April 27, 2004
Glendale Design Review Board
and Historic Commission
633 East Broadway, Room 103
Glendale CA 91206
Re: Case 2 - 3421 - P
Dear Madams and Sirs,
It has come to our attention that the new owner(s) of 1303, 1305, 1311 and 1315 North Central Avenue, known also as Glendale Garden Homes, are asking the city for permission to demolish this 37-unit apartment complex and build in its place an 87-unit, 3-story apartment building with subterranean parking. We are writing to ask that the city disallow this request based on the facts that we believe that this complex should be designated as an architectural and design historical landmark and should be preserved.
Built in 1957, this award-winning apartment building complex is a stunning tribute to the highest architectural and landscaping design standards of its time. Much of the original architecture and design elements stand today; modifications that have been made could easily be restored to their original design integrity. At a time when so much of the important aesthetic history of Glendale is being lost, Glendale Garden Homes could serve as the finest of examples of this city’s architectural and landscape design past, and cultural history - if it is retained in its original state.
For many years the original owner and architect of this complex resided here. During their lives here, many current residents remember how meticulous Mr. Causey and Mr. Millard Archuleta were about maintaining the original designs and the high quality of all the elements in this complex. When a faucet broke, it was replaced with a design and quality equivalent. When the natural wood kitchen cabinets showed wear, the owners hired craftspeople to refinish them to their original finish. Within each complex apartment many of the original 1950s style wall ovens, stove tops, room intercoms, green-tiled showers, built-in lingerie drawers and cupboards, and lighting fixtures still exist.
When the original owners passed away and the complex was sold, the respect for the architectural integrity of this complex that was shown by them did not translate to the new owners’ approach toward maintaining this complex. The new owners first had the classic lava rock walls in front of the complex shaved and covered with concrete stucco. They also tore out the classic blue-bottomed lava rock fountains in the complex interior, and replaced them with out-of-design-context, and out-of-scale, stone boulder fountains. When one resident complained, the new owners explained their modification with the explanation that they had “hired an architect” to make the design changes; clearly the new architect was not guided by 1950s design styles or standards.
Other modifications have replaced the wood of apartment patio fences and front doors with a hodgepodge of designs, colors and wood . The original doors were all beautiful hollow natural light wood, with aluminum door knobs - another classic California 1950s design element. Most of these still remain, and it would not be a major amount of work or expense to bring all of the doors and wood back to their original design and quality standards.
Kitchen cupboards and fireplace mantles, in keeping with the apartment doors, were a light wood, and glazed, not painted; now all those cupboards are whitewashed with paint whenever a tenant moves out, rather than taking the care to maintain the original wood finish. Some apartments still have the original speckled 50s linoleum in the kitchen, but this, too, is being replaced by inexpensive, non-50s style flooring when tenants turn over.
The landscaping, which enwraps the entire complex, makes for a wonderland of flowers and includes dozens of typical southern California tropical plants within the complex interior. As recently as four years ago, the original plastic moulded yellow and turquoise patio lounge chairs from 1957 still graced the pool area - which also houses built-in cooking appliances and His and Hers dressing rooms. Some of that furniture remains, but has been painted. The complex’s landscaping has always been maintained with great care, and the new owners have continued to maintain its beauty. To pull out or bulldoze the eucalyptus and banana trees, Birds of Paradise and rhododendron plants, mature citrus and birch trees, ferns and hibiscus that make up this nearly fifty year old tropical Glendale paradise would be an aesthetic and ecological disgrace.
Finally, in addition to the architectural and landscaping history of Glendale that will be preserved with the preservation of Glendale Garden Homes, this complex also represents an important cultural history. Original advertisements for this complex addressed the new idea of apartment living for executives and “empty nesters” (not yet called that) - in that they could move from their homes to homelike apartments, leaving the work of home maintenance behind for the convenience of apartment living - without leaving the spaciousness, fireplaces and other homelike amenities offered by this new apartment housing complex. Enclosed wood boxes on back doorsteps allowed residents to dispose trash conveniently, where staff could collect it. Trap doors on patios allowed residents to simply sweep out their leaves, where gardeners could collect and dispose of them. These were all revolutionary concepts in convenient living for the time. Thus, if Glendale Gardens are not allowed to be maintained, we stand to lose an important bit of architecture, landscaping and cultural history.
Very truly yours,
(signatures of tenants and neighbors of Glendale Garden Home apartment complex)
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