Santa Monica: Finding the Beach City’s Hidden Treasures
Santa Monica was founded, planned and plotted by Senator John P. Jones and landowner Colonel Robert S. Baker in 1875. However, there are no streets, parks or civic buildings named in honor of Baker or Jones. There are no statues bearing their likeness. There are no “Founders’ Days” parades.
Santa Monica is a city that prefers to plan ahead rather than preserve the past. As an example, its library building has been torn down a few times, only to be replaced with ever larger and blander structures. There is a municipal Landmarks Committee, but it is often looked upon with hostility by local landowners and developers. The city council prefers to test its reach with cutting edge legislation, such as a recent attempt to forbid federal banks operating within the city from charging ATM fees–a noble effort that did not fly.
In character with this apathy for checking the rear view mirror, Santa Monica has a cavalier attitude toward its architectural past. Only recently was a small conservancy group organized to drum up appreciation for the city’s structural treasures. There are treasures to be found, but it takes a bit more effort to seek them out in Santa Monica than most cities in the country.
The emphasis in Santa Monica has always been on what is new. The famous Third Street Promenade is a showcase of new retailers, novel restaurants and first release movies. Even on the venerable Santa Monica Pier, more people are apt to ride the Sig Alert attraction (which replicates freeway conditions) at the amusement park rather than the merry-go-round installed in 1947 and housed in a circa 1916 building. Whereas most communities would be thrilled to have a scaled-down Farmer’s Market complex in their midst, Santa Monica has allowed its own vintage red barn retail structure called the Country Mart (at 225 26th Street) to languish virtually ignored for years. Many locals can point you in the correct direction of architect Frank Gehry’s home, a post-modern tribute to chain link and corregated metal at the southwest corner of 22nd Street and Washington Avenue, but few if any can tell you where to find architect John Byers home, a distinctive Spanish Colonial Revival hacienda.
Santa Monica earned its reputation as a residential dream spot through the iconic homes created by such designers as John Byers, Edla Muir, Cecil Gail and Robert Farquhar, and yet none of these are household names. Their Spanish, Mediterranean, Colonial Revival, Mission, Tudor, Craftsman and French Norman visions built from the 1910s to the 1930s defined Santa Monica neighborhoods as genteel, orderly and visually elegant. Their homes were in scale with the relatively small lots available and emphasized appropriate surrounding landscaping and gardens.
As land values have escalated, Santa Monica has demonstrated no nostalgia for such architectural gems. The city usually grants requests for remodel and demolition permits. Many wonderful examples of vintage architecture have undergone remodeling to such degrees as to render them unrecognizable. Worse yet, many more have been torn down to make way for new condominium complexes and “McMansion” homes that bulk out to the property limits, maximizing each square foot of precious land. As of this writing, a beautiful example of John Byers’ ability to blend Californian, Mexican and Spanish stylings, built as the Thompson House in 1924 (at 2021 La Mesa Drive), was being gutted by a crew of workmen. Another 1924 Byers home, this one a French Norman known as the Laidlow House, has a construction dumpster in front.
You can still see patches of historic Santa Monica, even if there is no officially guided tour. Two notable escapees from the wrecking ball are back-to-back elegantly sprawling adobes located at 1602 and 1628 Georgina Avenue which have been treated with loving care since 1925 and 1937, respectively. At 404 Georgina Avenue you will find the MacBennel House, one of the earliest adobes. This was constructed in 1921 by John Byers when he was a builder and manufacturer of adobe bricks, just prior to his blossoming as a visionary designer who never had formal architectural training. It is a clean-lined one story, now colorfully adorned.
Adjacent to MacBennel House is 4th Street, a wide residential thoroughfare with a center grass median that ends to the north at Adelaide Drive. Santa Monica’s most impressive Craftsman style homes are found on Adelaide Drive, including the Weaver House at 142 and the Milbank House at 236, both of which were built in 1910. Further to the west, at 130 Adelaide Drive, is the Jones House by architect Robert Farquhar who designed the Clark Library in Exposition Park and the quiet California Club Building in downtown Los Angeles. Farquhar studied at both the Ecole des Beaux Arts and M.I.T. Here, he built a muscular, two story shingled Colonial in 1907. Typical of the city’s low key approach to history, the only way to tell that this was patriarch John P. Jones’ second home in Santa Monica is to stumble across a tiny marker plaque hidden behind a hedge. Another hint that this home was built for an important person is the impressive new of the Santa Monica Canyon and beach beyond that it commands.
East of Adelaide Drive is another seminal street for historic residential structures. La Mesa Drive is only a few blocks long, but it leaves a big impression. It is lined with huge Moreton Bay fig trees which provide a constant shady canopy, spread out above-ground roots that look like Arthur Rackham childrens’ book illustrations and pelt passers-by with small figs at various intervals. On this street, you may get a peek at the only North American residential design by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer (at 1911 La Mesa, recently remodeled), who was a principal contributor to the United Nations Headquarters in New York and the chief designer of the city of Brazilia, as well as the 1949 Nables House (at 2323 La Mesa) designed by Lloyd Wright with a profile so low, the house looks like it is sinking underground.
La Mesa Drive could have been named Byers Drive due to his overwhelming contribution to the lush look and feel of the street. The Zimmer House (at 2101 La Mesa) built in 1924, the Bundy House (at 2153 La Mesa but now sequestered behind a tall hedge) built in 1925 and the Tinglof House (at 2210 La Mesa) built in 1926 all display Byers’ romantic vision of Spanish tradition.
Just as Senator Jones’ second Santa Monica home is notable, John Byers’ second Santa Monica home is remarkable. In 1917, he built his first home for himself at 547 7th Street of board and batten construction. But he found his vernacular in 1924 with his next home at 2034 La Mesa Drive. It is a perfectly proportioned Monterey style two story with a wrap-around balcony. Making the home even more attractive was the fact that it was within walking distance of Byers’ architecture offices which were located in the 200 block of 26th Street at that time.
Take a clue from Byers and tour these historic districts by foot rather than by car. It will allow you to appreciate more detail. Once you have absorbed the significance of these vintage architectural treasures, chances are you will know more about Santa Monica history than most of the locals.
