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HomeMy WebLinkAbout415 S Palm Canyon_Presentation_20240903The Merrill Lynch Building 415 S. Palm Canyon Case HSPB #160 Historic Site Designation – Class 1 Landmark September 3, 2024 PLANNING SERVICES DEPARTMENT Project Site & Context PLANNING SERVICES DEPARTMENT Proposed Review •Historic Site Designation (Section 8.05.070) • Property address: 415 S. Palm Canyon (APN #513-213-001) •Zone District: Central Business District (CBD) PLANNING SERVICES DEPARTMENT Site Conditions Currently the Eisenhower Health Center, East Elevation, 2024 North Elevation, 2024 Column and exterior lighting details, 2024 PLANNING SERVICES DEPARTMENT Historic Photographs Steel-frame structure during construction, 1970s Source: Palm Springs Historical Society Building after completion, 1971 Source: “Steel and Shade: The Architecture of Donald Wexler” Municipal Code Section 8.05.070.C.1.a Criteria for the Designation of Class 1 Historic Resources The site, structure, building or object exhibits exceptional historic significance and meets one or more of the criteria listed below: Criterion i: The resource is associated with events that have made a meaningful contribution to the nation, state or community; Criterion ii: The resource is associated with the lives of persons who made a meaningful contribution to national, state or local history; Criterion iii: The resource reflects or exemplifies a particular period of national, state or local history; Criterion iv: The resource embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction; Criterion v: The resource presents the work of a master builder, designer, artist, or architect whose individual genius influenced his age, or that possesses high artistic value; Criterion vi: The resource represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction, as used in evaluating applications for designation of historic districts, for parcels on which more than one entity exists; or Criterion vii: The resource has yielded or may be likely to yield information important to national, state or local history or prehistory. Criteria for Historic Designation Municipal Code Section 8.05.070.C.1.b Analysis of Integrity • Location • Design • Setting • Materials • Workmanship • Feeling • Association PLANNING SERVICES DEPARTMENT Criteria for Historic Designation Character Defining Features: •Monumental, flat-roofed two-story structure inspired by a more Classical style of architecture that includes freestanding columns in the front of the building, supporting a colonnade, with engaged columns surrounding the structure on the sides and back. •Squared, white-painted plaster columns with vertical “U”-shaped brushed aluminum decorative channels. •Wide, white-painted plaster fascia emulating a simplified entablature. The fascia is embellished with vertical “U”-shaped brushed aluminum channels, in line with the same vertical channels in the columns directly below. •Recessed lighting and anodized bronze can downlights on the ceiling of the colonnade. •Tan split-faced block walls and podium. •Concrete paving with tiles arranged in a geometric pattern at the building entrances. •Solar glass panels and clerestories. •Four existing California fan palms (Washingtonia filifera) from the Ruth Hardy plan down Palm Canyon Drive. •Concrete-curbed planting beds in the rear parking lot. •Tan split-faced block walls enclose the property. PLANNING SERVICES DEPARTMENT Criteria for Historic Designation Non-contributing Elements: •Bronze anodized aluminum and bronze-tinted solar glass entry doors, which replaced the Ackerman Panelcarve doors and transom. •Large-scale bronze wall sculpture by artist Abbott Pattison, previously hung on the wall of the Spa Hotel. •Replacement tiles embedded in the concrete of the podium surface. •Handrails on the main stairs leading to the front entrance. •Existing desert landscape design. PLANNING SERVICES DEPARTMENT Bronze Wall Sculpture by Abbott Pattison Conclusion Based on the Historic Resources Report (HRR) and the evidence gathered during the site visit, staff finds the property at 415 S. Palm Canyon meets criterion 3 and 5 for historic designation and all of the integrity findings listed in Section 8.05.070.C.1.b, therefore, recommends Class 1 (Landmark) designation. Recommendation Staff recommends HSPB adopt Resolution #160 and recommend Class 1 (Landmark) designation of “The Merrill Lynch Building” (415 S. Palm Canyon) to City Council. PLANNING SERVICES DEPARTMENT Owners’ Position The current owner submitted the request for historic designation of this commercial site.