; Former City Official Brought Hughes to Town." Fullerton News Tribune September 11, 1997, p. A11. Clark was involved in special effects on the films San Francisco, Gone with the Wind, and The Wizard of Oz. He would later serve two terms on the Orange County Grand Jury in 1964 and 1969 and on the Orange County Water District Board of Directors from 1968 to 1981.
"Man, Woman of '76 Named by Fullerton." Fullerton News Tribune June 14, 1976, p.A1. 4" Find Homes for Industrialists [Advertisement]." Fullerton News Tribune August 25, 1954, p. 7G. 5"Industrial Areas Win Recognition." Fullerton News Tribune July 24, 1956; "Fullerton Leads in Manufacturing Gains." Fullerton News Tribune August 25, 1955.
6"Factory Site is Purchased." Los Angeles Times January 23, 1955, p. A16; "New Metal Products Plant Plans Stated." Los Angeles Times March 20, 1955, p. E13; "Schedule Project." Los Angeles Times March 20, 1955, p. E13. Includes architectural rendering; "Work Scheduled to Start on New Fullerton Plant." Los Angeles Times May 1, 1955; "Ground Broken for New Plant." Los Angeles Times May 15, 1955, p. E15; "New Plant Use is Scheduled." Los Angeles Times September 11, 1955, p. E26; "New Industrial Facility." Los Angeles Times October 2, 1955. Includes an aerial photograph; "New Plant." Los Angeles Times August 5, 1956, p. "Firm to Locate on Acacia Street." Fullerton News Tribune December 21, 1954; "Contract Awarded for New Arcadia Metal Plant." Fullerton News Tribune April 25, 1955; "Arcadia Plant Tour Conducted." Fullerton News Tribune March 1, 1956. 8"For Better Living." Fullerton Daily News Tribune August 24, 1955, p. F1; "Schedule Project." Los Angeles Times March 20, 1955, p. E13.
"Commercial Building." Arts & Architecture July 1955, p. 22-24. 10"A Businessman; and a Man Who Thinks for Business." Los Angeles Times January 2, 1958, p. 42. 11Weinstein, Dave. When the Aluminum Sliding Glass Door Made its Groundbreaking Debut-Then Ushered in the Classic Look of Mid-Century Modern. Eichler Network. http://www.eichlernetwork.com/article/threshold-discovery. 12Phillips Pardee Construction Company. Forever House in Fullerton Groves with the Dream Kitchens of Tomorrow. Los Angeles:
Phillips Pardee Construction Company, 1955. Copy on file in the Local History Room, Fullerton Public Library; "Move in Now to Your Fullerton House." Los Angeles Times December 11, 1955. "Today; Preview National Award Winning Forever House." Los Angeles Times April 8, 1956, etc.
13"New Industry Hum Is Near at Hand." Fullerton News Tribune June 9, 1923. 14"'Only Flat Glass Plant on West Coast Located in City; Big Variety of Products Turned Out by Firm." Fullerton News Tribune August 25, 1954.
4 15"Sliding Glass Doors by Arcadia." Progressive Architecture August 1953, p. 138. 16"New Offshoot for Northrop." Los Angeles Times September 29, 1961, p. C13. 17"Frederick E. Emmons, Retired L. A. Architect." Los Angeles Times August 28, 1999, p. 20; American Architects Directory,1970. 3r° ed. Detroit: R. R. Bowker, 1970, p. 254. (
18"A. Quincy Jones, Neglected Genius." Los Angeles Times May 18, 2013, p. E10; American Architects Directory, 1970. 3r ed.
Detroit: R. R. Bowker, 1970, p. 461; Hodge, Brooke, ed. A Quincy Jones, Building for Better Living. Los Angeles: Hammer Museum, 2013; "A. Quincy Jones, Architect of International Stature, Dies." Los Angeles Times August 4, 1979, p. SD14; Seidenbaum, Art. "A. Quincy Jones: A Legacy of Designing with Nature." Los Angeles Times August 12, 1979, p. S99. 17Bucker, Cory. Touring California with Architect A. Quincy Jones-the Remarkable Modern Designs of Jones & Emmons. Eichler Network. http://www.eichlernetwork.com/article/architect-quincy-iones.
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