By DAYS ON THE MARKET BY JODI SUMMERS
(Editor’s note: This is the fourth column of a five-part series about the landmarked properties in Santa Monica).
In 1973, a group called “Save the Santa Monica Bay” rallied to save the Santa Monica Pier from demolition. Concerned residents convinced the City Council that the pier was a piece of local history worth saving. This led to the Santa Monica Historic Preservation Ordinance, which was passed in 1976 and led to the creation of a Landmarks Commission.
The Santa Monica Pier is California’s oldest pleasure pier and has the only amusement park on a pier on the West Coast. Entertainment entrepreneur Charles Looff established his reputation on the East Coast, having built Coney Island’s first carousel in Brooklyn, N.Y. In February 1916, he came to Santa Monica and purchased 200 feet of beach-front property for $50,000 and announced plans to build an amusement pier to be opened later that summer. The Looff Pier was an immediate attraction, featuring rides like “The Blue Streak Racer” roller coaster, the “Whip” and “Aeroscope,” as well as a hippodrome housing a hand-carved merry-go-round. Currently, more than 3 million people visit the Santa Monica Pier each year.
The hippodrome is on the National Register of Historic Places. Charles Looff built the hippodrome in 1916 to house his carousel. The two-story hippodrome has housed several vintage carousels and organs. The current carousel was built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Co. in 1922. It was moved to the Santa Monica Pier in 1947 and boasts 44 hand-carved and painted wooden horses.
President Teddy Roosevelt helped cure the country of “The Great Depression” by creating the Public Works Administration (PWA) projects. By allocating several billion dollars to constructing public buildings, President Roosevelt provided employment and contributed to a revival of American industry.
City Hall is a PWA project. Built in 1938-39 by architects Donald B. Parkinson and Joseph M. Estep, this is an outstanding example of Deco Moderne architecture. It features the tile work of Stanton MacDonald-Wright, founder of the Synchromism art movement, who evolved into the director of the WPA arts program for the western United States.
How the preservation committee treasures the Streamline Moderne style of the late Deco period. It got them to designate the Santa Monica High School auditorium as a landmark. Designed by Marsh, Smith & Powell, this PWA project features the mosaics and murals of Stanton MacDonald-Wright.
The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium is the only surviving institutional design by architect and city resident Welton Becket. This property has been described as “an excellent example of the mid-20th century International Style.” Go figure.
Becket also is known for building such LA area constructions as the Capitol Records tower, Petersen Automotive Museum, the Sports Arena and Cinerama.
These early examples of the Craftsman style Apartment buildings were originally located at Los Angeles Pacific Railway right of way, which connected Santa Monica to points south and east.
Listed National Register of Historic Places. During the first third of the 20th century, the work of American architect Irving Gill redefined the architectural landscape of Southern California. Gill used concrete and hollow tile to create an inexpensive tilt-wall construction system, which allowed him to modify the existing California mission style into a simplified modern style. Gill was a tireless designer of small-scale, low-cost housing projects.
This structure of merit is an intact example of American Foursquare style.
The American Foursquare (a.k.a. the Prairie Box) was a post-Victorian style common in the early 20th century. Its boxy shape provided roomy interiors for homes on small city lots.
Shotgun houses were typically used as low-cost housing after the Civil War through the 1920s. Each room in this narrow one-story dwelling without halls is placed behind the other in single file. The style got its name because if a shotgun fired through the front door, the shot would pass through the lined-up doors of each room and out the back door.
The Rotating Beacon Tower represents one of the earliest navigational tools used in night flying. In the early air mail days of 1923, the U.S. Postal Service worked to complete a transcontinental airway of beacons on towers spaced 15 to 25 miles apart, each with enough brightness to be seen for 40 miles in clear weather. By June 1927, 4,121 miles of airways had lights. By 1933, 18,000 miles of airway and 1,500 beacons were in place. This tower was part of the Los Angeles national airway system and was moved from its original installation in Downey in 1952.
Next week, we finish with Ocean Park. (For your real estate needs, , or call (310) 309-4219).
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 4, 2004. Read the original PDF.