Mountain View City Council
September 22, 2026

P1. Other Identifier: 615 CUEST DR
*P2. Location: Not for Publication ✓ Unrestricted *a. County: Santa Clara *b. USGS 7.5' Quad: Mountain View (Date: 2021)
c. Address: 0 CUESTA DR City: Mountain View Zip: 94040
d. UTM:
e. Other Locational Data: Assessor Parcel Number (APN): 19323009 *P3a. Description:

Architectural Style: Modern Designed Landscape Plan Shape: N/A Construction Type: N/A Number of Stories: N/A
Roof Style: N/A Roof Material: N/A
Exterior Material: N/A Primary Door Material: N/A
Window Style: N/A Window Material: N/A
Porch: N/A Garage: N/A
Other Architectural/Site Features: The designed park landscape includes: large areas of grass lawn with curvilinear paths; planted specimen trees, including redwoods; a BBQ area; hexagonal stepped concrete bandstand with a wood pergola; playground (some nonoriginal play equipment) with angular concrete walls; geometric rubble stone planters; picnic tables on circular dirt areas in the lawn; light poles featuring smooth wood logs; log benches; public restroom building; tennis courts; tennis clubhouse; two surface parking lots; and several other ball/sport courts.
*P3b. Resource Attributes: HP29. Landscape architecture *P4. Resources Present: Building Structure Object ✓ Site District Element of District Other (Isolates, etc.) P5a. Photo
P5b. Description of Photo:

April 26, 2024
*P6. Date Constructed/Age and Sources:
✓ Historic Prehistoric Both
1967-1972; Palo Alto Times
*P7. Owner and Address:

CITY OF MOUNTAIN VIEW, 500 CASTRO ST,
MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94041
*P8. Recorded by:

Page & Turnbull, 170 Maiden Lane, 5th Floor, San
Francisco CA 94108
*P9. Date Recorded:

January 2, 2025
*P10. Survey Type: Intensive
*P11. Report Citation: Page & Turnbull, "City of Mountain View Historic Context Statement," prepared for City of Mountain View, Final Draft, October 1, 2024.
*Attachments: NONE Location Map Sketch Map ✓ Continuation Sheet ✓ Building, Structure and Object Record Archaeological Record District Record Linear Feature Record Milling Station Record Rock Art Record Artifact Record Photograph Record Other
DPR 523A (1/95) *Required information
526
State of California ⎯ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #

BUILDING, STRUCTURE, AND OBJECT RECORD

*Resource Name or # CUESTA PARK
B1. Historic Name: Cuesta Park
B2. Common Name:

B3. Original Use: Recreation B4. Present Use: Recreation *B5. Architectural Style: Modern Designed Landscape
*B6. Construction History: Cuesta Park was constructed in two phases from 1967-1970 and 1970-1972. The first phase included the construction of a 250-person barbecue area, restrooms and and a maintenance storage area, volleyball courts, horseshoe pits, a tot lot, walkways, an open play area, and a parking lot. The second phase included 12 tennis courts, two handball courts, two tennis backboards, a tot-lot, a parking lot for 150 cars, a restroom and locker building, a bicycle path, park lighting, and a meadow area.

See Continuation Sheet.
*B7. Moved? ✓ No Yes Unknown Date: Original Location:
*B8. Related Features: Refer to Character-Defining Feature list B9a. Architect: Royston, Hanamoto, Beck & Abey b. Builder: Unknown *B10. Significance: Theme:

Civic Growth and Social, Religious &
Cultural Development (1945-1979)
Area: Mountain View
Period of Significance: 1967-1972 Property Type: Landscape - Designed Applicable NR/CR Criteria: C/3 (Design) Mountain View Register of Historic Resources Criteria: MVRHR Criterion c (Design) Statement of Significance:

Cuesta Park is a Modernist recreational public park located in the Cuesta Park neighborhood of Mountain View that is associated with the theme of Civic Growth and Social, Religious & Cultural Development (1945-1979) as elaborated in the City of Mountain View Historic Context Statement. The park was designed by notable Modernist landscape architect Robert Royston of the firm Royston, Hanamoto, Beck & Abey and constructed in phases from 1967 to 1972. Royston was a preeminent Modernist landscape architect working in postwar California who contributed to dozens of other projects in Mountain View, and, along with other figures like Thomas Church, Lawrence Halprin, and Garrett Eckbo, helped to define a uniquely Californian approach to Modernist landscape design in the mid-20th century..

Distinctive Modernist features of the park include rubble stone geometric planters, handball courts, meandering paths through sloped lawns and redwoods, and a bandstand with wood pergola.

See Continuation Sheet.

B11. Additional Resource Attributes:

HP31. Urban open space
*B12. References:

See Continuation Sheet.

B13. Remarks:

None
*B14. Evaluator: Page & Turnbull, 170 Maiden Lane, 5th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94108
*Date of Evaluation: January 2, 2025
Sketch Map
DPR 523B (1/95) *Required information
527
State of California ⎯ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial

*Recorded by: Page & Turnbull *Date: January 2, 2025 ✓
Continuation Update
Continuation of B6. Construction History
Since opening, the original tot lot playground was removed and appears to have been replaced with newer playground equipment. The volleyball courts have also been removed. From visual analysis, the tennis courts appear resurfaced. Otherwise, no other notable alterations have been documented.

Continuation of B10. Statement of Significance
Cuesta Park appears eligible for listing in the National Register, California Register, and the Mountain View Register of Historic Resources at the local level under Criterion C/3/c as an excellent example of Modernist landscape architecture and as the work of important landscape architect Robert Royston. While Royston contributed to many civic and institutional designs throughout Mountain View, Cuesta Park is the largest, fullest, and most distinctive representation of his approach to Modernist landscape design in the city. The period of significance is 1967 to 1972, spanning the years of construction. With only minor alterations including, the removal of the wood frame and concrete "tot lot" playground area and the volleyball courts, the property retains all aspects of integrity and has sufficient overall historic integrity for listing in the National Register, California Register, and the Mountain View Register.

The character-defining features of the resource include:

Overall siting and park topography
Open grass lawns with curvilinear paths
Tennis clubhouse building
Circular areas with picnic tables in grass lawn
Tree species including groves of Coast redwoods, Monterey and Italian stone pines, flowering cherry, fern and tulip trees Shrub species including oleander, tobira, raphiolepis, Algerian ivy and Aaron's beard Geometric rubble stone planters
Stone retaining wall
Wood-frame pergola and stepped concrete bandstand
Log-form benches
Wood beam light posts with metal lanterns
Picnic area with barbeque grills and hexagonal concrete tables Tennis courts
Concrete handball courts and tennis backboards
Midcentury Modern style restroom and locker building with vertical redwood siding, gable roof, wide, overhanging eaves, exposed rafters, clerestory windows, and fixed full-height window systems.

Continuation of B12. References:
“Cuesta Park Drawings Authorized.” Palo Alto Times, April 30, 1968, 5. https://www.tclf.org/pioneer/robert-royston
Terry Hansen. “Around the Beats: Cuesta Park’s ‘other Shoe’ Drops.” Palo Alto Times, March 27, 1972, 16.

DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
528
DRAFT
State of California ⎯ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
PRIMARY RECORD Trinomial
NRHP Status Code
Other Listings
Review Code Reviewer Date

P1. Other Identifier:
*P2. Location: Not for Publication ✓ Unrestricted *a. County: Santa Clara *b. USGS 7.5' Quad: Mountain View (Date: 2021)
c. Address: 2715 DIERICX DR City: Mountain View Zip: 94040-3958 d. UTM:
e. Other Locational Data: Assessor Parcel Number (APN): 19725067 *P3a. Description:

Architectural Style: Spanish Colonial Revival Plan Shape: Irregular Construction Type: Concrete Number of Stories: 2
Roof Style: Gable Roof Material: Clay Tile
Exterior Material: Stucco Primary Door Material: Wood
Window Style: Arched, Casement Window Material: Wood
Porch: Portico Garage: Detached Garage
Other Architectural/Site Features: Arched window openings; arched portico; wood door with ornate metal straps; corbel detailing; inset decorative panels; thick timber lintel at upper story; stucco chimney; overhanging eaves with exposed rafters and metal brackets. *P3b. Resource Attributes: HP2. Single family property
*P4. Resources Present: ✓ Building Structure Object Site District Element of District Other (Isolates, etc.) P5a. Photo
P5b. Description of Photo:

May 3, 2023
*P6. Date Constructed/Age and Sources:
✓ Historic Prehistoric Both
1929; Mountain View Register Leader
*P7. Owner and Address:

GENTIN JONATHAN AND LEVIN GAYLE R
TRUSTEE, 2715 DIERICX DR, MOUNTAIN VIEW
CA 94040
*P8. Recorded by:

Page & Turnbull, 170 Maiden Lane, 5th Floor, San
Francisco CA 94108
*P9. Date Recorded:

January 2, 2025
*P10. Survey Type: Intensive
*P11. Report Citation: Page & Turnbull, "City of Mountain View Historic Context Statement," prepared for City of Mountain View, Final Draft, October 1, 2024.
*Attachments: NONE Location Map Sketch Map ✓ Continuation Sheet ✓ Building, Structure and Object Record Archaeological Record District Record Linear Feature Record Milling Station Record Rock Art Record Artifact Record Photograph Record Other
DPR 523A (1/95) *Required information
529
DRAFT
State of California ⎯ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #

BUILDING, STRUCTURE, AND OBJECT RECORD

*Resource Name or # 2715 DIERICX DR
B1. Historic Name: Levin Huff House
B2. Common Name:

B3. Original Use: Residential - Single-Family B4. Present Use: Residential - Single-Family *B5. Architectural Style: Spanish Colonial Revival
*B6. Construction History: The building was originally constructed in 1929 as the farmhouse for an orchard north of Levine Avenue. In 1962 the building was moved to the subject parcel and rotated 90 degrees clockwise, to face Diericx Drive. The original orchard north of Levine Avenue was redeveloped as single-family housing. A detached garage was constructed after the building was relocated sometime in the 1960s.

See Continuation Sheet.
*B7. Moved? No ✓ Yes Unknown Date: 1962 Original
Location:

North of Levine Avenue, approximately at the location
of the cul-de-sac on Arbor Ct.
*B8. Related Features: None
B9a. Architect: Unknown b. Builder: Neil Darrah
*B10. Significance: Theme: Residential Development (1910-1944) Area: Mountain View Period of Significance: 1929 Property Type: Residential - Single-Family Applicable NR/CR Criteria: None Mountain View Register of Historic Resources Criteria: MVRHR Criterion c (Design) Statement of Significance:

The property is a two-story, single-family Spanish Colonial Revival style residence located in the Waverly Park neighborhood, associated with the theme of Residential Development (1910-1944) as elaborated in the City of Mountain View Historic Context Statement.

The building was originally designed and built by Neil Darrah in 1929 for original owner Frank Huff as the farmhouse for an orchard that originally occupied the north side of Levine Avenue, north of the subject property. Neil Darrah was a Scottish-born carpenter and opera singer who immigrated to Canada in 1910 and to the United States in 1918. In 1922, Darrah settled in Mountain View and renovated numerous houses in the area, and also became director of the Mountain View Choral Club. Little is known about Darrah's other works, and the subject building was the only new building designed or built by Darrah uncovered through research.

Frank Huff and his family lived at the property until 1960, when the orchard was sold to real estate developer and builder Joseph Eichler and the farmhouse was relocated to allow for new residential development. While Eichler, ultimately, did not build at the original site of the subject building (vicinity of Arbor Court), a residential tract was later constructed.

See Continuation Sheet.

B11. Additional Resource Attributes:

None
*B12. References:

See Continuation Sheet.

B13. Remarks:

The property is currently listed on the Mountain View Register. Property has an active Mills Act contract.
*B14. Evaluator: Page & Turnbull, 170 Maiden Lane, 5th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94108
*Date of Evaluation: January 2, 2025
Sketch Map
DPR 523B (1/95) *Required information
530
DRAFT
State of California ⎯ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial

*Recorded by: Page & Turnbull *Date: January 2, 2025 ✓
Continuation Update
Continuation of B6. Construction History
The low wall surrounding the building and two posts at the sidewalk were constructed in 2001 to match the original features of the building.

Stucco cladding and second-story windows within the gable end on the primary facade were replaced sometime between the 1962 and 2002.

Continuation of B10. Statement of Significance
The subject property does not appear to be individually eligible for listing in the National Register or California Register under any criteria.

While the property does not rise to the level of significance and integrity for individual designation in the National Register or California Register, it is currently listed in the Mountain View Register. It is a good local example of a Spanish Colonial Revival style residence from the 1920s in Mountain View by a local builder, and continues to be eligible for local listing under Mountain View Register Criterion c. The period of significance is the year the building was constructed, 1929. The integrity of the property's setting is impaired by the development of single-family housing on former orchard groves, the relocation and reorientation of the building on an entirely new site, and the replacement of some windows. Despite replacement of some windows on the primary facade, the property overall retains integrity of design, materials, workmanship, and association. As such, the property retains sufficient historic integrity to convey its local significance for Mountain View Register eligibility.

The character-defining features of the resource include:

Overall form and massing
Gable roof with red clay tile roofing
Stucco cladding
Fenestration pattern, including arched window and door openings Wood lintel and window surrounds
Original divided lite casement windows
Recessed, arched entryway
Decorative inset panels
Corbelling above entryway
Clay tile vents in gable end
Stuccoed chimney.

Continuation of B12. References:

Carey & Co. Inc, "Citywide Historic Properties Survey Mountain View, California." Vols. I and II. Prepared for City of Mountain View, September 1, 2008.

City of Mountain View, "2715 Diericx Drive input form," Mountain View Historic Register, March 15, 2002. "Darrah Will Build New Home for Huff," Mountain View Register Leader, August 2, 1929.

Davis Fields, "Huff House," accessed via Internet Archive November 27 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20070629122819/http://davisfields.com/huff/ University of California, Santa Barbara Library FrameFinder, historic aerials (1956). Accessed online October 2024, https://mil.library.ucsb.edu/ap_indexes/FrameFinder/.

DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
531
DRAFT
State of California ⎯ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
PRIMARY RECORD Trinomial
NRHP Status Code
Other Listings
Review Code Reviewer Date

P1. Other Identifier:
*P2. Location: Not for Publication ✓ Unrestricted *a. County: Santa Clara *b. USGS 7.5' Quad: Mountain View (Date: 2021)
c. Address: 96 W EL CAMINO REAL City: Mountain View Zip: 94040-2643 d. UTM:
e. Other Locational Data: Assessor Parcel Number (APN): 15801038 *P3a. Description:

Architectural Style: Neo-Colonial Revival Plan Shape: Square Construction Type: Wood Frame Number of Stories: 2
Roof Style: Hip Roof Material: Asphalt - Shingle
Exterior Material: Stucco Primary Door Material: Wood - Panel Window Style: Casement Window Material: Aluminum
Porch: Full Width Garage: Port-Cochere
Other Architectural/Site Features: Double-height fluted Doric columns; swan neck pediment at front entrance; wood shutters. *P3b. Resource Attributes: HP6. 1-3 story commercial building *P4. Resources Present: ✓ Building Structure Object Site District Element of District Other (Isolates, etc.) P5a. Photo
P5b. Description of Photo:

April 26, 2024
*P6. Date Constructed/Age and Sources:
✓ Historic Prehistoric Both
1960; Santa Clara County Assessor
*P7. Owner and Address:

CUSIMANO SHERRI TRUSTEE & ET AL, 96 W EL
CAMINO REAL, MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94040
*P8. Recorded by:

Page & Turnbull, 170 Maiden Lane, 5th Floor, San
Francisco CA 94108
*P9. Date Recorded:

January 2, 2025
*P10. Survey Type: Intensive
*P11. Report Citation: Page & Turnbull, "City of Mountain View Historic Context Statement," prepared for City of Mountain View, Final Draft, October 1, 2024.
*Attachments: NONE Location Map Sketch Map ✓ Continuation Sheet ✓ Building, Structure and Object Record Archaeological Record District Record Linear Feature Record Milling Station Record Rock Art Record Artifact Record Photograph Record Other
DPR 523A (1/95) *Required information
532
DRAFT
State of California ⎯ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #

BUILDING, STRUCTURE, AND OBJECT RECORD

*Resource Name or # 96 W EL CAMINO REAL
B1. Historic Name: Cusimano Family Colonial Mortuary
B2. Common Name:

B3. Original Use: Mortuary B4. Present Use: Mortuary
*B5. Architectural Style: Neo-Colonial Revival
*B6. Construction History: The property was built in 1960 for use as a mortuary by owners Joseph and Sue Cusimano, and has been continuously used as a mortuary since. No major exterior alterations are noted. *B7. Moved? ✓ No Yes Unknown Date: Original Location:
*B8. Related Features: None
B9a. Architect: Unknown b. Builder: Unknown
*B10. Significance: Theme: Civic Growth and Social, Religious & Cultural Development (1945-1979) Area: Mountain View
Period of Significance: 1960-1999 Property Type: Mortuary Applicable NR/CR Criteria: None Mountain View Register of Historic Resources Criteria: MVRHR Criterion a (Persons) Statement of Significance:

The property is a Neo-Colonial Revival style mortuary located along the El Camino Real corridor in Mountain View, that is associated with the theme of Civic Growth and Social, Religious & Cultural Development (1945-1979) as elaborated in the City of Mountain View Historic Context Statement. The subject property opened as the Cusimano Family Colonial Mortuary in 1960, and was owned and operated by the Cusimano family through 2024. Joe and Sue Cusimano founded their mortuary business in 1957 in a remodeled storefront on Castro Street, originally called "The Colonial Chapel." By 1960, the family relocated the business to 96 W El Camino Real, where a Neo-Colonial Revival mortuary was constructed for approximately $500,000 on the site of a former Victorian era house built in the 1880s. Sue and Joe were active in the Mountain View community and involved in many local clubs and organizations. The Cusimanos owned and operated the mortuary until Sue's death in 1991 and Joe's death in 1999, after which ownership transferred to their children Sherri and Matthew Cusimano, who continued to own the property through 2024.

See Continuation Sheet.

B11. Additional Resource Attributes:

None
*B12. References:

See Continuation Sheet.

B13. Remarks:

None
*B14. Evaluator: Page & Turnbull, 170 Maiden Lane, 5th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94108
*Date of Evaluation: January 2, 2025
Sketch Map
DPR 523B (1/95) *Required information
533
DRAFT
State of California ⎯ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial

*Recorded by: Page & Turnbull *Date: January 2, 2025 ✓
Continuation Update
Continuation of B10. Statement of Significance
The subject property does not appear to be individually eligible for listing in the National Register or California Register under any criteria.

The property appears eligible for the Mountain View Register of Historic Resources under Criterion (a) for its association with Joe and Sue Cusimano, who were prominent members of the Mountain View community and provided important funerary services to the community through the operation of their mortuary for many decades. The property maintains integrity and has a period of significance of 1960 through 1999, the latter being the year of Joe Cusimano's death.

The character-defining features of the resource include:

Overall form and massing
Swan neck pediment and paired, wood panel doors at front entrance Recessed double-height front porch with fluted Doric columns Hipped roof
Stucco siding
Fenestration pattern, original metal windows, and wood shutters Port-cochere at north side facade.

Continuation of B12. References:

Cusimano Family Colonial Mortuary. “History: Joseph and Sue Cusimano,” n.d. https://www.cusimanocolonial.com/about-us/history.

John Keplinger. “Early Mt. View Home Now a Memory.” Daily Palo Alto Times, May 23, 1960, 6.

DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
534
DRAFT
State of California ⎯ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
PRIMARY RECORD Trinomial
NRHP Status Code
Other Listings
Review Code Reviewer Date

P1. Other Identifier:
*P2. Location: Not for Publication ✓ Unrestricted *a. County: Santa Clara *b. USGS 7.5' Quad: Mountain View (Date: 2021)
c. Address: 624 W EL CAMINO REAL City: Mountain View Zip: 94040-2508 d. UTM:
e. Other Locational Data: Assessor Parcel Number (APN): 15806006 *P3a. Description:

Architectural Style: Commercial Modern Plan Shape: Rectangle Construction Type: Reinforced Concrete Number of Stories: 1 Roof Style: Shed Roof Material: Asphalt - Rolled
Exterior Material: Concrete - Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU), Masonry - Brick Primary Door Material: Fully Glazed Window Style: Storefront Window Material: Wood
Porch: None Garage: None
Other Architectural/Site Features: Roll up, partially glazed garage doors in service bays. Hexagon pattern in CMU. *P3b. Resource Attributes: HP6. 1-3 story commercial building *P4. Resources Present: ✓ Building Structure Object Site District Element of District Other (Isolates, etc.) P5a. Photo
P5b. Description of Photo:

April 26, 2024
*P6. Date Constructed/Age and Sources:
✓ Historic Prehistoric Both
1958; Santa Clara County Assessor
*P7. Owner and Address:

MORALES LORRAINE MILDRED TRUSTEE, 1061
ENDERBY WAY, SUNNYVALE CA 94087
*P8. Recorded by:

Page & Turnbull, 170 Maiden Lane, 5th Floor, San
Francisco CA 94108
*P9. Date Recorded:

January 2, 2025
*P10. Survey Type: Intensive
*P11. Report Citation: Page & Turnbull, "City of Mountain View Historic Context Statement," prepared for City of Mountain View, Final Draft, October 1, 2024.
*Attachments: NONE Location Map Sketch Map ✓ Continuation Sheet ✓ Building, Structure and Object Record Archaeological Record District Record Linear Feature Record Milling Station Record Rock Art Record Artifact Record Photograph Record Other
DPR 523A (1/95) *Required information
535
DRAFT
State of California ⎯ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #

BUILDING, STRUCTURE, AND OBJECT RECORD

*Resource Name or # 624 W EL CAMINO REAL
B1. Historic Name: Joe Musso Motor Service
B2. Common Name:

B3. Original Use: Auto-Related Commercial/Light Industrial B4. Present Use: Commercial *B5. Architectural Style: Commercial Modern
*B6. Construction History: The subject building opened as Joe Musso Motor Service in 1958 and continued to operate as an auto repair garage through the 1970s. The exterior concrete masonry units have recently been painted. No other major alterations are visible. The building is currently used as a commercial space.
*B7. Moved? ✓ No Yes Unknown Date: Original Location:
*B8. Related Features: None
B9a. Architect: Unknown b. Builder: Unknown
*B10. Significance: Theme: Commercial Development (1945-1979) Area: Mountain View Period of Significance: 1958 Property Type: Auto-Related Commercial/Light Industrial Applicable NR/CR Criteria: None Mountain View Register of Historic Resources Criteria: MVRHR Criterion c (Design) Statement of Significance:

The property is a Commercial Modern style auto garage located at the center of the El Camino Real corridor in Mountain View, associated with the theme of Commercial Development (1945-1979) as elaborated in the City of Mountain View Historic Context Statement. The business operated as Joe Musso Motor Service from 1958 through 1970. The original architect is unknown, however, the building is an increasingly rare extant example of auto-oriented Midcentury Modern architecture on El Camino Real in Mountain View.

See Continuation Sheet.

B11. Additional Resource Attributes:

None
*B12. References:

See Continuation Sheet.

B13. Remarks:

None
*B14. Evaluator: Page & Turnbull, 170 Maiden Lane, 5th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94108
*Date of Evaluation: January 2, 2025
Sketch Map
DPR 523B (1/95) *Required information
536
DRAFT
State of California ⎯ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial

*Recorded by: Page & Turnbull *Date: January 2, 2025 ✓
Continuation Update
Continuation of B10. Statement of Significance
624 W El Camino Real appears eligible for the Mountain View Register under Criterion c as a full expression of Commercial Modern style architecture with overhanging eaves, multi-lite glazed garage doors, and patterned concrete masonry unit walls; and as an increasingly rare extant auto-oriented building designed in the style, associated with the post-World War II automobile-oriented commercial development of El Camino Real. The period of significance is 1958, the year of construction. The property retains all aspects of historic integrity.

The character-defining features of the resource include:

Overall form and massing
Shed roof
Overhanging eaves with exposed rafters
Storefront windows with alternating rectangular sashes
Multi-lite glazed garage doors
Brick bulkhead with stacked bond
Concrete masonry unit walls with hexagonal pattern.

Continuation of B12. References:
“Legal Advertising.” Daily Palo Alto Times, February 16, 1970, 34. “The El Camino-San Antonio Merchants.” Daily Palo Alto Times, June 15, 1959, 5.

DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
537
DRAFT
170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Imagining change in historic environments through
design, research, and technology

MEMORANDUM
DATE March 1, 2023 PROJECT
NUMBER
22226
TO Nick Towstopiat, Associate Project
Manager
PROJECT 615 & 749 W. El Camino Real,
Mountain View – HRER Peer Review
OF David J. Powers & Associates, Inc
1871 The Alameda, Suite 200
San Jose, CA 95126
FROM Hannah Simonson, Associate,
Cultural Resources Planner/
Architectural Historian
CC Peter Birkholz, Principal-in-Charge,
Page & Turnbull
VIA Email
REGARDING 615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum

INTRODUCTION
This Historic Resources Evaluation Report (HRER) Peer Review Memorandum has been prepared by Page & Turnbull at the request of David J. Powers & Associates regarding the properties at 615 W. El Camino Real (APN 193-02-050) and 749 W. El Camino Real (APN 193-02-049) in Mountain View. David J. Powers & Associates has been retained by the City of Mountain View to conduct the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance review of a proposed project on a site that includes these two properties.

The two properties are immediately adjacent, both on the south side of West El Camino Real, between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, immediately south of downtown Mountain View. The property at 615 W. El Camino Real is an approximately rectangular, 1.2-acre parcel at the southwest corner of W. El Camino Real and Lane Avenue. 615 W. El Camino Real includes a one-story restaurant, built c. 1945, currently vacant and is surrounded by a surface parking lot, as well as an un-landscaped area surrounded by trees and a large surface parking lot that serves the adjacent bank property. The property at 749 W. El Camino Real is an approximately rectangular, 1.9-acre parcel at the southeast corner of W. El Camino Real and Castro Street. 749 W. El Camino Real contains a two-story bank, currently occupied by Chase Bank, built in 1977 for Home Savings & Loan Association and designed by Millard Sheets Designs, Inc. (later named Millard Sheets & Associates Designs, Inc.). The property also includes a plaza at the northwest corner and surface parking to the south and east of the building.
538
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Figure 1. Subject properties: 615 W. El Camino Real (right, shaded blue) and 749 W. El Camino Real (left, shaded green). Source: SCC Map, County of Santa Clara, 2023. Edited by Page & Turnbull.

Neither property is currently listed in the National Register of Historic Places (National Register), California Register of Historical Resources (California Register), or Mountain View Register of Historic Resources (Mountain View Register). The building is not included in the most recent version available of the State of California Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) Built Environment Resources Directory (BERD) for Santa Clara County, issued September 2022, indicating that no record of a previous survey or evaluation is on file at an information center of the California Historical Resources Information System (CHRIS).

In December 2021, Ascent Environmental, Inc. prepared a Historic Resource Evaluation Report (“2021 HRER”) for the properties at 615 and 749 W. El Camino Real, which evaluated the properties’ historic significance and eligibility for listing on the National Register and California Register. The report includes California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) 523 form for each property in 539
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 the Appendix. The 2021 HRER found both properties ineligible for listing in the National Register or California Register under any criteria.
1 Summary of Peer Review Findings
Page & Turnbull concurs with Ascent Environmental’ s determination that the former Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler restaurant building at 615 W. El Camino Real is not eligible for listing in the National Register, California Register, or Mountain View Historic Register, and is therefore not a historical resource for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Page & Turnbull disagrees with Ascent Environmental’ s determination that the former Home Savings & Loan Association building (now Chase Bank) at 749 W. El Camino Real is not eligible for listing in the California Register or Mountain View Register, but concurs that the property is not currently eligible for the National Register. Based on review of the 2021 HRER and additional research, it is Page & Turnbull’s professional opinion that 749 W. El Camino Real is eligible for individual listing in the California Register and the Mountain View Register and would therefore qualify as a historical resource for the purposes of CEQA.

Methodology
Page & Turnbull conducted a field survey of the subject property on December 23, 2022, to take photographs and observe existing conditions. Page & Turnbull accessed the exterior only of 615 W.

El Camino Real, but accessed the exterior and the lobby interior of 749 W. El Camino Real. In addition to reviewing the 2021 HRER, Page & Turnbull reviewed the “Chase Bank Artwork:

Deinstallation Feasibility Study” prepared by ARG Conservation Services (September 13, 2022); however, this peer review does not address any of the findings of that feasibility study. Additional research regarding the subject property was conducted using archival materials and public records at repositories including the Mountain View Building Division, Mountain View Public Library, Smithsonian Archives of American Art, and Huntington Library, as well as using online databases such as Newspapers.com, NewsBank, UC Santa Barbara Library FrameFinder historic aerial photographs, NETR Online Historic Aerials, and oral history interview transcripts with Millard Sheets on file at the University of California Los Angeles Library Center for Oral History Research and the Smithsonian Archives of American Art.

Page & Turnbull also reviewed Banking On Beauty: Millard Sheets and Midcentury Commercial Architecture in California (University of Texas Press, 2018) by historian Adam Arenson, which is an 1 Ascent Environmental, Inc., Historic Resource Evaluation Report for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View, Mountain View (Prepared for GS Mountain View III, LLC, December 2021), 21. 540
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 illustrated scholarly publication that is based on archival research and extensive interviews, including with members of the Millard Sheets Studio and their relatives. Page & Turnbull corresponded briefly with Arenson via email in January and February 2023 to clarify the role that Sheets played in design decisions and the internal structure of the studio. Arenson provided some of his research notes and reference photos of materials on file at the Huntington Library, which houses the collection of Denis O'Connor, a mosaic muralist who worked in the Millard Sheets Studio and was later a principal of its successor studio.

Professional Qualifications
Page & Turnbull has 50 years of experience in historic preservation planning and architecture in California, with offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Jose. This Peer Review Memorandum was authored by Hannah Simonson, Associate and Cultural Resources Planner/Architectural Historian, with internal review by Christina Dikas, Associate Principal and Director of Page & Turnbull’s Cultural Resources Planning Studio. Both meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards for Architectural History.

Hannah Simonson has extensive experience preparing historic resource evaluations of buildings, sites, and landscapes, historic structures reports and conditions assessments, and CEQA compliance documents. She has worked on a range of citywide historic resource surveys and historic context statements, as well as historic preservation design guidelines. Her expertise is focused on the Modern Movement and Late Modern architecture—a topic on which she has presented extensively to local and national audiences. Her project work has included the evaluation of Modernist and Late Modern buildings, landscapes, and campuses throughout the Bay Area and the Los Angeles region.

Simonson has a Master of Science in Historic Preservation from the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture.

PEER REVIEW OF HISTORIC RESOURCE EVALUATION
The following outlines Page & Turnbull’s peer review findings for the 2021 HRER, including observations where information or context is missing or inconsistent, and provides a discussion of the evaluation findings. This peer review analysis follows the same outline as the 2021 HRER, including sections on the Executive Summary and Introduction, Study Methods, Historic Overview, Historic Resource Evaluation, Conclusions and Recommendations, and Appendix with DPR forms.

Relevant additional research findings made by Page & Turnbull are provided in the section that follows this peer review.
541
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Report Organization, Executive Summary & Introduction
The 2021 HRER is titled Historic Resource Evaluation Report for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View, which is somewhat confusing as it does not include reference to the street address of W. El Camino Real.2 Another minor point of clarification is that the respective dates of construction for the two buildings are not mentioned until the evaluation on page 19 (in the case of 749 W. El Camino Real) or the DPR form in the appendix (in the case of 615 W. El Camino Real); including the years of construction in the executive summary and/or introduction would help aid the reader in interpreting the findings and reason for the historic resource study.

With regard to the overall report organization, the format of having a report with attached DPR forms is an accepted approach for historic resource evaluations. However, the limited information provided about the site development history and construction chronology in the DPR forms in the Appendix is not included in the main body of the report. From the perspective of the reader, it would be helpful to either include additional photographs showing multiple facades of each building within the body of the report or, within Section 4, refer the reader to the DPR forms in the appendix for additional photographs.

The introduction adequately outlines the relevant regulatory framework, including the National Register of Historic Places (National Register), California Register of Historical Resources (California Register), California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and Mountain View Register of Historic Resources (Mountain View Register).

The aerial photographic maps of the 2021 HRER study area outline the footprint of the primary buildings on each site. However, it would be helpful for these maps (Figure 1-2, and sketch maps in the DPR forms) to also include outlines of the parcel boundaries. In particular, the 749 W. El Camino Real property has associated landscape features, including a plaza, planters, fountain, and sculpture, that should be indicated as part of the study area.

Study Methods
The review of prior cultural resource surveys in the records search and literature review is adequate.

Missing from the public records search and literature review is a review of Arenson’s book Banking on Beauty (2018), which is a definitive resource on the work of Millard Sheets and clarifies a number of discrepancies and omissions in the 2021 HRER’s characterization of the design of 749 W. El 2 The DPR forms in the appendix include the following report citation, which differs from the main report tile given on the cover and title page: Ascent Environmental. 2021. Historic Resource Evaluation Report for El Camino Real Properties.

Prepared for GS Mountain View III, LLC.
542
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Camino Real and the involvement of Sheets and other members of the Millard Sheets Studio; these are discussed in greater detail in this peer review in the following section “Historic Context & Site History.” Page & Turnbull also found several historical newspaper articles through online databases and oral history transcripts online that further illuminate the design process of the bank at 749 W. El Camino Real.

Given that the 2021 HRER was prepared in late 2021, Page & Turnbull presumes repositories such as the Mountain View Building Division may not have been readily accessible in-person due to COVID19 protocols, although this is not explicitly stated in the 2021 HRER. A review of building permit records is typical practice for a historic resource evaluation report, along with the inclusion of a table of available building permits.

The 2021 HRER is organized such that a focused site development history, as well as ownership history, is not provided. Some relevant information is found in various sections of the report, including Section 4 “Historic Resource Evaluation” and in the DPR forms. However, no discussion is provided about the history of the development of the Home Savings & Loan Association building 749 W. El Camino Real, which included conversations and negotiations with the City of Mountain View about the building’s design, or the ownership transition to Washington Mutual (1998), then JPMorgan Chase (2008).

Historic Overview
Development of Mountain View
The historic context provides sufficient overall background for the City of Mountain View and the evolution of El Camino Real. The discussion of El Camino Real notes that in the mid-20th century, “commercial development progressed along traffic routes into areas with available parking. The lots along El Camino Real began to be developed for uses that responded to the automobile – drivethrough restaurants, gas and service stations and auto dealerships.”3 However, the trend of roadside restaurants and other automobile-oriented businesses popping up along El Camino Real is not supplemented with any specific examples.

Roadside Eateries
The historic context also provides a discussion of roadside eateries, including family restaurants and diner subtypes. The discussion of family restaurants as a precursor to mid-20th century roadside drive-ins and other roadside restaurants is valuable and establishes the precedent for the use of 3 Ascent Environmental, Historic Resource Evaluation Report for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View, Mountain View, 9.
543
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 both residential style architecture and architectural gimmicks (like windmills, etc.) in roadside restaurant architecture. However, the connection to these early roadside family restaurants and the A-frame residential architecture of 615 W. El Camino Real is not explicitly discussed either in the Historic Overview section or in other evaluation sections of the 2021 HRER.

The context provided for roadside eateries provides an adequate national overview of the typology, but provides only one sentence related specifically to California, and is about Google-style diners in Los Angeles. The context should provide some information about the specific styles and iterations of roadside eateries in California, and some focused discussion of El Camino Real in the Mountain View area, including any notable roadside restaurants from Mountain View’s past and any extant examples. A justification for the inclusion of the historic context on diners is never provided, as the restaurant building at 615 W. El Camino Real does not fit the diner typology. Rather, the building was constructed as a hamburger stand.

Millard Sheets Designs, Inc. and the Home Savings & Loan Association Banks The historic context provides a sufficient and accurate of account of Millard Sheet’s (1907-1989) biography, early career, and early collaboration with Howard Ahmanson (1906-1968), founder and chairman of the Home Savings & Loan Association (established 1947 in Los Angeles). However, Page & Turnbull has found through additional research that the context misrepresents the trajectory of the Millard Sheets Studio’s design practice in the late 1960s and 1970s, as well as the respective roles of Sheets and other designers in his studio, leading to an inadequate comparative analysis with other regional examples of Home Savings & Loan Association branches. For further discussion, refer to the section “Additional Research Findings – Historic Context: Millard Sheets and Home Savings & Loan Association” that follows in this report.

The context discusses the design of the Beverly Hills Home Savings & Loan Association (9245 Wilshire Boulevard), an early commission by Ahmanson, which established many of the features and characteristics of what Adam Arenson, historian and author of Banking on Beauty (2018), deems the “Home Savings Style,” which was developed over time, including the geometric massing, white travertine marble, and program of integrated artworks including mosaics, sculpture, tapestry, stained glass, and later sculpture. The 2021 HRER includes two photographs of the Beverly Hills branch and would benefit from a photograph of other examples the “Home Savings Style” from the Ahmanson era.

The 2021 HRER states that Millard Sheets Designs, Inc. was responsible for over 40 Home Savings & Loan Association branches in California. While it is true that the Millard Sheets Studio designed over 40 branches in collaboration with Ahmanson, the studio also went on to design another 80 branches 544
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 for Home Savings after Ahmanson’s death.4 Also important to the context of the Home Savings branches designed after Ahmanson’s death, but not discussed in the 2021 HRER, is the fact that California state laws changed in 1972, allowing savings and loan associations to operate statewide, and spurring Home Saving’s expansion north out of Southern California for the first time.5 The 2021 HRER notes that “Ahmanson gave Sheets complete freedom” in the design of Home Savings buildings. While this is generally true for the early commissions, Ahmanson grew to like the working Home Savings Style architectural formula. What is not discussed in the 2021 HRER context is that Sheets later felt constrained by Ahmanson’s desire to stick to the architectural formula and Ahmanson’s rejection of Sheets’ suggestions for new ideas and changes.6 Rather, the 2021 HRER inaccurately states the following: “However, after Ahmanson’s death in 1968, Sheets decreased his role in the design of each individual branch. As a result, designs became more standardized, although based on the location’s unique history and character.”7 This statement is directly contradicted by the comprehensive scholarly account provided by Arenson. In addition to mischaracterizing the trajectory of Millard Sheets Studio’s work for the Home Savings & Loan Association, the context and later evaluation discussions do not fully contextualize the atelier model of the studio. Over-emphasis is placed on Sheets’ relative level of involvement in day-to-day design activities.

The 2021 HRER includes a discussion of the San Jose Home Savings & Loan Association branch (1972) and lists other branches on the San Francisco Peninsula, including information about whether the buildings are extant or artworks removed. Minor points of clarification related to the list of other Home Savings branches on the Peninsula include: a Menlo Park branch built in 1973 has since been demolished; one of the two Redwood City banks described does not appear to have been a Home Savings bank (listed as a Guaranty Savings and Loan in Arenson’s master database of Sheets designs); and the other bank in Redwood City was a Home Savings bank, but was built in the mid1980s, not in 1957.8 To provide a true regional comparative analysis, it would be useful to include photographs (or Google Street View screenshots) in the report of some of these Peninsula examples, in addition to the photographs of the San Jose branch.
4 Adam Arenson, Banking on Beauty: Millard Sheets and Midcentury Commercial Architecture in California (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2018), 7.
5 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 180.
6 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 169.
7 Ascent Environmental, Historic Resource Evaluation Report for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View, Mountain View, 19.
8 “Definitive List for Home Savings and Loan Artwork, Savings of America Artwork, and the Millar Sheets Studio Public Projects,” Adam Arenson, accessed online February 21, 2023; NETR Online historic aerials, 1948-1987. 545
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 The historic overview section of the 2021 HRER provides little information about the context of the design, approval, and development of the Home Savings branch in Mountain View, and this information is not provided elsewhere in the report. Page & Turnbull’s research indicates that such details, including the negotiations and conversation with local Mountain View officials about the design of the branch and the relationship to new architectural design experimentations within the studio, are required for an adequate understanding of how the Mountain View branch relates to the Millard Sheets Studio’s body of work. Furthermore, the artists within the studio responsible for the various art components are not cited, the themes and motifs of the mosaic are not discussed, and the interior mural and stained-glass window are not mentioned at all.

Mid-Century Modern & Jewel Box Banks
The 2021 HRER identifies Midcentury Modernism and ‘jewel box’ banks as the two relevant architectural style contexts for evaluating the former Home Savings branch at 749 W. El Camino Real. While the evaluation (Section 4.1.2) and DPR form evaluate the building within the context of New Formalism, the historic overview section on Midcentury Modernism includes only a very brief discussion of New Formalism. The 2021 HRER states that New Formalism is one of several styles under the umbrella of Midcentury Modernism. However, given the identified periods of significance for Midcentury Modern (identified as 1945-1965 by the 2021 HRER) and New Formalism (1950s to 1970s), New Formalism might better be understood as a subset of the Modern Movement more generally, as it occupies a period of transition between the lighter, thinner steel, glass, and wood of the Midcentury Modern to the heavier, more monumental brick, concrete, and marble that characterizes much (but not all of) Late Modern architecture. In addition to the character-defining features identified in the 2021 HRER—rectilinear forms featuring slender arches, strict symmetry, flat roofs, vertical lines, and columnar supports—other typical features of the style include masonry cladding (including more high-end materials like travertine marble) or concrete construction and siting within plaza landscapes.

The 2021 HRER correctly identifies balance, proportion, and Classical references as distinguishing characteristics of New Formalism. However, the report goes on to then state that the design of the bank building at 749 W. El Camino Real “is actually more similar to several small farming banks in the Midwest created by Louis H. Sullivan in the early 20th century,” which indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of New Formalism and the subject building. Indeed, the subject building has features that are reminiscent of Sullivan’s ‘jewel box’ banks, including its rectangular brick massing and glass-filled arched openings. Arenson also observes that Sullivan’s ‘jewel box’ banks were a possible source of inspiration.
9 However, as the 2021 HRER notes, all of Sullivan’s jewel box banks were built between 1902 and 1920 in rural towns across the Midwest. Thus, it does not follow that 9 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 11.
546
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 one could evaluate a 1977 bank building in the San Francisco Bay Area under the context of a ‘jewel box’ bank. Rather, reference to Classical and historical forms is an inherent feature of New Formalism, and the bank at 749 W. El Camino Real is best understood as an example of New Formalism that contains references to Sullivan and jewel box banks; it is not, itself, a jewel box bank, as defined. One might also identify other possible references in the design of 749 W. El Camino Real, including Frank Lloyd Wright’s’ V. C. Morris Gift Shop (1948, San Francisco), Edward Durrell Stone’s Von Kleinsmid Center at the University of Southern California (1967, Los Angeles), or Louis Kahn’s Indian Institutes of Management (1962-74, Ahmedabad, India).

Historic Resource Evaluation
The Historic Resource Evaluation (Section 4) of the 2021 HRER includes sub-sections on the main building at each property, including a brief building description; evaluation under significance criteria for the National Register, California Register, and Mountain View Register; and integrity discussion.

The 2021 HRER does not include a construction history of the properties in the main body of the report; this information is included only in the DPR forms in the appendix of the 2021 HRER. For the purposes of this peer review discussion, information relevant to the construction history is addressed in this section. Ascent Environmental does not appear to have requested or reviewed building permit records on file at the City of Mountain View Building Division, and thus does not include a summary table of building permit records. The construction history appears to be based primarily on Santa Clara County Assessor Records, aerial photographs, and visual observation. Page & Turnbull requested and reviewed available building permits on file, in addition to historic aerials, newspaper articles, and other sources relevant to the construction histories of the two properties.

For further discussion, refer to the section “Additional Research Findings” that follows in this report. 749 W. EL CAMINO REAL (CHASE BANK BUILDING)
Building Description
The exterior building description for 749 W. El Camino Real is generally consistent with Page & Turnbull’s observations, but lacks sufficient detail in describing the exterior and interior art components of the building to adequately inform the evaluation. Only photographs of the primary (north) and east facades are included in the 2021 HRER, and photographs of the other two facades and the interior artworks would be beneficial.

The mosaic at the front of the building is described only as a “large mosaic” with no description of the number of panels or their motifs, and the 2021 HRER does not include any narrative description or photographs of the interior lobby. While historic resource evaluations for CEQA do not always 547
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 require a discussion or documentation of interior spaces, in this case, banking lobbies are typically understood to be semi-public spaces and often have decorative architectural detailing. In particular, Home Savings & Loan Association buildings designed by Millard Sheets Studio are known to frequently have an interior program of artwork, often including murals, fabric hangings, and stained glass.

While the description adequately describes the decorative features of the brick cladding, it would also be helpful to note that the structural system of the building is reinforced concrete. One minor point of clarification is that the “owl statues” described along the roof should be called out as nonoriginal to avoid confusion; these owls are bird deterrent statues installed at a later date.

Construction History (included in DPR form only)
No construction history is provided in the DPR forms beyond a sentence that states that the building was constructed in 1977 and that an ATM was installed at a later date. Page & Turnbull’s review of the building permits on file at the City of Mountain View Building Division reveal, in addition to minor interior tenant improvements, a series of minor alterations to exterior doors, the addition of ATMs in 1999 and 2009, and various changes in exterior signage. Page & Turnbull also identified several historic photographs in the course of research, and has identified the owl bird-deterrent statues as non-original.

No discussion of the ownership and occupancy of the bank is included in the 2021 HRER. Page & Turnbull’s research indicates that the ownership and occupancy history of the building tracks with the acquisition of Home Savings & Loan Association by Washington Mutual in 1998, and then by JPMorgan Chase in 2008.

Evaluation Under Significance Criteria
The evaluation in the 2021 HRER evaluates the bank building at 749 W. El Camino Real for individual listing in the National Register, California Register and Mountain View Register, and finds that it is not eligible for listing under any criteria.

The 2021 HRER notes that the building is less than 50 years old, and therefore is subject to National Register Criterion Consideration G and California Register Special Consideration for properties less than 50 years old. While the regulatory framework section of the report (Section 1.2.2) accurately defines these respective considerations, the evaluation section (Section 4.1.2) inaccurately conflates the National Register and California Register considerations by stating that “exceptional importance must be demonstrated.” However, this is accurate for National Register Criterion Consideration G only, not for the California Register Special Consideration. For the California Register, the threshold 548
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 is lower than National Register Criterion Consideration G, and it only must be “demonstrated that sufficient time has passed to understand its historical perspective” and “to obtain a scholarly perspective on the events or individuals associated with the resource.10 Furthermore, the 2021 HRER does not state that the Mountain View Historical Register (as governed by City of Mountain View Zoning Code Section 36.54 et. seq.) does not include any age-eligibility threshold or considerations.

With regard to the California Register Special Consideration for properties less than 50 years old, it is clearly demonstrated within this peer review memorandum that sufficient time has passed to obtain a historical and scholarly perspective on the former Home Savings & Loan Association branch bank at 749 W. El Camino Real (refer to the “Additional Research Findings – Historic Context: Millard Sheets and Home Savings & Loan Association” section that follows in this report). The property is currently 46 years old and extensive documentation is available contextualizing the history of Home Savings & Loan Association and the Millard Sheets Studio. In addition to a wealth of primary source materials available, a comprehensive and detailed account of Millard Sheets, Millard Sheets Studio, the history of Harold Ahmanson and the Home Savings & Loan Association, and the collaboration between Sheets and Home Savings is documented in historian Adam Arenson’s Banking on Beauty:

Millard Sheets and Midcentury Commercial Architecture in California (University of Texas Press, 2018).

Arenson has also developed a map and database of all of the Millard Sheets Studio commercial and public projects, with references to archival sources.11 Additionally, other articles and historic resource evaluations have been written about Sheets-designed Home Savings banks, as cited in the references of the 2021 HRER.12
Under Criterion A/1/2, the 2021 HRER evaluation notes that the property does not have a direct, important association with historic events as a local branch of the Home Savings & Loan Association.

While the evaluation would benefit from some discussion contextualizing the 1977 branch opening as relatively late in the history of Home Savings & Loan Association (founded 1947), coming only 10 California Office of Historic Preservation, Technical Assistance Bulletin No. 6: California Register and National Register: A Comparison (for purpose of determining eligibility for the California Register (Sacramento: California Office of State Publishing, n.d.), 3, accessed online
https://ohp.parks.ca.gov/pages/1069/files/technical%20assistance%20bulletin%206%202011%20update.pdf. 11 “Definitive List for Home Savings and Loan Artwork, Savings of America Artwork, and the Millar Sheets Studio Public Projects,” Adam Arenson, accessed online February 21, 2023. 12 Robert Jay Chattel, Chattel Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, “Historic Resource Assessment 2600 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica, California,” 2011, accessed online, https://www.smgov.net/departments/pcd/agendas/LandmarksCommission/2013/20131209/13LM-012%20(2600%20Wilshire%20Boulevard)%20Staff%20Report%20(12-9-2013).pdf; Adam Arenson, Jason Foo, Laurene Harding Rivas, Regina O’Brien, and Cheryll Dudley Roberts, “Millard Sheets, A Legacy of Art and Architecture” LA Conservancy, 2012, accessed online,
https://californiapreservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/2016-09-07_Handouts.pdf; and Eve Kahn, “The Artist that Beautified California Banks,” The New York Times, June 10, 2016, accessed online, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/arts/design/the-artist-who-beautified-california-banks.html. 549
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 about a decade before the savings and loan crisis of the mid-1980s to mid-1990s which marked a steep decline in this type of banking institution, Page & Turnbull concurs with this assessment.

Under Criterion B/2/1, the 2021 HRER notes that the bank was built after Howard Ahmanson’s death, and is therefore not significantly associated with him. Page & Turnbull concurs with this assessment relative to Ahmanson. The 2021 HRER evaluation under Criterion B/2/1 also discusses the involvement of Millard Sheets, Denis O’Connor and Susan Lautmann Hertel; however, such discussion is not appropriate for an evaluation under Criterion B/2/1 as the property is not the home or studio of any of the artists, and their contributions to the design of the building should be addressed under Criterion C/3/3. As stated in the National Park Service’s National Register Bulletin 15:

How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation: “Architects, artisans, artists, and engineers are often represented by their works, which are eligible under [National Register] Criterion C. Their homes and studios, however, can be eligible for consideration under [National Register] Criterion B, because these usually are the properties with which they are most personally associated.”13 With regard to the claim under the Criterion B/2/1 discussion that “it is unknown if it was designed by Sheets himself,” Page & Turnbull’s research shows this statement to be inaccurate and conveying a misunderstanding of Sheets’ atelier-like studio and role of impresario; refer to the “Additional Research Findings – Historic Context: Millard Sheets and Home Savings & Loan Association” section that follows in this report.
14 Sheets was always careful never to claim that he was an architect, instead collaborating with architects to produce and sign off on drawings as licensed architects, but was deeply involved in the architectural design process, and in all aspects of the design of art components involved in his building projects. Also, not unlike at an architecture firm where a principal or head of a firm may get named credit for a design, many designers will have worked on aspects of the design of a building. Furthermore, while Sheets afforded his top designers such as Hertel and O’Connor latitude in design development, it is amply documented in Arenson’s Banking on Beauty and in oral history interviews with Sheets that Sheets was involved in all projects that came through the studio, often originating design ideas and always acting as the final arbiter of design approval. This collaborative design studio environment does not detract from the significance of Sheets’ association with any particular project.

The 2021 HRER claim that the subject property is “not the best representation of [O’Connor and Hertel’s] work” and that the San Jose Home Savings branch is a better example is not backed by any substantial justification. The report does not discuss the design or motifs in the mosaic at 749 W. El 13 National Park Service, National Register Bulletin 15: How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation (U. S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, rev. 1995), 16. 14 Ascent Environmental, Inc., Historic Resource Evaluation Report for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View, Mountain View, 19.
550
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Camion Real or the San Jose branch mosaic, nor does the historic context provide any further comparative discussion of other mosaics or artworks by O’Connor or Hertel on which to base this claim. Rather, the claim is, seemingly, made primarily on the fact that the San Jose branch is clad in travertine with gold tile edging, which was more typical of previous Home Savings branches—a material choice that is not relevant to the contributions of O’Connor or Hertel. The historic overview (Section 3.4 of the 2021 HRER) describes the San Jose branch as the “most prominent example of Sheet’s [sic.] work” in Santa Clara County, but does not explain by what definition it is the most prominent and does not provide any documentation about awards, media attention, or other recognition that would justify an understanding of it as more “prominent” than other branches in the area.15 Furthermore, any potential architectural significance of the San Jose branch does not preclude the Mountain View branch from being found significant for the California Register at a local level, or for listing in the Mountain View Register.

The 2021 HRER finds that the property “does not contain many of the character defining features of Ahmanson’s and Sheet’s work” and that it “does not strongly represent the New Formalist Style” or “the majority of the characteristic of the ‘jewel box’ bank style” and is therefore not eligible for listing under Criterion C/3/3. Page & Turnbull does not concur with this finding. The evaluation discussion does not adequately recognize that that the subject property is the product of a second era of the Millard Sheets Studio’s collaboration with Home Savings, following Ahmanson’s death, and evaluate the property within this design context. Page & Turnbull’s research clearly demonstrates a creative and productive period for the Sheets Design Studio following Ahmanson’s death, marked by evolution of the Home Savings Style, as desired by Sheets, who had been feeling constrained by the rigid formula under Ahmanson in later years; refer to the “Additional Research Findings – Historic Context: Millard Sheets and Home Savings & Loan Association” section that follows in this report.

The 2021 HRER statement that designs being produced out of Sheets’ studio following Ahmanson’s death became “increasingly rigid, based on increasingly formulaic designs” is not accurate. While economy and efficiency may have been a concern, the building designs diverged from the standard Home Savings Style type and did not sacrifice distinctive art; as put by Arenson, in the period after Ahmanson’s death, the studio produced of the “most striking designs, and drawing ever more often on community history.”16
Furthermore, the discussion under Criterion C/3/3 does not adequately recognize the collaborative contributions of the Millard Sheets Studio, which in the case of the Mountain View Home Savings branch, produced a total work of design, inclusive of the siting, architecture, interiors, mosaic, 15 Ascent Environmental, Inc., Historic Resource Evaluation Report for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View, Mountain View, 14.
16 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 14.
551
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 sculpture, stained-glass, and interior mural. The mosaic features scenes that evoke the history of Mountain View and the Northern California region, expressing the more localized approach to mosaic design that the studio took in the 1970s. The building and integrated art program, taken as a total work of design, possess high artistic value.

Page & Turnbull does not concur with the statement that the building does not represent the New Formalist style. The building still embodies the New Formalist style even though the material palette diverges from the white travertine marble of other Home Savings banks. The building has many of the distinctive characteristics of New Formalism, including monumental and rectangular massing, flat roof, symmetrical facades, masonry cladding, a lack of fenestration above the ground floor, a landscaped plaza, and simplified historical references including archways, corbelled cornice, and string courses. As previously noted, Page & Turnbull does not find that the property can be effectively evaluated as an example of a ‘jewel box’ bank, as this typology is defined by the 2021 HRER as being a narrow typology directly associated with Louis Sullivan in the early twentieth century. If it had been demonstrated that the ‘jewel box’ bank was a typology that evolved out of Sullivan’s early examples with forms and various buildings across the country and throughout the later twentieth century, then this context might be appropriate. However, it is Page & Turnbull’s professional opinion that the property at 749 W. El Camino Real is better understood as an example of the New Formalist style (which is associated with the 1960s and 1970s), that has a formal and material language that echoes or references Sullivan’s ‘jewel box’ banks.

Under Criterion D/4/4, the evaluation notes that the building is not likely to yield important new information based on the construction method; Page & Turnbull concurs.

Integrity Discussion
Typically, an integrity discussion is not required or included if a property is not found to be eligible for listing as a historic resource. However, the 2021 HRER includes a brief statement that concludes that the building retains all seven aspects of integrity. Page & Turnbull concurs that the building retains all seven aspects of integrity, and would further expand this conclusion to include that the property also retains integrity of the related site features, including the planters, front and rear plaza, and bird sculpture.
615 W. EL CAMINO REAL (RESTAURANT BUILDING)
Building Description
The building description for 615 W. El Camino Real includes sufficient detail regarding all facades and is generally consistent with Page & Turnbull’s observations. One minor clarification to the building description is that, while shown in photographs, the building’s siding and roof cladding 552
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 materials are not noted in the narrative description. Siding materials include stucco and wide vertical groove wood siding, and the gabled portion of the roof is clad in wood shingles. The identification of the building’s style as a “vernacular commercial style” is appropriate. It would be helpful to include this descriptor in section 4.2.1 Building Description, as it is only first used in the following 4.2.2 Evaluation section.

While the description does include two small accessory buildings, other site features and context are not discussed. The restaurant building and its surrounding surface parking lot only occupy approximately one quarter of the site. A small field surrounded by trees is located to the south, and the west half of the property is occupied by a surface parking lot surrounded by trees that serves the bank at 749 W. El Camino Real.

Construction History (included in DPR form only)
No construction history is provided in the Historic Resource Evaluation for 615 W. El Camino Real (section 4.2 of the 2021 HRER), but it is included in the DPR form in the appendix. It would be beneficial to the reader to have a summary of the construction history in the Historic Resource Evaluation section of the report, or at minimum provide direction to the DPR form, as the evaluation discussion references some alterations of the building that had not previously been presented or elaborated upon in the report.

As previously noted, the construction history provided in the DPR form does not include a review of available building permit records. The construction history appears to be based primarily on Santa Clara County Assessor Records, aerial photographs, and visual observation. No Sanborn Map Co. fire insurance maps are available for the subject block. Page & Turnbull’s review of the 2021 HRER, building permit records, and other source materials related to the property, identified several inaccuracies in the construction history.

The year 1945 is cited as a possible year of construction, based on Santa Clara County Assessor records, but notes that historic aerial photographs do not confirm this fact. Page & Turnbull agrees that the historic aerial photos confirm that the restaurant building did not exist on the site in 1948 or the early 1950s. Rather, the building appears to have been constructed c. 1954, and definitively appears in a 1956 aerial photograph. Page & Turnbull disagrees that the “rear addition” is not present in the 1956 aerial photograph, which is referenced but not reproduced in the 2021 HRER; the photograph appears to show two building volumes that would correspond with the A-frame front portion of the building and the flat-roofed rear portion (albeit, the rear portion of the building has since been altered at the parapet and with a rear bathroom). 553
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 The 2021 HRER identifies that two additional wings were added between 1982 and 1987, based on review of historic aerial photographs. The building permit records confirm this, with a 1984 permit issued for two dining patio additions on either side of the A-frame portion of the building. The building permit records also include a building permit for a rear bathroom addition in 2009.

Photographs from the Clarke’s Facebook page included in the 2021 HRER as Figure 9 show the building prior to the addition of the side wings. The caption notes that the roofline appears to have been partially removed. However, Page & Turnbull disagrees with this assessment, and is of the opinion that this was likely the original configuration of the roofline.

The DPR also states that “news articles state that Bill Clarke opened Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler at this location in 1945” but does not footnote or cite specific articles, so it is unclear whether the source of this information is newspaper articles from the 1940s, or more recent newspaper articles published in 2021 when the business closed that generally describe the business as operating for 75 years. In contrast, Page & Turnbull’s research uncovered a 1966 newspaper advertisement for the business stating that it had around for 12 years (which would be since 1954), which is consistent with the construction date supported by aerial photographs. For further discussion, refer to the section “Additional Research Findings – Site History & Construction Chronology” that follows in this report.

Evaluation Under Significance Criteria
The evaluation in the 2021 HRER finds that the restaurant building at 615 W. El Camino Real is not eligible for listing in the National Register, California Register or Mountain View Register under any criteria. Under Criterion A/1/2, the evaluation notes that the claim that Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler was the “oldest restaurant in Mountain View,” does not rise to the level of significance for listing. Under Criterion B/2/1, the evaluation notes that the original owner, Bill Clarke, is not a significant person in Mountain View’s history, and any possible important associations with his role in the Navy are not connected to the subject property. Under Criterion C/3/3, the evaluation notes that the building is not the work of a master, does not possess high artistic values, and is vernacular building that does not have the distinguishing characteristic of a particular style. Under Criterion D/4/4, the evaluation notes that the building is not likely to yield important new information based on the construction method.

Page & Turnbull, overall, agrees with the conclusion that 615 W. El Camino Real is not eligible for listing as an individual resource in a local, state, or federal register. However, the evaluation discussion does not adequately address or refer back the historic context presented in the earlier sections of the report, including how this building fits into the context of family restaurants and diners. The building, which might be best described as originally a roadside hamburger stand, was part of a trend in casual roadside restaurants in the post-World War II period that sprang up along 554
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 thoroughfares like El Camino Real. The original building seems to have had little room for dining inside (prior to 1980s dining patio additions), suggesting that it has more in common with drive-in restaurants of the era, rather than the diner typology. While some roadside restaurants embodied Midcentury Modern or flashier Googie style architecture, others, like 615 W. El Camino Real, mimicked residential architecture. As such, the building should be considered within the context of the roadside restaurant typology within Mountain View, in addition to its architecture and long-time business ownership. The evaluation does not provide any comparative analysis with other extant roadside restaurants in or around Mountain View (such as along El Camino Real in other cities), or with the typology generally.

Integrity Discussion
Typically, an integrity discussion is not required or included if a property is not found to be eligible for listing as a historic resource. However, the 2021 HRER includes a brief integrity discussion that concludes that the building retains integrity of location and setting, but has lost integrity of design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, and no longer retains overall integrity. Page & Turnbull agrees that the building has lost integrity due to extensive alterations over the years, but disagrees with the assertion that integrity of association has been lost because the restaurant closed and the building is vacant. Continued operation of an original business is not required for a building to retain integrity of association. In many cases, commercial buildings have a series of tenants over the course of their existence, including periods of vacancy. The National Park Service’s National Register Bulletin 15: How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation elaborates by stating, “A property retains association if it is the place where the event or activity occurred and is sufficiently intact to convey that relationship to an observer. Like feeling, association requires the presence of physical features that convey a property's historic character.”17 The overall location and design of the building is still legible as a roadside, drive-in restaurant and further retains this association through community memory and documentation. An observer would still recognize the building as the location of the long-running Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler restaurant.

Conclusion and Recommendations
The assessment of previously identified built resources within an eighth-mile radius of the study area is adequate. However, as previously noted, Page & Turnbull does not concur with the finding that 749 W. El Camino Real is not an eligible historical resource for the purposes of CEQA. As such, further study would be required to determine whether any proposed project may cause substantial adverse effects on a historic resource.
17 National Park Service, National Register Bulletin 15: How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation (U. S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, rev. 1995), 45. 555
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Appendix: DPR Forms
The majority of the text content of the DPR forms is the same as other sections of the 2021 HRER, including the building descriptions, context, and evaluations. Additional current condition photos are included in the DPR forms that are not included in the main body of the report, and the DPR form for 615 W. El Camino Real has a construction chronology that is not included in the main body of the report. Page & Turnbull has already remarked on the content of these sections in the discussions above.

Several minor comments on the formatting of the DPRs include that the report citation (P11 on the DPR 523A form) does not match the title of the 2021 HRER and that the significance theme, significance area, and property type (B10 on the DPR 523B form) are typically filled out, regardless of whether or not a property is found eligible as a historic resource, as they are “required information” in the DPR forms. The significance theme and area refer to the historic contexts under which the property is evaluated.18
Page & Turnbull noted one discrepancy on the DPR form for the bank building at 749 W. El Camino Real: the architectural style listed in B5 of the DPR 523B form is “vernacular with ‘jewel box’ influences” but the other sections of the report, including the historic overview and evaluation, refer to the building as Midcentury Modern or New Formalist. Page & Turnbull is of the opinion that this building is most accurately described as New Formalist.

ADDITIONAL RESEARCH FINDINGS
Page & Turnbull conducted supplementary research to describe the properties’ existing conditions, the development of the site, building typologies and architectural styles, and historic context related to the Millard Sheets Studio and Home Savings & Loan Association. The results of this research have informed Page & Turnbull's opinion regarding the significance of the properties in relation to their eligibility for listing on the national, state, and local registers.

Historic Context: Development of Mountain View
It is worth noting that the intersection of El Camino Real and Castro Street was a hub of automobileoriented activity with Mancini Motors and its iconic tower, salvaged from the 1939 World’s Fair, on the site that would later be developed by Home Savings & Loan Association (749 W. El Camino 18 California Office of Historic Preservation, “Instructions for Recording Historical Resources,” (Sacramento, CA: California Office of Historic Preservation, March 1995), 11, accessed online https://ohp.parks.ca.gov/pages/1054/files/manual95.pdf. 556
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Real).19 This density of gas stations, service stations, and automobile sales at the intersection of El Camino Real and Castro Street would have provided an ideal location for a drive-in new hamburger stand such as Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler (615 W. El Camino Real).

Historic Context: Roadside Eateries
Hamburger stands were a distinct type of roadside eatery, but is more closely associated with drivein/drive-thru type restaurants that have limited or no indoor seating and provide food for patrons to eat outside, in their cars, or to take home, than with diners. The original design of the Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler building was a small A-frame building that served as the “front of house” and a rear flat-roofed wing that served as “back of house.” While no original interior photographs or architectural plans were uncovered by Page & Turnbull’s research, based on the size of the original building alone, it is presumed that there would have been limited indoor seating but ample parking in the surface parking lot, with historic photos showing cars pulled to both sides of the hamburger stand. For more, refer to: “Food Stands” and “Drive-In Restaurants” in Chester H. Lieb’s Main Street to Miracle Mile: American Roadside Architecture (1985).20
Midcentury Modern examples of roadside drive-in restaurants included Linda’s Drive-In at El Camino Real and Escuela (closed in 1985; building demolished) and the restaurant building at 1414 W. El Camino Real (extant). The A-frame typology should also be discussed, as it was used in quite a few roadside restaurants and drive-ins around the Bay Area, including for the iconic Der Weinerschnitzel chain.

Historic Context: Millard Sheets and Home Savings & Loan Association Millard Sheets Studio Atelier Environment & First Era of the Home Savings Style (1953-1968) Millard Sheets established his business in 1953 under the name Millard Sheets Designs, Inc. (later, Millard Sheets & Associates Designs, Inc.), while historian Adam Arenson, author of the book Banking on Beauty (2018), uses the term “Millard Sheets Studio” to refer to Sheets’ atelier-style studio. Sheets established a collaborative design studio with artists who specialized in various artforms, including mosaics, stained glass, painting, and sculpture, and executed on ideas that Sheets often originated or signed off on with his approval. As such, each commission is best understood as the work of the Sheets Design Studio, with Sheets functioning as the “impresario,” as Arenson describes him, with other members of the studio collaborating on various aspects of the design and execution. 19 Robert I. Pack, “Mancini Motors tower demise likely,” The Peninsula Times Tribune, June 4, 1974, p. 2, accessed online https://www.newspapers.com/image/840364356/.
20 Charles H. Liebs, Main Street to Miracle Mile: American Roadside Architecture (Boston: A New York Graphic Society Book, Little, Brown & Co., 1985), 204-16.
557
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Arenson contextualizes Sheets’ design role with respect to the studio organization, stating that “[w]hen Millard Sheets accepted a commission, the guiding design motifs came directly from him, often in the form of quick sketches handed off to others in the Millard Sheets Studio.”21 In a 1977 oral history interview with Millard Sheets, the interviewer asked, “Do people that work for you do the plans?” To which Sheets responded in a manner that emphasized his own role as impresario and head of the studio, but also recognized that the studio structure, by design, involved the collaboration of many artists and architects:

I do all of the designing, every bit of it. I detail everything, but I have marvelous people working with me who put it all down in final working drawings. In the old days we did everything. At one time I had four architects working for me and about ten draftsmen and engineers. We did the whole thing right in our office. But as time has gone on, I have been working with Home Savings in a new dimension. I'm now the director of their design program. I still design the buildings, and I have my own staff.

I have two architects, who are excellent collaborators with me, and they finish up the preliminary phases of the design, which I present to the client. When those are approved, then I associate with an outside architect, generally in the vicinity where we do the building. If it's in the north, we try to work with architects in the north, for obvious reasons: it's good for them, they know the problems, and they can take the plans in and push them through the building department. They can do the supervision in the early part of the work, when you're excavating and putting in all your rough framing and steel and all that. Then I do all the supervision for the final stages, when we put in all the final finishes and the landscaping.22 Arenson further notes:
[By the early 1970s] most designs were by [architect] Frank Homolka and Associates of Long Beach, with Homolka, his fellow architect Jess Gilkerson, and interior designer Don Betzsold working closely with Home Savings, the Millard Sheet Studio, and the engineering firm Bole and Wilson. Describing his new role in the mid-1970s, Sheets declared, “I’m now the director of their design program,” and “I do all the supervision for the final stages.”23
21 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 70.
22 Millard Sheets, Interview of Millard Sheets, George M. Goodwin, November 17, 1976 – January 16, 1977, University of California Los Angeles Library, Center for Oral History Research, n.p. (page 236-7 of 345 in transcript PDF), accessed online, https://oralhistory.library.ucla.edu/catalog/21198-zz0008z9tz. 23 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 183-4.
558
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Sheets was not a trained or licensed architect himself, which he was always careful to clarify. Later in the 1977 interview, he further noted “an architect named Homolka, who works with me now at a great many of my jobs. After I design them, he does the finish engineering. He's an excellent architect and has good engineers.”24 Specifically related to mosaic design, Sheets noted, “I have designed most of the mosaics myself completely, and Sue, in these latter years, has done a few mosaics herself. She's marvelous. She does the most beautiful work.”25 The Home Savings Style was characterized by its New Formalist style, monumental and geometric massing, white travertine marble, and integrated artwork. Based on the success of the first branch, the Millard Sheets Studio refined the Home Savings Style to its recognizable, and sometimes repeated, forms. Prototypical examples include the Compton branch (1958) and Buena Park branch (1960), and more elaborate examples include the Pasadena branch (1963) and Santa Monica branch (1971) (Figure 2 - Figure 5).

Figure 2. Compton Home Savings branch, built 1958,
typifies the Home Savings Style. Source: Ahmanson
Foundation Archives, in Arenson, Banking on Beauty,
112.

Figure 3. Buena Park Home Savings branch, built
1960, closely resembles the Compton branch and
others. Source: Adam Arenson, Jason Foo, Laurene
Harding Rivas, Regina O’Brien, and Cheryll Dudley
Roberts, “Millard Sheets, A Legacy of Art and
Architecture” (LA Conservancy, 2012).
24 Millard Sheets, Interview of Millard Sheets, George M. Goodwin, November 17, 1976 – January 16, 1977, University of California Los Angeles Library, Center for Oral History Research, n.p. (page 250 of 345 in transcript PDF). 25 Millard Sheets, Interview of Millard Sheets, George M. Goodwin, November 17, 1976 – January 16, 1977, University of California Los Angeles Library, Center for Oral History Research, n.p. (page 242 of 345 in transcript PDF). 559
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Figure 4. Pasadena Home Savings branch, built 1963.

Source: “Millard Sheets, A Legacy of Art and
Architecture” (LA Conservancy, 2012).

Figure 5. Santa Monica Home Savings branch,
completed 1969 (later altered). Source: Hadley
Meares, “The Iconic Murals Of Millard Sheets Are
Disappearing From LA,” LAist, July 31, 2019.

Second Era of the Home Savings (1969-1980)
Arenson’s scholarship demonstrates that the Home Savings Style had become rigid and formulaic under Ahmanson’s tenure, despite Sheets’ attempts to evolve the designs, and following Ahmanson’s death in 1968, the Millard Sheets Studio continued to collaborate with Home Savings & Loan Association, producing designs that diverged from the earlier standard model. As such the period after 1968, should be understood as a second and important period of collaboration between the Millard Sheets Studio and Home Savings. While it is accurate that by the late 1960s, Sheets began to spend increasingly more time painting at his home in Gualala, in northern California, away from the southern California studio, he was still in constant contact with the studio and providing initial input and final approval on designs.26 During research, Page & Turnbull identified several relevant passages from Banking on Beauty (2018) on this topic:

Chapter 5 (“Expansion and Change after Howard Ahmanson”) describes how Home Savings Style was altered after Ahmanson’s death [in 1968], resulting in the most striking designs, and drawing ever more often on community history.27 The 1960s were busy, turbulent years that loom large in the American psyche, a time of countercultures and the fragmentation of most, if not all, of the sense of 26 In an email to Page & Turnbull, Arenson further clarified and emphasized, “Millard Sheets was making all the initial and final decisions about the art and architecture until 1980; even the day to day was all his call until his retirement. Everyone else would start from his ideas and need his approval to consider it done. So he is actively involved in all stages.” Email communication from Adam Arenson to Hannah Simonson, Page & Turnbull, February 21, 2023. 27 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 14.
560
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 consensus in US politics and society. Yet, throughout it all, Home Savings continued to commission almost the exact building, sited almost the same way, in locations throughout Southern California. “We’ve been frozen,” Millard sheets told an interview, “based on the success of the early buildings.” This frustration even led Sheets to resign from his contract with Howard Ahmanson [although he still continued to work for him on a case-by-case basis].28
[In the late 1960s the] Millard Sheets Studio increasingly sought to include local history and community landmarks in their compositions. […] The Sheets Studio history mosaics could be accurate, specific, and locally relevant. They could also be a parade of stock characters drawn from a screenwriter’s Spanish fantasy: American Indian maidens, brusque caballeros, ambitious American miners, and proper Victorian ladies. The studio chose subjects for their rhetorical power, and it arranged their representation for aesthetic reasons—the logic of art more than history.29 […] in the late 1960s, the Sheets Studio architecture came increasingly under attack as hopelessly archaic and out of place. By reproducing almost the same building for every location, the Home Savings designs displayed the worst of what leading architect Philip Johnson derided as “plop architecture”—that is to say, dropped into a site without any regard to context.30
Over the years, when Millard Sheets suggested changes to the Home Savings Style, Howard Ahmanson rejected them. “It’s foolish for us to get off of something that we know is right,” Ahmanson had said. “The image is established.” And so, during Howard Ahmanson’s lifetime, the Home Savings Style remained rigidly fixed. His death [in 1968] could have meant the end of the Home Savings commission. Instead, it led to an elaboration of the Home Savings Style with a new sense of freedom, liveliness, and innovation in the stained glass, mosaics, and sculpture.31 The period after Ahmanson’s death in 1968 was also characterized by another major development— in 1972, California state laws changed, allowing savings and loan associations to operate statewide.32 This change opened up new opportunities for the Home Savings & Loan Association, which quickly expanded outside of Southern California to the Bay Area and Sacramento regions. This development 28 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 129.
29 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 158.
30 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 159.
31 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 169.
32 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 180.
561
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 explains why the Home Savings branches in the Bay Area were constructed during this later period of Sheets’ career (Figure 6).

Based on Page & Turnbull’s research, when put into context, the San Jose branch is a transitional design that exhibits many of the typical features of the Home Saving Style that characterized the era of collaboration with Ahmanson.33 Several of the other branches built on the Peninsula date to the period of after Ahmanson’s death and new laws that allowed the bank to expand north, which was a period of both creative experimentation for the Millard Sheets Studio and compromise with local planning review bodies as city planning became more professionalized and additional regulations and review processes were established.34 The untimely death of Nancy Nielsen Colbath, deemed the “driving force in the mosaic studio,” in 1974 meant that some of the branches built in the mid-1970s were completed without exterior mosaics. For example, the Cupertino branch does not appear to have ever had a mosaic (20673 Stevens Creek Blvd, built in 1977) (Figure 7). 35 Figure 6. Redwood City branch (2320 Broadway),
mid-1980s. Mural, which appears to be inside, has
since been painted over. Source: Google Street View,
2023.

Figure 7. Cupertino branch (20673 Stevens Creek
Boulevard), 1976, does not have an exterior mosaic.

Source: Google Street View, 2023.

Mountain View Home Savings Branch Design & Development (1974-1978) In addition to Millard Sheets, who oversaw the design of the Mountain View branch, made final approvals on designs, and participated in various hearings and meetings with Mountain View officials to discuss the design, collaborators included Denis O’Connor with Alba Cisneros, Brian Worley, Jude Freeman (mosaics); John Edward Svenson (sculpture); Susan (Sue) Lautmann Hertel (painted mural and stained glass); John Wallis (stained glass); and Dan Clapp and Larry Ross (mosaic 33 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 188.
34 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 191-9.
35 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 135, 188, 193.
562
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 installation).36 Additionally, architect Frank Homolka, based in southern California was responsible for preparing architectural drawings; Homolka worked for the Millard Sheets Studio on a contract basis. Sheets has described hiring northern California architects to help work through the permitting and approvals process in the Bay Area, but the designs of the Mountain View branch and others were developed by Sheets and Homolka. Archival records on file at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art related to the Mountain View branch include architectural plans by Homolka and notes and drawings related to the arch shapes and brick selection (Norman Velour light brown by Pacific Clay.37
Based on Page & Turnbull’s research, it appears that the design for the Mountain View branch may have initially featured travertine marble cladding, which would be similar to the material palette used for previous Home Saving Style banks (Figure 8). However, the design departed from previous designs by incorporating large arched window openings along the ground floor, evoking the style of New Formalism. A version of this design was executed for the San Diego Pacific Beach Home Savings branch location (4650 Mission Bay Drive) in 1977, and features a similar angled siting facing a major street intersection with a plaza and sculpture (Figure 9). However, Mountain View zoning administrator Glen Gentry, who later became the planning director, wanted a more “contemporary” design for the site, rather than the off-the-shelf Home Savings branch design (Figure 10).

Figure 8. Color rendering of a proposed branch, which is likely a preliminary design for Mountain View and/or San Diego. Source: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, San Francisco. 36 “Definitive List for Home Savings and Loan Artwork, Savings of America Artwork, and the Millar Sheets Studio Public Projects,” Adam Arenson, accessed online February 21, 2023, https://adamarenson.com/books/banking-on-beauty-millardsheets-and-midcentury-commercial-architecture-in-california/definitive-list-for-home-savings-and-loan-artwork-savings-ofamerica-artwork-and-the-millard-sheets-studio-public-projects-2-3/. 37 Email communication from Adam Arenson to Hannah Simonson, Page & Turnbull, January 26, 2023. 37 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 70.
563
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Figure 9. Former Home Savings & Loan Association branch in Pacific Beach, San Diego, built 1977 and rendered in white travertine. Source: Google Street View, July 2022.

Figure 10. Former Home Savings & Loan Association branch in Mountain View, built in 1977 rendered in brick.

Source: Google Street View, June 2022.
564
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Figure 11. Article about the Mountain View Home Savings & Loan Association mosaics. Source: Evelyn Richards, “Mountain View history shown in mosaic of Venetian glass,” The Peninsula Times Tribune, February 21, 1978, p. 7, accessed online https://www.newspapers.com/image/840566665/.

The revised design for the Mountain View branch utilized brick cladding with corbeled archways and soldier brick string courses, evoking references to Louis Sullivan’s ‘jewel box’ banks of the early twentieth century. Gentry approved the revised design, flattered that the Millard Sheets Studio had referenced an essay that he had written about Mountain View history in researching the mosaic panel design, while he still had reservations about the inclusion of a construction work in the final panel, rather than someone associated with the “brain trust” work of NASA Ames or the burgeoning Silicon Valley. As built, the Mountain View branch exhibits the new direction of architectural design within the Millard Sheets Studio, the negotiations with local jurisdictions to produce contextual design, and a fully integrated artwork program.
565
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Based on Page & Turnbull’s research, the following excerpts from Arenson’s book, Banking on Beauty (2018), are relevant to the context of the Millard Sheets Studio design process for the Mountain View Home Savings & Loan Association branch:

In September 1974, proposals for Home Savings branches in San Francisco and Mountain View, down the peninsula, faced significant resistance from planning commissions. “I appreciation your comment that Home Savings has been building this building for 20 years; has received awards for it; and that Home Savings has profited financially form it,” Glen Gentry, zoning commissioner for Mountain View wrote to Millard Sheets, “but I must be honest in saying that I will find it hard to support.” Gentry was not completely opposed to the Home Savings art and architectural program, he wrote, as “incorporating sculpture and a fountain is commendable.” But that did not change his view that “something more contemporary would be more in keeping with the community than this monumental, somewhat pretentious approach.”38
In the fall of 1975, when the Home Savings designs were under review, Millard Sheets and H. Michael Wyant, a Home Savings vice president, attended a number of Mountain View City Council meetings. They turned on the charm, answered board questions, and offered modifications on the traffic flow and entrance to the parking lot. Home Savings had hired Northern California architects for the project because “they know the problems, and can take the plans in and push them through the building department,” Sheets said. The revised design used red-brick masonry instead of white travertine and added arches to the traditionally solid Home Savings façade in order to win approval. Glen Gentry, who had been promoted to director of planning for Mountain View, wrote how he approved of the Sheets Studio history themes—but that he had more suggestions for changes to make the resulting building “as historically valid as it certainly will be attractive.” In the back-and-forth, Home Savings and the Millard Sheets Studio were learning the art of compromise.39 In a letter from Glen Gentry, then Mountain View’s director of city planning, to Millard Sheets, dated July 25, 1997, he writes:

I was generally pleased with the mural in that its balance, color and general impression should provide a handsome, rich contribution to the building. The mural 38 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 193.
39 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 196-7.
566
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 design obviously reflected a lot of thought and talent. I felt that the Indian figure (representing the Ohlones), the pastoral farm scene and the train were obviously quite pertinent to Mountain View’s history. (I was pleased, incidentally, that you were able to use my 1973 paper on the history of Rancho Pastoria De Las Borregas as a resource.) One element whose historical validity I questioned to Bob Nilsen was the heavy construction worker figure depicted in the right hand panel. I mentioned that the figure seemed somewhat inappropriate in our “brain trust” community which is noted for the NASA-Ames space effort and a world renowned electronics/research industry. Beyond that, I could only note that other important local factors which you might want to somehow reflect in the mural are, of course, our mountain backdrop (namesake), fruit orchards and our strong flower-growing industry. If these comments are taken into account, I am sure that the mural will be as historically valid as it certainly will be attractive.40
In a lengthy response to the question “What are the various steps involved in building a building, as far as you’re concerned” during an oral history interview in 1977, Millard Sheets expounded on the challenge of site planning, negotiations with city planners, and urban design and local regulations:

Well, first you have to be sure you're meeting all the standards-- or not even standards; they're requirements. Sometimes they're good standards, and sometimes they're arbitrary. Well, then, from that point on, the fun begins. Then it's really exciting. You say we're going to work in this area along this line because it fits into the community. We don't always copy the style of the other people; I don't mean that. But I wouldn't want to put a very polished granite or marble building in the middle of an area that's surrounded with a bunch of brick and wood and plaster, though sometimes we do. Even in those areas, if we have a separate site that's so completely by itself, with nothing around it, we can do it. But we try to fit in, not only in subject matter for the art end of it but in the materials we use. We're doing a building right now that is going to be a dark brick, which we haven't ever used before, because the buildings around it are mostly dark brick, and we like to fit in.

We don't want to be a sore thumb. On the other hand, we're not going to lose our image, either. We're going to keep the forms that will make it work. So your function is first, after you get all the long-range planning out of the way. After you get the function inside operating, then the outside nearly always grows pretty simply and 40 Glen Gentry, director of city planning, Mountain View, to Millard Sheets and Associates Designs, July 25, 1977, Millard Sheets Papers, “Mountain View, Correspondence, 1974-1977” folder, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian. Full, direct quotation from the letter provided by Adam Arenson via email to Page & Turnbull, January 26, 2023. 567
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 clearly — the choice of materials, the size of openings, the amount of decoration — and then I'm always involved completely with the planting as well as the furnishings.41
Third Era of the Home Savings Style: Studio Post-Millard Sheets (1980-1999) Other branches on the Peninsula date to the 1980s, after Sheets had fully closed his studio and sold his business assets. After Sheets fully closed his studio in 1980, Denis O’Connor became the primary contact for Home Savings projects and served as a principal with Susan Lautmann Hertel of a new studio with many of the same artists from the Sheets studio; this studio continued to receive commissions for Home Savings projects in the 1980s and early 1990s—marking a third, post-Sheets, phase of the Home Savings Style.42 The Home Savings Style ended with the acquisition of Home Savings & Loan Association by Washington Mutual in 1999.

Figure 12. Sunnyvale branch (205 S. Mathilda
Avenue), 1986. Source: Google Street View, 2023.

Figure 13. San Carlos branch (845 Laurel Street),
1987. Source: Google Street View, 2023.

Historic Context: New Formalism
To provide additional context on the New Formalist style, Page & Turnbull referenced the SurveyLA historic context statement for Los Angeles Modernism:

New Formalism is typically regarded as the most historically-oriented of the postwar Modern styles. It broke from the minimalism and structural expressionism that were so closely associated with the postwar Modern movement and incorporated Classical forms, proportions, and motifs into its aesthetic. […] New Formalist style buildings are defined by their monumental scale and powerful visual presence. Their 41 Millard Sheets, Interview of Millard Sheets, George M. Goodwin, November 17, 1976 – January 16, 1977, University of California Los Angeles Library, Center for Oral History Research, n.p. (page 235 of 345 in transcript PDF). 42 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 215, 284-5.
568
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 architects typically employed large volumes, rectangular massing, symmetrical façades, and full-height colonnades, often in combination with formal landscaped plazas to create designs that commanded attention. Buildings were often perched atop a podium or articulated base, which helped to reinforce this prevailing sense of monumentality. Classically derived details including arches, columns, and entablatures were frequently used, albeit in abstracted and highly stylized ways, to stress the fact that in spite of embracing and incorporating historical details, New Formalism was firmly rooted in Modern precepts. Often, these abstracted Classical architectural details were combined with geometric features and motifs that were unequivocally Modern such as honeycomb screens, shell forms, and folded plates.43 It should be noted that distinctive examples of the New Formalist style need not necessarily embody every common feature of the style, as demonstrated by many of the Home Savings Style banks which feature monumental, rectangular massing and travertine cladding, but do not typically feature thin colonnades. It is Page & Turnbull’s professional opinion that the subject building contains many features of the New Formalist style and can accurately be described as such; the building includes monumental and rectangular massing, flat roof, symmetrical facades, masonry cladding, a lack of fenestration above the ground floor, a landscaped plaza, and simplified historical references including archways, cornice, and string courses.

Property Description
615 W. El Camino Real
By the time Page & Turnbull visited the site in December 2022, all windows had been boarded up and the building was fenced off (Figure 14 - Figure 16). 43 SurveyLA, “Los Angeles Citywide Historic Context Statement: Architecture and Engineering/L.A. Modernism, 1919-1980,” prepared for the City of Los Angeles, 190, accessed online, https://planning.lacity.org/odocument/4f67bd39-631a-4f26-9a52- cd5809a66655/LA_Modernism_1919-1980.pdf.
569
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Figure 14. Primary (north) façade, looking southeast. Figure 15. West and south facades, looking northeast.

Figure 16. East façade, looking northwest. Figure 17. Portion of the parking lot (currently serving Chase Bank) and trees surrounding the small
field on the property, looking south.
749 W. El Camino Real
749 W. El Camino Real is a two-story, rectangular, reinforced concrete building with a flat roof, no eaves, and brick cladding. The facades are characterized by their symmetry with low, corbelled brick archways spanned with “display glass” at the ground level and the lack of fenestration at the second story. The “display glass” is a dark, reflective glazing set in bronze anodized aluminum framing. Nonoriginal “CHASE” signs are located on the primary and side facades. The gap in the soldier course bands at the side facades likely indicates the original location of the iconic Home Savings shield logos. The rear (south) façade includes a secondary entrance (although more frequently used by visitors given the orientation of the parking lot), stained glass window, and a small plaza with planters (Figure 18 and Figure 19).
570
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 The five-panel mosaic depicts imagined scenes from the history of Mountain View and surrounding areas. It includes depictions of Native Americans, a cowboy and ship, man and woman planting surrounded by trees, a man with mules carrying gold, and a construction worker in front of a bridge and train (Figure 20).
44 Additional details regarding the plaza design that are not included in the 2021 HRER include the grid of the exposed aggregate concrete plaza, which is aligned with the stepped or zigzag profile of the brick planters that flank the entrances (Figure 21). Also missing from the description is any mention of the seven-foot-diameter, round stained-glass medallion window above the rear entrance, which features a motif of several figures riding horses (Figure 22 and Figure 23).

The building at 749 El Camino Real includes a large interior mural, in addition to the stained-glass window and other interior architectural features, including brick interior wall cladding. The slightly curved interior mural is painted on canvas, installed above the primary (north) entrance, and is approximately 17’-5” by 22’-8”. The mural depicts five children playing in a tree in a forest, holding or riding four horses, with four dogs running in the foreground (Figure 24). Given the Home Savings & Loan Association and Millard Sheets Studio design contexts, a description and evaluation of the interior lobby is warranted. The exterior mosaic, bronze sculpture, round stained-glass window, and interior mural were all designed by Millard Sheets Studio.

Additionally, a brick site wall matching the brick of the building is located along the perimeter of the property at the corner of Castro Street and Victor Way, along Victor Way, and along the perimeter that borders with the residential properties on Victor Way. 44 Further details of each panel and the mosaic installation are provided in ARG Conservation Services, “Chase Bank Artwork:

Deinstallation Feasibility Study” prepared by ARG Conservation Services, prepared for Greystar, Mountain View III, LLC (September 13, 2022).
571
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Figure 18. Primary (right) and east (left) facades, looking southwest.

Figure 19. Rear (right) and west (left) facades, looking northeast. 572
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Figure 20. Exterior mosaic above the main entrance on the primary (north) façade.

Figure 21. Bird sculpture by John Edward Svenson of
Millard Sheets Studio, looking southwest.

Figure 22. Exterior view of round stained-glass
window at the rear façade, looking north.

Figure 23. Interior view of the round stained-glass
window at the south wall, looking south. Source: ARG
Conservation Services, 2022.

Figure 24. Painted mural at interior, above the main
entrance on the north wall, looking north. Source:

ARG Conservation Services, 2022.
573
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Site History, Construction Chronology & Ownership History 615 W. El Camino Real
Page & Turnbull requested and reviewed the available building permit history from the City of Mountain View for 615 W. El Camino Real and, while the permit history did not include an original building permit, the available records did include permits for two dining patio addition wings (1984) and a rear bathroom addition (2009).

Based on close inspection of aerial photographs, the “triangular shape” described in the 2021 HRER is two signs or billboards in a V-shape. While the 2021 HRER suggests that the structure was located on the restaurant building site, the billboards appear to have been located to the northwest of the future site of the restaurant. It should also be noted that the bird’s-eye aerial photograph included as Figure 6 in the 2021 HRER is cited as from 1950, while the contributing institution cites the year of the photograph as “1950/1955” suggesting that the exact year that the photograph was taken is not precisely known (Figure 25). Thus, it must be concluded that the restaurant building was not constructed until the early 1950s, by 1956 (Figure 27 and Figure 28). 45 The 1956 aerial photograph
shows two building volumes—the front A-frame portion of the building (likely the front-of-house) and the flat-roofed rear portion (likely the back-of-house), which was later expanded.

Searching Newspapers.com and NewsBank (which has the run of the San Jose Mercury News and related editions through the San Jose Public Library), the earliest mention of Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler at 615 W. El Camino Real (then addressed 615 El Camino Real) was in a 1956 San Jose News article.46 A 1966 advertisement in the San Jose News for Clarke’s claims “tops on the peninsula for 12 years,” which would be the year 1954 (Figure 26).
47 The advertisement also lists locations at 615 El
Camino Real in Mountain View and 2822 El Camino Real in Santa Clara. While recent Clarke’s slogans also state that the business operated “since 1945,” It is possible that the original year that the business opened was misremembered over the years with changes in ownership, or that an earlier 45 Assessor records of construction dates are not always accurate, and the year 1945 may have referred to another building on the property. Page & Turnbull’s research indicates that the 615 and 749 W. El Camino Real parcels were previous one, larger parcel. Prior the existing bank, 749 W. El Camino Real was home to Mancini Motors, which was developed in the 1940s. 46 Huge Baker, “Dirigible Macon’s Crew To Hold Reunion May 8,” San Jose Evening News, Wednesday May 2, 1956, p. 18, accessed online, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88- 2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=AMNEWS&req_dat=7DC99168E5024DF094EF8040C5D05E89&rft_v al_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Aimage%252Fv2%253A11342729F00F3900%2540E ANX-18126CA8E8812327%25402435596-180DB48A96495280%254017- 180DB48A96495280%2540/hlterms%3A%2522clarke%2527s%2520charcoal%2522. 47 “Clarke’s,” advertisement, San Jose Evening News, January 13, 1966. Accessed online, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88- 2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=AMNEWS&req_dat=7DC99168E5024DF094EF8040C5D05E89&rft_v al_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Aimage%252Fv2%253A11342729F00F3900%2540E ANX-181E4D3F2F3164E3%25402439139-181D7A3AA00480F8%254082/hlterms%3Aclarke%2527s%2520chuckburger 574
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 iteration of the restaurant was located somewhere other than 615 W. El Camino Real prior to the early 1950s.

Figure 25. Detail view of the c.1950-55 photograph cited in the 2021 HRER (Figure 6) showing that the structure on the site was a billboard. The restaurant was later built to the southeast (right) of the billboards.

Source: Mountain View Public Library, accessed online February 21, 2023, https://californiarevealed.org/islandora/object/cavpp%3A30134. Cropped by Page & Turnbull.

Figure 26. Advertisement for Clarke’s in San Jose Evening News, January 13, 1966. 575
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Figure 27. 1948 aerial photograph. Red arrow indicates approximate future location of the restaurant building. Source: NETR Online, 2023. Edited by Page & Turnbull.

Figure 28. 1956 aerial photograph. Blue arrow shows approximate former location of the billboards.

Restaurant building, including two volumes, is indicated by a red arrow. Source: NETR Online, 2023. 576
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 749 W. El Camino Real
Page & Turnbull finds that the 1977 year of construction provided in Santa Clara County Assessor Records is consistent with other accounts, including a photograph on file at the Denis O’Connor Collection at the Huntington Library, Arenson’s database, and a newspaper article that indicates that the installation of the mosaic was completed soon after, by early 1978 (Figure 29). 48 Page & Turnbull
requested and reviewed the available building permit history from the City of Mountain View for 749 W. El Camino Real, and while the permit history did not include an original building permit, the available records did include permits for minor alterations to exterior doors, the addition of one ATM for Washington Mutual (1999), replacement of the ATM with two ATMs for Chase (2009), and various changes in exterior signage when the ownership changed. Other alterations observed by Page & Turnbull include the addition of bird deterrent statues mimicking owls and the removal of mature trees flanking the front statue; both alterations occurred sometime after 1993 but before 2007, based on comparison with Google Street View imagery (Figure 30).

Figure 29. Installation view of the mosaic at the Mountain View Home Savings branch, c.1977-8. Source: Denis O’Connor Collection, The Huntington Library.
48 Evelyn Richards, “Mountain View history shown in mosaic of Venetian glass,” The Peninsula Times Tribune, February 21, 1978, p. 7, accessed online https://www.newspapers.com/image/840566665/; and “Definitive List for Home Savings and Loan Artwork, Savings of America Artwork, and the Millar Sheets Studio Public Projects,” Adam Arenson. 577
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Figure 30. Home Savings & Loan Association at 749 W. El Camino Real during what appears to be an event related to the Olympic torch tour, 1993. Note that the Home Savings sign and trees have since been removed and the non-original owl statues added. Source: Mountain View Public Library.

The Home Savings & Loan Association was acquired by Washington Mutual in 1998, and later by JPMorgan Chase in 2008 after Washington Mutual collapsed during the financial crisis. The ownership of 749 W. El Camino Real has transferred according to these acquisitions.

EVALUATION OF 749 W. EL CAMINO REAL
As previously stated in this peer review memorandum, Page & Turnbull concurs with the finding that the property at 749 W. El Camino Real is not eligible for listing in the National Register, California Register, or Mountain View Register under Criterion A/1/2 (Events), Criterion B/2/1 (Persons), or Criterion D/4/4 (Information Potential). Therefore, this evaluation of 749 W. El Camino Real by Page & Turnbull is focused only on Criterion C/3/3 (Architecture/Design).

The property does not meet the National Register Criterion Consideration G for properties less than 50 years of age, as the property does not possess “exceptional” significance. However, sufficient time has passed to gain historical and scholarly perspective on the property, and as such, meets the California Register Special Consideration for properties less than 50 years of age, and can be 578
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 evaluated for individual listing in the California Register without needing to meet the threshold of “exceptional” significance.
49 The Mountain View Register does not have an age-eligibility threshold.

It is Page & Turnbull’s professional opinion that the property at 749 W. El Camino Real is individually eligible for listing in the California Register under Criterion 3 (Architecture/Design), as well as under Mountain View Register Criterion 3. The property was designed by the Millard Sheets Studio, which was an atelier-style design studio headed by Millard Sheets, a master designer, and is the product of a decades-long collaboration with Home Savings & Loan Association. The collaboration began in 1953 with the Home Savings & Loan Association founder, Howard Ahmanson, commissioning Millard Sheets to design a branch bank on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, followed by a formal contract and many more commissions. In this partnership, Sheets developed a recognizable “Home Savings Style” characterized by boxy, geometric massing, a monumental and solid visual presence, white travertine marble cladding, and an integrated program of exterior and interior artwork, often including a combination of mosaics, murals, tapestries, stained-glass, sculpture, and the Home Savings shield signage. More solid and opaque than much of the light, glassy Modernist architecture that characterized much of Los Angeles’s architecture in the 1950s, the Home Savings Style included Classical references and was, while uniquely recognizable unto itself, part of the emerging New Formalist style. The goal of the Home Savings Style was to convey permanence and trust in the banking institution, as well as to create a sense of community pride and aesthetic enjoyment for patrons, who frequently expressed their appreciation for the beauty of the buildings and artwork.

With the commission of the first Home Savings branch, Sheets was able to formally establish his studio, which grew over the years and included a number of exceptionally talented artists—including Susan Lautmann Hertel, Martha Menke Underwood, Nancy Nielsen Colbath, and Denis O’Connor— that Sheets entrusted to execute on his design ideas for buildings, mosaics, paintings, and other art components, or to develop their own designs that he would provide input and final approval on.

Never trained or licensed as an architect, Sheets nonetheless designed entire Home Savings branch buildings and worked with architects on his staff who developed drawings for permit approval. As the studio took on numerous commissions, design and execution were a collaborative process within the studio, but Millard Sheets acted as “chief designer and impresario,” typically originating ideas and always the final arbiter of approval, until his retirement in 1978 and closure of the studio in 1980.50
49 The threshold of “exceptional” significance applies only for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. California Office of Historic Preservation, Technical Assistance Bulletin No. 6: California Register and National Register: A Comparison, 3 50 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 284.
579
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Following the sudden death of Ahmanson in 1968, the Millard Sheets Studio continued to receive commissions from the Home Savings & Loan Association and found itself in a period of greater freedom to make changes to the “Home Savings Style” architecture. Sheets had come to feel that Ahmanson’s approach had grown rigid, and that he conservatively did not want to change what he viewed as a working formula. After Ahmanson’s death, the studio embarked on a second phase of its collaboration with Home Savings, which still exhibited many features of the Home Savings Style, but with new experimentations in design, massing, and more locally specific mosaic designs.

Additionally, a new state law passed in 1972 allowed Home Savings to expand outside of southern California, opening numerous new branches in the Bay Area and Sacramento regions.

During the post-World War II period, city and regional planning were becoming more professionalized, and by the 1970s, local planning departments were more robust in their design controls and review processes. In Mountain View, Glen Gentry, the zoning administrator and later planning director, exercised his discretionary review over a proposed Home Savings & Loan Association Branch designed by the Millard Sheets Studio to negotiate the site’s traffic flow and parking, as well as the material character of the building. Gentry objected to the proposal of a white travertine marble building as too “pretentious” and that Mountain View did not want an off-the-shelf Home Savings Style design, and wanted something more “contemporary.” Sheets participated in a series of public meetings and correspondences with Gentry, and revised the design to incorporate brick cladding and the wide arches at the base. The studio also referenced an essay written by Gentry on the history of Mountain View to inform the motifs of the mosaic at the exterior of the building.

As executed, the former Home Savings branch bank at 749 W. El Camino Real exemplifies the evolution of the Home Savings Style after Ahmanson—including new uses of form and material that reflect both experimentation and adaptation to local design review demands, and, importantly, a more localized approach to mosaic design with motifs that reflect the history of Mountain View and the Bay Area. The overall form, siting, and monumental massing and integrated art program of the Mountain View branch exhibit a continuation of the Millard Sheets Studio’s Home Savings Style, and the use of masonry cladding, symmetrical facades, lack of fenestration above the ground floor, flat roof, landscaped plaza, and historical references in the archways, corbelled cornice, and solider brick string courses are consistent with the New Formalist Style more broadly. The wide brick arches evoke historical references including Louis Sullivan’s ‘jewel box’ banks of the early twentieth century, as well as more contemporary references such as the blank brick façade and arched opening of Frank Lloyd Wright’s’ V. C. Morris Gift Shop (1948, San Francisco) and Edward Durrell Stone’s brick, arcaded New Formalist Von Kleinsmid Center at University of Southern California (1967, Los Angeles).
580
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 As such, the Mountain View Home Savings & Loan Association branch embodies the distinctive characteristics of New Formalism, specifically exemplifying the second phase of the Home Savings Style between 1968 to 1980. The property was designed by master designer Millard Sheets and his collaborative design studio, including contributions from Susan Lautmann Hertel and Denis O’Connor—both widely renowned in their own right—and other studio members and frequent collaborators, including John Edward Svenson, Frank Homolka, and others.51 The fact that the bank was designed in a collaborative design studio environment does not detract from the significance of Sheets’ association with this or any other project, and all Home Savings & Loan Association banks, excepting perhaps the first Beverly Hills commission, should be understood to be the collaborative work of the Millard Sheets Studio under Sheets as chief designer and impresario.

Further, the property is best understood as a total work of art that includes the building itself, the integrated art program, and landscaped plaza, as all aspects were designed in concert by the Millard Sheets Studio. Unlike some examples of Modernist architecture, where a plaza, sculpture, or other artwork may be an afterthought, the art program of the Home Savings & Loan Association banks designed by the Millard Sheets Studio almost invariably had an integrated program of artwork, which was carefully considered during the building design process. In the case of the Mountain View branch, the interior mural, stained-glass window, and sculpture all exhibit the distinctive hand of their designers, within the established aesthetic and approach of the Millard Sheets Studio aesthetic.

Additionally, the mosaic mural exhibits a locally specific set of motifs that were developed with reference to Mountain View planning director Glen Gentry’s own historical research. The building and integrated art program, taken as a total work of design, possess high artistic value.

In summary, the former Home Savings & Loan Association Mountain View branch at 749 W. El Camino Real, inclusive of the integrated art program and plaza, is a distinctive local example of the New Formalist style, exhibits the characteristics of the second phase of the Home Savings Style, is the work of master designer Millard Sheets and his studio, and possesses high artistic value. The property is individually eligible for listing in the California Register under Criterion 3 (Architecture/Design) with a local level of significance, and is eligible for listing in the Mountain View Register under local Criterion 3.
51 Arenson, Banking on Beauty, 135.
581
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 The period of significance under California Register Criterion 3 and Mountain View Register Criterion 3 is 1977-1978, spanning the year that the building was constructed and the year that the installation of the mosaic mural was complete.52
The property retains all seven aspects of integrity. The location of the building and the setting at the intersection of El Camino Real and Castro Street have remained unchanged. The property has undergone only minor exterior alterations related to the signage program and the installation of ATMs. All building character-defining features and art components are intact. As such, the property retains integrity of materials, design, workmanship, and feeling. The property also retains association with Home Savings & Loan Association through the integrated art program, which was a distinctive and recognizable feature of the bank’s collaboration with the Millard Sheets Studio.

CHARACTER-DEFINING FEATURES
Based on archival and historic research and visual observation, the character-defining features of 749 W. El Camino Real include:
• Overall form and massing as a two-story, rectangular building with a flat roof • Symmetrical facades
• Brick cladding, including corbeled cornice and archways, and soldier brick string courses • Arched openings spanned by dark glazing, set in bronze anodized aluminum mullions • Integrated art program, including:
o Mosaic mural above the primary entrance
o Round, stained-glass window above the rear entrance
o Interior painted mural
o Bird sculpture in the front plaza
• Siting, angled 45 degrees to the intersection of El Camino Real and Castro Street • Front and rear plaza landscapes, including brick planters with a zigzag profile.

Exterior features that are not character-defining include the ATMs, Chase signage, and birddeterrent statues on the roof. 52 Sources indicate that the building was complete by 1977, but that installation of the mosaic mural may not have been complete until early 1978.
582
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154

PEER REVIEW CONCLUSION
Page & Turnbull reviewed a Historic Resource Evaluation Report prepared by Ascent Environmental in December 2021 for the properties at 615 W. El Camino Real and 748 W. El Camino Real in Mountain View, California. In addition, Hannah Simonson of Page & Turnbull conducted a site visit and supplemental historic research to document existing physical characteristics and evaluate the properties’ historic significance. Page & Turnbull has identified a number of primary and secondary sources not consulted in the preparation of the 2021 HRER, including building permit records (available at the City of Mountain View Building Division), historic newspaper articles (available through online databases), oral history transcripts (available online through the Smithsonian and UCLA), and, notably, a scholarly publication on the work of Millard Sheets—Banking On Beauty:

Millard Sheets and Midcentury Commercial Architecture in California by Adam Arenson (published through the University of Texas Press, 2018).

Page & Turnbull has identified a number of factual errors, inconsistencies, and omissions in the 2021 HRER, particularly regarding the construction history of 615 W. El Camino Real and the historic context of 749 W. El Camino Real, such as the bank building’s planning and design, the trajectory of the Millard Sheets Studio’s design practice following the death of Howard Ahmanson, and the respective roles of Millard Sheets and his employees within Millard Sheets Studio. Additionally, Page & Turnbull has found that the integrated art program at 749 W. El Camino Real has not been adequately documented, contextualized, or evaluated; the stained-glass window and interior mural are omitted from the building description and evaluation, and the exterior mosaic and sculpture are not adequately described or attributed as part of the comprehensive architectural design and program as part of the collaboration between Home Savings & Loan Association and the Millard Sheets Studio.

It is Page & Turnbull’s professional opinion that the architectural style context is not adequately developed with regard to 749 W. El Camino Real, and that the definitions and character-defining features for Midcentury Modern, New Formalism, and ‘jewel box’ banks do not reflect a full understanding of the New Formalist style as a historically oriented Modern Movement style, which borrows Classical and other historical forms, proportions, and motifs and utilizes monumental form and landscaping. Page & Turnbull has also found that the age-eligibility threshold for listing in the California Register and Mountain View Register has been misrepresented and inappropriately applied to 749 W. El Camino Real.

Page & Turnbull concurs with Ascent Environmental’ s determination that the former Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler restaurant building at 615 W. El Camino Real is not eligible for listing in the National 583
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226]

PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154 Register, California Register, or Mountain View Register, and is therefore not a historical resource for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Page & Turnbull concurs 749 W. El Camino Real does not meet the “exceptional” significance threshold for listing in the National Register as a property less than 50 years old but disagrees with Ascent Environmental’ s determination that the former Home Savings & Loan Association building (now Chase Bank) is not eligible for listing in the California Register or Mountain View Register.

Based on review of the 2021 HRER and additional research, it is Page & Turnbull’s professional opinion that 749 W. El Camino Real is eligible for listing in the California Register and the Mountain View Register and would therefore qualify as a historical resource for the purposes of CEQA.

Potential significant adverse impacts to 749 W. E. Camino Real as a historical resource should be studied in accordance with CEQA, and as appropriate, project alternatives and/or mitigation measures should be developed. If a feasible alternative to demolition of the bank building cannot be reached, the deinstallation and preservation of the artworks associated with 749 W. El Camino Real should be prioritized and considered as CEQA mitigation measures or conditions of project approval. The artworks, including the mosaic, interior mural, stained-glass window, and sculpture, might be reinstalled on-site as part of a new proposed project or relocated to another local site or publicly accessible collection, as appropriate.
584
DRAFT
615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, HRER Peer Review Memorandum [22226] Appendices
PAGE & TURNBULL 170 MAIDEN LANE, 5TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108 TEL 415-362-5154

APPENDIX A
Ascent Environmental, Historic Resource Evaluation Report for 615 & 749 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View, December 2021
585
DRAFT
Historic Resource Evaluation Report
for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue,
Mountain View, Mountain View
Prepared for:

GS Mountain View III, LLC
450 Sansome Street, Suite 500
San Francisco, CA 94111
December 2021
586
DRAFT
Historic Resource Evaluation Report
for
Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue,
Mountain View, Mountain View
Prepared By:

Ascent Environmental, Inc.

Alta Cunningham, M.A.
455 Capitol Mall, Suite 300
Sacramento, CA 95814
Prepared For:

GS Mountain View III, LLC
Neil Hanlon | Development Associate
450 Sansome Street, Suite 500, San Francisco, CA
415.489.3900
December 2021
587
DRAFT
Historic Resource Evaluation Report December
for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View i

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section Page
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................................................................................................. III 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................................ 1

1.1 Study Location ...................................................................................................................................................................1

1.2 Regulatory Context...........................................................................................................................................................1 2 STUDY METHODS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 7

2.1 Records Search and Literature Review .......................................................................................................................7

2.2 Field Methods ....................................................................................................................................................................7 3 HISTORIC OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................................................................. 8

3.1 Development of Mountain View ................................................................................................................................. 8

3.2 Evolution of El Camino Real.......................................................................................................................................... 9

3.3 Roadside Eateries............................................................................................................................................................. 9

3.4 Millard Sheets Designs, Inc. and the Home Savings & Loan Association Banks..........................................12

3.5 Mid-Century Modern and Jewel Box Banks............................................................................................................16 4 HISTORICAL RESOURCE EVALUATION ................................................................................................................................ 18

4.1 Chase Bank Building.......................................................................................................................................................18

4.2 Restaurant Building ....................................................................................................................................................... 20 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................................................................................... 21 6 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................................................ 21 Appendices
A Record Search Results
B DPR Forms
Figures
Figure 1-1 Regional Location ............................................................................................................................................................ 2 Figure 1-2 Historical Resources Study Area.................................................................................................................................. 3 Figure 3-1 Tearoom. (Image courtesy of Chester H. Liebs as cited in University of Vermont 2021) ..........................10 Figure 3-2 Modern Family Restaurant. (Image courtesy of Chester H. Liebs as cited in University of Vermont 2021)..................................................................................................................................................................10 Figure 3-3 Lunch Cart. (Image courtesy of Chester H. Liebs as cited in University of Vermont 2021)....................... 11 Figure 3-4 Railroad Car Diner. (Image courtesy of Chester H. Liebs as cited in University of Vermont 2021) ....................................................................................................................................................................................12 Figure 3-5 Former Home Savings & Loan Association (1956), Beverly Hills. (L.A. Conservancy) ................................. 13 Figure 3-6 Former Home Savings & Loan Association (1956), Beverly Hills. (L.A. Conservancy) ................................. 13 Figure 3-7 Former Home Savings & Loan Association (1969), Santa Monica. (Karel) .....................................................14 588
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
December 2021 Historic Resource Evaluation Report
ii for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View Figure 3-8 Former Home Savings & Loan Association (1972), San Jose. Photo by Ascent Environmental...............15 Figure 3-9 Former Home Savings & Loan Association (1972), San Jose. Photo by Ascent Environmental...............15 Figure 3-10 National Farmers' Bank in Owatonna, Minnesota. Constructed in 1908. (NPS 2018) ................................. 17 Figure 3-11 Peoples' Savings and Loan Association in Sidney, Ohio. Constructed 1917. (Rudge 2021).......................17 Figure 4-1 Chase Bank Building.......................................................................................................................................................18 Figure 4-2 Bank Building .................................................................................................................................................................. 20 Tables
Table 1 Previous Reports Identified Within the Study Area ................................................................................................ 7 589
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
Historic Resource Evaluation Report December 2021
for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View iii

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Purpose and Scope:

Ascent was retained by GS Mountain View III, LLC to conduct this Historical Resource Evaluation Report. The historical resources study area consists of two buildings located along the south side of El Camino Real, between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, in Mountain View California.

Ascent inventoried and evaluated the properties under the criteria of the California Register of Historical Resources, the National Register of Historic Places, and the Mountain View Register in order to determine if any future project would the potential to cause a substantial adverse change to historical resources under CEQA. The documentation complies with Section 15064.5(a)(2)-(3) of the CEQA Guidelines, using the criteria outlined in Section 5024.1 of the California Public Resources Code.

Conclusion and Recommendations:

The subject properties, 749 W El Camino Real and 615 W El Camino Real, have not previously been evaluated for historical significance and are not listed in the California Register of Historical Resources (CRHR), the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), or the Mountain View Register of Historic Resources. As described in detail in this report and on the accompanying Department of Parks and Recreation series form addressing the properties, this analysis finds that the buildings do not appear to meet the criteria for listing on the registers, and do not appear to be a historical resource for the purposes of CEQA, because of a lack of significance and compromised physical integrity that precludes direct association to the historic period.

Personnel Qualifications:

Alta Cunningham has over 19 years of experience in the environmental consulting field. Her experience as an architectural historian includes archival research, historic building and structure surveys and evaluations, evaluating project for consistency with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards, and cultural resources documentation for NEPA and CEQA projects ranging from single building evaluations to district-wide surveys for CEQA, PRC 5024, and Section 106 compliance documents. Alta has completed evaluations for higher education facilities, California’s correctional facilities, pre- and post-World War II residential and commercial buildings, agricultural properties, and water conveyance systems. Alta received her Bachelor of Science in History from the University of California, Davis, and a Master of Arts in Historic Preservation from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She meets the Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualification Standards for architectural history and history.

Emilie Zelazo has 16 years of environmental compliance and cultural resource management experience in California, Arizona, and the Great Basin. Her experience includes NEPA and CEQA document preparation, as well as cultural resources technical document preparation and oversight for CEQA, PRC 5024, and Section 106 compliance documents. Emilie has field and reporting experience in the Central Valley, Sierra Nevada foothills, San Francisco Peninsula, Southern California, and the Great Basin, as well as in parts of Nevada and southwestern Arizona. She has worked in coordination with various government agencies including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service, US Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Aviation Agency, Federal Highways Administration, US Department of the Army, and California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Emilie meets the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for both archaeology and architectural history. 590
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
December 2021 Historic Resource Evaluation Report
iv for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View Page intentionally left blank.
591
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
Historic Resource Evaluation Report December 2021
for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View 1 1 INTRODUCTION
GS Mountain View III, LLC. retained Ascent Environmental (Ascent) to complete a Historical Resource Evaluation Report (HRER) for two buildings in Mountain View, California. Ascent conducted this HRER in compliance with Section 15064.5(a)(2)-(3) of the CEQA Guidelines, using the criteria outlined in Section 5024.1 of the California Public Resources Code. This HRER details the methods and results of the study, which consisted of an archival review, field survey, and research of comparative studies, in support of the evaluation of the property.

1.1 STUDY LOCATION
The historical resources study area is located within the City of Mountain View, south of U.S. Highway 101 and west of State Route 85 (see Figure 1-1). The study area is located along the south side of El Camino Real, bounded by Castro Street to the northwest and Lane Avenue to the southeast. The historical resources study area (see Figure 1-2) consists of two buildings: the Chase Bank Building at 749 W El Camino Real (assessor’s parcel number 193-02-049) and a former Restaurant Building at 615 W El Camino Real (assessor’s parcel number 193-02-050). The study area is completely developed with the subject properties, associated parking lots, and landscaping.

1.2 REGULATORY CONTEXT

1.2.1 Federal

NATIONAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION ACT
Historic properties are protected through the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966 (16 USC 470f) and its implementing regulations (16 USC 470 et seq., 36 CFR 800, 36 CFR 60, and 36 CFR 63). The NHPA establishes the federal government’s policy on historic preservation and the programs, including the NRHP, through which that policy is implemented. Under the NHPA, historic properties include “any prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure, or object included in, or eligible for inclusion in, the National Register of Historic Places” (16 USC 470w (5)).

The formal criteria (36 CFR 60.4) for determining NRHP eligibility are as follows:

1. The property is at least 50 years old (however, properties under 50 years of age that are of exceptional importance or are contributors to a district can also be included in the NRHP);

2. It retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and associations; and

3. It possesses at least one of the following characteristics:

Criterion A Is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of history (events).

Criterion B Is associated with the lives of persons significant in the past (persons).

Criterion C Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant, distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction (architecture).

Criterion D Has yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history (information potential). 592
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
December 2021 Historic Resource Evaluation Report
2 for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View Source: Adapted by Ascent Environmental in 2021
Figure 1-1 Regional Location
593
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
Historic Resource Evaluation Report December 2021
for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View 3 Source: Adapted by Ascent Environmental in 2021
Figure 1-2 Historical Resources Study Area
594
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
December 2021 Historic Resource Evaluation Report
4 for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View Special Criteria Considerations: Ordinarily cemeteries, birthplaces or graves of historical figures, properties owned by religious institutions or used for religious purposes, structures that have been moved from their original locations, reconstructed historic buildings, properties primarily commemorative in nature, and properties that have achieved significance within the past 50 years shall not be considered eligible for the National Register. However, such properties will qualify if they are integral parts of districts that do meet the criteria or if they fall within the following categories:

A. a religious property deriving primary significance from architectural or artistic distinction or historical importance; or
B. a building or structure removed from its original location but which is significant primarily for architectural value, or which is the surviving structure most importantly associated with a historic person or event; or C. a birthplace or grave of a historical figure of outstanding importance if there is no other appropriate site or building directly associated with his or her productive life; or D. a cemetery that derives its primary significance from graves of persons of transcendent importance, from age, from distinctive design features, or from association with historic events; or E. a reconstructed building when accurately executed in a suitable environment and presented in a dignified manner as part of a restoration master plan, and when no other building or structure with the same association has survived; or
F. a property primarily commemorative in intent if design, age, tradition, or symbolic value has invested it with its own historical significance; or
G. a property achieving significance within the past 50 years if it is of exceptional importance.

For a property to retain and convey historic integrity it must possess most of the seven aspects of integrity: location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. Location is the place where the historic property was constructed or the place where a historic event occurred. Integrity of location refers to whether the property has been moved since its construction. Design is the combination of elements that create the form, plan, space, structure, and style of a property. Setting is the physical environment of a historic property that illustrates the character of the place. Materials are the physical elements that were combined or deposited during a particular period of time and in a particular pattern or configuration to form a historic property. Workmanship is the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture or people during any given period in history or prehistory. Feeling is a property’s expression of the aesthetic or historic sense of a particular period of time. This is an intangible quality evoked by physical features that reflect a sense of a past time and place. Association is the direct link between the important historic event or person and a historic property. Continuation of historic use and occupation help maintain integrity of association.

1.2.2 State

CALIFORNIA REGISTER OF HISTORICAL RESOURCES
All properties in California that are listed in or formally determined eligible for listing in the NRHP are eligible for listing in the CRHR. The CRHR is a listing of State of California resources that are significant in the context of California’s history. It is a Statewide program with a scope and with criteria for inclusion similar to those used for the NRHP. In addition, properties designated under municipal or county ordinances are also eligible for listing in the CRHR.

A historic resource must be significant at the local, state, or national level under one or more of the criteria defined in the California Code of Regulations Title 15, Chapter 11.5, Section 4850 to be included in the CRHR. The CRHR criteria are tied to CEQA because any resource that meets the criteria below is considered a significant historical resource under CEQA. As noted above, all resources listed in or formally determined eligible for listing in the NRHP are automatically listed in the CRHR.
595
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
Historic Resource Evaluation Report December 2021
for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View 5 The CRHR uses four evaluation criteria for significance:

Criterion 1. Is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of local or regional history, or the cultural heritage of California or the United States.

Criterion 2. Is associated with the lives of persons important to local, California, or national history.

Criterion 3. Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, region, or method of construction; represents the work of a master; or possesses high artistic values.

Criterion 4. Has yielded, or has the potential to yield, information important to the prehistory or history of the local area, California, or the nation.

A property must have both significance and integrity to be considered eligible for listing in the CRHR. Loss of integrity, if sufficiently great, will overwhelm the historical significance of a resource and render it ineligible. Likewise, a resource can have complete integrity, but if it lacks significance, it must also be considered ineligible. Integrity is evaluated by regarding the property’s retention of its location, design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling, and association to its period of significance. These seven factors can be roughly grouped into three types of integrity considerations. Location and setting relate to the relationship between the property and its environment. Design, materials, and workmanship, as they apply to historic buildings, relate to construction methods and architectural details. Feeling and association are the least objective of the seven factors and pertain to the overall ability of the property to convey a sense of the historical time and place in which it was constructed.

Special considerations:
1) Moved buildings, structures, or objects. The Commission encourages the retention of historical resources on site and discourages the non-historic grouping of historic buildings into parks or districts. However, it is recognized that moving an historic building, structure, or object is sometimes necessary to prevent its destruction. Therefore, a moved building, structure, or object that is otherwise eligible may be listed in the California Register if it was moved to prevent its demolition at its former location and if the new location is compatible with the original character and use of the historical resource. An historical resource should retain its historic features and compatibility in orientation, setting, and general environment. 2) Historical resources achieving significance within the past fifty (50) years. In order to understand the historic importance of a resource, sufficient time must have passed to obtain a scholarly perspective on the events or individuals associated with the resource. A resource less than fifty (50) years old may be considered for listing in the California Register if it can be demonstrated that sufficient time has passed to understand its historical importance.
3) Reconstructed buildings. Reconstructed buildings are those buildings not listed in the California Register under the criteria in Section 4852(b)(1), (2), or (3) of this chapter. A reconstructed building less than fifty (50) years old may be eligible if it embodies traditional building methods and techniques that play an important role in a community's historically rooted beliefs, customs, and practices; e.g., a Native American roundhouse.

CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT
CEQA requires public agencies to consider the effects of their actions on “historical resources,” and “unique archaeological resources.” Pursuant to PRC Section 21084.1, a “project that may cause a substantial adverse change in the significance of an historical resource is a project that may have a significant effect on the environment.” Section 21083.2 requires agencies to determine whether projects would have effects on unique archaeological resources.

Historical Resources
“Historical resource” is a term with a defined statutory meaning (PRC Section 21084.1; State CEQA Guidelines Sections 15064.5[a] and [b]). Under State CEQA Guidelines Section 15064.5(a), historical resources include the following:
596
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
December 2021 Historic Resource Evaluation Report
6 for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View 1) A resource listed in, or determined to be eligible by the State Historical Resources Commission for listing in, the CRHR (PRC Section 5024.1).
2) A resource included in a local register of historical resources, as defined in PRC Section 5020.1(k) or identified as significant in a historical resource survey meeting the requirements of PRC Section 5024.1(g), will be presumed to be historically or culturally significant. Public agencies must treat any such resource as significant unless the preponderance of evidence demonstrates that it is not historically or culturally significant. 3) Any object, building, structure, site, area, place, record, or manuscript that a lead agency determines to be historically significant or significant in the architectural, engineering, scientific, economic, agricultural, educational, social, political, military, or cultural annals of California may be considered to be a historical resource, provided the lead agency’s determination is supported by substantial evidence in light of the whole record. Generally, a resource will be considered by the lead agency to be historically significant if the resource meets the criteria for listing in the CRHR (PRC Section 5024.1).
4) The fact that a resource is not listed in or determined to be eligible for listing in the CRHR, not included in a local register of historical resources (pursuant to PRC Section 5020.1[k]), or identified in a historical resources survey (meeting the criteria in PRC Section 5024.1[g]) does not preclude a lead agency from determining that the resource may be a historical resource as defined in PRC Sections 5020.1(j) or 5024.1.

1.2.3 Local

MOUNTAIN VIEW CITY CODE
The City’s Zoning Ordinance (Chapter 36 of the City Code) includes a process for recognizing, preserving, and protecting historical resources at Section A36.78, Designation and Preservation of Historic Resources. Section A36.78 establishes the Mountain View Register of Historic Resources (Mountain View Register) as the City’s official list of historically significant buildings, structures, sites, or other improvements that are considered during the permit development review process. The Mountain View Register has similar criteria for listing as the California Register and consists of historic resources that meet one or more of the following criterion:
1) Is strongly identified with a person who, or an organization which, significantly contributed to the culture, history or development of the City of Mountain View;
2) Is the site of a significant historic event in the City’s past; 3) Embodies distinctive characteristics significant to the City in terms of a type, period, region, or method of construction or representative of the work of a master or possession of high artistic value; or 4) Has yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important to the City’s prehistory or history.

Under A36.78.080 of the Zoning Ordinance, persons are prohibited from making significant alterations, redeveloping, or relocating a property listed in the Mountain View Register without first obtaining a Historic Preservation Permit (HP permit) from the City’s zoning administrator. A HP Permit is granted if the City finds that (1) the proposed significant alteration will not result in a substantial adverse change in the significance of the historic resource, and (2) the proposed significant alteration maintains and enhances the appearance of the community. The provisions of section A36.78.080 also apply to properties that are eligible for listing in the National and California registers with the added requirements of City Council approval for an HP Permit and compliance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties for alterations done to National Register and California Register properties. 597
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
Historic Resource Evaluation Report December 2021
for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View 7 2 STUDY METHODS

2.1 RECORDS SEARCH AND LITERATURE REVIEW
On June 16, 2021, Ascent requested a cultural resources records search form the Northwest Information Center (NWIC), which is located at Sonoma State University and is part of the California Historical Resources Information System. The records search and literature review provides for identification of previously documented archaeological and architectural resources within and near the historical resources study area and is useful for developing a context to frame assessments of resource significance. The NWIC results of the record search revealed that the buildings have not been previously identified as historical resources and are not listed in either the NRHP or the CRHR (see Appendix A).

The records search revealed that a total of five cultural resources surveys have been conducted within an eighth-mile radius of the historical resources study area. Of these, two have covered at least some portion of the study area (Table 1). No previously recorded cultural resources, either archaeological or built environment were identified within the eighth-mile search radius.

Table 1 Previous Reports Identified Within the Study Area Report Number Author Year Title
S-36323 Carolyn Losee,
Archaeological
Resources Technology
2009 Cultural Resources Investigation for Clearwire Project CA-SJC0059A "GHO Executive Suites", 800 West El Camino Real, Mountain View, Santa Clara County, California, 94040 (letter report)
S-47006 Michelle Touton Staley,
Bayshore Archaeology
2015 Historic Property Survey Report, 04-SCL, CML-5124 (032), Castro Street from El Camino Real to Miramonte Avenue, Mountain View, Santa Clara County, California
The records search results also included the Santa Clara County Built Environment Resources Directory. Four properties in the City of Mountain View are included on this list as eligible for, or listed in, the NRHP: 1) 157 Moffett Boulevard, 2) 1737 Stierlin Road, 3) 938 Villa Street, and 4) 954 Villa Street. The properties on Villa Street are the closest to the historical resources study area, approximately 0.7 miles north.

The Mountain View Register of Historic Resources, last updated September 20, 2017, lists 46 properties on the register, two of which are located within one-quarter mile of the historical resources study area. The residence located at 680 Yosemite Avenue is located approximately 0.12-mile northeast of the study area and the residence located at 595 Church Street is approximately 0.2-mile northeast.

Ascent contacted the Mountain View Historical Association on Thursday July 1, 2021, to inquire if the organization had any historical information related to either property. No response had been received as of July 15, 2021. Additionally, online research was conducted at the Mountain View City Library.

2.2 FIELD METHODS
Field work for the project was conducted on June 22, 2021. Field work was undertaken by Architectural Historian Alta Cunningham, who meets the Secretary of the Interior Professional Qualification Standards for Architectural History and History. The buildings were subject to written documentation on appropriate Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) 523 forms and photography that documented the building’s major characteristics, character defining features, and notable alterations. In addition, survey included overview documentation of the adjacent urban surroundings in order to properly situate the buildings within the surrounding urban context.

The results of this are detailed below, and DPR forms are compiled in Appendix B. 598
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
December 2021 Historic Resource Evaluation Report
8 for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View 3 HISTORIC OVERVIEW

3.1 DEVELOPMENT OF MOUNTAIN VIEW
Mountain View began as a stagecoach stop between the two growing centers of population—the port of San Francisco and the new State Capitol in San Jose. In 1850 the newly formed Santa Clara County government designated the route which approximated the path of El Camino Real as the official thoroughfare. Soon, a regular stage service was initiated on the county road and a stage stop erected on the north side of El Camino Real between Stevens Creek and what is now Grant Road. In 1852, Richard Carr opened the first store in the settlement on the southeast corner of Grant Road and El Camino Real. By the late 1800s, Mountain View had become an agricultural boomtown. The large land holdings of the earlier settlers had been divided many times over and were cultivated in grain and hay. By 1880, many farmers had turned their lands into profitable orchards and vineyards (City of Mountain View 2021).

At the outset of the 20th century, a continual increase in population brought social complexities that led to the creation of a formalized government. On November 7, 1902, the City of Mountain View was incorporated. At the time, its population was 611. By 1904, a few of the main streets were scraped and graveled, and concrete gutters and curbs were installed along two blocks of Castro Street, preparing the area for businesses and residents alike. Throughout the 1920s, commercial and industrial growth continued to accelerate. Commercial development on Castro Street began a horizontal expansion in 1928, when the telephone company opened its office on Hope Street. The Post Office, a radio and electronic shop, and other businesses followed as the business district spread (City of Mountain View 2021).

Commercial buildings constructed between 1900 and 1930 took substantial, block-like forms; poured concrete construction was typical, while masonry and stucco were still commonly used as exterior cladding. They often had flat roofs with stepped parapets or followed the conventions of traditional Western False Front buildings. The Great Depression caused building construction throughout the country to slow for much of the 1930s. Those buildings that were constructed were often small and simple in form and style, often continuing the bungalow trend in residential architecture and anticipating the more modern, clean line styles of the war years (City of Mountain View 2012:460- 461).

After the Naval Air Station at Moffett Field was constructed in 1932 and the high-technology electronics industry became part of the valley life, the area north of Central Expressway finally succumbed to urbanization. During the 1940s and 1950s, Mountain View also attracted such military and high technology facilities as the NASA Ames Research Center and the Lockheed Missile and Space Company. Industrial development was accompanied by a spurt of residential development, and large subdivisions, apartment complexes, commercial centers, were built throughout the community, replacing the former agrarian land use pattern (City of Mountain View 2021; 2012:460-461).

Although several subdivision tracts were laid out in the early 1940s, the majority of residential development did not occur until after World War II (WWII). WWII created a building materials shortage and kept construction to a minimum. Many small, inexpensive houses were built in the 1940s following the guidelines of the Federal Housing Authority, whose goal was to encourage affordable houses with modern features. The vast majority of houses in Mountain View date from the post-war years, when a building boom occurred. By the 1950s, Mountain View had transformed from a sleepy little farm town to a bustling city with a vibrant downtown. Castro Street was filled with restaurants, shops, and a movie theatre. El Camino Real became a bustling thoroughfare with business lining its wide expanse of roadway integral to helping residents travel between other towns and cities on the Peninsula (City of Mountain View 2021; 2012:460-461).

Much of Mountain View’s modern architecture is associated with regional commercial and technological developments. Many of these commercial developments included rectilinear buildings with flat roofs and wide overhangs that accentuated the dominant horizontal plane. Large parking lots associated with these commercial centers signaled the end of the pedestrian city organized around the downtown center. As the hi-tech sector grew in Santa Clara Valley, industrial parks were developed to house research, development, and personnel. The Stanford 599
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
Historic Resource Evaluation Report December 2021
for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View 9 Industrial Park, which had opened in the previous decade, served as a model for the Mountain View Industrial Park.

By the 1980s, fifty industrial parks fashioned after the Stanford model had been developed. The North Bayshore area of Mountain View includes several examples of hi-tech developments, including those associated with Google (City of Mountain View 2012:460-461).

3.2 EVOLUTION OF EL CAMINO REAL
California’s El Camino Real owes its origins to Franciscan monk Father Junipero Serra, who departed Mexico in 1769 to extend Spanish influence and convert the native populations. Following the coastal ridgeline and the Pacific Ocean, the missionaries pushed steadily north. Upon the completion of a full day's journey, they would stop to establish a new mission, before heading north again. At that time, the road was little more than a dirt path, originating at the first mission in what is now San Diego and ending in Sonoma. Upon completion of this continuous chain of Spanish enclaves, the road connecting them was given the name El Camino Real, which translated into English means "the royal road" (City of San Mateo 2001).

As the West Coast became increasingly settled, El Camino Real developed into a valuable transportation route for the agriculturally rich state of California, moving both commodities and workers throughout the state. In 1906, the Federal government officially recognized the importance of El Camino Real by making it the second nationally named highway in the United States. The paving of El Camino Real in 1913 heralded the arrival of the automobile, which allowed businesses and homes to spread out, rather than concentrate in the downtown (City of San Mateo 2001; City of Sunnyvale 2011).

The majority of Peninsula settlements originated as agricultural and ranching communities, embracing a Spanish land management model. Therefore, a location along El Camino Real offered excellent access to the exchange of vital goods and supplies. The 1940’s brought a surge of developers buying land and arranging suburban developments throughout the Peninsula. What were once smaller residential settlements began to evolve into a true suburban community built on easy access into San Francisco by automobile via El Camino Real. Commercial development progressed along traffic routes into areas with available parking. The lots along El Camino Real began to be developed for uses that responded to the automobile – drive-through restaurants, gas and service stations and auto dealerships (City of San Mateo 2001).

The most significant contemporary change in El Camino Real's context was the construction of the Bay Area's freeway system - first Highway 101 and then Highway 280. The laying of these freeways added more fuel to the explosive suburban housing market that the Bay Area was experiencing after WWII. Both routes served to relieve north-south travel congestion and spur development served best by the corridors. With the regional traffic demand primarily handled by freeway routes, this left El Camino Real to evolve once again. The road is used more significantly for incity trips and local circulation. There is not the same demand for continuous strip retail. Shoppers seek a distinctive high-quality experience, offering variety, interest. and easy access. Strong housing, office and technology growth is beginning to consider a presence along El Camino Real. (City of San Mateo 2001).

3.3 ROADSIDE EATERIES

3.3.1 Family Restaurants
Prior to 1920, few roadside eateries existed for motorists, but as auto-touring became increasingly popular, tearooms were established to provide a family dining atmosphere. Typically located in a building of historic significance, the name "tearoom" suggested a safe, quiet place. The owners fostered the respectability of their establishments by creating a homey, nostalgic atmosphere and offering a menu of afternoon tea, cold drinks, and ice cream. After the 1920s, the tearoom began to disappear from the roadside (Rosin and Bowers 1992:11-12; University of Vermont 2021). 600
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
December 2021 Historic Resource Evaluation Report
10 for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View Figure 3-1. Tearoom. (Image courtesy of Chester H. Liebs as cited in University of Vermont 2021) By 1930, the first family restaurants made their way to the roadside. The preeminent restaurant of this class was the Howard Johnson chain, started in 1929. Believing that the automobile would change the American landscape, Johnson established a chain of restaurants focused on his fast-food menu. During the Depression, Johnson began franchising the Howard Johnson name and the company continued to expand into a roadside empire. Although Howard Johnson's restaurants had a number of unifying characteristics, such as an orange roof, no two were alike, and the styles of the Howard Johnson's restaurants reflected the changing architectural trends of the era. Soon, local versions of the family restaurant were ubiquitous along America’s highways. Following Howard Johnson’s formula, all offered a standard menu of easy-to-prepare foods peppered with local specialties (Rosin and Bowers 1992:11-12; University of Vermont 2021).

Many early restaurant chains from the 1930s used architectural gimmicks, like the windmills, to lure motorists.

Colonial Revival architecture was also used quite heavily for roadside restaurants during the 1930s - the cupola being the most character-defining feature. By the 1950s, restaurants were abandoning traditional designs and embracing modernization. The Howard Johnson's restaurant seen below features a low, overhanging hipped roof, large windows, and a stylized, modern cupola (University of Vermont 2021).

Figure 3-2. Modern Family Restaurant. (Image courtesy of Chester H. Liebs as cited in University of Vermont 2021) 601
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
Historic Resource Evaluation Report December 2021
for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View 11

3.3.2 Diners
Although typically associated with the Streamline Moderne style of the 1930s and 1940s, the diner originated in 1872 when a Providence, Rhode Island, entrepreneur opened a beanery on wheels. The idea of the urban chuck-wagon quickly caught on, and these little food stands on wheels became quite familiar in the Northeast by 1900. Proprietors continued to pull their wagons up and down the streets, but many also bought small plots of land and set up their wagons permanently. These earliest diners were located in cities near factory gates, serving quick, hot, home-cooked meals to factory workers. The same principle of fast, efficient food was applied to later roadside eateries. Diners, set up along roadsides, provided the same service to motorists that they offered to urban workers. (Rosin and Bowers 1992:11-12; University of Vermont 2021).

By the 1920s, the prefabricated dining-car industry boomed. Diner business increased significantly during Prohibition, and the restaurants began offering expanded menus, longer hours, and catering to a larger clientele. The cheap food offered in the dinning-cars remained quite popular during the economic hardships of the Great Depression (University of Vermont 2021).

Figure 3-3. Lunch Cart. (Image courtesy of Chester H. Liebs as cited in University of Vermont 2021) The diner continued to prosper in the post-WWII years; at this time, the diner began to take on the aesthetics of a railroad car. Along the road they provided truck drivers, businessmen and other travelers with the hearty homecooked fare that was first served to urban factory workers. As the 1950s drew to a close, the diner began losing business to the fast food chains. As a result, the railroad motif was abandoned in favor of a more family-oriented atmosphere and traditional look. The new diners featured columns, mansard roofs, trellises, and stone cladding; in Los Angeles the space-age Googie style was popular from roughly 1945 to the early 1970s (University of Vermont 2021; Rosin and Bowers 1992:11-12).
602
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
December 2021 Historic Resource Evaluation Report
12 for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View Figure 3-4. Railroad Car Diner. (Image courtesy of Chester H. Liebs as cited in University of Vermont 2021)

3.4 MILLARD SHEETS DESIGNS, INC. AND THE HOME SAVINGS &

LOAN ASSOCIATION BANKS
Millard O. Sheets (1907-1989) was a prominent California artist, an architectural designer (though not a registered architect), and an educator. He developed a style of watercolor painting that helped give rise to a California regional school of art based on representations of local geography, history and culture (Chattel 2011:6). This same concept formed the baseline for most of his architectural design endeavors as well.

After training at the Chouinard School of Art in Los Angeles, Sheets travelled across South America and Europe, experimenting with the use of watercolor in landscapes. After returning to southern California, he focused on local landscapes in his work. During the Great Depression, he began to paint scenes of working-class neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Two well-known examples of Sheets’ work from this period are Tenement Flats (1934) at the Smithsonian Institution and Angel’s Flight (1931) at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Chattel 2011:7). In 1955, Sheets accepted a position as director of the Los Angeles County Art Institute and reinvented the school as the Otis Art Institute (now Otis College of Art and Design). He also organized and chaired art departments at Scripps College.

Combining art, education, and entrepreneurship, Sheets is considered one of California’s most influential artists of the 20th century. Sheet’s philosophy was that art should be incorporated into every aspect of daily living (Wuellner and Kainer 2014).

In 1953, Howard Ahmanson (1906-1968) hired Sheets to design his insurance office building on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Ahmanson was the founder and chairman of Home Savings & Loan Association and its parent company, National American Insurance Company. Built on the rapid real estate development and growth of the middle that dominated California after World War II, Ahmanson was able to turn both Home Savings & Loan Association and H.F.

Ahmanson Co., into a financial institution with over $2.5 billion in assets by the end of the 1960s (Chattel 2011:6).

Ahmanson was also one of the wealthiest business executives in the United States with personal assets estimated between $200 and $300 million. Ahmanson and his wife, Caroline, were involved in multiple philanthropic causes, particularly the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Performing Arts Council of Los Angeles County, where one of the Music Center’s theatres is named after them (Challet 2011:6).

For the design of his buildings, Ahmanson gave Sheets complete freedom. This included design of the facades and the interiors. The quintessential example of the studio’s integration of art, particularly mosaics, sculpture, stained glass, tapestry and sometimes furnishings, and commercial space is embodied in one of the firms first commissions from Ahmanson, the Home Savings & Loan Association at 9245 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills (Figures 3-5 and 3-6). 603
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
Historic Resource Evaluation Report December 2021
for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View 13 Figure 3-5. Former Home Savings & Loan Association (1956), Beverly Hills. (L.A. Conservancy) Figure 3-6. Former Home Savings & Loan Association (1956), Beverly Hills. (L.A. Conservancy) By projecting an image of permanence based on family relationships and local history, a theme carried out in most of the Sheets Studio’s designs, the building not only was lovely, but it also became a marketing tool. As testament to this fact, when completed in 1954, the Beverly Hill’s branch collected $19 million in new accounts (Chattel 2011:9) The initial commissions from Ahmanson also allowed Sheets to establish Millard Sheets Designs, Inc., in 1953. Based in Claremont, the design studio employed between 25 and 35 artists, artisans, and architects and became a collaborative training ground for many artists and artisans (Chattel 2011:7). Sheets’ longtime collaborators, Susan Hertel, Denis O’Connor, and S. David Underwood were responsible for much of the design work. Susan Hertel began 604
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
December 2021 Historic Resource Evaluation Report
14 for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View working with Sheets in the late 1950s and became the company’s primary stained-glass artist. She served as president of the company after Sheets retired in 1977. Denis O’Connor became the leading creator of mosaics, and in 1963, he formed his own company, Denis O’Connor Mosaics. He continued to work with Sheets, executing mosaics for Home Savings & Loan Association branches based on Sheets’ and Hertel’s designs. One of the most prominent examples of the collaboration between Sheets, O’Connor, and Hertel, is the former Home Savings & Loan building constructed in 1969 at Wilshire Boulevard and 26th Street in Santa Monica (Figure 3-7). Both O’Connor and Hertel also worked on the Mountain View branch (Arenson 2018). As a registered architect, Underwood was responsible for implementing many of Sheets’ designs.

Figure 3-7. Former Home Savings & Loan Association (1969), Santa Monica. (Karel) Millard Sheets Design, Inc. was responsible for the design of over 40 Home Savings & Loan Association buildings throughout California (Arenson 2018); at least 168 were designed and constructed throughout the United States. All of the bank designs were based on the Beverly Hills branch (see Figures 3-5 and 3-6): prominent location; solid, imposing materials to suggest permanence; and the integration of art, local history, and familial themes (Chattel 2011:9). These elements balanced robust building forms and materials with delicate artistic details that projected an image of luxury and community. However, after Ahmanson’s death in 1968, Sheets decreased his role in the design of each individual branch. As a result, designs became more standardized, although based on the location’s unique history and character. Similarly, the Home Savings & Loan Association itself became more interested in economy and efficiency in construction of branches. Along with the banks, the Sheet’s studio created works for restaurants, churches, hotels, airports, libraries, stores, government agencies, schools, hospitals, Masonic Halls, and cemeteries (Kahn 2016). The studio was behind the design of the Pomona Mall, one of the first pedestrian malls in the United States and nationally recognized as a blueprint for urban revitalization (Lin 2017). Sheet’s work can be found all over California and the United States.

In Santa Clara County, the most prominent example of Sheet’s work is located at 1402 Lincoln Avenue in San Jose’s Willow Glen community. This former Home Savings & Loan Association building was constructed in 1972 and features four large mosaics on the exterior and two in the interior (see Figures 3-8 and 3-9). A sculpture depicting a mother and child is located along the southwest façade. The building is clad in square panels of travertine. A frieze of gold glazed tiles with a geometric pattern in relief wraps around the building at the roofline. The overall feeling of the artwork is that of a community at play. Both O’Connor and Hertel worked on this San Jose branch as well (Arenson 2018).
605
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
Historic Resource Evaluation Report December 2021
for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View 15 Other Home Savings & Loan Association buildings in the immediate area include the following branches: Cupertino (1976), Sunnyvale (1986), San Carlos (1987), and Fremont. Two other bank buildings in Redwood City, both constructed in 1957 have had their mosaics painted over. And a Home Savings & Loan Association building in Atherton, constructed in 1973, was demolished c. 2010. Additionally, a large mosaic by Millard Sheets, dated 1977, is located at the international terminal of Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (Arenson 2018).

Figure 3-8. Former Home Savings & Loan Association (1972), San Jose. Photo by Ascent Environmental.

Figure 3-9. Former Home Savings & Loan Association (1972), San Jose. Photo by Ascent Environmental. 606
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
December 2021 Historic Resource Evaluation Report
16 for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View

3.5 MID-CENTURY MODERN AND JEWEL BOX BANKS
Mid-Century Modern is a broad term used to describe a style that emerged in the decades following World War II (1945-1965). Influenced by the International Style and the Second Bay Tradition, Mid-Century Modern is a casual, organic, and expressive style that was applied to a wide variety of properties, including residences, churches, banks, institutional buildings, commercial and office buildings, and others. Mid-Century Modern emphasizes function over ornamentation, interplay between architecture and the environment, and the honest expression of structural design (Sacramento 2017:73). It incorporates an array of design elements including cantilevered overhangs, projecting eaves, canted windows, projecting boxes that frame the upper stories, stucco siding, the use of bright or contrasting colors, spandrel glass, large expanses of windows, flat or shed roof forms, stacked brick veneer, asymmetrical facades, and occasionally vertical wood siding. Individual styles under the Mid-Century Modern umbrella include Commercial Modern, Corporate Modern, New Formalism, and Brutalism (San Francisco 2011:189; Sacramento 2017:3-9).

Many of the Home Savings & Loan buildings in California, which were all designed by Millard Sheets or his studio, Millard Sheets Design, Inc., are described as embodying the New Formalism style subset (Arenson et al. 2012; LA Conservancy 2020). Signature characteristics of New Formalism, which dates roughly from the 1950s to 1970s, are rectilinear forms featuring slender arches, strict symmetry, flat roofs, vertical lines, and columnar supports (San Franciscso 2011:134; McCalester 2013:662). The overall idea behind New Formalism was balance and proportion based on a classical concept or scheme.

Although some aspects of New Formalism could be said to be present in the building located at 749 W. El Camino Real, which has a rectilinear form with a flat roof, decorative vertical lines, and overall symmetry, the design of this bank is actually more similar to several small farming banks in the Midwest created by Louis H. Sullivan in the early 20th century. Louis H. Sullivan was one of the most influential architects in America at the turn of the 20th century.

Known primarily for his Chicago skyscrapers, Sullivan and his partner Dankmar Alder also took on smaller projects.

Sullivan’s designs marked a new progression in architectural ornamentation. Rather than using traditional classical columns, decorative capitals, and pediments, Sullivan recognized the inherent beauty in natural and organic forms and brought them to life in his schemes.

Termed “jewel box” banks, Sullivan’s box-shaped bank buildings were all constructed between 1902 and 1920 and located in rural towns of states such as Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin (NPS 2018). The banks were largely austere rectangular or square brick buildings that contained brilliant Tiffany-like stained glass windows and richly ornamented interiors. In the lunettes, generic bucolic murals were also often painted of subjects such as cattle in the field or clouds over the prairie. Exterior decorations were minimal, with few well-placed fanciful terracotta reliefs, friezes, and tiled or stained glass filled arches (see Figures 3-10 and 3-11).

These “jewel box” bank properties represent the pinnacle of Sullivan’s late career from 1906-1919 and all six of the remaining ones were designated National Historic Landmarks for their significance in transforming Midwestern architecture in the early 20th century (NPS 2018).
607
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
Historic Resource Evaluation Report December 2021
for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View 17 Figure 3-10. National Farmers' Bank in Owatonna, Minnesota. Constructed in 1908. (NPS 2018) Figure 3-11. Peoples' Savings and Loan Association in Sidney, Ohio. Constructed 1917. (Rudge 2021) 608
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
December 2021 Historic Resource Evaluation Report
18 for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View 4 HISTORICAL RESOURCE EVALUATION

4.1 CHASE BANK BUILDING

4.1.1 Building Description
The Bank Building is located on the southeast corner of El Camino Real and Castro Street, rotated 45 degrees so the primary entrance faces the corner. A landscaped plaza sets the building back from the street. The two-story building has a rectangular plan measuring approximately 130 feet east-west and 70 feet north-south. It is clad in beige brick with a stack bond pattern. The roof is flat with three rows of corbelling at the roofline. Owl statues are located along the northern roofline, at the center and each corner. The primary entrance is located on the northern façade, centered in the middle of five arched bays. The arches are also corbelled, and the bays are filled with display glass.

The southern façade also has five bays, while the eastern and western facades each have two; an ATM is located between the two bays on the eastern façade.

Three soldier courses lay between the bays and the roofline and wrap around the building. A large mosaic is centered over the primary entrance, between the top and bottom soldier course. It features five panels that appear to depict the evolution of Mountain View. The entry plaza features a centralized brick planter box comprised of a stack bond pattern, topped with a soldier course. The planter box contains a metal sculpture of seagulls in flight. Brick benches are located on the east and west sides of the planter box, with areas of grass beyond the benches. Closer to the building entrance, more brick planter boxes of the same design line the northern façade.

Figure 4-1. Chase Bank Building
609
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
Historic Resource Evaluation Report December 2021
for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View 19

4.1.2 Evaluation under Significance Criteria
As this building was constructed in 1977 and has not yet achieved 50 years of age, in addition to evaluation using the NRHP and CRHR significance criteria, it was subject to NRHP Criteria Consideration G and CRHR Special Consideration for properties less than 50 years of age which state that exceptional importance must be demonstrated.

To be considered eligible for listing in the NRHP/CRHR under Criterion A/1, a building must be associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our nation’s, California’s, or local history. As a local branch of the Home Savings & Loan Association, the subject property does not have a direct, important association with events or historic trends. The building was constructed during a period when many of Millard Sheets Designs, Inc. projects were being constructed in the Bay Area. Therefore, the Bank Building does not appear to be significant under NRHP/CRHR Criterion A/1, or Mountain View Register Criterion 2.

To be considered eligible for listing in the NRHP/CRHR under Criterion B/2, the Bank Building must be associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. The building was designed by Millard Sheets Designs, Inc., but it is unknown if it was designed by Millard Sheets himself. By 1970, Sheets was acting as executive artist and architectural designer, providing initial concept sketches, and allowing his collaborators at Millard Sheets Designs, Inc., to execute the designs; Sheets retired in 1977, the same year the subject building was constructed. While Howard F. Ahmanson was central to the development and evolution of the Home Savings & Loan Association, the subject property was constructed after his death. Additionally, while both O’Connor and Hertel worked on the subject property, this building is not the best representation of their work; the Santa Monica branch constructed in 1969 is a more colorful, dynamic, and engaging design. In Santa Clara County alone, the San Jose branch building is a better example. Historical research did not reveal any other individuals that have direct important association with the building. Therefore, the Bank Building does not appear to meet NRHP/CRHR Criterion B/2, or Mountain View Register Criterion 1.

Under NRHP/CRHR Criterion C/3, a building must embody distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of, installation or represent the work of a master, or possess high artistic values. The collaboration between Ahmanson and Sheets resulted in a distinctive architectural style that served to represent the Home Savings brand to consumers.

However, after Ahmanson’s death in 1968, Sheets became less involved in the details of individual branch design and the repetition of design became increasingly rigid, based on increasingly formulaic designs that emphasized economy and efficiency over distinctive architecture and art. The subject property does not contain many of the character defining features of Ahmanson’s and Sheet’s work, such as panels of travertine or gold glazed tiles with geometric patterns in relief. Additionally, the building does not strongly represent the New Formalism style ascribed to most of the Home Savings & Loan Association buildings, nor does it embody the majority of the characteristics of the “jewel box” bank style. Therefore, the Bank Building does not appear to possess sufficient design or construction value to warrant inclusion in the NRHP/CRHR under Criterion C/3, or Mountain View Register Criterion 3.

Criterion D/4 (and Mountain View Register Criterion 4) generally applies to archaeological resources or other resources that through study of construction details can provide information that cannot be obtained in other ways.

Construction details about the Bank Building have been documented. The structure does not appear to be significant under this criterion because it is not likely to yield any additional important information about our history.

4.1.3 Integrity Discussion
The only known alteration to the Bank Building is the installation of the ATM on the eastern façade, therefore it maintains integrity of design, materials, and workmanship. The building maintains integrity for location, setting, and feeling as it has not been moved since construction, and maintains integrity of association as its use as a bank has continued.
610
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
December 2021 Historic Resource Evaluation Report
20 for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View

4.2 RESTAURANT BUILDING

4.2.1 Building Description
The subject property is located on the southwest corner of El Camino Real and Lane Avenue. The front half of the building is constructed of wood, while the rear wing is constructed of concrete. The one-story building has a “T” shaped plan with a gabled portion centered on the primary façade; the side and rear wings have a flat roof. The roof of the rear wing is capped with a large cornice that projects slightly. Exposed rafter tails are located on the primary façade of the left and right wings. The primary façade is symmetrical, with a painted white brick chimney at the center; wood-framed fixed windows are located on either side of the external chimney. Two sets of fixed, vinyl-trim windows are located to adjacent to the wood-frame windows.

A planter box of painted white brick extends from the chimney almost the full length of the primary façade.

Additional brickwork is located under the wood-framed windows. All brickwork is running bond with a soldier course along the top edge. The two entrances are located at the rear of the left and right wings. Window openings adjacent to the entrances have been boarded up. Both the southeast and northwest facades have shed-roof additions. The one located on the northwest façade has a mural of a barbeque spit and a family enjoying their meal. The southeast façade also features a bump-outs for the restroom. Wooden posts that have been painted blue are located along the southeast and northwest; the posts are connected by thick nautical rope. Two small accessory buildings are located at the rear of the parking lot. The space between them is enclosed with a wooden fence, likely used for dumpster storage.

Figure 4-2. Bank Building
611
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
Historic Resource Evaluation Report December 2021
for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View 21

4.2.2 Evaluation under Significance Criteria
To be considered eligible for listing in the NRHP/CRHR under Criterion A/1, a building must be associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our nation’s, California’s, or local history. While news articles report that Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler was the “oldest restaurant in Mountain View,” this is not considered to be a contribution to history and does not rise to the level of significance necessary for inclusion in the NRHP/CRHR. Therefore, the Restaurant Building does not appear to be significant under NRHP/CRHR Criterion A/1, or Mountain View Register Criterion 2.

To be considered eligible for listing in the NRHP/CRHR under Criterion B/2, the Restaurant Building must be associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. Bill Clarke opened Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler and operated the restaurant until 1975. However, Bill Clarke is not a significant person in Mountain View’s past. While it is possible that he may have important associations connected to his time in the Navy, that is not related to the subject property. Historical research did not reveal any other individuals that have direct important association with the building. Therefore, the Restaurant Building does not appear to meet NRHP/CRHR Criterion B/2, or Mountain View Register Criterion 1.

Under NRHP/CRHR Criterion C/3, a building must embody distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of, installation or represent the work of a master, or possess high artistic values. The building is designed in a vernacular commercial style that lacks distinguishing characteristics of a particular architectural style and which not does exhibit high artistic value. The building’s current form does not appear to reflect its original form which was built across a smaller footprint. The building is not the work of a master, it lacks architectural distinction, does not have artistic qualities, which for make it a significant example of their work. Therefore, the Restaurant Building does not appear to possess sufficient design or construction value to warrant inclusion in the NRHP/CRHR under Criterion C/3, or Mountain View Register Criterion 3.

Criterion D/4 (and Mountain View Register Criterion 4) generally applies to archaeological resources or other resources that through study of construction details can provide information that cannot be obtained in other ways.

The structure does not appear to be significant under this criterion because it is not likely to yield any additional important information about our history.

4.2.3 Integrity Discussion
While the Restaurant Building maintains integrity of location because it has not been moved, and integrity of setting because the large parking lot surrounding the building remains as does its proximity to El Camino Real, the building has lost integrity in the remaining aspects. The Restaurant Building has lost integrity of association as the building is no longer used as a restaurant and currently sits vacant. The building has also lost integrity of materials, design, workmanship, and feeling. The numerous additions and remodels have completely obscured the original A-frame building. The building has more than doubled in size, the majority of the roof is now flat, and it no longer presents as a small hamburger restaurant from the 1940s. Therefore, the Restaurant Building has lost its integrity. 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The records search and research identified no built resources within an eighth-mile radius of the historical resources study area that have been listed on or recommended eligible for the CRHR or the NRHP. The closest two properties previously determined eligible for listing in the NRHP are located on Villa Street, approximately 0.7 miles north of the historical resources study area. The closest Mountain View Register of Historic Resources listed property is located at 680 Yosemite Avenue is located approximately 0.12-mile northeast of the study area. Additionally, because no historical resource, as defined by CEQA Guidelines Section 15064.5(a), is located in direct line of sight of the historical resources study area, it is unlikely that any project that may be constructed would have a significant impact on a historical resource.
612
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
December 2021 Historic Resource Evaluation Report
22 for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View Ascent’s historical resource evaluation finds that the two buildings in the study area do not appear to be eligible for the NRHP, CRHR or Mountain View Register. Consequently, none of the built environment resources within the study area appear to qualify as a historical resource for the purposes of CEQA. Therefore, demolition of these buildings would not be an impact under CEQA.
6 REFERENCES
Arenson, Adam, Jason Foo, Laurene Harding Rivas, Regina O’Brien, and Cheryll Dudley Roberts. 2012. Millard Sheets, A Legacy of Art and Architecture. Available:
laconservancy.org/sites/default/files/files/documents/millard_sheets_2012.pdf. Accessed June 21, 2021 Arenson, Adam. 2018. Definitive List for Home Savings and Loan Artwork, Savings of America Artwork, and the Millard Sheets Studio. Available: https://adamarenson.com/books/banking-on-beauty-millard-sheets-andmidcentury-commercial-architecture-in-california/definitive-list-for-home-savings-and-loan-artworksavings-of-america-artwork-and-the-millard-sheets-studio-public-projects-2-3/. Accessed June 21, 2021.

City of Mountain View. 2012 (September). City of Mountain View Draft 2030 General Plan and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program Final Environmental Impact Report. SCH No. 2011012069. Prepared by LSA Associates, Inc.

City of Mountain View. 2021. City History. Available: https://www.mountainview.gov/about/history.asp. Accessed July 2, 2021.

City of San Mateo. 2001 (September). El Camino Real Master Plan. Settings and Opportunities, Chapter 2: History.

Prepared by SMWM. Available: https://www.cityofsanmateo.org/1308/El-Camino-Real-Master-Plan.

City of Sunnyvale. 2011 (July). Sunnyvale General Plan. Updated April 2017.

Kadvany, Elena. 2020. Palo Alto Online. “A devastating impact: The coronavirus claims Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler, Mountain View’s oldest operating restaurant.” March 31, 2020. Available:
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/blogs/p/2020/03/31/a-devastating-impact-the-coronavirus-claims-clarkescharcoal-broiler-mountain-views-oldest-operating-restaurant.

Kahn, Eve. 2016. The Artist that Beautified California Banks. Available:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/arts/design/the-artist-who-beautified-california-banks.html. Accessed June 24, 2021.

Karel, Danny. 2019. The Argonaut. “Home Savings Branch Is History”. Available: https://argonautnews.com/homesavings-branch-is-history/. Accessed July 26, 2021.

Ken Kutcher, Harding, Larmore, Kutcher & Kozal, LLP. 2011. Historic Resource Assessment 2600 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica, California. Prepared by Robert Jay Chattel, Chattel Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Inc. Available:
https://www.smgov.net/departments/PCD/agendas/LandmarksCommission/2013/20131209/Chattel_Report_O ct_2011.pdf. Accessed June 21, 2021.

LA Conservancy. 2020. Millard Sheets, Architectural Designer. Available:
https://www.laconservancy.org/architects/millard-sheets-architectural-designer. Accessed June 21, 2021.

Lighthouse Trail. n.d. Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler, Mountain View, California. Available:
https://lighthousetrail.com/clarkes-charcoal-broiler-mountain-view-california/. Accessed July 5, 2021.

Lin, Catherine. 2017. Envisioning Change Through Cultural Arts – The Pomona Story. Available:
https://www.apacalifornia.org/conference/2017/25SEP17_115PM_LU_ECO_CULT_STRATEGIES_EnvisioningChan geThroughCulturalArtsThePomonaStory_CLin.pdf?role=personal. Accessed June 28, 2021.

McAlester, Virginia Savage. 2013. A Field Guide to American Houses. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 613
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
Historic Resource Evaluation Report December 2021
for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View 23 Mountain View Public Library. 2021. The Mountain View History Center. Available:
https://archive.org/details/mountainviewlibrary.

National Park Service (NPS). 2018. Beyond Chicago: Louis H. Sullivan's Late Masterpieces. Originally published in "Exceptional Places" Vol. 4, 2009, a newsletter of the Division of Cultural Resources, Midwest Region. Written by Jessica Berglin. Available https://www.nps.gov/articles/beyond-chicago-louis-h-sullivan-s-latemasterpieces.htm. Accessed June 29, 2021.

NETRonline. 2021. Historic Aerials. Available: https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer. Accessed July 1, 2021.

Perry, Nicholas. 2012. Then & Now. Mountain View. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, South Carolina.

Perry, Nicholas. 2006. Images of America. Mountain View. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, South Carolina.

Rosin, Elizabeth and Martha H. Bowers. 1992. Historic Context for Evaluation of Commercial Roadside Architecture.

Rudge, Heather. 2021. Society of Architectural Historians, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville:

UVaP. “The Peoples Federal Savings and Loan Association”. Available: https://saharchipedia.org/buildings/OH-01-149-0063. Accessed July 1, 2021.

Sacramento. 2017. Mid-Century Modern in the City of Sacramento Historic Context Statement and Survey Results.

Prepared by: GEI Consultants, Inc. and Mead & Hunt, Inc.

San Francisco. 2011. San Francisco Modern and Landscape Design 1935‐1970 Historic Context Statement. Prepared by:

Mary Brown, Preservation Planner, San Francisco City and County Planning Department.

University of Vermont. 2021. Dating Historic Images. Roadside Architecture – Roadside Eateries. Available:
https://glcp.uvm.edu/landscape_new/dating/roadside_architecture/roadside_eateries.php. Accessed July 2, 2021.

Wuellner, Margarita and Amanda Kainer. 2018 (September). Historical Resources Assessment Report and Impact Analysis for the Proposed 8150 Sunset Boulevard Mixed-Use Project. For AG-SCH 8150 Sunset Boulevard.

Prepared by PCR Services Corporation, Santa Monica, California. Available:
https://planning.lacity.org/eir/8150Sunset/deir/DEIR/Technical_Appendices/Appendix_C3- Historical%20Resources%20Assessment%20Report%20and%20Impacts%20Analysis.pdf. Accessed June 21, 2021.

Zavoral, Linda. 2020. The Mercury News. “Coronavirus: After 75 years, Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler closes for good in Mountain View.” April 3, 2020 Available: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/03/coronavirus-after-75- years-clarkes-charcoal-broiler-closes-for-good-in-mountain-view/ 614
DRAFT
Ascent Environmental
December 2021 Historic Resource Evaluation Report
24 for Properties between Castro Street and Lane Avenue, Mountain View Page intentionally left blank.
615
DRAFT
Appendix A
Record Search Results
616
DRAFT
6/23/2021 NWIC File No.: 20-2592
Alta Cunningham
Ascent Environmental, Inc.
455 Capitol Mall, Suite 300
Sacramento, CA 95814
Re: W El Camino Real Historic Eval
The Northwest Information Center received your record search request for the project area referenced above, located on the Mountain View USGS 7.5’ quad(s). The following reflects the results of the records search for the project area and a 1/8 mile radius:

Resources within project area: None
Resources within 1/8 mile radius: None
Reports within project area: S-36323; S-47006
Reports within 1/8 mile radius: S-4893; S-23631; S-25174 Resource Database Printout (list): ☐ enclosed ☒ not requested ☐ nothing listed Resource Database Printout (details): ☐ enclosed ☐ not requested ☒ nothing listed Resource Digital Database Records: ☐ enclosed ☒ not requested ☐ nothing listed Report Database Printout (list): ☐ enclosed ☒ not requested ☐ nothing listed Report Database Printout (details): ☒ enclosed ☐ not requested ☐ nothing listed Report Digital Database Records: ☐ enclosed ☒ not requested ☐ nothing listed Resource Record Copies: ☐ enclosed ☐ not requested ☒ nothing listed Report Copies: ☒ enclosed ☐ not requested ☐ nothing listed OHP Built Environment Resources Directory: ☒ enclosed ☐ not requested ☐ nothing listed Archaeological Determinations of Eligibility: ☐ enclosed ☐ not requested ☒ nothing listed CA Inventory of Historic Resources (1976): ☐ enclosed ☐ not requested ☒ nothing listed Caltrans Bridge Survey: ☐ enclosed ☒ not requested ☐ nothing listed Ethnographic Information: ☐ enclosed ☒ not requested ☐ nothing listed Historical Literature: ☐ enclosed ☒ not requested ☐ nothing listed Historical Maps: ☒ enclosed ☐ not requested ☐ nothing listed Local Inventories: ☐ enclosed ☐ not requested ☒ nothing listed GLO and/or Rancho Plat Maps: ☒ enclosed ☐ not requested ☐ nothing listed Shipwreck Inventory: ☐ enclosed ☒ not requested ☐ nothing listed 617
DRAFT
Please forward a copy of any resulting reports from this project to the office as soon as possible. Due to the sensitive nature of archaeological site location data, we ask that you do not include resource location maps and resource location descriptions in your report if the report is for public distribution.

If you have any questions regarding the results presented herein, please contact the office at the phone number listed above.

The provision of CHRIS Data via this records search response does not in any way constitute public disclosure of records otherwise exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act or any other law, including, but not limited to, records related to archeological site information maintained by or on behalf of, or in the possession of, the State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation, State Historic Preservation Officer, Office of Historic Preservation, or the State Historical Resources Commission.

Due to processing delays and other factors, not all of the historical resource reports and resource records that have been submitted to the Office of Historic Preservation are available via this records search. Additional information may be available through the federal, state, and local agencies that produced or paid for historical resource management work in the search area. Additionally, Native American tribes have historical resource information not in the CHRIS Inventory, and you should contact the California Native American Heritage Commission for information on local/regional tribal contacts.

Should you require any additional information for the above referenced project, reference the record search number listed above when making inquiries. Requests made after initial invoicing will result in the preparation of a separate invoice.

Thank you for using the California Historical Resources Information System (CHRIS).

Sincerely,
Justin Murazzo
Researcher
618
DRAFT
Santa Clara
S-025174
[approx loc]
S-047006
S-047006
S-047006 MOUNTAIN
VIEW 7.5'
S-023631 S-004893
S-036323
Northwest Information Center
File #20-2592 23 June 2021 J. Murazzo
May depict confidential cultural resource locations.

Do not distribute.
0 220 440 660 880 ­ Feet
0 40 80 120 160 200
Meters
Resource/Report Map
W El Camino Real Historic Eval
Project_Location
eighth_mile_buffer
Restricted reports
!. Reports (points)
Reports (lines)
Reports (polygons)
Reports approx loc
Reports (CFMOU)
Quad outlines
County outlines
619
DRAFT
Report Detail: S-004893
20-2592 :: W El Camino Real Historic Eval
Citation information
Year: 1978 (Jul)
Title: Cultural Resources Survey, 04-SCl-82, PM 18.8/21.6, 04220-151121, Widening from Route 85 to Showers Drive in the Cities of Los Altos and Mountain View, Santa Clara County Affliliation: Caltrans District 04
No. pages:

Database record metadata
Entered: 4/7/2005 nwic-main
Last modified: 4/26/2018 hagell
IC actions:

Associated resources
General notes
Date User
Address:

Collections: No
Disclosure: Not for publication
Location information
Author(s):

Attributes: Archaeological, Field study
County(ies): Santa Clara
USGS quad(s): Mountain View
Inventory size: c 2.8 li mi
No. maps:

Identifiers
Report No.: S-004893
Other IDs:

Cross-refs:

Has informals: No
No. resources: 0
PLSS:

Date User Action taken
4/7/2005 jay Appended records from NWICmain bibliographic database. 8/21/2017 moored added additional citation 'a'; no author submitted to original report Address City Assessor's parcel no. Zip code
Route 82 Mountain View
Route 82 Los Altos
Year: 1978 (Mar)
Title: Archaeological Survey 04-SCl-82, Proposed Widening of El Camino Real, Route 82, P.M. 18.8/21.6, 04220-151121 Affiliation: Caltrans District 04
No. pages:

Inventory size:

Collections: No
Disclosure: Not for publication
Author(s): Cindy Desgrandchamp
Report type(s): Archaeological, Field study
Sub-desig.: a
PDF Pages: 24-32
Type Name
Voided E-78 SCL
Voided E-390 SCL
Voided S-4512
Caltrans 04220-151121

620
DRAFT
Report Detail: S-004893
20-2592 :: W El Camino Real Historic Eval
Record status: Verified

621
DRAFT
Report Detail: S-023631
20-2592 :: W El Camino Real Historic Eval
Citation information
Year: 2000 (Nov)
Title: Cultural Resource Overview for the AT&T San Jose Build, Cities of Redwood City and San Jose, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties
Affliliation: Peak & Associates, Inc.

No. pages:

Database record metadata
Entered: 4/7/2005 nwic-main
Last modified: 8/31/2020 neala
IC actions:

Associated resources
General notes
P-43-000050 (CA-SCL-30/H), P-43-000369 (CA-SCL-363/H), and P-43-000468 (CA-SCL-467H) are adjacent to the project area. There was no evidence of the resources within the existing roadways.

Date User
Address:

Collections: No
Disclosure: Not for publication
Record status: Verified
Location information
Author(s): Melinda Peak and Ann Peak
Attributes: Archaeological, Field study
County(ies): San Mateo, Santa Clara
USGS quad(s): Cupertino, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose West Inventory size:

No. maps:

Identifiers
Report No.: S-023631
Other IDs:

Cross-refs:

Has informals: No
No. resources: 3
PLSS:

Date User Action taken
4/7/2005 jay Appended records from NWICmain bibliographic database.

Primary No. Trinomial Name
P-43-000050 CA-SCL-000030/H The Third Location of Mission Sa P-43-000369 CA-SCL-000363H Block B - San Jose Redevelopm P-43-000468 CA-SCL-000467H Santa Clara Campaign Treaty Sit Type Name
Submitter Job #00-054

622
DRAFT
Report Detail: S-025174
20-2592 :: W El Camino Real Historic Eval
Citation information
Year: 2002 (May)
Title: Cultural Resources Report for San Bruno to Mountain View Internodal Level 3 Fiber Optics Project in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, California
Affliliation: Pacific Legacy, Inc.

No. pages:

Database record metadata
Entered: 4/7/2005 nwic-main
Last modified: 7/29/2016 hagell
IC actions:

Associated resources
General notes
Possible historic resources are within the study area. The location of C-433 (an undefined cultural resource) was checked. There was no evidence of cultural resources at that location.

Date User
Address:

Collections: No
Disclosure: Not for publication
Record status: Verified
Location information
Author(s): John Holson, Cordelia Sutch, and Stephanie Pau Attributes: Archaeological, Field study, Monitoring
County(ies): San Mateo, Santa Clara
USGS quad(s): Montara Mtn, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Francisco South, San Mateo, Woodside Inventory size: c 24 li mi
No. maps:

Identifiers
Report No.: S-025174
Other IDs:

Cross-refs:

Has informals: Yes
No. resources: 1
PLSS:

Date User Action taken
4/7/2005 jay Appended records from NWICmain bibliographic database. 11/16/2015 hagell edited database
1/22/2016 simsa Updated GIS: removed report poly shape; moved line features to approx location layer
Primary No. Trinomial Name
P-41-000302 CA-SMA-000300 Albemarle Way

623
DRAFT
Report Detail: S-036323
20-2592 :: W El Camino Real Historic Eval
Citation information
Year: 2009 (Apr)
Title: Cultural Resources Investigation for Clearwire Project CA-SJC0059A "GHO Executive Suites", 800 West El Camino Real, Mountain View, Santa Clara County, California, 94040 (letter report) Affliliation: Archaeological Resources Technology
No. pages:

Database record metadata
Entered: 1/15/2010 hagell
Last modified: 7/15/2013 HagelL
IC actions:

Associated resources
General notes
Date User
Address:

Collections:

Disclosure: Not for publication
Record status:

Location information
Author(s): Carolyn Losee
Attributes: Literature search
County(ies): Santa Clara
USGS quad(s): Mountain View
Inventory size: c. 0.25 ac
No. maps:

Identifiers
Report No.: S-036323
Other IDs:

Cross-refs:

Has informals: No
No. resources: 0
PLSS:

Address City Assessor's parcel no. Zip code
800 West El Camino Real Mountain View 158-07-015

624
DRAFT
Report Detail: S-047006
20-2592 :: W El Camino Real Historic Eval
Citation information
Year: 2015 (Nov)
Title: Historic Property Survey Report, 04-SCL, CML-5124 (032), Castro Street from El Camino Real to Miramonte Avenue, Mountain View, Santa Clara County, California
Affliliation: Bayshore Archaeology
No. pages:

Database record metadata
Entered: 1/5/2016 paganob
Last modified: 5/11/2016 grahams
IC actions:

Associated resources
General notes
Date User
Address:

Collections: No
Disclosure: Not for publication
Record status: Verified
Location information
Author(s): Michelle Touton Staley
Attributes: Architectural/historical, Field study
County(ies): Santa Clara
USGS quad(s): Mountain View
Inventory size:

No. maps:

Identifiers
Report No.: S-047006
Other IDs:

Cross-refs:

Has informals: No
No. resources: 1
PLSS:

Date User Action taken
5/10/2016 cabrala replaced pages 1-4 per Karen (Carrie) Reichardt at Caltrans Primary No. Trinomial Name
P-43-003180 711 Church Street
Address City Assessor's parcel no. Zip code
Castro Street Mountain View
Year: 2015 (Nov)
Title: Archaeological Survey Report for the Castro Street Complete Street Project 14-36 Mountain View, Santa Clara County, California, 04-SCL, CML-5124 (032)
Affiliation: Bayshore Archaeology
No. pages:

Inventory size:

Collections: No
Disclosure: Not for publication
Author(s): Michelle Touton Staley
Report type(s): Archaeological, Field study
Sub-desig.: a
PDF Pages: 11-48
Type Name
Caltrans CML-5124 (032)

625
DRAFT

Appendix B
DPR Forms
626
DRAFT
627
DRAFT

P1. Other Identifier: Chase Bank
DPR 523A (9/2013) *Required information
State of California  The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
PRIMARY RECORD Trinomial
NRHP Status Code 6Z
Other Listings
Review Code Reviewer Date
*P2. Location: Not for Publication  Unrestricted
*a. County Santa Clara and (P2c, P2e, and P2b or P2d. Attach a Location Map as necessary.) *b. USGS 7.5' Quad Mountain View Date T 06S ; R 02W ; of of Sec 28 ; B.M. c. Address 749 W El Camino Real City Mountain View Zip 94040 d. UTM: Zone 10S , 581114.55 m E mE/ 4137991.06 mN
e. Other Locational Data: APN 193-02-049
*P3a. Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries) The subject property is located on the southeast corner of El Camino Real and Castro Street, rotated 45 degrees so the primary entrance faces the corner. A landscaped plaza sets the building back from the street. The two-story building has a rectangular plan measuring approximately 130 feet east-west and 70 feet north-south. It is clad in beige brick with a stack bond pattern. The roof is flat with three rows of corbelling at the roofline. Owl statues are located along the northern roofline, at the center and each corner. The primary entrance is located on the northern façade, centered in the middle of five arched bays (Photo 1). The arches are also corbelled, and the bays are filled with display glass. The southern façade also has five bays, while the eastern and western facades each have two; an ATM is located between the two bays on the eastern façade (Photo 2). See Continuation Sheet, page 4. *P3b. Resource Attributes: HP6. Commercial Building, 3 stories and under *P4. Resources Present: 
Building Structure Object Site
District Element of District
Other (Isolates, etc.)
P5b. Description of Photo: (view,
date, accession #) View facing south,
6/22/2021
*P6. Date Constructed/Age and
Source: 1977/County records
 Historic Prehistoric Both
*P7. Owner and Address:

JP Morgan Chase
unknown

*P8. Recorded by:

Alta Cunningham
Ascent Environmental
Sacramento, CA 95814
*P9. Date Recorded: June 22, 2021
*P10. Survey Type: Intensive
*P11. Report Citation: Ascent Environmental. 2021. Historic Resource Evaluation Report for El Camino Real Properties, Mountain View. Prepared for GS Mountain View III, LLC. *Attachments: NONE Location Map Continuation Sheet Building, Structure, and Object Record Archaeological Record District Record Linear Feature Record Milling Station Record Rock Art Record Artifact Record Photograph Record Other (List):
628
DRAFT
*Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Bank Building *NRHP Status Code 6Z

DPR 523B (9/2013) *Required information
State of California  The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#

BUILDING, STRUCTURE, AND OBJECT RECORD
(This space reserved for official comments.)
B1. Historic Name: Home Savings & Loan Association
B2. Common Name: Chase
B3. Original Use: banking B4. Present Use: same
*B5. Architectural Style: vernacular with “jewel box” influences *B6. Construction History: Constructed 1977. The ATM was installed at a later date, likely the mid 1980s. *B7. Moved? No Yes Unknown Date: Original Location:
*B8. Related Features: N/A
B9a. Architect: Millard Sheets Designs, Inc. b. Builder: unknown *B10. Significance: Theme N/A Area N/A
Period of Significance N/A Property Type N/A Applicable Criteria N/A This building does not appear to meet the criteria for the California Register of Historical Resources (CRHR), the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), or the Mountain View Register.

Historic Context
The following section describes the partnership between Home Savings & Loan Association and Millard Sheets Designs, Inc., in creating more than 40 branch banks/office buildings between 1954 and 1975 in California. It provides brief biographies of Home Savings & Loan Association chairman, Howard F. Ahmanson, and artist, architectural designer, and educator, Millard Sheets.

Millard Sheets Designs, Inc. and the Home Savings & Loan Association Banks Millard O. Sheets (1907-1989) was a prominent California artist, an architectural designer, and an educator. He developed a style of watercolor painting that helped give rise to a California regional school of art based on representations of local geography, history and culture (Chattel 2011:6). This same concept formed the baseline for most of his architectural design endeavors as well.

B11. Additional Resource Attributes: (List attributes and codes) *B12. References: See Continuation Sheet, page 11.

B13. Remarks:
*B14. Evaluator: Alta Cunningham, MA; Emilie Zelazo, MA *Date of Evaluation: July 1, 2021
629
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

LOCATION MAP
Page __3___ of __13___ Resource Name or # __Bank Building________________________________ *Map Name: __ ESRI *Scale: *Date of map: __2015___________ 630
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Bank Building__________________________________________________________________ Page __4___ of __13___
P3a. Description (continued)
Three soldier courses lay between the bays and the roofline and wrap around the building. A large mosaic is centered over the primary entrance, between the top and bottom soldier course. It features five panels that appear to depict the evolution of Mountain View (Photo 3). The entry plaza features a centralized brick planter box comprised of a stack bond pattern, topped with a soldier course. The planter box contains a metal sculpture of seagulls in flight (Photo 4). Brick benches are located on the east and west sides of the planter box, with areas of grass beyond the benches. Closer to the building entrance, more brick planter boxes of the same design line the northern façade.

B10. Significance (continued)
After training at the Chouinard School of Art in Los Angeles, Sheets travelled across South America and Europe, experimenting with the use of watercolor in landscapes. After returning to southern California, he focused on local landscapes in his work. During the Great Depression, he began to paint scenes of working-class neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Two well-known examples of Sheets’ work from this period are Tenement Flats (1934) at the Smithsonian Institution and Angel’s Flight (1931) at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Chattel 2011:7). In 1955, Sheets accepted a position as director of the Los Angeles County Art Institute and reinvented the school as the Otis Art Institute (now Otis College of Art and Design). He also organized and chaired art departments at Scripps College.

Combining art, education, and entrepreneurship, Sheets is considered one of California’s most influential artists of the 20th century. Sheet’s philosophy was that art should be incorporated into every aspect of daily living (Wuellner and Kainer 2014).

In 1953, Howard Ahmanson (1906-1968) hired Sheets to design his insurance office building on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Ahmanson was the founder and chairman of Home Savings & Loan Association and its parent company, National American Insurance Company. Built on the rapid real estate development and growth of the middle that dominated California after World War II, Ahmanson was able to turn both Home Savings & Loan Association and H.F.

Ahmanson Co., into a financial institution with over $2.5 billion in assets by the end of the 1960s (Chattel 2011:6).

Ahmanson was also one of the wealthiest business executives in the United States with personal assets estimated between $200 and $300 million. Ahmanson and his wife, Caroline, were involved in multiple philanthropic causes, particularly the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Performing Arts Council of Los Angeles County, where one of the Music Center’s theatres is named after them (Challet 2011:6).

For the design of his buildings, Ahmanson gave Sheets complete freedom. This included design of the facades and the interiors. The quintessential example of the studio’s integration of art, particularly mosaics, sculpture, stained glass, tapestry and sometimes furnishings, and commercial space is embodied in one of the firms first commissions from Ahmanson, the Home Savings & Loan Association at 9245 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills. 631
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Bank Building________________________________________________________________ Page __5__ of __13___
B10. Significance (continued)
Figure 1. Former Home Savings & Loan Association (1956), Beverly Hills. Photo by Adrian Scott Fine for L.A. Conservancy.

Figure 2. Former Home Savings & Loan Association (1956), Beverly Hills. Photo by Adrian Scott Fine for L.A. Conservancy. 632
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Bank Building_________________________________________________________________ Page __6__ of __13___
B10. Significance (continued)
By projecting an image of permanence based on family relationships and local history, a theme carried out in most of the Sheets Studio’s designs, the building not only was lovely, but it also became a marketing tool. As testament to this fact, when completed in 1954, the Beverly Hill’s branch collected $19 million in new accounts (Chattel 2011:9) The initial commissions from Ahmanson, also allowed Sheets to establish Millard Sheets Designs, Inc., in 1953. Based in Claremont, the design studio employed between 25 and 35 artists, artisans, and architects and became a collaborative training ground for many artists and artisans (Chattel 2011:7). Sheets’ longtime collaborators, Susan Hertel, Denis O’Connor, and S. David Underwood were responsible for much of the design work. Susan Hertel began working with Sheets in the late 1950s and became the company’s primary stained-glass artist. She served as president of the company after Sheets retired in 1977. Denis O’Connor became the leading creator of mosaics, and in 1963, he formed his own company, Denis O’Connor Mosaics. He continued to work with Sheets, executing mosaics for Home Savings & Loan Association branches based on Sheets’ and Hertel’s designs. Both O’Connor and Hertel worked on the Mountain View branch (Arenson 2018). As a registered architect, Underwood was responsible for implementing many of Sheets’ designs.

Millard Sheets Design, Inc. was responsible for the design of over 40 Home Savings & Loan Association buildings throughout California (Arenson 2018); at least 168 were designed and constructed throughout the United States. All of the bank designs were based on the Beverly Hills branch (see Figures 1 and 2): prominent location; solid, imposing materials to suggest permanence; and the integration of art, local history, and familial themes (Chattel 2011:9).

These elements balanced robust building forms and materials with delicate artistic details that projected an image of luxury and community. However, after Ahmanson’s death in 1968, Sheets decreased his role in the design of each individual branch. As a result, designs became more standardized, although based on the location’s unique history and character. Similarly, the Home Savings & Loan Association itself became more interested in economy and efficiency in construction of branches. Along with the banks, the Sheet’s studio created works for restaurants, churches, hotels, airports, libraries, stores, government agencies, schools, hospitals, Masonic Halls, and cemeteries (Kahn 2016). The studio was behind the design of the Pomona Mall, one of the first pedestrian malls in the United States and nationally recognized as a blueprint for urban revitalization (Lin 2017). Sheet’s work can be found all over California and the United States.

In Santa Clara County, the most prominent example of Sheet’s work is located at 1402 Lincoln Avenue in San Jose’s Willow Glen community. This former Home Savings & Loan Association building was constructed in 1972 and features four large mosaics on the exterior and two in the interior (see Figures 3 and 4). A sculpture depicting a mother and child is located along the southwest façade. The building is clad in square panels of travertine. A frieze of gold glazed tiles with a geometric pattern in relief wraps around the building at the roofline. The overall feeling of the artwork is that of a community at play. Both O’Connor and Hertel worked on this San Jose branch as well (Arenson 2018).

Other Home Savings & Loan Association buildings in the immediate area include the following branches: Cupertino (1976), Sunnyvale (1986), San Carlos (1987), and Fremont. Two other bank buildings in Redwood City, both constructed in 1957 have had their mosaics painted over. And a Home Savings & Loan Association building in Atherton, constructed in 1973, was demolished c. 2010. Additionally, a large mosaic by Millard Sheets, dated 1977, is located at the international terminal of Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (Arenson 2018). 633
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Bank Building_________________________________________________________________ Page __7__ of __13___
B10. Significance (continued)
Figure 3. Former Home Savings & Loan Association (1972), San Jose. Photo by Ascent Environmental.

Figure 4. Former Home Savings & Loan Association (1972), San Jose. Photo by Ascent Environmental. 634
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Bank Building_________________________________________________________________ Page __8__ of __13___
B10. Significance (continued)
Mid-Century Modern and Jewel Box Banks
Mid-Century Modern is a broad term used to describe a style that emerged in the decades following World War II (1945-1965). Influenced by the International Style and the Second Bay Tradition, Mid-Century Modern is a casual, organic, and expressive style that was applied to a wide variety of properties, including residences, churches, banks, institutional buildings, commercial and office buildings, and others. Mid-Century Modern emphasizes function over ornamentation, interplay between architecture and the environment, and the honest expression of structural design (Sacramento 2017:73). It incorporates an array of design elements including cantilevered overhangs, projecting eaves, canted windows, projecting boxes that frame the upper stories, stucco siding, the use of bright or contrasting colors, spandrel glass, large expanses of windows, flat or shed roof forms, stacked brick veneer, asymmetrical facades, and occasionally vertical wood siding. Individual styles under the Mid-Century Modern umbrella include Commercial Modern, Corporate Modern, New Formalism, and Brutalism (San Francisco 2011:189; Sacramento 2017:3-9).

Many of the Home Savings & Loan buildings in California, which were all designed by Millard Sheets or his studio, Millard Sheets Design, Inc., are described as embodying the New Formalism style subset (Arenson et al. 2012; LA Conservancy 2020). Signature characteristics of New Formalism, which dates roughly from the 1950s to 1970s, are rectilinear forms featuring slender arches, strict symmetry, flat roofs, vertical lines, and columnar supports (San Franciscso 2011:134; McCalester 2013:662). The overall idea behind New Formalism was balance and proportion based on a classical concept or scheme.

Although some aspects of New Formalism could be said to be present in the building located at 749 W. El Camino Real, which has a rectilinear form with a flat roof, decorative vertical lines, and overall symmetry, the design of this bank is actually more similar to several small farming banks in the Midwest created by Louis H. Sullivan in the early 20th century. Louis H. Sullivan was one of the most influential architects in America at the turn of the 20th century.

Known primarily for his Chicago skyscrapers, Sullivan and his partner Dankmar Alder also took on smaller projects.

Sullivan’s designs marked a new progression in architectural ornamentation. Rather than using traditional classical columns, decorative capitals, and pediments, Sullivan recognized the inherent beauty in natural and organic forms and brought them to life in his schemes.

Termed “jewel box” banks, Sullivan’s box-shaped bank buildings were all constructed between 1902 and 1920 and located in rural towns of states such as Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin (NPS 2018). The banks were largely austere rectangular or square brick buildings that contained brilliant Tiffany-like stained glass windows and richly ornamented interiors. In the lunettes, generic bucolic murals were also often painted of subjects such as cattle in the field or clouds over the prairie. Exterior decorations were minimal, with few well-placed fanciful terracotta reliefs, friezes, and tiled or stained glass filled arches (see Figures 5 and 6).

These “jewel box” bank properties represent the pinnacle of Sullivan’s late career from 1906-1919 and all six of the remaining ones were designated National Historic Landmarks for their significance in transforming Midwestern architecture in the early 20th century (NPS 2018).
635
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Bank Building_________________________________________________________________ Page __9__ of __13___
B10. Significance (continued)
Figure 5. National Farmers' Bank in Owatonna, Minnesota. Constructed in 1908. (NPS 2018) Figure 6. Peoples' Savings and Loan Association in Sidney, Ohio. Constructed 1917. (Rudge 2021) 636
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Bank Building_________________________________________________________________ Page __10__ of __13___
B10. Significance (continued)
Application of Significance Criteria
As this building has not yet achieved 50 years of age, in addition to evaluation using the NRHP and CRHR significance criteria, it was subject to NRHP Criteria Consideration G and CRHR Special Consideration for properties less than 50 years of age which state that exceptional importance must be demonstrated.

To be considered eligible for listing in the NRHP/CRHR under Criterion A/1, a building must be associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our nation’s, California’s, or local history.

As a local branch of the Home Savings & Loan Association, the subject property does not have a direct, important association with events or historic trends. The building was constructed during a period when many of Millard Sheets Designs, Inc. were being constructed in the Bay Area. Therefore, the Bank Building does not appear to be significant under NRHP/CRHR Criterion A/1, or Mountain View Register Criterion 2.

To be considered eligible for listing in the NRHP/CRHR under Criterion B/2, the Bank Building must be associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. The building was designed by Millard Sheets Designs, Inc., but it is unknown if it was designed by Millard Sheets himself. By 1970, Sheets was acting as executive artist and architectural designer, providing initial concept sketches, and allowing his collaborators at Millard Sheets Designs, Inc., to execute the designs. While Howard F. Ahmanson was central to the development and evolution of the Home Savings & Loan Association, the subject property was constructed after his death. Additionally, while both O’Connor and Hertel worked on the subject property, this building is not the best representation of their work. In Santa Clara County alone, the San Jose branch building is a better example. Historical research did not reveal any other individuals that have direct important association with the building. Therefore, the Bank Building does not appear to meet NRHP/CRHR Criterion B/2, or Mountain View Register Criterion 1.

Under NRHP/CRHR Criterion C/3, a building must embody distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of, installation or represent the work of a master, or possess high artistic values. The collaboration between Ahmanson and Sheets resulted in a distinctive architectural style that served to represent the Home Savings brand to consumers.

However, after Ahmanson’s death in 1968, Sheets became less involved in the details of individual branch design and the repetition of design became increasingly rigid, based on increasingly formulaic designs that emphasized economy and efficiency over distinctive architecture and art. The subject property does not contain many of the character defining features of Ahmanson’s and Sheet’s work, such as panels of travertine or gold glazed tiles with geometric patterns in relief. Additionally, the building does not strongly represent the New Formalism style ascribed to most of the Home Savings & Loan Association buildings, nor does it embody the majority of the characteristics of the “jewel box” bank style. Therefore, the Bank Building does not appear to possess sufficient design or construction value to warrant inclusion in the NRHP/CRHR under Criterion C/3, or Mountain View Register Criterion 3.

Criterion D/4 (and Mountain View Register Criterion 4) generally applies to archaeological resources or other resources that through study of construction details can provide information that cannot be obtained in other ways.

Construction details about the Bank Building have been documented. The structure does not appear to be significant under this criterion because it is not likely to yield any additional important information about our history.

Integrity Consideration
For a property to retain and convey historic integrity it must possess most of the seven aspects of integrity: location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. Location is the place where the historic property was constructed or the place where a historic event occurred. Integrity of location refers to whether the property has been moved since its construction. Design is the combination of elements that create the form, plan, space, structure, and style of a property. Setting is the physical environment of a historic property that illustrates the 637
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Bank Building_________________________________________________________ Page __11___ of __13___
B10. Significance (continued)
character of the place. Materials are the physical elements that were combined or deposited during a particular period of time and in a particular pattern or configuration to form a historic property. Workmanship is the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture or people during any given period in history or prehistory. Feeling is a property’s expression of the aesthetic or historic sense of a particular period of time. This is an intangible quality evoked by physical features that reflect a sense of a past time and place. Association is the direct link between the important historic event or person and a historic property. Continuation of historic use and occupation help maintain integrity of association.

The only known alteration to the Bank Building is the installation of the ATM on the eastern façade, therefore it maintains integrity of design, materials, and workmanship. The building maintainsintegrity for location, setting, and feeling as it has not been moved since construction, and maintains integrity of association as its use as a bank has continued.

B12. References (continued)
Arenson, Adam, Jason Foo, Laurene Harding Rivas, Regina O’Brien, and Cheryll Dudley Roberts. 2012. Millard Sheets, A Legacy of Art and Architecture. Available: laconservancy.org/sites/default/files/files/documents/millard_sheets_2012.pdf. Accessed June 21, 2021.

Arenson, Adam. 2018. Definitive List for Home Savings and Loan Artwork, Savings of America Artwork, and the Millard Sheets Studio.

Available: https://adamarenson.com/books/banking-on-beauty-millard-sheets-and-midcentury-commercial-architecture-incalifornia/definitive-list-for-home-savings-and-loan-artwork-savings-of-america-artwork-and-the-millard-sheets-studio-publicprojects-2-3/. Accessed June 21, 2021.

Kahn, Eve. 2016. The Artist that Beautified California Banks. Available: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/arts/design/the-artistwho-beautified-california-banks.html. Accessed June 24, 2021.

Ken Kutcher, Harding, Larmore, Kutcher & Kozal, LLP. 2011. Historic Resource Assessment 2600 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica, California. Prepared by Robert Jay Chattel, Chattel Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Inc. Available:
https://www.smgov.net/departments/PCD/agendas/LandmarksCommission/2013/20131209/Chattel_Report_Oct_2011.pdf.

Accessed June 21, 2021.

LA Conservancy. 2020. Millard Sheets, Architectural Designer. Available: https://www.laconservancy.org/architects/millard-sheetsarchitectural-designer. Accessed June 21, 2021.

Lin, Catherine. 2017. Envisioning Change Through Cultural Arts – The Pomona Story. Available:
https://www.apacalifornia.org/conference/2017/25SEP17_115PM_LU_ECO_CULT_STRATEGIES_EnvisioningChangeThroughCultur alArtsThePomonaStory_CLin.pdf?role=personal. Accessed June 28, 2021.

McAlester, Virginia Savage. 2013. A Field Guide to American Houses. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

National Park Service (NPS). 2018. Beyond Chicago: Louis H. Sullivan's Late Masterpieces. Originally published in "Exceptional Places" Vol. 4, 2009, a newsletter of the Division of Cultural Resources, Midwest Region. Written by Jessica Berglin. Available https://www.nps.gov/articles/beyond-chicago-louis-h-sullivan-s-late-masterpieces.htm. Accessed June 29, 2021.

Perry, Nicholas. 2012. Then & Now. Mountain View. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, South Carolina.

Perry, Nicholas. 2006. Images of America. Mountain View. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, South Carolina.

Rudge, Heather. 2021. Society of Architectural Historians, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP. “The Peoples Federal Savings and Loan Association”. Available: https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/OH-01-149-0063. Accessed July 1, 2021.

Sacramento. 2017. Mid-Century Modern in the City of Sacramento Historic Context Statement and Survey Results. Prepared by: GEI Consultants, Inc. and Mead & Hunt, Inc.

San Francisco. 2011. San Francisco Modern and Landscape Design 1935‐1970 Historic Context Statement. Prepared by: Mary Brown, Preservation Planner, San Francisco City and County Planning Department.

Wuellner, Margarita and Amanda Kainer. 2018 (September). Historical Resources Assessment Report and Impact Analysis for the Proposed 8150 Sunset Boulevard Mixed-Use Project. For AG-SCH 8150 Sunset Boulevard Owner, L.P. Prepared by PCR Services Corporation, Santa Monica, California. Available:
https://planning.lacity.org/eir/8150Sunset/deir/DEIR/Technical_Appendices/Appendix_C3- Historical%20Resources%20Assessment%20Report%20and%20Impacts%20Analysis.pdf. Accessed June 21, 2021. 638
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Bank Building_________________________________________________________ Page __12___ of __13___
Photo 1. Primary entrance, facing southeast. Photo taken 6/22/2021.

Photo 2. Eastern façade, facing west. Photo taken 6/22/2021. 639
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Bank Building__________________________________________________________ Page __13___ of __13___
Photo 3. Mosaic, located above primary entrance. Photo taken 6/22/2021.

Photo 4. Seagull sculpture located in entrance plaza. Facing north. Photo taken 6/22/2021. 640
DRAFT

P1. Other Identifier: Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler
DPR 523A (9/2013) *Required information
State of California  The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
PRIMARY RECORD Trinomial
NRHP Status Code 6Z
Other Listings
Review Code Reviewer Date
*P2. Location: Not for Publication  Unrestricted
*a. County Santa Clara and (P2c, P2e, and P2b or P2d. Attach a Location Map as necessary.) *b. USGS 7.5' Quad Mountain View Date T 06S ; R 02W ; of of Sec 28 ; B.M. c. Address 615 W El Camino Real City Mountain View Zip 94040 d. UTM: Zone 10S , 581223.40 m E mE/ 4137953.37 mN
e. Other Locational Data: APN 193-02-050
*P3a. Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries) The subject property is located on the southwest corner of El Camino Real and Lane Avenue. The front half of the building is constructed of wood, while the rear wing is constructed of concrete. The one-story building has a “T” shaped plan with a gabled portion centered on the primary façade; the side and rear wings have a flat roof. The roof of the rear wing is capped with a large cornice that projects slightly (Photo 1). Exposed rafter tails are located on the primary façade of the left and right wings. The primary façade is symmetrical, with a painted white brick chimney at the center; wood-framed fixed windows are located on either side of the external chimney. Two sets of fixed, vinyltrim windows are located to adjacent to the wood-frame windows. See Continuation Sheet, page 4. *P3b. Resource Attributes: HP6. Commercial Building, 3 stories and under *P4. Resources Present: 
Building Structure Object
Site District Element of District Other , etc.)
P5b. Description of Photo: (view,
date, accession #) View facing
southwest, 6/22/2021
*P6. Date Constructed/Age and
Source: c. 1945/County records
 Historic Prehistoric Both
*P7. Owner and Address:

Unknown

*P8. Recorded by:

Alta Cunningham
Ascent Environmental
Sacramento, CA 95814
*P9. Date Recorded: June 22, 2021
*P10. Survey Type: Intensive
*P11. Report Citation: Ascent Environmental. 2021. Historic Resource Evaluation Report for El Camino Real Properties, Mountain View. Prepared for GS Mountain View III, LLC. *Attachments: NONE Location Map Continuation Sheet Building, Structure, and Object Record Archaeological Record District Record Linear Feature Record Milling Station Record Rock Art Record Artifact Record Photograph Record Other (List):
641
DRAFT
*Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Restaurant Building *NRHP Status Code 6Z

DPR 523B (9/2013) *Required information
State of California  The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#

BUILDING, STRUCTURE, AND OBJECT RECORD
(This space reserved for official comments.)
B1. Historic Name: Clarke's Charcoal Broiler
B2. Common Name: Clarke's
B3. Original Use: restaurant B4. Present Use: vacant
*B5. Architectural Style: vernacular
*B6. Construction History: Possibly constructed 1945; definitely by 1956. A rear addition was constructed by 1960.

The left and right wings were constructed between 1982 and 1987. *B7. Moved? No Yes Unknown Date: Original Location:
*B8. Related Features:

B9a. Architect: unknown b. Builder: unknown
*B10. Significance: Theme N/A Area N/A
Period of Significance N/A Property Type N/A Applicable Criteria N/A This building does not appear to be eligible for the California Register of Historical Resources (CRHR), the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), or the Mountain View Register. In addition to not meeting any of the significance criteria, the building has also lost its integrity.

Historic Context
Development of Mountain View
Mountain View began as a stagecoach stop between the two growing centers of population—the port of San Francisco and the new State Capitol in San Jose. In 1850 the newly formed Santa Clara County government designated the route which approximated the path of El Camino Real as the official thoroughfare. Soon, a regular stage service was initiated on the county road and a stage stop erected on the north side of El Camino Real between Stevens Creek and what is now Grant Road. In 1852, Richard Carr opened the first store in the settlement on the southeast corner of Grant Road and El Camino Real. By the late 1800s, Mountain View had become an agricultural boomtown. The large land holdings of the earlier settlers had been divided many times over and were cultivated in grain and hay. By 1880, many farmers had turned their lands into profitable orchards and vineyards (City of Mountain View 2021).

B11. Additional Resource Attributes: (List attributes and codes) None
*B12. References: See Continuation Sheet, page 16.

B13. Remarks:
*B14. Evaluator: Alta Cunningham, MA
*Date of Evaluation: July 2, 2021
642
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

LOCATION MAP
Page __3___ of __19___ Resource Name or # __ Restaurant Building ____________________________________ *Map Name: __ ESRI *Scale: *Date of map: __2015___________ 643
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Restaurant Building _______________________________________________________________________ Page __4___ of __19___
P3a. Description (continued)
A planter box of painted white brick extends from the chimney almost the full length of the primary façade.

Additional brickwork is located under the wood-framed windows. All brickwork is running bond with a soldier course along the top edge (Photo 2). The two entrances are located at the rear of the left and right wings. Window openings adjacent to the entrances have been boarded up (see Photos 1 and 4).

Both the southeast and northwest facades have shed-roof additions. The one located on the northwest façade has a mural of a barbeque spit and a family enjoying their meal. The southeast façade also features a bump-outs for the restroom (see Photo 5). Wooden posts that have been painted blue are located along the southeast and northwest; the posts are connected by thick nautical rope.

Two small accessory buildings are located at the rear of the parking lot. The space between them is enclosed with a wooden fence, likely used for dumpster storage (Photo 6).

B10. Significance (continued)
At the outset of the 20th century, a continual increase in population brought social complexities that led to the creation of a formalized government. On November 7, 1902, the City of Mountain View was incorporated. At the time, its population was 611. By 1904, a few of the main streets were scraped and graveled, and concrete gutters and curbs were installed along two blocks of Castro Street, preparing the area for businesses and residents alike.

Throughout the 1920s, commercial and industrial growth continued to accelerate. Commercial development on Castro Street began a horizontal expansion in 1928, when the telephone company opened its office on Hope Street.

The Post Office, a radio and electronic shop, and other businesses followed as the business district spread (City of Mountain View 2021).

Commercial buildings constructed between 1900 and 1930 took substantial, block-like forms; poured concrete construction was typical, while masonry and stucco were still commonly used as exterior cladding. They often had flat roofs with stepped parapets or followed the conventions of traditional Western False Front buildings. The Great Depression caused building construction throughout the country to slow for much of the 1930s. Those buildings that were constructed were often small and simple in form and style, often continuing the bungalow trend in residential architecture and anticipating the more modern, clean line styles of the war years (City of Mountain View 2012:460- 461).

After the Naval Air Station at Moffett Field was constructed in 1932 and the high-technology electronics industry became part of the valley life, the area north of Central Expressway finally succumbed to urbanization. During the 1940s and 1950s, Mountain View also attracted such military and high technology facilities as the NASA Ames Research Center and the Lockheed Missile and Space Company. Industrial development was accompanied by a spurt of residential development, and large subdivisions, apartment complexes, commercial centers, were built throughout the community, replacing the former agrarian land use pattern (City of Mountain View 2021; 2012:460- 461).
644
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Restaurant Building _______________________________________________________________________ Page __5___ of __19___
B10. Significance (continued)
Although several subdivision tracts were laid out in the early 1940s, the majority of residential development did not occur until after World War II (WWII). WWII created a building materials shortage and kept construction to a minimum. Many small, inexpensive houses were built in the 1940s following the guidelines of the Federal Housing Authority, whose goal was to encourage affordable houses with modern features. The vast majority of houses in Mountain View date from the post-war years, when a building boom occurred. By the 1950s, Mountain View had transformed from a sleepy little farm town to a bustling city with a vibrant downtown. Castro Street was filled with restaurants, shops, and a movie theatre. El Camino Real became a bustling thoroughfare with business lining its wide expanse of roadway integral to helping residents travel between other towns and cities on the Peninsula (City of Mountain View 2021; 2012:460-461).

Much of Mountain View’s modern architecture is associated with regional commercial and technological developments. Many of these commercial developments included rectilinear buildings with flat roofs and wide overhangs that accentuated the dominant horizontal plane. Large parking lots associated with these commercial centers signaled the end of the pedestrian city organized around the downtown center. As the hi-tech sector grew in Santa Clara Valley, industrial parks were developed to house research, development, and personnel. The Stanford Industrial Park, which had opened in the previous decade, served as a model for the Mountain View Industrial Park.

By the 1980s, fifty industrial parks fashioned after the Stanford model had been developed. The North Bayshore area of Mountain View includes several examples of hi-tech developments, including those associated with Google (City of Mountain View 2012:460-461).

Evolution of El Camino Real
California’s El Camino Real owes its origins to Franciscan monk Father Junipero Serra, who departed Mexico in 1769 to extend Spanish influence and convert the native populations. Following the coastal ridgeline and the Pacific Ocean, the missionaries pushed steadily north. Upon the completion of a full day's journey, they would stop to establish a new mission, before heading north again. At that time, the road was little more than a dirt path, originating at the first mission in what is now San Diego and ending in Sonoma. Upon completion of this continuous chain of Spanish enclaves, the road connecting them was given the name El Camino Real, which translated into English means "the royal road" (City of San Mateo 2001).

As the West Coast became increasingly settled, El Camino developed into a valuable transportation route for the agriculturally rich state of California, moving both commodities and workers throughout the state. In 1906, the Federal government officially recognized the importance of El Camino Real by making it the second nationally named highway in the United States. The paving of El Camino Real in 1913 heralded the arrival of the automobile, which allowed businesses and homes to spread out, rather than concentrate in the downtown (City of San Mateo 2001; City of Sunnyvale 2011).

The majority of Peninsula settlements originated as agricultural and ranching communities, embracing a Spanish land management model. Therefore, a location along El Camino offered excellent access to the exchange of vital goods and supplies. The 1940’s brought a surge of developers buying land and arranging suburban developments throughout the Peninsula. What were once smaller residential settlements began to evolve into a true suburban community built on easy access into San Francisco by automobile via El Camino Real. Commercial development progressed along traffic routes into areas with available parking. The lots along El Camino began to be developed for uses that responded to the automobile – drive-through restaurants, gas and service stations and auto dealerships (City of San Mateo 2001).
645
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Restaurant Building _______________________________________________________________________ Page __6__ of __19___
B10. Significance (continued)
The most significant contemporary change in El Camino's context was the construction of the Bay Area's freeway system - first Highway 101 and then Highway 280. The laying of these freeways added more fuel to the explosive suburban housing market that the Bay Area was experiencing after WWII. Both routes served to relieve north-south travel congestion and spur development served best by the corridors. With the regional traffic demand primarily handled by freeway routes, this left El Camino to evolve once again. The road is used more significantly for in-city trips and local circulation. There is not the same demand for continuous strip retail. Shoppers seek a distinctive highquality experience, offering variety, interest. and easy access. Strong housing, office and technology growth is beginning to consider a presence along El Camino. (City of San Mateo 2001).

Development of Roadside Eateries
Family Restaurants
Prior to 1920, few roadside eateries existed for motorists, but as auto-touring became increasingly popular, tearooms were established to provide a family dining atmosphere. Typically located in a building of historic significance, the name "tearoom" suggested a safe, quiet place. The owners fostered the respectability of their establishments by creating a homey, nostalgic atmosphere and offering a menu of afternoon tea, cold drinks, and ice cream. After the 1920s, the tearoom began to disappear from the roadside (Rosin and Bowers 1992:11-12; University of Vermont 2021).

Figure 1. Tearoom. (Image courtesy of Chester H. Liebs as cited in University of Vermont 2021).

By 1930, the first family restaurants made their way to the roadside. The preeminent restaurant of this class was the Howard Johnson chain, started in 1929. Believing that the automobile would change the American landscape, Johnson established a chain of restaurants focused on his fast-food menu. During the Depression Johnson began franchising the Howard Johnson name and the company continued to expand into a roadside empire. Although Howard Johnson's restaurants had a number of unifying characteristics, such as an orange roof, no two were alike, and the styles of the Howard Johnson's restaurants reflected the changing architectural trends of the era. Soon, local versions of the family restaurant were ubiquitous along America’s highways. Following Howard Johnson’s formula, all offered a standard menu of easy to prepare foods peppered with local specialties (Rosin and Bowers 1992:11-12; University of Vermont 2021).
646
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Restaurant Building _______________________________________________________________________ Page __7__ of __19___
B10. Significance (continued)
Many early restaurant chains from the 1930s used architectural gimmicks, like the windmills, to lure motorists.

Colonial Revival architecture was also used quite heavily for roadside restaurants during the 1930s - the cupola being the most character-defining feature. By the 1950s, restaurants were abandoning traditional designs and embracing modernization. The Howard Johnson's restaurant seen below features a low, overhanging hipped roof, large windows, and a stylized, modern cupola (University of Vermont 2021).

Figure 2. Modern family restaurant. (Image courtesy of Chester H. Liebs as cited in University of Vermont 2021) Diners
Although typically associated with the Streamline Moderne style of the 1930s and 1940s, the diner originated in 1872 when a Providence, Rhode Island, entrepreneur opened a beanery on wheels. The idea of the urban chuckwagon quickly caught on, and these little food stands on wheels became quite familiar in the Northeast by 1900.

Proprietors continued to pull their wagons up and down the streets, but many also bought small plots of land and set up their wagons permanently. These earliest diners were located in cities near factory gates, serving quick, hot, home-cooked meals to factory workers. The same principle of fast, efficient food was applied to later roadside eateries. Diners, set up along roadsides, provided the same service to motorists that they offered to urban workers. (Rosin and Bowers 1992:11-12; University of Vermont 2021).

By the 1920s, the prefabricated dining-car industry boomed. Diner business increased significantly during Prohibition, and the restaurants began offering expanded menus, longer hours, and catering to a larger clientele.

The cheap food offered in the dinning-cars remained quite popular during the economic hardships of the Great Depression (University of Vermont 2021).
647
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Restaurant Building _______________________________________________________________________ Page __8__ of __19___
B10. Significance (continued)
Figure 3. Lunch cart. (Image courtesy of Chester H. Liebs as cited in University of Vermont 2021) The diner continued to prosper in the post-WWII years; at this time, the diner began to take on the aesthetics of a railroad car. Along the road they provided truck drivers, businessmen and other travelers with the hearty homecooked fare that was first served to urban factory workers. As the 1950s drew to a close, the diner began losing business to the fast food chains. As a result, the railroad motif was abandoned in favor of a more family-oriented atmosphere and traditional look. The new diners featured columns, mansard roofs, trellises, and stone cladding; in Los Angeles the space-age Googie style was popular from roughly 1945 to the early 1970s (University of Vermont 2021; Rosin and Bowers 1992:11-12).

Figure 4. Railroad car diner. (Image courtesy of Chester H. Liebs as cited in University of Vermont 2021) 648
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Restaurant Building _______________________________________________________________________ Page __9__ of __19___
B10. Significance (continued)
Building History
Bill Clarke established Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler in 1945. Prior to that, Clarke was a Navy service member at Moffet Field Naval Airfield and had survived a 1938 airship (the USS Macon, a massive zeppelin) crash in the Pacific Ocean.

After his time of service, Clarke retired and started Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler. He retained ownership until 1975, at which time Jim and Liz Blach bought the business. The Blach family opened a second location in Los Altos’ Rancho Shopping Center that operated from 1997 to 2004. In March 2020 the Black family closed the Mountain View location due to the effects of COVID-19 (Zavoral 2020; Kadvany 2020; Lighthouse Trail n.d.).

While the county tax records and news articles state that Bill Clarke opened Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler at this location in 1945, neither the historic photos from the Mountain View library nor online historical aerials confirm this. The 1948 aerial (Figure 5) shows a triangular shape as does the 1950 site photo (Figure 6). The 1956 online historical aerials show the original A-frame building, but the rear addition does not seem to be present; the rear addition is visible in the 1960 historical aerials (Figure 7). The left and right wings were constructed between 1982 and 1987 (Figures 10 and 11).

Figure 5. 1948 historical aerial. (NETRonline 2021)
649
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Restaurant Building _______________________________________________________________________ Page __10__ of __19___
B10. Significance (continued)
Figure 6. City of Mountain View 1950 historic photograph. (Mountain View Public Library 2021) 650
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Restaurant Building _______________________________________________________________________ Page __11__ of __19___
B10. Significance (continued)
Figure 7. 1960 historical aerial with rear addition at arrow. Note the lighter color of the roof. (NETRonline 2021) 651
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Restaurant Building _______________________________________________________________________ Page __12__ of __19___
B10. Significance (continued)
Figure 8. City of Mountain View 1964 historic photograph. (Mountain View Public Library 2021) 652
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Restaurant Building _______________________________________________________________________ Page __13__ of __19___
B10. Significance (continued)
Figure 9. Undated photographs of subject property. Roofline at left of bottom picture seems to have been partially removed. (Clarke’s Facebook page)
653
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Restaurant Building _______________________________________________________________________ Page __14__ of __19___
B10. Significance (continued)
Figure 10. 1982 historical aerial. (NETRonline 2021)
Figure 11. 1987 historical aerial. Left and right wings now visible. (NETRonline 2021) 654
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Restaurant Building _______________________________________________________________________ Page __15__ of __19___
B10. Significance (continued)
Application of Significance Criteria
To be considered eligible for listing in the NRHP/CRHR under Criterion A/1, a building must be associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our nation’s, California’s, or local history.

While news articles report that Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler was the “oldest restaurant in Mountain View,” this is not considered to be a contribution to history and does not rise to the level of significance necessary for inclusion in the NRHP/CRHR. Therefore, the Restaurant Building does not appear to be significant under NRHP/CRHR Criterion A/1, or Mountain View Register Criterion 2.

To be considered eligible for listing in the NRHP/CRHR under Criterion B/2, the Budget Rental Building must be associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. Bill Clarke opened Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler and operated the restaurant until 1975. However, Bill Clarke is not a significant person in Mountain View’s past. While it is possible that he may have important associations connected to his time in the Navy, that is not related to the subject property. Historical research did not reveal any other individuals that have direct important association with the building. Therefore, the Restaurant Building does not appear to meet NRHP/CRHR Criterion B/2, or Mountain View Register Criterion 1.

Under NRHP/CRHR Criterion C/3, a building must embody distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of, installation or represent the work of a master, or possess high artistic values. The building is designed in a vernacular commercial style that lacks distinguishing characteristics of a particular architectural style and which not does exhibit high artistic value. The building’s current form does not appear to reflect its original form which was built across a smaller footprint. The building is not the work of a master, it lacks architectural distinction, does not have artistic qualities, which for make it a significant example of their work. Therefore, the Restaurant Building does not appear to possess sufficient design or construction value to warrant inclusion in the NRHP/CRHR under Criterion C/3, or Mountain View Register Criterion 3.

Criterion D/4 (and Mountain View Register Criterion 4) generally applies to archaeological resources or other resources that through study of construction details can provide information that cannot be obtained in other ways.

The structure does not appear to be significant under this criterion because it is not likely to yield any additional important information about our history.

Integrity Consideration
For a property to retain and convey historic integrity it must possess most of the seven aspects of integrity: location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. Location is the place where the historic property was constructed or the place where a historic event occurred. Integrity of location refers to whether the property has been moved since its construction. Design is the combination of elements that create the form, plan, space, structure, and style of a property. Setting is the physical environment of a historic property that illustrates the character of the place. Materials are the physical elements that were combined or deposited during a particular period of time and in a particular pattern or configuration to form a historic property. Workmanship is the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture or people during any given period in history or prehistory. Feeling is a property’s expression of the aesthetic or historic sense of a particular period of time. This is an intangible quality evoked by physical features that reflect a sense of a past time and place. Association is the direct link between the important historic event or person and a historic property. Continuation of historic use and occupation help maintain integrity of association.
655
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Restaurant Building _______________________________________________________________________ Page __16__ of __19___
B10. Significance (continued)
While the Restaurant Building maintains integrity of location because it has not been moved, and integrity of setting because the large parking lot surrounding the building remains as does its proximity to El Camino Real, the building has lost integrity in the remaining aspects. The Restaurant Building has lost integrity of association as the building is no longer used as a restaurant and currently sits vacant. The building has also lost integrity of materials, design, workmanship, and feeling. The numerous additions and remodels have completely obscured the original A-frame building. The building has more than doubled in size, the majority of the roof is now flat, and it no longer presents as a small hamburger restaurant from the 1940s. Therefore, the Restaurant Building has lost its integrity.

B12. References (continued)
City of Mountain View. 2012 (September). City of Mountain View Draft 2030 General Plan and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program Final Environmental Impact Report. SCH No. 2011012069. Prepared by LSA Associates, Inc.

City of Mountain View. 2021. City History. Available: https://www.mountainview.gov/about/history.asp. Accessed July 2, 2021.

City of San Mateo. 2001 (September). El Camino Real Master Plan. Settings and Opportunities, Chapter 2: History.

Prepared by SMWM. Available: https://www.cityofsanmateo.org/1308/El-Camino-Real-Master-Plan.

City of Sunnyvale. 2011 (July). Sunnyvale General Plan. Updated April 2017.

Kadvany, Elena. 2020. Palo Alto Online. “A devastating impact: The coronavirus claims Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler, Mountain View’s oldest operating restaurant.” March 31, 2020. Available:
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/blogs/p/2020/03/31/a-devastating-impact-the-coronavirus-claims-clarkescharcoal-broiler-mountain-views-oldest-operating-restaurant.

Lighthouse Trail. n.d. Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler, Mountain View, California. Available:
https://lighthousetrail.com/clarkes-charcoal-broiler-mountain-view-california/. Accessed July 5, 2021.

McAlester, Virginia Savage. 2013. A Field Guide to American Houses. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Mountain View Public Library. 2021. The Mountain View History Center. Available:
https://archive.org/details/mountainviewlibrary.

NETRonline. 2021. Historic Aerials. Available: https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer. Accessed July 1, 2021.

Perry, Nicholas. 2012. Then & Now. Mountain View. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, South Carolina.

Perry, Nicholas. 2006. Images of America. Mountain View. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, South Carolina.

Rosin, Elizabeth and Martha H. Bowers. 1992. Historic Context for Evaluation of Commercial Roadside Architecture.

University of Vermont. 2021. Dating Historic Images. Roadside Architecture – Roadside Eateries. Available:
https://glcp.uvm.edu/landscape_new/dating/roadside_architecture/roadside_eateries.php. Accessed July 2, 2021.

Zavoral, Linda. 2020. The Mercury News. “Coronavirus: After 75 years, Clarke’s Charcoal Broiler closes for good in Mountain View.” April 3, 2020 Available: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/03/coronavirus-after-75- years-clarkes-charcoal-broiler-closes-for-good-in-mountain-view/ 656
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Restaurant Building _______________________________________________________________________ Page __17___ of __19___
Photo 1. Southeast façade; entrance at arrow. Original building portion at bracket. Photo taken 6/22/2021.

Photo 2. Primary façade showing original section of building. Facing west. Photo taken 6/22/2021. 657
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Restaurant Building _______________________________________________________________________ Page __18___ of __19___
Photo 3. Northwest façade. Wooden posts visible; restaurant sign missing. Photo taken 6/22/2021.

Photo 4. Northwest façade with mural. Entrance at arrow. Facing southeast. Photo taken 6/22/2021. 658
DRAFT
DPR 523L (Rev. 1/1995)(Word 9/2013)
State of California  Natural Resources Agency Primary# DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
Trinomial

CONTINUATION SHEET
Property Name: __ Restaurant Building _______________________________________________________________________ Page __19___ of __19___
Photo 5. Southeast façade. Bathroom bump out at arrow. Original building portion at bracket. Photo taken 6/22/2021.

Photo 6. Accessory buildings at rear of parking lot. View to the west. Photo taken 6/22/2021. 659
DRAFT
State of California ⎯ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
PRIMARY RECORD Trinomial
NRHP Status Code
Other Listings
Review Code Reviewer Date