BEACH STREET

Santa Monica, CA

This project is the winner of the Santa Monica Conservancy 2022 Preservation Award. According to the jury it is “ an exemplary contributor to the preservation of Santa Monica’s architectural and cultural heritage.”

Built in 1924, the 13-unit bungalow court at the northwest corner of Beach and 2nd Streets is a contributor to Santa Monica’s first historic district: the Third Street Neighborhood Historic District. The style of the buildings is a vernacular mode of Mediterranean Revival that predates the more fully formed Spanish Colonial Revival style, but shares some of its materials and characteristics.

When purchased in 2017, evidence of deferred maintenance was extensive, and most units were vacant. Administrative approval for in-kind replacement of windows and exterior painting was granted in the same year. The original wood sash double-hung windows were replicated. However, during construction, water damage and mold were discovered in the stucco walls and eventually all the stucco was removed to waterproof the walls. The owner preserved features of the property significant to its historic, architectural, and cultural values while updating the units to support their return to the rental market.

The rehabilitation is consistent with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation and is defined as “the process of returning a property to a state of utility, through repair or alteration, which makes possible an efficient contemporary use while preserving those portions and features of the property which are significant to its historic, architectural, and cultural values.”