It’s crunch time for Council and Christie’s
OCEAN PARK — It’s crunch time for City Council and a 1924 courtyard apartment complex, whose tenants are hoping for a last-minute reprieve from the demolition ball.
The Santa Monica City Council is set to decide on Tuesday whether the Christie Courtyard, a Mission Revival-style apartment building at 125 Pacific St., is worth saving and should be spared demolition in order to preserve its historical qualities, or be razed to the ground so the owner can build a condominium complex.
If elected officials do decide to dedicate the building as a historic landmark, a lawsuit levied by the property owner, 125 Pacific St. LLC., seems likely. Anticipating such a move, the City Council is expected to meet behind closed doors on Tuesday, just hours before it will discuss the landmark designation during the public meeting.
City Attorney Marsha Moutrie said topics discussed behind closed doors generally focus on the legal aspects of pending council decisions.
“Either there has been a threat of litigation, or we think there is a significant risk of litigation if a decision is made in a particular way,” Moutrie said.
Attorneys for the property owner did not return calls to comment.
Meanwhile, tenants living at Christie’s said they are dismayed their home may not be theirs much longer.
Matteson Barcklay moved to Christie’s in 2001, but had to leave shortly afterward due to the loss of a job. She subsequently lived with relatives in three different states, always intending to return, which she did in September.
“It’s the only place I wanted to come back to,” said Barcklay, who managed to secure the same Christie’s apartment she previously vacated. “I can’t explain to you the energy and feeling this place has.”
Christie’s was once adjacent to the Pacific Electric Railway and has been a stopping ground for artists, tourists and mid-level professionals for more than 80 years.
The bungalow complex includes two single-story buildings, each containing eight attached units that face a common grass courtyard. A two-story building with four units on each floor closes a “U” that connects the two one-story buildings on the north side of the lot.
A staff report describes the courtyard as modest in scale, surrounded by wood-frame construction, stucco siding, flat roofs and parapets highlighted with an edge of red clay tile. Concrete sidewalks border the courtyard, and two rows of planters containing agaves, yucca trees and bougainvillea are adjacent to the front entrance steps.
To be designated a landmark, a site must meet one of six criteria established by City Hall. Randy Davidson, a Christie’s resident of five years, said Christie’s falls under three of them. In a 10-page report he prepared for the City Council, Davidson relates Christie’s to the architectural, economic and social history of the Ocean Park area, aspects that make it worth saving, he said.
Davidson’s report is a follow-up to a 43-page survey he and other residents wrote which compares Christie’s to 18 courtyard sites in the Ocean Park area. Contrary to the city staff report, the survey contends there are not many “superior examples” of the Mission Revival style. The survey said many of the “courtyards” are more like walkways or lack the ambiance of Christie’s. The survey argues City Hall’s historical inventory, used to account for unique old buildings, is flawed.
In addition, Davidson has included with his submissions a petition signed by 180 individuals and 15 letters of support requesting the council preserve Christie’s. Written by former tenants and community members, the list of notable letter-writers include artists and old-timers, many describing the community spirit they felt while living at 125 Pacific St.
“Anyone who walks, bikes or drives along Neilson Way recognizes this building as an ‘established visual feature,’” wrote Santa Monica resident Laurel Roennau. “It is as familiar and comfortable as an old friend.
“The social interaction generated by the courtyard design has played, and continues to play, a major role in shaping the fabric of Santa Monica.”
“The social interaction generated by the courtyard design has played, and continues to play, a major role in shaping the fabric of Santa Monica.” — LAUREL ROENNAU Former Christie’s tenant
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 21, 2005. Read the original PDF.