Hearing tonight at the Historic Preservation Commission in regards to the landmark designation application for the Art Deco style garage building on the NW corner of Rutan and Washington Blvd., 731 E. Washington Blvd., in the North Lake Specfic Plan Area, site visit at 4:45 pm., Historic Preservation Commission meeting at Planning, 175 N. Garfield, Hale Bldg., 6:00 p.m.This building was originally a drive-in corner market, designed by local architect Glen Elwood Smith, who worked with Myron Hunt, and designed a number of significant local structures such as the Masonic Lodge located at 17 South Sierra Madre Blvd.
731 E. Washington is landmark eligible being a largely intact locally significant auto-related building in the rather rare Art Deco Zigzag style, an architectural style which has not survived very widely in Pasadena. This potential landmark property is prominently sited on a corner raised lot located on the busy Washington Blvd. thoroughfare in the historic Lake Washington Village District.
If you would like to support this landmark designation, please call Planner Vicrim Chima at 626 744-6791 or email him at vchima@cityofpasadena.net, as soon as possible, as the meeting is tonight in a few hours and we apologize for the late notice.
@Patrizzi and all - The outcome of the Historic Preservation Commission was mixed: The elderly owner said her heirs, son and daughter, voted on whether to oppose the designation, and it sounded like she voted in favor and the grown children didn't. However, the son was there, seems very nice and understanding and there seems to be hope for the future. The Historic Preservation Commission declined to send the nomination to City Council because of owner opposition, but it was a very nice conversation between the owner and the Commissioners and all the Commissioners said the building was landmark eligible, particularly since it is probably the last remaining example of Zigzag Moderne Art Deco architecture left in Pasadena. The owner said she is going to change the tenants leasing contract to not allow any alterations to the exterior in the future. Not quite what we wanted, but the neighbors had a chance to talk to the owner about their concerns, and there is hope for owner permission in the future.
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