1 FINDINGS AND DETERMINATION
OF THE LANDMARKS COMMISSION
OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA IN THE MATTER OF
THE DESIGNATION OF A LANDMARK
DESIGNATION OF A COMMERCIAL BUILDING 21ENT-0125
LOCATED\AT 631 COLORADO AVENUE
AS A CITY LANDMARK
SECTION I. The property owner filed a demolition permit application with the City of Santa Monica (City) on March 19, 2021. On May 20, 2021, Nina Fresco, on behalf of the Santa Monica Conservancy, submitted designation application 21ENT-0125 to nominate the property at 631 Colorado Avenue. The Landmarks Commission, having held a Public Hearing on January 10, 2022 hereby finds that the subject residence located at 631 Colorado Avenue meets one or more of the criteria for designation as a City Landmark as enumerated in SMMC 9.56.100 and designates the subject commercial buidling as a City Landmark and the property commonly known as 631 Colorado Avenue as a Landmark Parcel, based on the following findings:
(1) It exemplifies, symbolizes, or manifests elements of the cultural, social, economic, political or architectural history of the City.
The subject property qualifies under this criterion. When the A.B.C. Distributing Company building was constructed in 1937, it was the first light industrial commercial building in the southeast portion of Santa Monica’s downtown, which had been a working-class neighborhood occupied by people of color since the founding of the Town of Santa Monica in 1875. The two contributing structures book-ending the property were built during the economic recovery from the Great Depression and the Art Deco/Streamline Moderne period. The primary structure on the parcel reflects classic architectural characteristics of that style. The A.B.C. Distributing Company building was a pioneer of the industrial commercial phase of development in downtown, and the only built in downtown with characteristics of the Art Deco/Streamline Moderne style. Furthermore, since the 1990s the neighborhood has been almost completely redeveloped with a third phase of development, leaving the subject property as a rare and significant example of the industrial commercial phase it pioneered.
The succession of uses of the A.B.C. Distributing Company property conveys a significant pattern of economic development in Santa Monica, representative of the City’s evolution from the 1930s to the present day. It was built as a beer outlet in the city after the repeal of prohibition.
The post-prohibition era in Santa Monica was characterized by the tourism industry, which relied heavily of alcohol sales for its appeal. Gambling ships were moored off the coast the city, and illegal slot machine rings and hotel room bookies added to the new economy. The brick A.B.C.
Distributing Company warehouse with attractive art deco styling reflected the elevated stature of the liquor business in that era. With the success of Douglas Aircraft and the coming of WWII, the aviation and aerospace industry took hold in Santa Monica next, soon occupying space everywhere it could be found, including at the subject property. Aerospace industry demands led to a proliferation of new one-story, brick, commercial industrial buildings in various parts of the 2 city including downtown to house a variety of related industries. The site’s next use as an autobody repair shop beginning in the late 1950s when post-war car culture was peaking, represents another industry that exemplifies Santa Monica and California culture. That use was followed in the 1990s by film industry use, which also has a strong connection to the history and culture of the United States, California, Los Angeles, and Santa Monica.
The subject parcel is also significant for its association with Etta Vena Moxley (1870-1950), a dedicated life-long leader in the African American Women’s Club movement in the State of California, Los Angeles and in Santa Monica. She lived at 631 Colorado Avenue from 1898 – 1927 and continued to own it until 1937. Etta Moxley was a member of a leading group of Los Angeles and Santa Monica African American activists striving for social justice and equal rights for people of all races. Etta Moxley was associated with a number of significant groups often in leadership roles.
Therefore, 631 Colorado Avenue appears to satisfy Landmark Criterion 1. (2) It has aesthetic or artistic interest or value, or other noteworthy interest or value.
Both buildings located at 631 Colorado Avenue were constructed for industrial, utilitarian purposes. Thousands of industrial buildings were constructed throughout Southern California during pre- and post-World War II building booms. As such, the buildings do not possess special aesthetic or artistic interest or value, and do not appear to be significant under Criterion 2.
Therefore, 631 Colorado Avenue does not satisfy Landmark Criterion 2. (3) It is identified with historic personages or with important events in local, state, or national history.
The existing buildings were constructed in what was once an African American neighborhood, replacing four residential cottages and two outbuildings. The City of Santa Monica Landmark Designation Application for the subject property notes that Etta Moxley, a prominent figure in the African American community, lived in one of the four residential cottages. Since the residential and outbuildings related to this cultural and social history are no longer extant, the existing buildings on the property do not share the same association.
The Aztec Brewing Company obtained the permits for both buildings currently on site.
Following the end of Prohibition, the Aztec Brewing Company had various distribution warehouses throughout the Southwest. Research did not reveal any evidence to suggest that the Aztec Brewing Company was owned or operated by any historic personages. Research did not reveal any evidence to suggest that the remaining businesses associated with the site were owned or operated by historically significant individuals. Research also did not reveal any evidence of association with an important historic event.
Therefore, the subject property does not satisfy Landmark Criterion 3. (4) It embodies distinguishing architectural characteristics valuable to a study of a period, style, method of construction, or the use of indigenous materials or 3 craftsmanship, or is a unique or rare example of an architectural design, detail or historical type valuable to such a study.
The subject property qualifies under this criterion because the A.B.C. Distributing Company building is the only known example of post-Long Beach Earthquake transitional engineering techniques for ensuring that brick and mortar structures had seismic integrity.
By 1929, brick buildings in Santa Monica were primarily clustered in the city’s retail districts. Brick structures serving as schools, churches or homes were thinly scattered across other areas. Brickmaking in the city’s five brickyards, the first established in 1904, was dramatically curtailed in 1929, when the stock market crash disabled new building starts. The industry was further impeded by the perception of brick as unsafe after the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake. It was in this context that the Simons Brick Company began an aggressive campaign to promote Groutlock bricks to rebuild the market for clay products. Right before the crash Simons’ plants had been producing almost a million bricks per day and were considered the top producer in the world. The promotions restored production to 150,000 Groutlock bricks per day. During that period, brick was primarily used for small scale industrial buildings such as the subject property. The subject property is an excellent example of the use of Groutlock brick within reinforced concrete structural frames as seismically safe construction methods developed in the mid-1930s as a response to the Long Beach Earthquake. No other Groutlock brick structures are known in Santa Monica, making the A.B.C. Distributing Company buildings a unique and rare example of a post-Long Beach Earthquake reinforced brick construction technique.
The subject property exhibits characteristics of the Art Deco style that is rare in commercial industrial buildings in the city. The attractive street presence of the A.B.C.
Distributing Company building evidences the successful manifestation of a subtle application of classic elements of the Art Deco style resulting in an industrial building with recognizable street appeal. Its primary façade facing Colorado is divided into three bays separated by protruding piers embossed with four vertical grooved lines, and with stepped tapered caps that rise above the roofline. The area above the windows is stuccoed and embossed with two horizontal sets of grooved lines, three in each set, appearing continuous behind the piers. The stepped caps over the piers reflect the step-backs found in Art Deco architecture. The utilitarian secondary elevation facing east abuts the sidewalk on Seventh Street. It is divided into six bays by a reinforced cement support structure of vertical and horizontal beams that are flush with the surface of the brick. The bay closest to Colorado Avenue is punctuated by a large window opening. Each of the remaining bays has a small window opening in the center, flush with the ceiling height as marked by a horizontal reinforced concrete beam.
Therefore, the subject property appears to satisfy Landmark Criterion 4. (5) It is a significant or a representative example of the work or product of a notable builder, designer, or architect.
Research into the construction history of 631 Colorado Avenue did not reveal the name of the architect or the builder for the Main Building. The architect for the Auxiliary Building was 4 identified on the 1941 building permit as Frederic Barienbrock. Frederick Barienbrock was a local architect that worked in Santa Monica for 50 years. Barienbrock was responsible for the designs of 1725 Main Street, 827 6th Street, 829 6th Street, and the 1951 addition to the Santa Monica Courthouse and County Building wing of the Santa Monica Civic Center. While Barienbrock appears to have been a successful local architect, his work is not particularly noteworthy and he is not an important architectural figure in the history of the city or the region. Additionally, the utilitarian canopy would not be a notable example of his work, and it no longer conveys its original design intent due to modifications on all elevations.
Therefore, the subject property does not satisfy Landmark Criterion 5. (6) It has a unique location, a singular physical characteristic, or is an established and familiar visual feature of a neighborhood, community, or the City.
The property located at 631 Colorado Avenue is located in a portion of Santa Monica’s original township that is now referred to as the Downtown neighborhood. The property is surrounded by residential, commercial, and industrial properties ranging from one to four stories in height. The subject property is an unremarkable infill site that, although part of the original township, does not appear to be an established and familiar visual feature of the neighborhood or City.
Therefore, the subject property does not satisfy Criterion 6.
SECTION II. The character-defining features of the property include the following:
• Rectilinear massing.
• Front façade with fluted pilasters.
• Brick and stucco materials.
NOTE: The Designation includes the structure at the corner of 7th Street and Colorado Avenue, excluding all other structure on the parcel.
SECTION III. The property commonly known as 631 Colorado Avenue is designated as a Landmark Parcel in order to preserve, maintain, protect and safeguard the Landmark building.
SECTION IV. I hereby certify that the above Findings and Determination accurately reflect the final determination of the Landmarks Commission of the City of Santa Monica on January 10, 2022 as determined by the following vote:
AYES: Garvin, Sloan, Summers, Chair Genser
ABSTAIN: None
ABSENT: Brand
NAYES: Green, Chair Pro Tem Breisch
5 Each and all of the findings and determinations are based on the competent and substantial evidence, both oral and written, contained in the entire record relating to the decision. All summaries of information contained herein or in the findings are based on the substantial evidence in the record. The absence of any particular fact from any such summary is not an indication that a particular finding is not based in part on that fact.
NOTICE
If this is a final decision not subject to further appeal under the Landmark and Historic District Ordinance of the City of Santa Monica, Santa Monica Municipal Code Chapter
9.56, the time within which judicial review of this decision must be sought is governed by Code of Civil Procedure Section 1094.6, which provision has been adopted by the City pursuant to Municipal Code Section 1.16.010.
Respectfully Submitted
January 10, 2022
Roger Genser, Chairperson
Attest:
Stephanie Reich, AIA, LEED AP
Landmarks Commission Secretary