SR-406-006 (2)
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City Council Meeting 12-5-00 Santa Monica, California
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Staff
SUBJECT: Ordinance Adding Section 9.36.300 to the Santa Monica Municipal Code to
Designate as an Historic District the Properties Located at 137, 141, 145 and
147 Bay Street
Introduction
At its meeting on November 28, 2000, the City Council introduced for first reading an
ordinance adding Section 9.36.300 to the Municipal Code to designate as an Historic
District the properties located at 137, 141, 145 and 147 Bay Street. The ordinance is now
presented to the City Council for adoption.
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Council adopt the attached ordinance.
PREPARED BY: Marsha Jones Moutrie, City Attorney
Barry Rosenbaum, Senior Land Use Attorney
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City Council Meeting 12-05-00 Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER ____ (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
ADDING SECTION 9.36.300 TO THE SANTA MONICA MUNICIPAL CODE TO
DESIGNATE AS AN HISTORIC DISTRICT THE PROPERTIES LOCATED AT
137, 141, 145, AND 147 BAY STREET
WHEREAS, on July 24, 2000, two Santa Monica residents filed a Landmarks
application for the properties located at 137, 141, 145, and 147 Bay Street (the Bay
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Craftsman Cluster); and
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WHEREAS, the Director of Planning conducted a preliminary evaluation of the
proposed designation and recommended to the Landmarks Commission that the
application merits formal consideration and that because the buildings are located on
multiple parcels, the application should be considered as an application for a historic
district;
WHEREAS, on August 14, 2000, the Landmarks Commission unanimously voted
that the Historic District application merited formal consideration; and
WHEREAS, the Landmarks Commission conducted a public hearing on the Historic
District application on September 11, 2000, and recommended designation of these
properties as a Historic District to the City Council; and
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WHEREAS, the City Council received the recommendation of the Landmarks
Commission on October 26, 2000; and
WHEREAS, on November 28, 2000, the City Council conducted a public hearing on
the Historic District application,
NOW THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 9.36.300 is added to the Santa Monica Municipal Code to
read as follows:
The Bay Craftsman Cluster
SECTION 9.36.300.
Historic District.
(a) The City Council has reviewed and considered
the Historic District Application for the four buildings located at
137, 141, 145, and 147 Bay Street (hereinafter “The Bay
Street Cluster”), and has reviewed and considered the
recommendation on the application transmitted from the
Landmarks Commission.
(b) The City Council finds and declares that:
(1) The Bay Street Cluster exemplify, symbolize, and
manifest elements of the cultural, social, economic, political, or
architectural history of the City in that:
(A) The Bay Street Cluster are intact representations of
Craftsman architecture style. Craftsman architecture was
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developed in Southern California, and this prototype complex
provides an early, intact example of this style of architecture in
the two-story, multi-family format. These structures exemplify
classic Craftsman characteristics such as low-pitched
overhanging roofs with wide eaves, extended rafters, tripartite
windows, and sleeping porches.
(B) The location of the Bay Street Cluster adjacent to
the old Pacific Electric railway line is significant from a cultural
and social perspective as it provides a link to the Citys original
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development of Ocean Park, and particularly Main Street as a
new commercial area. Neilson Way was originally the Pacific
Electric right-of-way known as the Trolley way, and became a
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vehicular street in the 1930s. When the Pacific Electric street
railway was linked between Los Angeles and Ocean Park in
1896, summer vacationers and weekend fun seekers were
able to travel from the city to the coast in only 40 minutes.
This new transportation mode spurred growth in the area as it
drew more visitors and crowds. Hotels and rooming houses
sprang up to accommodate the weekend onslaught. Beach
cottages, or small houses that were simply constructed, were
built both speculatively for the tourist trade, and by individual
families for occasional use.
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(C) By the close of the 1910s, a substantial portion of
Ocean Park had been improved. The 1920s and 1930s gave
rise to a near-complete buildout of the area. This pattern of
development has continued in the post World War II era, with
the result that Ocean Park is characterized by a multi-layered
historical legacy in terms of the ages, styles, and building
types it contains. The Bay Cluster exemplifies typical Ocean
Park development during the earliest portion of the twentieth
century.
(2) The Bay Street Cluster has aesthetic or artistic
interest or value, or other noteworthy interest or value in that:
(A) These buildings retain a high integrity of design,
materials, workmanship, and setting. The Craftsman
architectural style is characterized by rustic-textured building
materials, board roof overhangs with exposed rafter tails at the
eaves, and extensive pergolas and trellises over porches.
(B) The two-story Craftsman fourplexes at the corner of
Bay Street and Neilson Way (137 and 141 Bay Street) feature
front-gabled apartments that are oriented end-to-end.
Articulated bargeboards, or boards attached to the projecting
end of the gable roof, outline the shingled buildings.
Horizontal slat vents are also located in the gable ends. A
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smaller gable, similarly pitched and detailed, covers an entry
on the first floor of the southern elevation. Tripartite windows
are visible on the lower story along the side elevations and
above the entry gable on the south elevation. A continuous
wood-railed balcony is attached to the west elevation where a
series of glazed doors, double-hung sash windows, and
tripartite openings also appear.
(C) The two buildings at 145 and 147 Bay Street are
also intact examples of a Craftsman fourplex. Each of the
buildings is two stories, capped by a front, low-pitched gable
roof. Three gables face forward (south), one over each
projecting bay at the ends of the building, and one over the
buildings center bay. Extended bargeboards and exposed
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beams and rafters characterize the Craftsman roof-styling.
Three doors are located in the recessed central bay. Tripartite
windows filter bands of square light across the top and nearly
fill the side bays on both stories, and wrap the corners onto the
side elevations. Other than the siding material which appears
to simulate brick, the fourplex remains substantially unaltered.
(3) The Bay Street Cluster embodies distinguishing
architectural characteristics valuable to a study of a period,
style, method of construction, or the use of indigenous
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materials or craftsmanship, or is a unique or rare example of
an architectural design, detail, or historical type to such a
study in that the early Craftsman design and high degree of
integrity remaining in these structures makes these buildings a
rare example of the Craftsman period and style. The buildings
exist as an intact representative of circa 1910 Craftsman
architecture which had its genesis in Southern California. As
more fully described in subdivisions (1) and (2) above of this
subsection (b), these 1910 buildings retain most of their
original components with the exception of what appears to be
some simulated brickwork siding.
(4) The Bay Street Cluster has a unique location, a
singular physical characteristic, or is an established and
familiar visual feature of a neighborhood, community or the
City in that these buildings have a unique location on the north
side of Bay Street between Neilson Way and Main Street.
They exist as a mostly intact block face in a neighborhood that
is highly fragmented in terms of age and building styles. As
most other buildings of this era have been replaced, the
buildings have become an established visual feature of the
neighborhood that represents turn of the century Ocean Park.
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(5) The Bay Street Cluster reflects significant
geographical patterns, including those associated with
different eras of settlement and growth, particular
transportation modes, or distinctive examples of park or
community planning. These buildings are located on the north
side of Bay Street between Neilson Way and Bay Street.
Neilson Way was originally the Pacific Electric right-of-way
known as the Trolley way. It became a vehicular street in the
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1930s. The tracks, which connected Santa Monica to the rest
of the region, were a major stimulus for the development of the
City and the Ocean Park area. In addition to its proximity to
transportation, these structures were close to both the beach
and the retail area on Main Street. This remains a desirable
location to this day.
(c) Pursuant to Santa Monica Municipal Code Sections
9.36.130 and 9.36.140, until such time as an ordinance is
adopted that specifies the nature of any alteration, restoration,
construction, removal, relocation, or demolition of or to a
building or structure within the Historic District that can occur
without prior approval of a Certificate of Appropriateness, any
such work must obtain approval of a Certificate of
Appropriateness or Certificate of Economic Hardship by the
Landmarks Commission.
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SECTION 2. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal Code or appendices
thereto inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance, to the extent of such
inconsistencies and no further, is hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary to
effect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 3. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this
Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of any court
of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining
portions of this Ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed
this Ordinance and each and every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not
declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether any portion of the ordinance
would be subsequently declared invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 4. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall attest to the passage of
this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall cause the same to be published once in the official
newspaper within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall become effective 30
days from its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
_________________________
MARSHA JONES MOUTRIE
City Attorney
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