Memorandum
To Chris Robertson
Senior Vice President, Planning & Development
Caruso
101 The Grove Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Project: Glendale Masonic Temple Signage Secretary of the Interior’s Standards Compliance Assessment
ARG Project No.: 250612
Date: August 6, 2025
Via: Email: [email protected]
Architectural Resources Group (ARG) has prepared the following Secretary of the Interior’s Standards (the Standards) Compliance Assessment for the addition of two new digital wall signs at the Glendale Masonic Temple (the Project). Located at 234 S. Brand Boulevard in the City of Glendale, the Project Site is developed with a nine-story building constructed between 1928-29.
Originally occupied by three of the largest Masonic bodies in Glendale, the Art Deco style building was designed by Arthur George Lindely of the local firm Lindely & Selkirk. It was listed as Glendale Register of Historic Resources No. 15 in 1997. In 2015-16, Caruso undertook a comprehensive interior and exterior rehabilitation of the building for its use as commercial office and retail space.
ARG staff involved in preparing the Standards Compliance Assessment include Evanne St. Charles, Associate Principal, with oversight by Katie Horak, Principal. Ms. Horak and Ms. St. Charles exceed the Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualifications Standards (36 CFR Part 61) in Architectural History.
Methodology
Preparation of this Standards Compliance Assessment involved the following tasks related to research, documentation, and analysis:
• Reviewed previous documentation and studies, including the Baseline Documentation prepared as part of the building’s Mills Act contract (Page and Turnbull, 2015) • Conducted additional property-specific research, as needed
2 • Reviewed the Masonic Temple Signage drawing package and project description (dated July 31, 2025)
• Consulted the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring, and Reconstructing Historic Buildings (Weeks and Grimmer, 1995; revised 2017)
Exterior Character-Defining Features of the Glendale Masonic Temple
• Simple rectangular massing
• Nine-story height
• Stepped, flat roof at the west end
• Flagpole atop the center (tallest) portion of the stepped roof parapet • Board-formed, painted concrete walls
• Primary (west) façade:
o Strong vertical emphasis
o Symmetrical façade composed of three bays
o Central arched recessed entrance consisting of:
Grouped wood doors (doors themselves replaced)
Large arched multi-light window enclosed by a decorative grille (grille recreated based on historic photos)
Arched entrances flanking and perpendicular to the main entrance o Grouped (center) and paired (north and south) bands of multi-light steel windows and spandrels lining the upper stories
o Simulated balconies below each window grouping/pair
o “MASONIC TEMPLE” inscribed at the top of the façade
History of Temple Building Signage
In addition to its inscribed “MASONIC TEMPLE” sign at the top of its west façade, the subject building has featured a variety of wall signs on its north and south elevations since the late 1930s/early 1940s. Painted wall signs were popular along major commercial thoroughfares in the
3 late 19th and early 20th centuries, and were used to advertise on-site businesses as well as off-site consumer products. In the early decades of the 20th century, the tops and sides of buildings “seemed to serve more as pages of oversized display advertisements than mere bricks and mortar, as painted signs and printed billboards populate[d] the landscape.”1 In addition to a “MASONIC TEMPLE” wall sign present on the south elevation by the early 1940s, the subject building has featured wall signs advertising a variety of off-site businesses and consumer products, including Dr. Pepper, Coca-Cola, Kessler Whiskey, and California Bank. The signs measured from approximately 820 to 1,520 square feet and were primarily situated near the top, west ends of the north and south elevations (see photographs below). Throughout the years, the signs were replaced and painted over to make way for new advertisements. None of the painted signs are extant.
Historic Photographs
View southeast of the Masonic Temple, 1938.
Note original inscribed sign at the top of the
west façade (California State Library).
View north of the Masonic Temple, 1940. Note
painted “MASONIC TEMPLE” and Dr. Pepper signs
(https://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_Views
_of_Glendale.html).
1 City of Los Angeles, “SurveyLA Los Angeles Citywide Historic Context Statement: Commercial Signs, 1906-1980,” prepared by Catherine Gudis for the City of Los Angeles, Department of City Planning, Office of Historic Resources (July 2016), 5-6.
4 View northeast of the subject building, 1950.
Note painted “MASONIC TEMPLE,” “WELCOME
TO GLENDALE,” and Coca-Cola signs
(https://www.newdavesrailpix.com/).
View southeast of the subject building, 2015. Note
California Bank and Kessler Whiskey painted ghost
signs (Los Angeles Magazine).
Project Overview
The Project proposes the installation of two new digital wall signs on the north and south elevations of the Masonic Temple building. The signs would be vertically oriented and attached near the top, west ends of each elevation, in similar locations as previous non-extant wall signs.
The north elevation sign would be attached directly to the face of the building, whereas the south elevation sign would be attached to a non-historic exterior stair that was added as part of the 2015-16 rehabilitation. Both signs would measure approximately 21’-5” wide and 38’ high (roughly 814 square feet in size). The signs would be framed in metal and would feature a simple dark-colored surround that is compatible with the historic character and design of the building.
The digital displays would be designed with integrated light sensors to automatically adjust brightness and would include film treatments to minimize light spill and glare impacts.
Regulatory Environment
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
CEQA requires that environmental protection, including protection of historical resources, be given consideration in local land use decision-making processes. Thus, any project which constitutes a substantial adverse change to a historical resource also has a significant effect on
5 the environment, pursuant to the CEQA Guidelines. Under CEQA, a “historical resource” is a resource that is:
• Listed in the California Register of Historical Resources; is • Determined eligible for listing in the California Register by the State Historical Resources Commission; or is
• Included in a local register of historical resources.
Because it is listed in the Glendale Register of Historic Resources, the Glendale Masonic Temple meets the definition of a historical resource for the purposes of CEQA.
According to CEQA Guidelines, a project has the potential to impact a historical resource when the project involves a “substantial adverse change” in the resource’s significance. Substantial adverse change is defined as “physical demolition, destruction, relocation, or alteration of the resource or its immediate surroundings such that the significance of an historical resource will be materially impaired.”
2 The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation are a set of treatment standards for historic buildings developed by the National Park Service. The Standards for Rehabilitation are used at the federal, state, and local level to provide guidance as to the suitability of various elements of a proposed project that could affect a historic resource. They are employed under CEQA by the lead agency to determine the appropriateness of such a proposed project.
Specifically, Section 15064.5(b)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines states: “Generally, a project that follows the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards … shall be considered as mitigated to a level of less than a significant impact on the historical resource.”
City of Glendale Review Process for Alterations to Designated Historic Resources
According to Chapter 15.20 (Historic Preservation), Sections 082 and 084, of the Glendale Municipal Code, “No person shall make [major or minor] alterations to a designated historic resource, to a resource pending designation as a historic resource, to a potential historic resource, or to a protected interior without completing any environmental review required by CEQA and obtaining permits.”
3 2 Title 14 CCR, Section 15064.5.
3 Glendale Municipal Code, 15.20.082 and 15.20.084.
6 As stated in the above section on CEQA, a project will generally not cause an adverse impact on a historical resource if it follows the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards. Thus, if it is demonstrated that a project complies with the Standards, the project will meet the Historic Preservation design review requirements set forth in the Glendale Municipal Code.
Compliance with the Standards
Following is an analysis of all Project components against the ten Standards for Rehabilitation.
1. A property will be used as it was historically or be given a new use that requires minimal change to its distinctive materials, features, spaces, and spatial relationships.
The Project complies with Standard No. 1. The Project would not result in any change to the building’s current use and would not require any change to its distinctive materials, features, spaces, or spatial relationships.
2. The historic character of a property will be retained and preserved. The removal of distinctive materials or alteration of features, spaces, and spatial relationships that characterize a property will be avoided.
The Project complies with Standards No 2. All of the building’s distinctive features and materials, described in the above list under the “Character-Defining Features” section, would be retained and preserved under the Project. The sign on the north elevation will not obscure any character- defining features at that location, and the sign at the south elevation will be attached to a non- historic exterior stair. All distinctive materials, features, and spatial relationships will be unchanged by the addition of the signs.
3. Each property will be recognized as a physical record of its time, place, and use. Changes that create a false sense of historical development, such as adding conjectural features or elements from other historic properties, will not be undertaken.
The Project complies with Standard No. 3. Although painted signs were historically located on the building’s north and south elevations, the new digital signs will be clearly contemporary in appearance and will not create a false sense of historical development.
7 4. Changes to a property that have acquired historic significance in their own right will be retained and preserved.
The Project complies with Standard No. 4. The Project would not result in the modification of any changes to the property that have acquired historic significance in their own right. Any historically significant changes to the building would be retained and preserved.
5. Distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a property will be preserved.
The Project meets Standard No. 5. As described in the discussion of Standard Nos. 1 and 2, all of the building’s distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques/examples of craftsmanship would be preserved under the Project.
6. Deteriorated historic features will be repaired rather than replaced. Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature will match the old in design, color, texture, and, where possible, materials. Replacement of missing features will be substantiated by documentary and physical evidence.
The Project complies with Standard No. 6. Should any deteriorated historic features (i.e. board- formed concrete where north wall sign is proposed) be identified during construction, these features would be repaired rather than replaced.
7. Chemical or physical treatments, if appropriate, will be undertaken using the gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic materials will not be used.
The Project complies with Standard No. 7. Any physical treatments, such as mounting the sign structure to the north concrete wall face, would be undertaken in such a way as to minimize damage to historic fabric.
8. Archeological resources will be protected and preserved in place. If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures will be undertaken.
Because the Project involves the installation of two above-ground signs and would not involve any ground disturbing activities, Standard No. 8 does not apply with regard to the Project's impact on the subject building.
8 9. New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction will not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property. The new work shall be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment.
The Project complies with Standard No. 9. The installation of the two digital signs would not destroy historic materials, features, or spatial relationships that characterize the property. The south elevation sign would be attached to a non-historic exterior stair and thus would not impact any historic features or materials of the Masonic Temple. The north elevation sign would be carefully mounted to the wall so as to minimize impacts to the building’s historic board formed concrete. As described in the “History of Temple Building Signage” section, the placement and size of the proposed signs are similar to the location and size of previous (non-extant) wall signs on the building. The signs would be contemporary, but compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale, proportion and massing of the Masonic Temple.
10. New additions and adjacent or related new construction will be undertaken in such a manner that, if removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of the historic property and its environment would be unimpaired.
The Project complies with Standard No. 10. If the new signs were to be removed from the building’s north elevation and non-historic south stair in the future, the essential form and integrity of the Masonic Temple and its environment would be unimpaired.
Analysis of Aesthetics and Views
In addition to complying with the Standards for Rehabilitation, the Project would not result in a substantial adverse change to the aesthetics of the Masonic Temple or its environment, and would comply with the requirements of the Glendale Municipal Code for the following reasons:
• The Project would not impact any scenic vistas. Because the signs would be flush- mounted to the temple building’s exterior north elevation and non-historic south stair, and they would be set back from the street, the signs would preserve existing sightlines along Brand Boulevard.
• The Project would not damage any scenic resources. While the proposed signs would be attached to the historic temple building, as described above in the Project’s analysis against the Standards, the signs would not damage any of the building’s historic features or materials, and they would not obstruct historically significant views of the building.
9 • The Project would not degrade the existing visual character or quality of public views of the Masonic Temple or its surroundings. As described above, the north and south elevations of the building have featured a variety of large painted wall signs advertising myriad businesses and consumer products since the late 1930s/early 1940s. Though the proposed signs would be digital as opposed to painted, digital images would not change more frequently than each eight seconds so as to lessen visual distraction. Furthermore, because the signs would be viewed from a densely developed commercial corridor that is lined with a variety of signage, including a rooftop billboard directly north of the subject building, the signs would not visually detract from the quality of public northerly and southerly views along Brand Boulevard. Thus, the installation of the new signs would not adversely impact the visual character of Brand Boulevard or the historic temple building.
As a result, the signs are incorporated as architectural elements in such a way that they will contribute to the pedestrian character of the pedestrian street and to the area in general.
• The signs are compatible with the architectural integrity of the building and are proportional with the massing and scale of the building, taking into consideration windows, doors, and architectural features. Further, given the placement of the signs, they do not contribute to visual overcrowding, and they are compatible with the architecture and siting of adjacent buildings and other public and private improvements.
Conclusion
Based on an analysis of the Project and its potential impact to historical resources and aesthetics/views under CEQA, ARG has determined that all work proposed under the Project would have minimal-to-no impact to the historic materials, character-defining features, or aesthetics of the Glendale Masonic Temple, complies with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, and would not result in a substantial adverse change to the building or its environment.
Because the Project complies with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards, the Project qualifies for a Class 31 Categorical Exemption under CEQA and meets the requirements of the Glendale Municipal Code.