News & Advocacy

The Santa Monica Conservancy recognized eight exemplary contributors to the preservation of Santa Monica’s architectural and cultural heritage. The Awards Committee congratulates the families, businesses and individuals for their preservation, stewardship, advocacy and volunteer work in our city.

Take a visual tour and learn about the work behind the scenes. Preservation Awards Part 1 features the Santa Monica Professional Building, Tartine Bakery, Villa Vicente and the Bay Street Beach Historic District. Preservation Awards Part 2 features the E.J. Carrillo Residence, 518 Adelaide Drive, 143 Wadsworth Avenue and Kay Pattison will be available next week.

 

President’s Award: Santa Monica Professional Building
as part of the Proper Hotel at 700 Wilshire Boulevard

This 1928 landmark building has been rehabilitated and adaptively reused as 55 rooms with ground floor commercial space as part of the new Proper Hotel. The five-story building was refurbished, including rehabilitated steel windows and storefronts, restored interior circulation spaces and significant seismic improvements. The historic building is linked to a much larger development on the remainder of the block. In a unique process with extensive public process and design review, the project team developed a compatible new structure with a compelling modern expression in harmony with the historic building.

 

Rehabilitation Award: Villa Vicente
234 Vicente Boulevard

Villa Vicente, a two-story, 20-unit apartment building built in 1953 is a contributor to the San Vicente Courtyard Apartments Historic District and a striking example of simple modernism that remains remarkably intact. Original aluminum windows have been refurbished and inappropriate changes such as sliding windows have been replaced with aluminum sash to match. Stairs and railings that surround and enliven the courtyard were all repaired and refurbished. The project has added long-term life to this historic property and represents the successful use of the Mills Act program in preserving and enhancing the historic resources of Santa Monica.

 

Rehabilitation & Adaptive Reuse Award: Tartine Bakery, CIM Group
1925 Arizona Avenue

Built in 1933, the former Gates, Kingsley & Gates Moeller Murphy Funeral Directors chapel was converted into a bakery and full-service restaurant for Tartine, which opened in March 2020. The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards guided the sensitive rehabilitation of the Tudor Revival style building throughout the project. The chapel’s cruciform plan was the basis for the restaurant’s interior layout, and materials, colors, fenestration shapes and stucco finish details on the exterior were unchanged. The extensive scope of work included structural repairs and upgrade of electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems, as well as the addition of fire sprinkler and fire alarm systems, restroom facilities and interior and exterior accessibility upgrades to meet the requirements of the new use.

 

Cultural Landscape Award: Bay Street Beach National Register Nomination and Listing
Alison Rose Jefferson, Ph.D., and Michael Blum

The Bay Street Beach Historic District became Santa Monica’s first district in the National Register of Historic Places in 2019. The 53-acre district recognizes and celebrates an intact African American seaside cultural landscape. During the Jim Crow era, the beach was self-selected by African Americans as a place of recreation and leisure where its visitors felt relatively safe from racist harassment. At this time, fewer than five percent of the listings in the National Register are associated with communities of color. The successful nomination required extensive documentation and advocacy by author and historian Alison Rose Jefferson, Ph.D., and Michael Blum, Executive Director of Sea of Clouds, a nonprofit focusing on coastal heritage conservation/historic preservation and environmental conservation.

 

Rehabilitation Award: E.J. Carrillo Residence
1602 Georgina Avenue

This distinctive 1924 adobe home designed by famed local architect John Byers was extensively rehabilitated, preserving its exterior character and integrity. Major architectural features were restored or replaced in-kind. All the exterior plaster stucco was retained and preserved, as well as the distinctive roof tile and roofing system. The brick patio area was lovingly restored – the bricks had all been pulled up and stockpiled in the yard. The front porch was restored and porch pavers repaired. Original windows were preserved while non-operable shutters on the façade which did not appear to be original were removed, bringing back the simple Mexican vernacular of the Byers design. Owners John and Ali De Neufville and architect Paul Williger are proud and dedicated stewards of this important historic home.

 

Stewardship Award: 518 Adelaide Drive, Barry & Sharla Boehm

This unusual example of French Norman Revival architecture has been the home of the Boehm family since 1968. With very few changes made over the years, the distinctive charm of this historic 1925 home has been carefully tended. In 2019, Barry Boehm decided to preserve his house in perpetuity by nominating it for Santa Monica landmark designation. This particular style, inspired by French provincial architecture going back to the middle ages, is an unusual variant of the Period Revival styles that were prevalent in Santa Monica during the 1920s. With steeply angled rooflines, asymmetrical and irregular massing, and the rounded tower entryway, it is unique. The house now affirms its historic significance as an anchor amidst a rapidly changing streetscape on Adelaide Drive.

 

Rehabilitation Award: 143 Wadsworth Avenue

Turning a dilapidated 1905 rooming house into a beautifully restored and renovated family home took courage, dedication and attention to historic preservation principles. When the home was purchased by its current owners, it was in dire condition from neglect and jerry-built alterations, with sagging ceilings and exposed electrical wires. Historic preservation architect Winston Chappell guided the project to a successful conclusion. Wood floors, wainscoting, windows, doors and built-ins have been restored, and renovated spaces include antique décor selected by the owner. Spacious sleeping porches in the front and back were restored as sunrooms, and downstairs living areas were opened up to create a bright and welcoming Great Room, accomplished by relocating a ceiling support beam. This shingled American Foursquare house with a generous open porch is now a strong presence in the historic South Beach neighborhood.

 

Outstanding Volunteer Award: Kay Pattison

For more than a decade, Kay has been one of the most dedicated, talented and creative volunteers who has helped shape the Conservancy. After enrolling in the Downtown Walking Tour docent training, she became its manager, developing a loyal cadre of docents and providing the highest level of service for the public. After becoming a docent for the Annenberg Community Beach House, she developed new docent training materials about actress Marion Davies from her research at the Academy of Motion Pictures Library. She also launched the popular annual Happy Birthday, Marion! event at the Beach House. Whether costumed as Harpo Marx, leading a VIP tour, or marching in a Fourth of July parade, Kay’s contributions to the Conservancy’s success have been invaluable.

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