City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: CONSENT CALENDAR
Lead Department: Community Services
Meeting Date: March 11, 2024
Report #:2312-2454
TITLE
Approval of Professional Services Contract Number C24190133 With Anne Rosenthal Fine Art Conservation Services in an Amount Not-to-Exceed $118,624 for preservation of frescoes by artist Victor Arnautoff created in 1932 at the Roth Building (the former Palo Alto Medical Clinic) at 300 Homer Avenue for a period of 18 months; CEQA status - categorically exempt.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council approve and authorize the City Manager or designee to execute Contract Number C24190133 (Attachment A) with Anne Rosenthal Fine Art Conservation to provide restoration of historic frescoes by artist Victor Arnautoff at the main entry to the Roth Building for a term of 18 months and a total amount not-to-exceed $118,624, including $98,853 for basic services and $19,771 for additional services.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Approval of the contract with Anne Rosenthal Fine Art Conservation Services I the amount of $118.624 will ensure the proper preservation and restoration of the historic frescoes by artist Victor Arnautoff at the main entry of the Roth Building. A facility purchased by the City in 2000 and recently leased for a 40-year term to the Palo Alto Museum, the preservation and restoration of this public art is an integral part of this historic facility. This work coincides with the rehabilitation of the full facility by the Palo Alto Museum which began the construction phase in 2023.
BACKGROUND
The Roth Building (formally Palo Alto Medical Clinic) at 300 Homer Avenue was designed by architect Birge Clark and built in 1932 in the Spanish Eclectic Style of concrete with a terra cotta roof and exterior murals adorning its main entrance/loggia area. In 2010 the building was listed
on the National Register of Historic Places 1 as a property of high architectural and artistic value.
It is also listed on the California Register of Historical Resources as a Category 2 Building (a building of major regional importance) on the City of Palo Alto Historic Inventory. The murals were painted using the fresco technique by artist Victor Arnautoff. The frescoes, titled Modern and Ancient Medicine, were commissioned by Dr. Russell Lee in 1931 and completed by the artist in 1932. The frescoes were Arnautoff’s first private commission in the United States upon his return from Mexico where he had worked with Diego Rivera painting frescoes at the Palace of Cortés in Cuernavaca 2, Mexico. The Roth Building frescoes consist of four vertical color panels, nine smaller black and white (grisaille) panels, and four sepia medallions illustrating the contrast between modern medicine and historic medical practices. The mural composition and subject matter emphasized the advancement of modern medicine and technology for the newly opened medical facility and depicted its focus on a broad range of medical care that was available at the Palo Alto Clinic, including pediatrics, internal medicine, surgery, and x-ray technology.
Preservation and protection of the frescoes to date
The City of Palo Alto purchased the historic Roth Building in 2000. In 2016, the City’s Public Art Commission formally accessioned3 a series of historic frescoes by artist Victor Arnautoff, enabling the Public Art Program staff to provide needed maintenance, protection and conservation of the artworks.
In 2017, the Public Art Program staff engaged Anne Rosenthal, a fine art conservator and the leading expert on Diego Rivera and Victor Arnautoff frescoes, to prepare a condition report and propose a conservation treatment of the frescoes. Initial evaluation of the murals determined the need for a further examination and in-depth analysis due to extensive deterioration of the fresco panels, many of which had been greatly altered by unknown restoration treatments and coatings. In 2019, the service provider conducted a series of further onsite examinations including off-site lab tests analyzing previous layers and materials used during prior restorations and confirmed extraordinary complications and unresolved questions surrounding previous restorations of the frescoes. Furthermore, without archival images of the original frescoes the intended appearance of the murals was speculative. Based on these findings, the conservator 1 Approval of the Nomination of the Category 2 Roth Building to the National Register of Historic Places and transmittal of a letter of support to the State Historical Resources Commission https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/files/assets/public/v/1/agendas-minutes-reports/reports/city-manager-reports- cmrs/year-archive/2010/205.pdf
2 Palace of Cortés in Cuernavaca, Mexico
http://www.xochitl.net/hum2461/slidelectures/cuernavaca/riveracuernmural.htm 3 Public Art Commission, July 15, 2015, Agenda Item #6
https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/files/assets/public/v/1/community-services/public-art-commission/september- 15_staff-report_item-x_acceptance-of-artwork-into-city-collection.ed.pdf recommended additional research into the archival images before submitting a conservation plan and precise budget.
Between 2019 – 2023, the Public Art Program staff conducted extensive research and was successful in obtaining archival photographs of the frescoes taken in the 1930s and later decades, as well as previously unknown information about past restorations performed in the 1950s, 1960s, and in 1980. These discoveries contributed to the greater understanding of the events that are pertinent to the mural history, and most importantly their original condition. Archival images of the original mural constituted a baseline of condition to which all other known images can be compared and will serve as the model for any reconstruction of losses that might be necessary in the future. This enabled the art conservator to provide a comprehensive study and restoration proposal with a detailed project budget which was submitted by Anne Rosenthal to the Public Art Program staff in 2023.
ANALYSIS
In December 2022, Council approved a 40-year lease and license agreement with the Palo Alto Museum (PAM)4 for the use of the Roth Building. The Tenant Work Letter was approved by City Council on April 17, 2023, setting forth the terms and conditions for the rehabilitation and capital improvements to the site, including project funding 5. Prior to the commencement of the demolition phase of the rehabilitation project, the Public Art staff worked with Atthowe Fine Art Services to design and install physical protective systems to safeguard the frescoes during construction.
To ensure the restoration of the frescoes would coincide with the rehabilitation of the building, Palo Alto Museum (PAM) in partnership with the City applied for a grant from Santa Clara County’s one-time Historic Grant Program for the protection and preservation of the Arnautoff frescoes6. Delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the funding agreement for the Historic Grant Program (HGP) was executed on January 27, 2022. The grant is a reimbursement-based matching award with a three-year term ending in January 2025.
Procurement Process
4City Council, December 12, 2022, Agenda Item #6, SR #15017 https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/files/assets/public/v/5/agendas-minutes-reports/agendas-minutes/city-council- agendas-minutes/2022/20221212/20221212pccsm-amended-linked.pdf 5 City Council, April 17, 2023, Agenda Item #13, SR #2303-1108 https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?meetingTemplateId=1115 6 City Council, June 15, 2020, Informational Report Regarding the Roth Building, SR #11287; https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/files/assets/public/v/1/agendas-minutes-reports/reports/city-manager-reports- cmrs/year-archive/2020/id-11287.pdf?t=66157.57
An exemption to competitive solicitation was approved pursuant to Palo Alto Municipal Code section 2.30.360(b)(3) “Special conditions attached to a grant that requires the use of particular services”. Fine art conservator Anne Rosenthal is listed in the County of Santa Clara Historic Grant Program Applications as the lead project conservator. Rosenthal is an accomplished leading expert on frescoes by Diego Rivera and Victor Arnautoff.
The contract recommended for approval includes two main phases, 1) Full restoration treatment of the upper register of the artwork comprised of four multi-color fresco panels, and a narrow grisaille panel above the main entry door. 2) Treatment Testing for the lower register of the Grisaille Panels and Medallions.
In addition, due to the construction environment, the service provider will be asked to review and consult staff and construction team on any construction documentation or any construction activities relevant to the welfare of the frescoes and will regularly evaluate vibration sensor reports.
As part of the scope of this contract, the service provider will provide a detailed set of recommendations for the full restoration of the lower grisaille panels and medallions will be provided by the art conservator separately once the scope of services for the current contract is fully completed. The Public Art Program staff plans to seek additional grant opportunities to fund the remainder of the project.
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
The awarded grant stipulated the following conditions as the funding sources for the fresco restoration project: the City of Palo Alto as the grant applicant to be awarded the requested amount of $105,150; and the Palo Alto Museum as the community partner to be responsible for providing a matching amount of $110,150. In 2022, the Public Art Program staff resumed its work with Anne Rosenthal who provided staff with the fresco restoration project proposal and budget of $118,624. Under the current proposal, the conservator will carry out a full restoration of the four large color frescoes, and complete in-depth cleaning and treatment examinations of the lower panels and medallions.
The City will fund the frescoes project out of the Roth Building CIP PF-23001. In accordance with the Historic Grant Program (HGP), all expenses up to $105,150 that are eligible for reimbursement will be reimbursed to the City prior to January 2025. Per the grant agreement, the remaining difference of $13,474 will be reimbursed to the City by the Palo Alto Museum.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Since the formal accession of the historic frescoes into the City’s permanent public art collection in 2016, the Public Art Program staff has been working closely with the Museum representatives to ensure the preservation of the artworks. Since 2023, prior to the beginning of the rehabilitation of the building, the Public Art Program staff has been meeting with the representatives of the museum and construction team on a weekly basis to track and discuss the building rehabilitation progress and address any frescoes protection needs.
TIMELINE
The on-site fresco restoration work is projected to take place over a period of up to three months in the summer – fall of 2024 by Anne Rosenthal as the lead art conservator and her team of conservation experts.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The Roth Building rehabilitation project is Categorically Exempt from CEQA review pursuant to CEQA guidelines section 15331, Historical Resource Restoration/Rehabilitation, as a project limited to maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation in accordance with the secretary of interior standards for historic preservation.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Anne Rosenthal Fine Art Conservation Services Contract C24190133 APPROVED BY:
Kristen O'Kane, Community Services Director