Cultural Heritage Board
Memorandum
Community & Economic Development Department Planning Division 3900 Main Street, Riverside, CA 92522 | Phone: (951) 826-5371 | RiversideCA.gov
DP-2025-00469
CULTURAL HERITAGE BO ARD MEETING DATE: JUNE 18 , 2025 AGENDA ITEM NO.: 3
PROPOSED PROJECT
RECOMMENDATIONS
Staff recommends that the Cultural Heritage Board recommend that the City Council:
1. DETERMINE that Planning Case DP-2025-00469 (Historic Designation ) for the designation of Riverside City Hall as a City Landmark is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Rule) and 15308 (Actions by Regulatory Agencies for Protection of the Environment), as the proposal will have no significant effect on the environment, identifies the structure as a cultural resource, and preserves the historic character of a cultural resource; and
2. APPROVE Planning Case DP-2025-00469 (Historic Designation), based on the facts of findings, and designate the Riverside City Hall as a City Landma Case
Numbers DP-2025-00469 (Historic Designation)
Request To consider a Historic Designation request for City Landmark designation of Riverside City Hall
Applicant
Jen Mermilliod of JMRC on
behalf of Council Member
Falcone
Project
Location
3900 Main Street, spanning
the Main Street alignment
between Nineth and Tenth
Streets
APN 215-372-013; 215-372-014
Ward 1
Neighborhood Downtown
Historic District Not Applicable
Historic
Designation Not Applicable
Staff Planner
Scott Watson, Historic Preservation Officer
951-826-5507
[email protected]
DP-2025-00469
BACKGROUND
Riverside City Hall
Riverside City Hall is located at 3900 Main Street (Exhibit 1). The Brutalist-New Formalist Style civic building was design by the local architectural firm of Ruhnau, Evans, and Steinmann, and was constructed between 1973 - 1975.
After World War II, Riverside’s population surged from about 47,000 in 1950 to over 140,000 by 1970, creating a need for updated civic facilities. In response, the city launched major projects like the Riverside Main Library (1964) and the Pedestrian Mall (1966), also designed by Ruhnau, Evans, and Steinmann.
The existing 1923 City Hall was too small, so a larger, more modern building was planned to meet both current needs and future growth. Located at the south end of the Pedestrian Mall, the new City Hall was designed to make a strong visual statement. Its style blended the bold, heavy forms of Brutalism with the symmetry and refined materials of New Formalism —featuring flat roofs, raised platforms, repeating arches, and public plazas to balance modern design with community appeal.
Brutalism
The 2009 Modernism Historic Context Statement discusses Brutalism as follows:
Brutalism was another architectural movement that developed during the 1950s in response to the International Style of architecture. International Style buildings often had a light and skeletal appearance created by the extensive use of steel structures wi th glass curtain walls. Brutalism was all about creating massive monolithic structures and stretching the limits of how concrete could be shaped.
More properly known as “New Brutalism” during its heyday, the name was derived from beton brut, the concrete casting technique used by Le Corbusier in the Unite d’Habitation, Marseille, France (1952). The English architects Peter and Alison Smithson were its key proponents to whom Brutalism was more of an ethic than an aesthetic. In post World War II England, the Smithsons sought to exploit the low cost of mass produced and pre -fabricated materials to create economical and sculptural buildings. Other figures in the movement included Erno Goldfinger, Louis Kahn, Kenzo Tange, and Paul Rudolph.
Character-defining Features of Brutalism
Blockish, geometric and repetitive shapes
Facades with sculptural qualities
Usually rough unadorned poured concrete construction
Prefabricated concrete panels with exposed joinery or exposed concrete as building finish
Windows as voids in otherwise solid volumes
Raised plazas and base articulation
Brick and stone sometimes used as the primary material in later examples New Formalism
The 2009 Modernism Historic Context Statement discusses New Formalism as follows:
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New Formalism was developed in the mid-1950s as a reaction to modernism’s total rejection of historical precedent. A maturing modernism grasped the many commonalities with classicism, such as emphases on structure and a uniform construction grid, a carefully organized hier archy, and clarity of geometric form.
Searching for symbolic meaning, modernist architects of the mid -1950s through the early 1970s embraced classical precedents in establishing building proportions, in the use of the arch, stylized classical columns and e ntablatures, and in use of the colonnade as a compositional device, as well as the elevated podium. Traditional rich materials such as travertine, marble, or granite were used, as were manmade materials that mimicked their luxurious qualities. However, they were used in a panelized way that was non-traditional. On a larger urban design scale, grand axes and symmetry were used to achieve a modern monumentality.
Primary in developing New Formalism were three architects: Edward Durrell Stone, Philip Johnson, a nd Minoru Yamasaki, all of whom had earlier achieved prominence working within the International Style and other modernist idioms.
Stone’s well-published American Embassy in New Delhi (1954) is considered by many to mark the origin of the movement.
In Southern California the style was applied mainly to auditoriums, museums, and educational facilities. In these campus settings, buildings were often arranged symmetrically along grand axes and landscape features to achieve a modern monumentality. Edward Stone produced his first Southern California design in the mode of New Formalism in 1958. His local masterpiece, the Stuart Pharmaceutical Company Plant and Office Building in Pasadena is listed on the National Register.
There are very few examples of New Form alism in Riverside. The Main Branch of the Riverside Public Library (1963 -65) reflects many of the characteristics of the style with its symmetrical plan, wide overhanging flat roof, and sculptural screens.
Character-defining Features of New Formalism
Symmetrical plans
Flat rooflines with heavy overhanging entablatures
Full height colonnades and elevated podiums used as compositional devices
Repeating arches and rounded openings
Large screens of perforated cast stone or concrete or metal grilles Lacey concrete block privacy walls
Buildings set behind plazas
Herman Ruhnau
Herman Ruhnau is identified as one of the prominent local modernist architects in Riverside, alongside Clinton Marr and Bolton Moise. The Modernism Context discusses him as follows:
Herman Ruhnau was born September 1, 1912 in Santa Barbara. His family moved to Pasadena and then to Riverside in 1929. He studied architecture at the University of Southern California. He was an architect for the U.S. Navy during the World War II and helpe d design the U.S. Naval Hospital in Norco. In 1946, he opened a Riverside branch office for Heitschmidt and Matcham, a Los Angeles -
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based architecture firm. In 1950, Ruhnau founded his own firm. Much of his work was in Riverside. He designed homes, banks, a nd government facilities. Ruhnau designed a Colonial Revival mansion for Tiny Naylor in Rubidoux, which is now used as the headquarters of the Riverside County Parks Department. In 1975, he completed two high -profile commissions in Riverside, the Riverside City Hall and the Riverside County Administration Center.
Ruhnau’s architectural firm was officially incorporated in 1952 and went through several changes in partnership over the years. By 1965, the team was known as Ruhnau, Evans, and Steinmann—Evans having joined around 1950 and Steinmann by 1956. This trio , as previously stated, was responsible for designing the Riverside Pedestrian Mall on Main Street, opening in 1966 . That same year they were awarded the contract to design Riverside City Hall, which was one of their major local projects along with the Riverside County Administration Center.
ANALYSIS
The applicant is requesting approval of a Historic Designation to designate Riverside City Hall a City Landmark.
Riverside City Hall was found eligible for City Landmark designation and listing in the California Register of Historical Resources as part of the 2013 Modernism Survey (Modernism II). Jen Mermilliod of JMRC, a Cultural Resources Consultant meeting the Secretary of the Interior Professional Qu alification, prepared this Landmark designation application on behalf of Council Member Falcone which includes an updated California Department of Parks and Recreation Form (DPR From) 523L (Exhibit 3) and construction photos.
Architectural Description
Riverside City Hall (1975) is a seven -story civic building with a basement level and semi - subterranean parking, situated between 9th and 10th Streets on the north and south (respectively) and two alley ways on the east and west. The building straddles Main Street at the southern end of the Riverside Pedestrian Mall. The site includes the main building, a detached City Council Chambers, a two -level parking structure to the east, and landscaped plazas to the north and south.
The building is set back from the street and surrounded by paved plazas, mature landscaping, and surface parking. The rectangular-plan structure is steel post-and-beam construction and topped with a flat roof featuring an inset rooftop helipad. The exterior features a double curtain wall s ystem: an inner glazed curtain wall and an outer wall veneered in Norman brick laid in running bond. The outer wall is punctuated by stacked rows of low, segmental arched openings, which form covered balconies around the upper floors.
A distinctive feature is the cantilevered concrete beams supporting the second -story arches, each decorated with a stylized imprint of the City’s Raincross logo. The ground and second floor areas as open underneath forming a large, covered breezeway, connecting the north and south plazas. The primary entrance to City Hall is located in the breezeway and accessed by a wide flight of concrete steps with steel angle and cable
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railings. The entry consists of automatic sliding glass doors in an aluminum frame. A three- story, flat-roofed projection is asymmetrically located on the north (9th Street) façade.
To the south, the freestanding City Council Chambers building is situated on an elevated plaza. Rectangular in plan, it is topped with a steeply pitched, asymmetrical, three-sided hipped roof clad in clay barrel tiles. The Norman brick walls are interrupted by a glazed curtain wall wrapping the north and part of the east elevations. The Main Street entrance features an automatic glazed sliding door beneath a pitched metal awning th at wraps the north elevation.
The south plaza contains several original landscape and design features, including the Mall Clock Tower and Pools (1966/1975)—a large water feature with a tall concrete spire bearing a clock—the Christiansen-Teel plaque (1971), and a Japanese Stone Lantern in a landscaped planter. The Mall Clock Tower, built in 1966, was part of the Riverside Pedestrian Mall project—a typical mid-century effort to breathe new life into struggling downtown areas. In 1971, it was joined by the Ch ristiansen-Teel Plaque, which honors Riverside police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty. When City Hall was constructed in 1975, the original clock tower fountain was preserved, and new pools were added, shifting the water feature’s layout to align with 10th Street. Upon the opening of the new City Hall building, Riverside’s sister city, Sendai, Japan, gifted the Japanese Stone Lantern, which includes an eternal flame. A plaque beside it reads:
“JAPANESE STONE LANTERN PRESENTED TO OUR SISTER CITY, RIVERSIDE. MAY OUR TIES OF FRIENDSHIP CONTINUE FOREVER. YOUR SENDAI FRIENDS, 1975.” The plaza layout retains much of its original form, with elevated planters, walkways, grassy knolls, low walls, a monument sign, and mature trees, including Brazilia n pepper, jacaranda, sycamore, pine, and Mexican fan palm.
Riverside City Hall has undergone only minor changes and remains highly intact. After a 1998 shooting, a major renovation led by Holt Architecture took place from 2006 to 2008, totaling $6.25 million. Updates included new protective metal -framed windows and entries, a glass expansion on the first floor, window replacements, modernized railings, and new signage. The Mayor’s Patio was redesigned as the Grier Pavilion, and the building's interior was also significantly remodeled. Changes to the pedestrian mall included removing the Bandstand during the reopening of 9th Street to cars and adding the Ben Franklin stage opposite in what is now known as Ron Loveridge Plaza, since 2014.
Statement of Significance
As stated on the DPR Form by Mermilliod:
Riverside City Hall is an excellent and rare, high-style example of the Brutalism style and New Formalism styles in civic architecture that reflects the maturation of modernism in the local context by sign ificant local architectural firm, Ruhnau, Evans, and Steinmann. Previously found eligible for listing in the California Register and as a local Landmark (HRG 2013), JMRC resurveyed the now 50-year-old civic building. Relatively minimally altered, Riverside City Hall retains an excellent degree of integrity and reflects its time and place. The current study provides greater investigation into its design, identifying the influences of both Brutalism and New Formalism architectural styles, documents the full e xtent of the property, including related features, identifies the architectural firm as Ruhnau, Evans, and Steinmann as well as other important professionals, and expands previous findings.
DP-2025-00469
JMRC found that Riverside City Hall is eligible for designation as a City of Riverside Landmark as it embodies distinctive characteristics of the Brutalism and New Formalism styles (Criterion 3) and represents the work of notable architects, Ruhnau, Evans, and Steinmann as well as other design and creative professionals (Criterion 4).
TITLE 20 EVALUATION
Under Title 20 (Cultural Resources), “Landmark” means: “Any improvement or natural feature that is an exceptional example of a historical, archaeological, cultural, architectural, community, aesthetic or artistic heritage of the City, that retains a high degree of integrity.” Based on the applicable criteria from Chapter 20.50 of Title 20, Riverside City Hall qualifies for Landmark Designation as follows:
FINDING: Criterion 3: Embodies distinctive characteristics of a style, type, period or method of construction, or is a valuable example of the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship;
FACTS: Riverside City Hall represents a unique blend of Brutalism and New Formalism Styles of Architecture. The original design for Riverside City Hall followed the Brutalist style, but it was later softened with elements and materials from New Formalism, which appealed more to the local community. Rather than being a typical late example of modernist architecture, the building represents a more mature phase of the movement in Riverside, blending features from both Brutalism and New Formalism. These styles shared characteristics like flat roofs, raised podiums, repeating geometric forms, and integrated public plazas. The bold, asymmetrical aspects of Brutalism were bal anced by stacking the building’s floors symmetrically and wrapping them in a curtain wall of repeating arches—recalling both Brutalist window voids and the patterned screens typical of New Formalism. As architect Herman Ruhnau explained in August 1971, the building was designed to reflect “the city’s heritage of grace, beauty, and the blending of old with new,” and to complement both the County Courthouse and the Mission Inn.
FINDING: Criterion 4: Represents the work of a notable builder, designer, or architect, or important creative individual.
FACTS: Riverside City Hall was designed by the prominently local architectural firm of Ruhnau, Evans, and Steinmann . Although Walter P. Wild is listed as the project architect, his role in the design of Riverside City Hall is unclear. The firm’s partners were actively involved in the project. Herman Ruhnau is recognized as one of the most prominent midcentury architects in the City, with works including but not limited to the RCC Cosmetology Building, (1957); County Law Office of Public Defender, 4200 -32 Orange Street (1958); RCC Cutter Swimming Pool (1957) ; Press Enterprise Building, 3514 14th Street (1958); Marcy Branch Library, 3711 Central Avenue (1958); John
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Adams Elementary, 8362 Colorado Avenue (1960) ; Riverside County Law Library, 3535 9th Street (1969); La Sierra High School, 4145 La Sierra Avenue (1969); and many more.
The design of Riverside City Hall was especially influenced by Swiss architect Kurt E. Steinmann, who led the design section and spoke publicly about the project. Known locally for his Horizon Homes and other notable work, Steinmann later became president of the local AIA chapter. According to his son Josef, it was Steinmann who insisted on including the distinctive arches in the building’s outer curtain wall.
STRATEGIC PLAN
This item contributes to the Envision Riverside 2025 City Council Strategic Priority 2 – Community Well Being (Goal 2.3 – Strengthen neighborhood identities and improve community health and the physical environment t hrough amenities and programs that foster an increased sense of community and enhanced feelings of pride and belonging citywide).
This item aligns with the following Cross-Cutting Threads:
1. Community Trust: This Landmark Designation request is being reviewed during a Public Hearing before the Cultural Heritage Board and the public is able to provide comments.
2. Equity: Historic property information associated with this designation will be added to the City’s Historic Resou rces Inventory, which will be available to the public. This will allow information about the historic property to be available to all residents.
3. Fiscal Responsibility: No City General Funds are being allocated as part of this Landmark Designation.
4. Innovation: This Landmark Designation request made use of current research practices and looks at historic integrity based on best practices approaches.
5. Sustainability and Resiliency: This Landmark Designation will help to preserve the City’s collective history for future generations.
PUBLIC NOTICE AND CO MMENTS
A public hearing notice was mailed to property owners within 300 feet of the site. As of the writing of this report, no responses have been received by Staff regarding this proposal.
APPEAL INFORMATION
Actions by the Cultural Heritage Board, including any environmental finding, may be appealed to the City Council within ten calendar days after the decision. Appeal filing and processing information may be obtained from the Planning Division by calling 951 - 826-5800.
EXHIBITS LIST
DP-2025-00469
1. Aerial/Location Map
2. Historic Designation Application
3. Current Photos
Prepared by: Scott Watson, Historic Preservation Officer Approved by: Maribeth Tinio, City Planner
N
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Exhibit 1 - Location Map
ALLEY
ORANGE ST
MARKET ST
MAIN ST
NINTH ST
TENTH ST 0 100 200
Feet
Parcels
Project Site
Key
JM Research and Consulting
Jennifer Mermilliod, M.A., Principal
Architectural Historian|Historian| Preservation Planner
4076 Brockton Avenue, Ste. 201 Riverside, CA 92501 | (951) 233-6897 | [email protected]
MEMORANDUM
DATE: April 23, 2025
TO: Scott Watson, Historic Preservation Officer
City of Riverside
FROM: Jen Mermilliod, JMRC
SUBJECT: Riverside City Hall
JM Research & Consulting (JMRC) is pleased to submit a Cultural Resources Nomimation Application for City Landmark for Riverside City Hall.
Prompted by increased demand for civic facilities in the post-World War II period, construction of a new City Hall was conceived in the 1960s to serve a growing Riverside population, which had skyrocketed from 46,764 in 1950 to over 140,000 in 1970. Having outgrown the old 1923 city hall, the scope of the new structure was planned to accommodate current needs and future growth, while its mass, styling, and siting, straddling Main Street at the southerly end of the Pedestrian Mall, was planned to impress. An initial design wholly within the stylistic tenets of Brutalism was tempered by the more traditional features and materials of New Formalism, which found greater favor with the community. With shared character- defining features like a flat roof, elevated podium, repetitive shapes, and use of plazas, the stark planes and asymmetry of Brutalism were brought into greater balance by stacking rather than offsetting the floor blocks and skinning the whole in a repeating arch curtain wall that echoed both the window voids in solid Brutalist walls and the perforated panels and screen walls of the New Formalism style.
An excellent and rare, high-style example of Brutalism and New Formalism in civic architecture, Riverside City Hall reflects the maturation of modernism in the local context by significant local architectural firm, Ruhnau, Evans, and Steinmann. Award-winning Swiss architect and head of the firm’s design section, Kurt E. Steinmann may be credited with insisting arches were incorporated in the outer curtain wall design. And in master architect Herman Ruhnau’s own words in August 1971, the design was meant to reflect “the city’s heritage of grace, beauty, and the blending of old with new… [that] will stand in friendship with the County Courthouse and echo the flavor of the Mission Inn.”
This monumental civic property and exceptional architectural achievement is deserving of historic recognition as a City Landmark on this occasion of the Golden Anniversary of its grand opening in 1975.
Best Regards,
Jennifer Mermilliod, Principal, JMRC
Research & Consulting
JM Research and Consulting
Jennifer Mermilliod, M.A., Principal
Architectural Historian|Historian| Preservation Planner
4076 Brockton Avenue, Ste. 201 Riverside, CA 92501 | (951) 233-6897 | [email protected] Statement of Qualifications
Jennifer Mermilliod, M.A., Principal Architectural Historian exceeds the Secretary of the Interior's Professional Qualifications Standards as a Historian and Architectural Historian based on her Master of Arts degree in History with a Focus in Historic Preservation from the University of Cali fornia, Riverside, and 25 years of professional work in southern California. She has extensive experience in the production and management of a variety of projects, including National Register and California Register nominations, local designations, large-scale surveys, and Section 106 and CEQA reviews. She has engaged in policy and preservation planning, project management, and oversight of restoration work, served as a consultant and expert witness, developed training and educational programs, and presented professionally on historic preservation and related topics. Ms. Mermilliod is fluent in regulatory compliance and proficient at applying eligibility criteria, analyzing project impacts, and developing successful design solutions, mitigation, and specifications. With project size ranging from a single property to thousands of parcels, Ms. Mermilliod works extensively throughout the region and is thoroughly familiar with the history and development of southern California.
Research & Consulting
Cultural Resources Nomination Application
City Landmark Structure of Merit
Please check the Designation for which you are applying
IDENTIFICATION
1. Common name:
2. Historic Name:
3. Street address:
City State Zip
4. Assessor Parcel number:
5. Present Legal Owner:
City State Zip
6. Present Use:
7. Original Use:
Date form prepared:
Preparer:
Sponsoring Organization (if any):
Address:
City, State and Zip:
Phone:
X
City Hall
Riverside City Hall
3900 Main Street
Riverside CA 92522
April 15, 2025
Jennifer Mermilliod, JMRC
4076 Brockton Avenue, Suite 201
Riverside, CA 92501
(951) 233-6897
City Hall
City Hall
215-372-014
City of Riverside
Riverside CA 92522
DESCRIPTION
8. Legal property description:
Include approximate property size (in feet): Street Frontage Depth
9. Architectural Style:
10. Construction Date: Estimated Factual
Source of Information: Assessor's Records Building Permit Sanborn Map Publications Oral Interviews
11. Architect's Name: Builder's Name:
12. Condition: Excellent Good Fair Deteriorated
No longer in existence
13. Alterations:
14. Surroundings:
Open Land Scattered Buildings Densely Built-Up
15. Use type:
Residential Industrial Commercial Civic
Other
16. I
s the structure on its original site?
Yes No Unknown
If moved, approximate year
17. Related features and/or out-buildings:
3.08 ACRES M/L IN POR LOTS 1, 2, 3 MB 002/034 DAVIS SUB Brutalism/New Formalism
1975
X
Ruhnau, Evans & Steinmann Gust K. Newberg
X
(across block) (same block) (vicinity)
X
X
City Council Chambers; Mall Clock Tower and Pools
350 415
See JMRC 2025 DPR Form 523L (Update), attached
OF BLOCK 8 R6 AND BLK 9 RGE 7 MB 007/017 SB TOWN OF RIVERSIDE X
with Christiansen-Teel Plaque; Japanese Stone Lantern, and site design plaza/landscaping;
SIGNIFICANCE
18. Historical Attributes:
Unknown Government Building Folk Art
Single Family Educational Building Street Furniture
Multiple Family Religious Building Landscape Architecture Ancillary Building Railroad Depot Trees/Vegetation
Hotel/Motel Train Urban Open Space
Bridge Rural Open Space Canal/Aqueduct
Farm/Ranch Industrial Building Dam
Military Property Public Utility Building Lake/River/Reservoir CCC/WPA Structure Theater Ethnic Minority Prop.
Engineering Structure Highway/Trail Civic Auditorium
Amusement Park Woman's Property Monument/Mural/Gravestone Cemetery Hospital Stadium
Community Center/Social Hall
Commercial Building, over 3 stories
19. Architectural Description
20. Statement of Significance
21. Bibliography
22. Photographs
23. Letter from property owner (if other than applicant) Mine
Commercial Building, 1-3 stories
Other:
See JMRC 2025 DPR Form 523L (Update), attached
See JMRC 2025 DPR Form 523L (Update), attached
See JMRC 2025 DPR Form 523L (Update), attached
Historic Photos (attached):
1. 1975 City Hall Design (1973)
2. 1973 City Hall Groundbreaking
3. 1974 City Hall Construction
4. 1974 City Hall Construction, courtesy Riverside Police Department Archives
5. 1975 City Hall Construction, courtesy Riverside Police Department Archives
6. 1975 City Hall Completed, photo credit: Bill Thomas
X
X
X
See JMRC 2025 DPR Form 523L (Update), attached
DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
State of California The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
* Recorded by Jennifer Mermilliod, JMRC *Date April 19, 2024 Continuation Update
NRHP (CHR) Status Code: 3S
*P2. Location:
*b. USGS 7.5’ Quad: Riverside West Zip: 92522
P3a. Description:
Straddling the Riverside Pedestrian Mall on Main Street between 9th and 10th Streets, Riverside City Hall (1975) is a seven-story plus basement civic building with breezeway-attached, semi-subterranean parking structure and detached City Council Chambers building. Designed in the Brutalism and New Formalism styles, the approximately 175,000 sq’ rectangular plan main building is topped with a flat roof with an inset rooftop helipad. Steel post and beam construction supports double curtain walls - an inner glazed curtain wall and an outer concrete curtain wall veneered in brown Norman brick laid in running bond pattern and punctured by stacked rows of low, segmental arched openings creating covered balconies around each of the upper floors. Brick piers supporting the second story arches rest on cantilevered concrete beams, the ends of which are decorated with a modern-stylized imprint of the city logo. A three-story, rectangular flat-roofed mass projects asymmetrically from the 9th Street elevation. Open first and second story bays within the outer, brick curtain wall form a large covered breezeway across the Main Street plaza (dedicated Ron Loveridge Plaza in 2014) that shields an open-air, elevated walkway to the attached rectangular, brick -veneered, flat-roofed parking structure, which is also accessed by a pedestrian door at ground level and a vehicular drive on 10 th Street. The primary , metal-framed storefront entrance with a pair of automatic sliding glass doors faces Main Street within the covered breezeway and is accessed by a wide flight of concrete steps with added steel angle and cable railings. A glazed double pedestrian side entry doors is found on the 10 th street side elevation, and a semi-subterranean loading dock entry is accessed from the alley that borders the property on the northwest. A freestanding City Council Chamber s building is perched on an elevated westerly plaza bordered by a low wall with new metal and cable railing above a small, L-shaped surface parking lot. Rectangular in plan, a steeply -pitched, asymmetrical, three sided hipped roof clad in clay barrel tile and narrow eaves tops walls clad in matching Norman brick; horizontal venting fills half of the cutaway gable end facing City Hall, where a full - height, two-sided glazed metal curtain wall mass is inset from the easterly elevation; the Main Street -facing, automatic glazed sliding door entry is sheltered by a pitched metal awning that wraps the northerly elevation. The adjacent south plaza contains the Mall Clock Tower and Pools (1966/1975) a large water feature with a tall concrete spire bearing a clock and the Christiansen-Teel plaque (1971) that extends east along 10th Street, and the Japanese Stone Lantern is placed within a planter east of the clock tower. The site reflects much of the original landscaped paved plaza layout with original shape and placement of pathways , plazas, surface and elevated planters, low walls and monument sign, grassy knoll, and many mature original trees, including Brazilian pepper, jacaranda, sycamore, pine, and Mexican fan palm.
*P4. Resources Present: Building Structure Object
P5a.
Photo or Drawing:
P5b. Description of Photo: City Hall Overview, view north □
DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
State of California The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
* Recorded by Jennifer Mermilliod, JMRC *Date April 19, 2024 Continuation Update *P8. Recorded by:
JM Research & Consulting (JMRC)
4076 Brockton Avenue, Ste. 201, Riverside, CA 92501
*P10. Survey Type: I ntensive-Level
*P11. Report Citation: Me rmilliod (JMRC) 2025. City of Riverside Landmark Designation Application: Riverside City Hall.
B3. Original Use : Institutional - Government/Civic
B4. Present Use: Institutional - Government/Civic
*B5. Architectural Style: Br utalism/New Formalism
*B6. Construction H istory:
1975 Original Construction
1975 Japanese Stone Lantern
1975 Mall Clock Tower (1966) & Pools Redesign with Christiansen-Teel Plaque (1971) ca. 1980 Crepe myrtle and canary palms (4) flanking breezeway added 2003 Repair/restoration of the Mall Clock Tower & Pools ($470K) 2006-08 Major ($6.2M) remodel, including new in-kind metal-framed windows/entry with protective glass in same location for main entry a nd City Council Chambers, wall mounted signage, g lass passageway at northwest parking lo t, second floor circular windows changed, glass enclosure expansion on 1st floor NE elevation, aluminum/cable railings added (formerly wood plank), streetlights replac ed, Bandstand removed and Ben Franklin stage added opposite, Mayor’s Patio remodeled as Grier Pavilion (added brick columns and metal shade structure), major interior remodel
*B8. Related Features: Ci
ty Council Chambers, Mall Clock Tower and Pools with Chritiansen-Teel Plaque, Japanese Stone Lantern, and site design plaza/landscaping
B9a. Architect: Ru hnau, Evans, & Steinmann
Project Architect: Walter P. Wild
B9b. Builder: Gu st K. Newberg
Structural Engineer: Brandow & Johnston
Civil Engineer: J.F. Davidson & Associates
Landscape Architect: Eckbo, Dean, Austin, & Williams
Pools/Fountain: Eckbo, Dean, Austin, & Williams
*B10. Significance:
A
pplicable Criteria: C/3
Property Type: city hall
Increased demand for civic facilities in the post -World War II period and significant new civic structures constructed in the 1960 s such as the Riverside Main Library (1964; now the Cheech marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture) and the Riverside Pedestrian Mall (1966) on Main Street, prompted t he call for a new City Hall to serve a growing Riverside population, which had skyrocket ed from 46,764 in 1950 to over 140,000 in 1970, one of the largest periods of growth in the city’s history. Having outgrown its two-story plus basement quarters constructed in 1923 at 3612 Mission Inn Avenue, the size of new structure was planned to accommodate current needs and future growth, while its mass, styling, and siting, straddling Main Street at the southerly end of the Pedestrian Mall, was planned to impress in the Brutalism and New Formalism styles, both of which developed in the 1950s and were used from the 1950s-1970s in institutional and commercial design .
Brutalism, from the French, beton brut, the concrete casting technique used by Le Corbusier in the Unite d’Habitation, Marsei ll e, France (1952), sought to create massive monolithic structures and stretching the limits of how concrete could be shaped and was favored in p ost-WWII England for producing low cost, mass produced and pre -fabricated economical and sculptural buildings. New Formalism was developed as a reaction to Modernism’s total rejection of historical precedent and the commonalities with classicism, such as emphases on structure and a uniform construction grid, a carefully organized hierarchy, and clarity of geometric form. A return to the meaningful symboli sm of classical columns, arches, and symmetry with manmade materials replacing traditional stone in non -traditional ways like panelized forms and screens to achieve a modern monumentality.
Designed by Ruhnau, Evans, and Steinmann, the firm was well-familiar with the local architectural fabric and community preferences. Founded by title architect, Herman Ruhnau , he had first began practicing architect ure in the 1930s. Ruhnau was born in Pasadena in 1912 and spent his childhood in Santa Barbara before moving to Riverside in 1929. He studied architecture at the University of Southern California , served as an architect for the U.S. Navy during World War II where he helped design the U.S. Naval Hospital in Norco, and opened a Riverside branch office □ -----
DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
State of California The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
* Recorded by Jennifer Mermilliod, JMRC *Date April 19, 2024 Continuation Update for Heitschmidt and Matcham, a Los Angeles -based architecture firm, in 194 5. Ruhnau’s f irm incorporated in 1952 and partners were reconfigured throughout the years. Assembled as Ruhnau, Evans, and Steinmann by 1965, Evans had joined the firm by 1950 and Steinmann by 1956. Thus, it was this partnership that designed the Riverside Pedestrian Mall along Main Street between 6th and 10th Streets in 1966 and won the contract to design Riverside City Hall that same year. Riverside City Hall was one of two high profile commissions completed in Riverside, along with the Riverside County Administration Center.
Wh
ile the project architect is listed as Walter P. Wild, his involvement is uncertain; however, the partners of the firm were clearly very involved in the design of Riverside City Hall . A ward-winning Swiss architect and head of the firm’s design sec tion, Kurt E. Steinmann acted as spokesman for the project in the local press. Having designed in Switzerland and Italy , Steinmann was known locally for his Horizon Home designs and other notable works and would go on to be the presi dent of the local chapter of the AIA. His son , Josef, asserts that it was upon Steinmann’s insistence that arches were incorporated into the outer curtain wall design. An initial design wholly within the stylistic tenets of Brutalism was tempered by the features and materials of New Formalism , which found greater favor with the Riverside public. More than simply a late example of the style, Riverside City Hall reflects the maturation of modernism in the local context in the merging of design tenants of both the Brutalism and New Formalism styles, which shared several character -defining features such as flat roof s, elevated podiums , repetitive shapes, and use of plazas. T he stark planes and asymmetry of Brutalism were brought into greater symmetry by stacking rather than offsetting the floor blocks and skinning the whole in a repeating arch curtain wall that echoed both the window voids in solid Brutalist walls and the perforated panels and screen walls of the New Formalism style. In his own words in August 1971, Herman Ruhnau acknowledged that the design was meant to reflect “ the city’s heritage of grace, beauty, and the blending of old with new… [that] will stand in friendship with the County Courthouse and echo the flavor of the Mission Inn.” Ruhnau was recognized as a master architect in his own time. He became an AIA Fellow in 1974, was recognized as the dominant figure in Riverside architecture after WWII, and received the lifetime achievement award from the Inland Chapter of the AIA b efore his death in 2006 . Ruhnau’s firm , which designed many of Riverside ’s residential, commercial, institutional, and civic buildings, is still operational today as Ruhnau Ruhnau Clarke with son David as one of the principals and offices in Riverside and Carlsbad.
Riverside City Hall has been minimally altered and retains an excellent degree of integrity. Following a shooting incident in 1998, a major $6.25 million renovation in 20 06-08 primarily by Holt Architecture saw modifications to Riverside City Hall and the Riverside Pedestrian Mall .
Numerous but relatively minor, they included new in-kind metal-framed windows/entry with protective glass at the main entry and City Council Chambers, a first floor glass expansion and replacement of second floor circular windows on the northeast elevation, replacement of wood plank railings with aluminum/cable, and wall mounted signage . The Mayor’s Patio was remodeled as the Grier Pavilion , which replaced green astroturf and an orange beam shade structure with brick columns and a metal shade structure. A major interior remodel was completed, and renovations to the pedestrian mall saw the Bandstand removed when 9th street was reopened to vehicular traffic, and the Ben Franklin stage was added opposite in what has been known since 2014 as Ron Loveridge Plaza within the breezeway. Contributing features include the detached City Council Chambers, Mal l Clock Tower and Pools, Japanese Stone Lanter n, and original landscaped paved plaza layout. The Mall Clock Tower (1966) was developed as part of the Riverside Pedestrian Mall, a common mid -century strategy to revitalize flailing urban downtown centers, and adorned with the memorial Christiansen-Teel P laque (1971) honoring to slain Riverside police officers. The clock tower water fountain feature was retained a nd new pools designed, reorienting the water feature along 10th Street as part of the design of City Hall in 1975.
The Japanese Stone Lantern, which is lit by an eternal flame, was gifted to the City of Riverside on the occasion of the grand opening of City Hall in 1975 by sister city, Sendai, Japan and is accompanied by a plaque that reads: “ JAPANESE STONE LANTERN PRESENTED TO OUR SISTER CITY, RIVERSIDE. MAY OUR TIES OF FRIENDSHIP CONTINUE FOREVER. YOUR SENDAI FRIENDS, 1975.” Riv
erside City Hall is an excellent and rare, high -style example of t he Brutalism style and New Formal ism styles in civic a rchitecture that reflects the mat uration of modernism in the local context b y significant local architectural firm, Ruhnau, Evans, and Steinmann. Previously found eligible for listing in the California Register and as a local Landmark (HRG 2013), JMRC resurveyed the now 50-year -old civic building.
Relatively minimally altered, Riverside City Hall retains an excellent degree of integrity and reflects its time and place. The current study provides greater investigation into its design , identifying the influences of both Brutalism and New Formalism architectural sty les, documents the full extent of the property, including related features, identifies the archite ctural firm as Ruhna u, Evans , and Steinmann as well as other important professionals, and e xpands previous findings. JMRC found that Riverside City Hall is eligible for designation as a City of Riverside Landmark as it embodies distinctive characteristics of the Brutalism and New Formalism styles (Criterion 3) and represents th e work of notable architects, Ruhnau, Evans, and Steinmann as well as other design and creative professionals (Criterion 4) . Further, Riverside City Hall now meets the minimum age threshold, and is found eligible, for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under the rel ated Criterion C.
Previously assigned a Cultural Historical Resources (CHR) Code of 3CS/5S3 : Appears eligible for CR as an individual property through survey evaluation/Appears to be i ndividually eligible for local listing or designation through survey e valuation, the property has been reassigned a CHR Code of 3S: Appears eligible for NR as an individual property through survey evaluation.
B11. Additional Resource Attributes: H P26. Monument (Mall Clock Tower & Pools with Christiansen -Teel Plaque and Japanese Stone Lantern); HP29. Landscape Architecture (Plazas/Landscaping Layout) *B12. References:
City of Riverside. Records on file with the City of Riverside. Planning and Public Works Departments. 1973-2019. Building Permits.
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DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
State of California The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
* Recorded by Jennifer Mermilliod, JMRC *Date April 19, 2024 Continuation Update 2009. Modernism Context Statement (Christopher A. Joseph & Associates) 2013. Citywide Modernism Intensive Survey (Historic Resources Group).
City of Riverside. 1975. “Introducing Your City Hall.” Dedication Day Pamphlet/Guide. Riverside, Ca.
Falcone, Philip. Historic Photos and Records, personal collection.
Riverside Police Department. Historic Photos and Records, RPD Archives.
Simpsom, Norma, et al. 1976. A Complete History of the Bicentennial Celebration in Riverside. Riverside, Ca.
Thomas, Bill. 1975. Riverside City Hall (photograph)
Riverside Daily Press. 1962. “Three Ruhnau architects named partners in firm.” 30-Apr, B2.
Riverside Daily Press. 1971. “Council praises plans for new city hall.” 18-Aug, B1.
The Daily Enterprise. 1973. “Mall demolition.” 7-Feb.
The Daily Enterprise. 1973. “The changing look of downtown.” 4-Oct.
B13. Remarks: Status change since 2013 Suvey: Now 50 years old, the property appears eligible for listing in the National Register - 3S *B14. Evaluator: Jennifer Mermilliod, JMRC
*Date of Evaluation: April 19, 2025
Sketch Map:
□
DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
State of California The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
* Recorded by Jennifer Mermilliod, JMRC *Date April 19, 2024 Continuation Update P5b. Additional Photographs:
Ci
ty Countil Chambers, view northwest City Council 9th Street Elevation, view west Mall Clock Tower & Pools, view north Japanese Stone Lantern, view east □
State of California The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
PRIMARY RECORD Trinomial
NRHP St atus Code 3CS, 5S3
Oth er Listings
Review Code Reviewer Date
P1. Other Identifier:
*P2. Location: Not for Publication Unrestricted *a. County: Riverside and (P2b and P2c or P2d. Attach a Location Map as necessary.) *b. USGS 7.5' Quad: Riverside East Date: May 17, 2012
c. Address: 3900 Main Street City: Riverside Zip: 92507 e. Other Locational Data: APN 215-372-014-3
*P3a. Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries) This
property is located between 9th Street and 10th Street at Main Street and contains a seven story institutional building over subterranean parking, originally constructed in 1975 as Riverside City Hall. The building is set back from the street with paved plazas, landscaping, and small surface parking lots. It is Brutalist in style with a rectangular plan and flat roof. It is of steel frame construction with double curtain walls: an inner glazed curtain wall and an outer curtain wall veneered in running bond Norman brick and perforated with stacked rows of segmental arched openings creating covered balconies around each of the upper floors. The brick piers supporting the second story arches rest on cantilevered concrete beams decorated with a stylized imprint of the city logo. There is a three story rectangular flat-roofed projection asymmetrically located on the north façade. The eastern bays of the ground and second stories of the main building are open, creating a large covered breezeway connecting the north and south plazas. The primary entrance is located in the covered breezeway, accessed by a wide flight of concrete steps with steel angle and cable railings. It consists of a pair of automatic sliding glass doors in an aluminum frame, with transoms and sidelights and flanked by two single fully glazed aluminum storefront doors. The City Council chamber is located in a freestanding building to the south. It is rectangular in plan with a steeply pitched, asymmetrical, three sided hipped roof clad in clay barrel tile. The walls are clad in Norman brick laid in a running bond. Fenestration consists of a glazed metal curtain wall wrapping the north and a portion of the east façades. The adjacent south plaza has a large water feature with a tall concrete spire bearing a clock. There is a landscaped area and a two- level freestanding parking structure, clad in brick, adjoining City Hall to the east. *P3b. Resource Attributes: HP14 – Government building
*P4. Resources Present: Building Structure Object Site District Element of District Other (Isolates, etc.)
P5b
. Description of Photo:
(View, date, accession #) View
looking Northeast (April 2013)
*P6. Date Constructed/Age and
Sources: Historic
Prehistoric Both
1975, building permit
*P7. Owner and Address:
*P8. Recorded by:
Historic Resources Group
12 S Fair Oaks Ave, Ste 200
Pasadena, CA 91105
*P9. Date Recorded:
April 25, 2013
*P10. Survey Type:
Intensive
*P11. Report Citation: (Cite survey report and other sources, or enter "none.") Christopher A. Joseph & Associates, City of Riverside: Modernism Context Statement, November 2009.
Historic Resources Group, Citywide Modernism Intensive Survey, September 2013.
*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 (List):
DPR 523A (1/95) *Required information
P5a. Photo or Drawing (Photo required for buildings, structures, and objects.)
DPR 523B (1/95) *Required information
State of California The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
BUILDING, STRUCTURE, AND OBJECT RECORD
*Resource Name or # Riverside City Hall
B1. Historic Name: Riverside City Hall
B2. Common Name: Riverside City Hall
B3. Original Use: Public B4. Present Use: Public
*B5. Architectural Style: Brutalist
*B6. Construction History: (Construction date, alterations, and date of alterations) Completed in 1975.
*B7. Moved? No Yes Unknown Date: Original Location:
*B8. Related Features:
B9a. Architect: Herman Ruhnau b. Builder:
*B10. Significance: Theme: Modern Architecture & Architects of Modernism Area: Downtown Riverside
Period of Significance: 1975 Property Type: Public
Applicable Criteria: 3/c,d
Riverside City Hall at 3500 Main Street is an excellent and rare example of Brutalist civic architecture in downtown Riverside. It was designed by significant local architect Herman Ruhnau (1912-2007). A new City Hall was constructed in response to an increased demand for civic facilities in Riverside in the post-World War II period; in particular, Riverside had significant new civic structures constructed in the 1960s and 1970s, many of which were designed by Herman Ruhnau. The City had outgrown its original City Hall, constructed in 1923 at 3612 Mission Street; “Old City Hall” is currently used as an office building.
Brutalism developed during the 1950s in response to the International Style of architecture. International Style buildings of ten had a light and skeletal appearance created by the extensive use of steel structures with glass curtain walls. Brutalism was about creating massive monolithic structures and stretching the limits of how concrete could be shaped. More properly known as “New Brutalism” during its heyday, the name was derived from beton brut, the concrete casting technique used by Le Corbusier in the Unite d’Habitation, Marseille, France (1952). The English architects Peter and Alison Smithson were its key proponents to whom Brutalism was more of an ethic than an aesthetic. In post World War II England, the Smithsons sought to exploit the low cost of mass produced and pre-fabricated materials to create economical and sculptural buildings. Other figures in the movement included Erno Goldfinger, Louis Kahn, Kenzo Tange, and Paul Rudolph. Riverside City Hall exhibits significant character-defining features of the style, including repetitive shapes, windows as voids in otherwise solid volumes, and a raised plaza.
It is a late example of the style, and therefore brick is used as the primary exterior material instead of concrete.
See Continuation Sheet.
B11. Additional Resource Attributes:
*B12. References:
See Continuation Sheet.
B13. Remarks:
*B14. Evaluator:
Christine Lazzaretto
*Date of Evaluation: April 25, 2013
(This space reserved for official comments.)
State of California The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Tr inomial
*Recorded by: Historic Resources Group *Date: April 25, 2013 Continuation Update DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
Significance Statement Continued.
Herman Ruhnau was born September 1, 1912 in Pasadena. He spent his childhood in Santa Barbara, and then moved to Riverside in 1929. He studied architecture at the University of Southern California. He was an architect for the U.S. Navy during the World War II and helped design the U.S. Naval Hospital in Norco. In 1946, he opened a Riverside branch office for Heitschmidt and Matcham, a Los Angeles-based architecture firm. In 1950, Ruhnau founded his own firm. Much of his work is in Riverside, and includes homes, banks and other commercial buildings, and numerous government facilities. In 1975, he completed two high- profile commissions in Riverside, the Riverside City Hall and the Riverside County Administration Center. In 1979, a newspaper called Ruhnau the dominant figure in Riverside architecture after World War II. He also designed farm labor housing and County fairground buildings in Indio. He became an AIA Fellow in 1974. Before his death in 2006, Ruhnau received the lifetime achievement award from the Inland Chapter of the AIA. Ruhnau’s firm is still operational today as Ruhnau Ruhnau Clarke, and his son David is one of the principals. The firm has offices in Riverside and Carlsbad.
Riverside City Hall retains sufficient integrity to convey its historic significance. It appears eligible for listing in the California Register at the local level of significance, and as a local landmark. It is eligible under the Modern Architecture theme as an excellent and rare example of Brutalist civic architecture in Riverside. It is eligible under the Architects of Modernism theme as the work of significant local architect Herman Ruhnau; it is one of several civic commissions he received during the 1960s and 1970s. It does not meet National Register Criterion Consideration G of “exceptional importance” required for properties that are less than fifty years old, and therefore it does not appear eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places at this time.
References.
City of Riverside Building Permits.
City of Riverside Modernism Context Statement, prepared for the City of Riverside by Christopher A. Joseph & Associates, Los Angeles, CA, November 2009.
County of Riverside Property Information Center.
“Herman Ruhnau, AIA,” Raincross Square, July 5, 2006. Website:
http://www.raincrosssquare.com/mt/2006/07/news_herman_ruhnau_aia.php. Accessed May 1, 2013.
Riverside County Land Information System (LIS).
State of California The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
*Recorded by: Historic Resources Group *Date: April 26, 2013 Continuation Update DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
Detail of Entry (April 2013)
View looking Southwest (April 2013)
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Exhibit 3 – Current Photos
Figure 1 - South Elevation with clock tower fountain, view looking north
Figure 2 - Breezeway, view looking north
Exhibit 3 – Current Photos
Figure 3 - North Elevation, view looking south
Figure 4 - North Elevation, view looking southwest
Exhibit 3 – Current Photos
Figure 5 - Council Chambers, view looking southwest
RiversideCA.gov
1 RiversideCA.gov
LANDMARK DESIGNATION OF
RIVERSIDE CITY HALL
DP-2025-00469 (HD)
Community & Economic Development Department
Cultural Heritage Board
Agenda Item: 3
June 18, 2025
RiversideCA.gov
2 AERIAL PHOTO/LOCATION
RiversideCA.gov
3 RIVERSIDE CITY HALL
South Elevation North Elevation
RiversideCA.gov
4 HISTORIC PHOTOS
Groundbreaking
Construction
RiversideCA.gov
5 STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT
Strategic Priority No. 2 –
Community Well Being
Goal No. 2.3 - Strengthen
neighborhood identities and
improve community health and
the physical environment
through amenities and
programs that foster an
increased sense of community
and enhanced feelings of pride
and belonging citywide.
RiversideCA.gov
6 Staff recommends that the Cultural Heritage Board recommend that City Council:
1. DETERMINE that Planning Case DP-2025-00469 (Historic Designation) for the designation of the Boyd Residence as a City Landmark is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Rule) and 15308 (Actions by Regulatory Agencies for Protection of the Environment), as the proposal will have no significant effect on the environment, identifies the structure as a cultural resource, and preserves the historic character of a cultural resource; and
2. APPROVE Planning Case DP-2025-00469 (Historic Designation), based on the facts of findings, and designate the Riverside City Hall as a City Landmark.
RECOMMENDATION