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HomeMy WebLinkAbout23292 RESOLUTION NO. 23292 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA, DESIGNATING A SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE AND ACCESSORY STRUCTURES LOCATED AT 1320 TAMARISK AS A CLASS 1 HISTORIC SITE (HSPB 87). WHEREAS, in 1937, the General Houses Inc. Palm Springs Model Home was constructed as designed by the architectural firm of Howard T. Fisher on a flat lot mid- block on East Tamarisk Road between North Hermosa Drive and Paseo de Anza; and WHEREAS, the General Houses Inc, Palm Springs Model Home was the earliest pre- fabricated modular steel home to be constructed in Palm Springs and because it is almost completely intact, save for minor interior alterations; and WHEREAS, the defining characteristics of this pioneering prefabricated steel home include: • Design, proportion and materials; • Metal post and beam panelized construction; • Overall feeling of a low-slung, linear, single-story residence; • Streamline Moderne style; • Metal-framed ribbon and corner windows; and • Smooth wall finishes, rounded corners and flat roof WHEREAS, Chapter 8.05 of the Palm Springs Municipal Code allows for the designation of historic sites; and WHEREAS, the property owner, Eric Ellenbogen, with the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation, has submitted an application for Historic Site Designation for the subject property; and WHEREAS, notice of a public hearing of the Historic Site Preservation Board of the City of Palm Springs to consider designation of the property at 1320 Tamarisk Road, as a historic site was issued in accordance with applicable law; and WHEREAS, on December 11, 2012 and January 8, 2013, the Historic Site Preservation Board conducted a public hearing in accordance with applicable law to consider designation of the property at 1320 Tamarisk Road as a historic site, and at which meeting the Historic Site Preservation Board carefully reviewed and considered all of the evidence in connection with the designation, including but not limited to the staff report, application and historical research, all written and oral testimony presented; and following said hearing voted 5 to 0, with one absence to recommend Class 1 designation of the site as contained in HSPB Resolution No. 87; and Resolution No. 23292 Page 2 WHEREAS, notice of a public hearing of the City Council of the City of Palm Springs to consider designation of the property at 1320 Tamarisk Road, as a historic site was issued in accordance with applicable law; and WHEREAS, on February 6, 2013, the City Council conducted a public hearing in accordance with applicable law to consider designation of the property at 1320 Tamarisk Road as a historic site, and at which meeting the City Council carefully reviewed and considered all of the evidence in connection with the designation, including but not limited to the staff report, application and historical research, all written and oral testimony presented THE CITY COUNCIL HEREBY FINDS AS FOLLOWS: 1. The resource is associated with events that have made a meaningful contribution to the nation, state or community. As described in the following house history, this is the first pre-fabricated modular steel home to be built in Palm Springs. Seventy-five years later, this example of a General Houses, Inc. model home stands as an early example of architectural and mass housing experimentation for architects and builders who continue to seek solutions for contemporary housing issues through the construction of pre- fabricated steel homes. 2. The property is associated with lives of persons who made meaningful contribution to national, state or local history. Although not well-known in Palm Springs, architect Howard T. Fisher is a person of significance in our past. Fisher made a meaningful contribution to national history as an internationally known architect, famed for his pioneering work designing and marketing prefabricated houses utilizing his skills as a construction materials researcher. Fisher was also a computer technology pioneer. His personal and professional history rises to the level sufficient to qualify the building's eligibility for local listing. The dwelling was also owned and occupied by Michael Black, an architect and planner who practiced in Palm Springs, the Coachella Valley and throughout California, and whose work included numerous commercial, residential and other projects, as well as community and tribal plans. 3. The property reflects or exemplifies a particular period of the national, state or local history. The development of mass-produced, factory-built housing received significant public attention in the 1920's and 1930's. According to one source, "By the mid- 1930s, homebuyers could choose from nearly three dozen manufacturers featuring a dizzying array of materials-steel, precast concrete, asbestos cement, gypsum, plywood." The house represents the optimism and opportunism of America's early 20th Century industrial leaders who sought to satisfy the growing demand for single family homes. 4. The property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction. Resolution No. 23292 Page 3 The property's "distinctive characteristics" are its form, proportion, structure, plan, style, and especially its materials, the unique details that are a result of its prefabricated, modular method of construction, including the wall and roof panel system, curving roof flashing details, casement windows and surviving original doors. The subject building's appearance is unique in Palm Springs because of those characteristics and is considered the first local prototype of its particular type, period, and method of construction. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that, based upon the foregoing, the City Council does hereby adopt the attached Statement of Historic Significance and designate the entire property located at 1320 Tamarisk Road as a Historic Site, Class 1 subject to the following conditions; 1. The property owner shall permit the City to place a historic marker of the City's choosing at the site. The marker shall be placed in a location visible from the public right-of-way. The owner shall maintain the marker in the location installed and pay for the replacement cost if the plaque is lost, stolen, or otherwise removed from the property. 2. All future modifications of the existing structures, as well as any new buildings shall require HSPB review pursuant Municipal Code Ordinance 8.05.180. 3. No review for maintenance of the parking lot or landscaping shall be required, except that, subject to staff approval, any new landscape materials shall be native or desert-appropriate, including removal of turf, where practical. 4. All requirements of the Palm Springs Zoning Code shall be met. 5. That the City Clerk submit the Council Resolution to the County recorder for recordation within 90 days of the effective date of this resolution. 6. Any alterations or modifications to the exterior approved prior to the designation of this site by the City Council shall be considered legal, non-conforming only as to Section 8.05 of the Palm Springs Municipal Code. ADOPTED THIS 6T" DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2013. David H. Ready, Onager ATTEST >=sThompson, City Clerk Resolution No. 23292 Page 4 CERTIFICATION STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE ) ss. CITY OF PALM SPRINGS ) I, JAMES THOMPSON, City Clerk of the City of Palm Springs, hereby certify that Resolution No. 23292 is a full, true and correct copy, and was duly adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Palm Springs on February 6, 2013, by the following vote: AYES: Councilmember Foat, Councilmember Hutcheson, Councilmember Lewin, and Mayor Pougnet. NOES: None. ABSENT: Mayor Pro Tern Mills. ABSTAIN: None. mes Thompson, City Clerk nZIZ�/Zaa3 City of Palm Springs, California Resolution No. 23292 Page 5 STATEMENT OF HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE 1320 E. TAMARISK ROAD EXECUTIVE SUMMARY House History: The first General Houses Steel Home system was designed in 1932 and examples were exhibited at the 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair; in 1937 the first and only Palm Springs version was built. Along with the Grace Lewis Miller Residence (1937, Richard Neutra) and the H. C. Davidson Residence, "Merienda" (1936, Webster and Wilson), the GH Model Home is one of the three earliest modern homes in Palm Springs and the first, modular, prefabricated steel home in the desert. General Houses History: Architect Howard T. Fisher, FAIA was a Harvard graduate who organized General Houses, Inc. [GH] in 1932. GH was a pioneering firm in the development of prefabricated housing. The firm designed and erected low-cost, high- quality prefabricated homes using mass production methods that integrated design, manufacturing, and marketing of simple houses in a single package. In 1933, a typical GH steel two-bedroom house cost $4,500. The company's slogan was 'A house that's twice as good at half the price.' Fisher's original patented construction system used pressed-steel' panels for walls, roofs, and floors, set on a concrete foundation. After the foundation was cured, a crew of unskilled laborers could put a house together in about two weeks. The company received nationwide publicity in 1932 and the media hailed Fisher's company as the `Next Big Thing.' GH displayed a model home at the 'Century of Progress' World's Fair. It was a sleek, flat-roofed, stylishly furnished steel cottage that attracted thousands of visitors. Fisher had devised an ingenious system of modular construction and lined up a syndicate of private investors that became supplier-partners such as GE, Pullman 2, and Pittsburgh Paint & Glass. GH was based upon the belief that these homes could be best be provided by a group of companies that contributed their special products, rather than by a single large manufacturing company. He convinced Charles Allen Liddle, President of Pullman Car & Manufacturing, that GH could become the General Motors of housing. Liddle, with much experience in building steel shelter units — they supplied the pressed steel panels - joined other companies in supplying the components of the GH Steel houses. And the press was in his corner: Fortune and Time, among others, had all but deemed GH the answer to America's housing crisis. In Chicago, so many visitors lined up to see the House of Steel that Fisher begged the fair's managers to let him charge for admission."3 Among the visitor's to the house was Edmund Lindop (1901-1968). He was born in Chicago, the son of Englishman Frank Raven Lindop who immigrated to the The panels are described in the GH brochure as being "asbestos cement board." z It is believed that this connection to Pullman Car & Manufacturing Co. gave rise to the erroneous information that the house was built for a member of the Pullman family. 3 GH Marketing Brochure. Resolution No. 23292 Page 6 United States and settled in Illinois. By 1925 the younger Lindop had married and was living in Oak Park where he was employed as a Realtor. The ambitious Lindop became an early franchiser of GH with the goal of becoming a developer. Anticipating a recovery in the Florida real estate market (which did not occur until World War ll), Lindop relocated his family to Miami in 1932. He soon realized that Florida was not going to be the anticipated land of opportunity. Seeking better development opportunities, he took his dreams and his family to Los Angeles in 1936. Soon thereafter he acquired a tract of land in Palm Springs where he hoped to develop a neighborhood of steel houses. In November 20, 1936 The Desert Sun ran the following article, "Steel House Now Being Erected: "The first of the steel houses manufactured by General House, Inc. to come to California is now being erected in the Desert Sands tract by Edmund F. Lindop, owner of the tract and California distributor for the manufacturers. The new steel house will be completed in three weeks and will then be open for public inspection. It is a large house, having three bedrooms and two baths; of the new modernistic type of architecture which originated in Europe .... General Steel Houses are being erected by the hundreds in the fashionable areas of Eastern cities, Chicago, Cleveland, St. Louis, New York and other places. Mr. Lindop has 50 dealers under him in various parts of the state and all are looking forward to the first house of the company to be erected in California, now being assembled in Palm Springs. Every part of the house is made by mass production in the factory. The steel frame bolted together and compressed asbestos panels on the outside as well as heat and cold resisting fireproof materials for the roof, form a building that is both earthquake proof and fireproof. Inside walls are of plyboard and both inside and outside walls are finished in any color desired. The project was not a success, resulting in the Lindop family's use of the model home as a weekend residence. It finally sold in 1946 to another Los Angelino Charles Stern who owned the house for many years. Stern ordered a compatible two-car garage module from GH that was added to the main house in 1947. Since February 1962 the home has been owned by the late architect Michael Black and his wife Barbara. Barbara Black continues to own the home today. Michael Black was an architect and planner who practiced from the mid-1960's until the early 2000's. Designing both residential and commercial buildings, he expanded his work to include community planning and co-housing. Projects in Palm Springs included the Desert Highland Park Community Center, Ajalon Baptist Church, Morris Guyer Men's Store and the Shearson Hayden Stone building. Several Palm Springs single family residences designed by Mr. Black include the Siegel, Hicks and Asher homes. His work also included commercial and residential projects in southern and northern California. Mr. Black's efforts in community planning include downtown plans for the cities of Cotati, Exeter, Sebastopol and Cloverdale, as well as plans for the Morongo, Pala, Rincon and other tribes. He became active in the "co-housing" movement and lectured extensively on the topic. Mr. Black served on the Palm Springs Citizens Advisory Committee (1973) and the Architectural Review Board (1973-74). Over its 75- year history, the home has been occupied by only two families. Resolution No. 23292 Page 7 Building Description: Built as a model home, the subject building, "The Trenton" GH Model # H-14-16-L was the deluxe model with an optional fireplace. It was a 1,754 sq. ft. 3-bedroom4, 2- bathroom single family residence. The design, proportion, materials, metal post and beam construction, and overall feeling of this low-slung, linear, single-story residence reflects the Streamline Moderne style and incorporates such characteristic elements as metal-framed ribbon and corner windows, smooth wall finishes, rounded corners, and a flat roof. Two offset rectangles in plan, the house has an irregular footprint with a projecting volume at the main facade corresponding to the living room on the interior. On the eastern side of this projected element is the main entrance, sheltered by an entrance hood, which is supported by a wooden structural trellis. A secondary entrance on the western end of the living room is also marked by a hood and trellis. The following specification describing the construction materials for the house is taken from the brochure for General Houses, Inc. entitled "The House that Science Built": "The entire weight of the house is carried on steel columns and beams of copper bearing steel that are bolted to each other and to a heavy concrete foundation to form a rigid support for walls, partitions, ceilings, and roof. Roofs are designed to carry live loads of 40 pounds per square foot. `All outside walls and interior partitions consists of a series of 35"wide panels supported between the upright columns of the steel frame. Each panel is a complete factory-built unit consisting of a wood frame in which the insulation is suspended and to which the interior and exterior surfaces of the panel are glued under pressure. Panels are wedged securely between the supporting steel columns by steel battens or plates that are bolted to each column. The combined roof and ceiling consists of factory- built panels, similar in construction to the wall panels, but somewhat heavier. They are made edge to edge to cover the entire house and are screwed down onto the horizontal beams of the steel frame of the building with heavy sheet metal screws. The outer surface of each exterior wall panel consists of an asbestos cement board. Asbestos cement is entirely mineral in composition and therefore is highly resistant to damage caused by weather, fire, and vermin. It is so compact that it is virtually airtight and thus stops the entrance of cold drafts from without and leakage of warm air from within. `A waterproof, long-wearing surface is laid over the roof and ceiling panels to assure trouble-free shelter from rain, sun and snow. This protective surface consists of a build-up, membrane type roof applied in layers. This The home actually has four bedrooms and three baths; one of the two original garage bays was converted to a Guest Suite. Resolution No. 23292 Page 8 type of roofing will give years of service without requiring any attention or expense. An attractive coping extends above the surface of the roof at the edges to prevent rain from flowing down over the walls. Roof drains and downspouts carry the water to the ground. 'The interior walls, partitions and ceilings are of thick, fir plywood sheets which are an integral part of the panels used in building the house. Each plywood sheet consists of three layers of wood in which the grain of the center layer is at right angles to the grain of the two outside layers. This gives the wood rigidity and strength in a direction in all directions and results of the wall and ceiling which will be permanently smooth. Interior panels are acoustically treated to reduce transmission of sound from room to room. "All windows are steel casement switch that open outward and are furnished complete with hardware. Friction hinges hold windows open in any position. Windows are so hinged that they may be washed from both sides from within the house. Because the complete window panel is exactly the same in overall size and thickness as any solid wall panel the location of windows may be determined by the owner and placed by the builder within any panel opening without regard to the window locations shown on the plan. Each window is equipped with an interior hinged screen with steel frame and bronze wire mesh. `The entrance doors are of modern flush design. They're made of wood in built-up construction 1 %" thick, and glazed. Rear entrance doors are recessed panel design, made of build-up wood construction, 1 %" thick, with the upper portion glazed. Spring bronze weather-stripping keeps out dusty chilly drafts. Thresholds are of stainless steel. Exterior connecting doors to garage are similar in design and construction to the front entrance doors, but are not glazed. Screen doors with bronze wire mesh, are provided for front and rear entrances. Interior doors are of wood, 1 318 inches thick overall, of inset panel design. Doors are supplied for all openings where they are indicated on each plan. `The outside surface of all wall panels is painted with one coat of special primer and one finish coat of white lead in linseed oil paint. All metal surfaces such as windows and door frames, steel panel battens and coping, are given a coat of special metal primer. In addition, these parts are covered with two finish coats of white lead in linseed oil paint. Exterior doors are given three coats of white lead into the oil paint. `All exposed plywood for the interior surfaces of walls and ceilings is given one primer coat. In addition the services received two finish coats of linseed oil paint, except in the closets and cases, which received one finish coat. Interior doors and trims are painted with three coats of lead and oil paint. Resolution No. 23292 Page 9 ;411 floors, except in the kitchen, bath, closets, garages and utility-storage room, are made ready to receive carpeting or other suitable finish that the owner may decide to purchase. Linoleum covers the kitchen and bathroom floors to provide an attractive, quiet, washable, practical floor covering for these rooms. Closet floors are painted. The garage and utility- storage room floors are cement finish. The garage floor is sloped toward the doors for drainage. `An optional wood-burning fireplace may be installed in this model. It is a prefabricated design, complete with chimney, and efficient in operation. Direct warmth comes from the rise of the open fire. In addition cool air is drawn through a grill at the floor level into an air chamber which surrounds the steel firebox. The air is heated in this chamber and then allowed to merge into the room through grills near the ceiling.' A detached two car garage was ordered from GH a year after the house was sold. It was a two-car model 19'1" wide by 19'1"long and originally equipped with two pairs of out-swinging doors.