memorandum - santa monica · 1/14/2008 · 233 wilshire boulevard, suite 130, santa monica, ca...

233 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 130, Santa Monica, CA 90401 INTERNET www.pcrnet.com TEL 310.451.4488 FAX 310.451.5279

Memorandum TO: Roxanne Tanemori, City of Santa Monica DATE: JANUARY 8, 2008 CC: FROM: Peter Moruzzi, Architectural Historian RE: Supplemental Information: John M. Cooper, architect; Wilshire Theatre character

defining features As requested by City staff, PCR Services Corporation (PCR) has prepared supplemental information to the “Landmark Assessment and Evaluation Report” of September 2007 for the Wilshire Theatre located at 1314 Wilshire Boulevard. Specifically, the current report provides additional information regarding the career of the building’s architect John M. Cooper and a list of character-defining features of the subject property. This report was prepared by PCR architectural historian Peter Moruzzi.

JOHN M. COOPER

Current research reveals that the architect of the Wilshire Theatre, John Montgomery Cooper (1883-1950) was born in Dayton, Ohio and graduated from Yale University. Following his studies, Cooper worked on the Panama Canal as an engineer prior to his arrival in Los Angeles in 1910. Cooper received his architectural license on July 17, 1913 and opened a practice in Long Beach, California, partnering with architect Frank H. Webster. In 1919, the Cooper/Webster partnership was dissolved and Cooper established his own practice – The John M. Cooper Company – which was a combination architectural firm and general contracting business. The company operated for a time out of the Marsh-Strong Building in Downtown Los Angeles. In the 1920s, display advertisements for Cooper’s firm stressed “Undivided Responsibility” as the key benefit of commissioning an architect/contractor.

Similar to many hard-working architects of the decades between the World Wars practicing in the Los Angeles region, John M. Cooper was proficient in numerous building types and architectural styles. During his career Cooper designed (and often built) retail stores, industrial warehouses and factories, office buildings, theatres, hotels, religious buildings, civic buildings, educational institutions, and occasionally single-family residences (see table on page 4). As relates to architectural styles, Cooper produced buildings that were reflective of the Mediterranean Revival (Hotel Knickerbocker addition, Bakersfield’s Padre Hotel), Art Deco (Roxie and Wilshire Theatres), commercial vernacular (San Diego Wholesale Terminal Market, Angelus Furniture Company), utilitarian (Angelus Furniture Company annex) and Moderne (Pepperdine College).

In evaluating the significance of Cooper’s body of work it appears that the breadth and quality of his designs over many decades suggests that he would be considered a notable architect and builder. Key examples of Cooper’s designs (where he also served as contractor, in most cases) validating this

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RE: SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION: JOHN M. COOPER, ARCHITECT; WILSHIRE THEATRE

PCR Services Corporation January 8, 2008

conclusion include the Angelus Furniture Company Building (3650 E. Olympic Blvd. prior to its recent exterior alterations) for its monumentality as a large vernacular commercial factory building; Bakersfield’s magnificent Mediterranean Revival style Padre Hotel with its elements of the Churrigueresque; the soaring 12-story Mediterranean Revival addition to Hollywood’s Knickerbocker Hotel; the Roxie Theatre and Wilshire Theatre (the subject property), which are excellent examples of the Art Deco style; and the highly representative Moderne style buildings associated with the original George Pepperdine College in central Los Angeles. (See the appendix for published articles illustrating many of these buildings). Given these examples, Cooper should be recognized as a master architect and builder.

John M. Cooper died in 1950 at the age of 66 at his 523 North Bedford Drive home in Beverly Hills.

WILSHIRE THEATRE CHARACTER DEFINING FEATURES

In addition to the overall height, massing, footprint, and spatial relationships of the subject property that defines it as a motion picture theatre from the early 1930s, there are a number of character defining features visible on the building’s primary (north) elevation that are enumerated below.

• Art Deco design:

o Symmetrical arrangement

o Soaring verticality of the stepped center parapet with its…

narrow pilasters

recessed vertical channels crowned by inverted chevrons

o Narrow recessed rectangles (originally with multipane windows) containing stylized cascading water motifs that rise to the parapet centering the east and west bays

• The Wilshire Theatre’s deep center entrance area from the sidewalk to the existing foyer entrance doors is a character-defining feature of an Art Deco style movie theatre from the early 1930s

• The theatre entrance area’s patterned poured terrazzo floor, including its current slope (a typical feature of movie theatres from this time period)

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• Storefronts flanking the center foyer (typical of theatres of the time period)

o Recessed entrance areas (visible in the 1938 photograph)

o Transom openings above the storefront plate glass windows (though hidden behind jewelry store sign board and covered with stucco sheathing in both cases)

• Marquee (with its current lettering, neon tubing, fluorescent lit signboard, and numerous round down lights)

• Movie bill display cases (not necessarily these specific 1960s era display cases but the existence of display cases is character-defining because photographs as early as 1938 depict movie bill display cases attached to the pilasters on either side of the entrance foyer).

As relates to the marquee, historic photographs reveal that the original Art Deco style marquee was replaced by the existing Streamline Moderne style marquee some time after 1938, and, based upon its design, most likely prior to 1948. The Streamline Moderne (also known as Art Moderne) style was popular primarily during the mid- to late-1930s when the industrial design profession became increasingly influential in determining the direction of product design. In particular, industrial designers were applying the results of tests involving wind resistance (airstreams) to ocean liners, trains, airplanes, and automobiles by “streamlining” these conveyances with smooth surfaces and curved edges. Soon the new streamlined look was applied to stationary objects such as refrigerators, pencil sharpeners, buildings, and, in the case of the Wilshire Theatre, marquees. In architecture, the style became known as Streamline Moderne and was characterized by smooth surfaces; flat roofs; curved corners (often with windows that curve around corners); horizontal grooves and balustrades; asymmetrical facades; use of glass block; round windows; curved cantilevered canopies; and an overall horizontal emphasis to the design.

The character-defining Streamline Moderne features of the Wilshire Theatre’s marquee include its horizontal banding; curved edges; and the raised, stepped, curved center portion that culminates in a forward curving element over the neon. The “Wilshire” typeface, while not Streamlined in its design, nonetheless appears to be of the time period.

In assessing the significance of the non-original architectural elements added to the building over time, the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation (the Standards) states that those changes that have acquired historic significance in their own right shall be retained and preserved. In applying this aspect of the Standards, consideration must be given to the compatibility of the additions with the original design and the amount of time that has passed since the modifications were made. Given that the Wilshire Theatre’s recessed entrance area’s terrazzo floor and marquee

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are consistent with the overall design, materials, workmanship, and feeling of the original theatre and appear to have been added prior to 1950, the 50+ intervening years has imbued these alterations with a level of significance sufficient to making them character-defining.

However, there are a number of alterations to the building’s façade that apparently occurred in the 1960s that have not acquired significance due to incompatibility of design with the original theatre and their poor quality of materials and workmanship. Specifically:

• Ticket booth

• Off-white aggregate terrazzo tile cladding applied to exterior surfaces such as pilasters, storefront surrounds, and bulkheads

• Mosaic tile (now painted) surrounding the movie bill display cases

• The 1960s era movie bill display cases (located east and west of the theatre’s main recessed entrance area on the north elevation and the display cases located on the east side of the recessed entrance area)

• Aluminum framed storefront windows and store entrance doors

As relates to the significance of the recessed entrance area it is important, when considering any future use, that its current depth be maintained as a key character-defining feature of movie theatres of the 1930s. Reducing the original depth would significantly alter the spatial relationships of the building as viewed from the street or sidewalk, detracting from its appearance as a 1930s era motion picture theatre. In addition, to alter the slope of the entrance foyer would most likely severely damage or destroy the patterned poured terrazzo floor that has gained significance over time. This should be avoided.


Table 1

Partial List of Buildings by John M. Cooper


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Architectural Digest, “Residence at 231 S. Plymouth Blvd.,” 1924, p.35. Architectural Digest, “Residence at 316 S. Lorraine,” 1924, p.37. City of Santa Monica Building and Safety Department. Building Permits.

City of Santa Monica. Historic Resources Inventory: Phase 3, prepared by Leslie Heumann and Associates, May 1994.

City of Santa Monica. Historic Resources Inventory Update, prepared by Parkinson Field

Associates, September 1995. Gebhard, David and Robert Winter. Architecture in Los Angeles. Salt Lake City, Utah: Gibbs

Smith Books, 2003. Los Angeles County Tax Assessor.

Los Angeles Public Library, California Index. Los Angeles Times, “Home Builders Are Active,” September 3, 1916. p.V1. Los Angeles Times, “New Factory,” December 28, 1919. p.V1. Los Angeles Times, “Progress in Industry,” March 28, 1926. p.E11. Los Angeles Times, “Doctors Propose Building,” April 18, 1926. p.E9. Los Angeles Times, “Auto Building Finished,” September 26, 1926. p.E9. Los Angeles Times, “Tidelands Market Terminal Which Will Cost $300,000,” March 20, 1927.

p.E12. Los Angeles Times, “Plant Erection Begins,” July 8, 1927. p.A10. Los Angeles Times, “Bakersfield Project Started,” August 21, 1927. p.E5. Los Angeles Times, “Display Ad 106 – No Title,” January 29, 1928. p.F9.

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Los Angeles Times, “Contract Given for Furnishing of Apartments,” March 17, 1929. p.E4. Los Angeles Times, “Trucking Firm Builds,” August 25, 1929. p.E8. Los Angeles Times, “Furniture Firm Builds,” October 20, 1929. p.D5. Los Angeles Times, “Industrial Expansion Announced,” January 5, 1930. p.D2. Los Angeles Times, “Theater Work to Start,” July 27, 1930. p.D1. Los Angeles Times, “Downtown Theatre to be Erected,” June 21, 1931. p.V1. Los Angeles Times, “Interim Postal Plant to Rise,” February 12, 1937. p.A1. Los Angeles Times, “Structures Will Rise for Extensive New College Here,” May 23, 1937. p.F1. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, City of Santa Monica.

Santa Monica Public Library, Santa Monica Index. Santa Monica Public Library Image Archives. Southwest Builder & Contractor, “Plans for synagogue in Boyle Heights,” February 13, 1920, p.13. Southwest Builder & Contractor, “Plans for a 2-story brick building,” July 23, 1920, p.12. Southwest Builder & Contractor, “Plans for a building for F.L. Dickinson,” July 23, 1920, p.13. Southwest Builder & Contractor, “Prepares Plans for San Bernardino City Hall,” December 26,

1930, p.59. Southwest Builder & Contractor, “Plans for Wilshire Theatre, Santa Monica,” August 1, 1930, p.52. Storrs, Les. Santa Monica, Portrait of a City, 1875-1975. Santa Monica: Santa Monica Bank, 1874.

Warren, Charles S. ed. History of the Santa Monica Bay Region. Santa Monica: Cawston, 1934.

White, Col. Carl F. ed. Santa Monica Community Book (Fifth Edition). Santa Monica: Cawston,

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1953.


MISCELLANEOUS ATTACHMENTS

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES


NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Source: Los Angeles Times, September 3, 1916. p.V1


NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Source: Los Angeles Times, March 28, 1926. p.E11


NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Source: Los Angeles Times, March 20, 1927. p.E12


NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Source: Los Angeles Times, August 21, 1927. p.E5


NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Source: Los Angeles Times, January 29, 1928. p.F9


NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Source: Los Angeles Times, July 27, 1930. p.D1


NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Source: Los Angeles Times, June 21, 1931. p.D1


NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Source: Los Angeles Times, May 23, 1937. p.F1

memorandum - santa monica · 1/14/2008 · 233 wilshire boulevard, suite 130, santa monica, ca...

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