By Bea Nemlaha Santa Monica
On Nov. 12, the city’s Landmarks Commission may well approve construction of one or two new, two-story Modernist recti-linear buildings in Santa Monica’s Third Street Neighborhood Historic District. Owners of one of the five signature bungalows on the uphill side of Third Street — the heart of the district — want to shove canti-levered glass and stucco boxes behind the old bungalow. The city has already given permission to move the bungalow forward on the lot to make room for the boxes. A proposed Second Street box has an unattractive jagged, sawtooth roof, unlike anything else in the district.
The district was created in 1990 at the request of its residents to preserve its modest, turn-of-the-century bungalows. Residents expect the Landmarks Commission to protect the district and its character. They unanimously oppose the Third Street cantilever. Most oppose the Second Street sawtooth. But these days it appears that the Landmarks Commission has abandoned its responsibility to preserve and protect and may let people build pretty much anything they want in the district.
So you have to ask: “What’s the point of having a historic district?”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 8, 2007. Read the original PDF.