California State Historical Resources Commission To Consider Twenty-Two Properties for Action
Sacramento, CA – August 5, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — This week, the California State Historical Resources Commission will consider nineteen nominations for federal historic designation, and three nominations for state historic designation. Nominations and photographs of properties under consideration are available at http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=24368.
The Commission will meet Friday, August 7, 2015, at 9:00 a.m. in the Historic Hearing Room at Historic City Hall, 915 I Street, 2nd Floor, Sacramento, California.
National Register of Historic Places nominations scheduled for action include:
Architecture of Albert Frey Multiple Property Submission (MPS)
Mecca and Palm Springs Riverside County
The MPS documents the evolution of Frey’s work from formal abstract European modernism to a new, indigenous desert modernism specific to the Coachella Valley. Frey’s buildings, both before and after World War II, were important contributors to placing Palm Springs on the map as a new frontier for the modern movement. At this time, ten buildings are nominated in association with the MPS under the context “Desert modern design in the Coachella Valley, 1934-1965.”
Calaveritas Creek Bridge Calaveritas Calaveras County
Constructed by Calaveras County in 1928, the bridge embodies the distinctive characteristics of a polygonal top chord Warren pony truss bridge, a rare specific bridge type in California.
Carey House (Frey MPS) Palm Springs Riverside County
A single family residence constructed in 1956 reflects Albert Frey’s desert modern design philosophy by appearing to float above its sloped and boulder strewn desert landscape. Physical features include deep overhangs, asbestos concrete board cladding, and slender steel pilotis. The design rejects applied ornamentation and historical references.
Daniel Webster Harrier House Vallejo Solano County
Constructed in 1870 and significant for its association with prominent Vallejo businessman Daniel Webster Harrier, the house also exemplifies the slanted-bay Italianate townhouse, a popular late-Nineteenth Century style in many towns and cities of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Dielmann House Redwood City San Mateo County
Built circa 1892 by a German immigrant baker named John Dielmann, and to save it from demolition, the house was moved to its site adjacent to the Offerman House in 1978. Rehabilitated to accommodate a restaurant and attic residential unit, it remains one of the best-preserved Queen Anne-style cottages in Redwood City and one of only a handful of Victorian-era dwellings left in the city center.
Fire Station 1 (Frey MPS) Palm Springs Riverside County
Constructed in 1955 of terracotta-colored concrete block construction, the station consists of a low horizontal administrative wing and a taller garage containing two fire engines. The eaves, ceiling, fascia, and entrance are all painted the sage green color associated with Albert Frey. The entire composition is compact, efficient, and elegant.
Frey House II (Frey MPS) Palm Springs Riverside County
After 25 years of looking up at Mount San Jacinto, Frey decided he would live there and look down. After five years to find the right parcel, in 1964 Frey completed his second home at 220 feet above Palm Springs, a house that exemplifies Frey’s design philosophy that a building should meld into its desert environment.
Judson and Brown Ditch Redlands San Bernardino County
The northernmost 1.6 miles of a larger 5-mile irrigation system built in 1881 that allowed Redlands’ development in the otherwise arid San Bernardino Valley. This first example of a paved canal in southern California was an innovative and unprecedented idea that proved to be a model worth replicating by neighboring cities.
Kocher-Samson Building (Frey MPS) Palm Springs Riverside County
Important and unique among Frey’s commercial buildings in that it was his first completed project in Palm Springs. Based on the International Style designs that Frey brought from Europe and New York, it does not exhibit the typical architectural features that later came to define Frey’s work after World War II.
LCS-102 Vallejo Solano County
A United States Navy Landing Craft, Support (Large)(Mark 3), a shallow draft steel gunboat intended to provide close-in fire support for amphibious landings in the Pacific during World War II. This craft, nicknamed “Yankee Dollar,” was completed in February 1945 and served as an anti-aircraft picket during the invasion of Okinawa, in Nagasaki shortly after the Japanese surrender, and in China after the war clearing mines from Chinese rivers.
Loewy House (Frey MPS) Palm Springs Riverside County
The house was designed by Frey in 1946 to take advantage of an extensive boulder pile on the site. A large boulder and a portion of the swimming pool at the entrance to the living room serve to dramatically blur the distinction between outside and inside. Panels of translucent and clear glass enclose a curved dining room at the east end of the swimming pool.
North Shore Yacht Club (Frey MPS) Mecca Riverside County
Constructed in 1958 on the north shore of the Salton Sea at the far eastern end of the Coachella Valley, the two-story building is evocative of a ship with its curved prow, tall central mast, and porthole windows facing the water. After falling into substantial disrepair in the 1990s, the building experienced an extensive rehabilitation and reopened to the public in 2010.
National Farm Workers’ Association Headquarters
Delano Kern County
The first official headquarters of the National Farm Workers’ Association, led by Cesar Chavez, during its formative years, until the union moved to larger quarters at 40 Acres. This building was the starting point of NFWA’s march from Delano to Sacramento in 1966.
Offerman House Redwood City San Mateo County
A well-preserved example of a Folk Greek Revival-style dwelling, built circa 1857 and remodeled and enlarged in the 1870s, reflecting Redwood City’s evolution into a thriving commercial community. One of only two buildings in the city that survive from the city’s earliest period as a pioneer lumber port, the John Offerman House was named for the locally prominent family that owned it from 1889 to 1973.
Palm Springs City Hall (Frey MPS) Palm Springs Riverside County
One of Clark, Frey and Chambers’ most important public buildings, constructed between 1952 and 1956. The one-story flat-roofed building is divided into two distinct sections, a symmetrical office portion with a wing extending from the rear of the main entrance, and a large council chamber that projects outward toward Tahquitz Canyon Way.
Palm Springs Tramway Valley Station (Frey MPS)
Palm Springs Riverside County
The station was designed by Albert Frey in collaboration with Robson Chambers using a New England style covered bridge as its inspiration. Completed in 1963, the building is a structural truss design of steel frame construction capped by a shed roof. Glass between the trusses provides spectacular views looking up the mountain.
Sieroty House (Frey MPS) Palm Springs Riverside County
Constructed in1941, this house was one of the earliest residential commissions Frey received after settling permanently in the desert a few years earlier. The dwelling’s flat roof, deep overhangs, pipe post supports, open carport, large expanses of fixed glazing, and sliding glass doors are elements that appeared throughout his architectural career.
Town & Country Center Palm Springs Riverside County
An outdoor shopping center with central courtyard designed in the International Style and constructed in 1948. Located in the heart of downtown Palm Springs, four original buildings were designed by Paul R. Williams and A. Quincy Jones. A fifth building designed by Donald Wexler was constructed in 1955.
Tramway Gas Station (Frey MPS) Palm Springs Riverside County
A one-story former gasoline service station rehabilitated for use as the Palm Springs Visitors Center. The soaring parabolic corrugated metal roof is a design element never repeated by Frey, and the 1965 building serves as a landmark at the edge of the desert.
California Register of Historical Resources nominations scheduled for action include:
Harry Stewart House Ione Amador County
A folk Victorian home built in 1863 by Henry Clay and Asenath L King. In 1890 it was purchased by Harry Stewart, who expanded and remodeled the 1865 home. The Stewarts, a prominent Ione business family, lived in the house until 1955. The building was relocated in 2011 to prevent its demolition.
Hoxie-Vance Cabin Idyllwild Riverside County
A single-story cabin originally constructed in 1923 with strong elements of Prairie School architecture, the original shingles were replaced with peeled half-logs in 1951. The property is associated with the first wave of speculative development in Idyllwild, a mountain resort, during the 1920s. The Great Depression cut short Idyllwild’s growth and the cabin is one of the few remaining examples of this era.
Prescott Allen House Tustin Orange County
A one and one-half story Craftsman bungalow with a side-gabled roof and a prominent gabled dormer above a porch supported by river rock battered piers, the building was originally located in Santa Ana before relocation in 1981 to Tustin, in order to save the building from demolition as part of Santa Ana’s growing commercial district.
RESOLUTIONS
Carol Roland-Nawi, California State Historic Preservation Officer 2012-2015
Gabrielle Gallo-Rodriguez, Tara Smith, and Gabrielle Flanders, 2015 National History Day in California Special Award Recipients (Junior Group Performance)
Rafael Ibarra, Chloe Esparza, and Cameron Quijada, 2015 National History Day in California Special Award Recipients (Junior Group Documentary)
The public may present oral statements at the hearing at the appropriate time. Written comments about any subject on the agenda may be submitted to Julianne Polanco, State Historic Preservation Officer, Office of Historic Preservation, Post Office Box 942896, Sacramento, California 94296-0001. Inquiries may be directed to Recording Secretary Twila Willis-Hunter by phone at (916) 445-7052, by fax at (916) 445-7053 or by mail to the State Historical Resources Commission, Post Office Box 942896, Sacramento, California 94296-0001. Notices and agendas for the Commission’s workshop and meeting are available at ten days before the meeting.
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Contact:
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