| State of California - The Resource Agency |
| DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| *Resource Name or #: |
GLENARM POWER PLANT & PACIFIC ELECTRIC SUBSTATION #2
|
Survey Title: |
|
|
| |
| B1. |
| Historic Name: |
GLENARM POWER PLANT
|
|
| B2. |
| Common Name: |
Glenarm Power Plant
|
|
| B3. |
|
| *B5a. |
| Primary Architectural Style: |
Georgian Revival
|
|
| B5b. |
| Secondary Architectural Style: |
Streamline Moderne
|
|
| *B6. |
| Construction History: |
Date Built: |
1928
|
|
Power Plant:
The turbines, condensers, boilers and other infrastructure that were in the older eastern portion of the building have all been removed. Interior wall features (tile wainscoting, lamps, railing, crane) remain intact. Traversing the area between the eastern and western portions of the building is a rail spur that was originally used for delivery of heavy equipment to the facility and was connected to the main rail line (now the MTA Gold Line).
It is important to note that the remaining portions of the building, which were additions to the original power plant building, were designed to accommodate expansion of the facility. As the use of electric power became more prevalent in the city and the technology continued to change, each new addition needed to include sufficient space to contain future power-generating equipment. Although the last addition to the building itself was constructed in 1932, the period of significance of the property should extend to 1949 when the last turbine and its associated equipment was installed.
Pacific Electric Substation #2:
The building has been altered over time to the extent that the existing building is half the size of the original building. Sanborn Maps from 1903, 1910 and 1930 depict the building as twice the size of the current structure, with a repair shop attached to the northerly portion of the building. The Sanborn Map from 1951 depicts the northerly half removed with the repair shop remaining in place. Historical photographs indicate that the building was originally larger and that the northerly portion was demolished prior to the 1950’s
|
|
| *B7. |
| Moved?: |
 Yes
 No
Unknown
|
Date: |
|
Original Location: |
|
|
| *B8. |
|
| *B9a. |
| Architect: |
Bennett & Haskell
|
|
|
|
| *B10. |
| Significance: |
Theme: |
|
Area: |
Regional
|
|
| Period of Significance: |
1893-1938
|
Property Type: |
Public Utility
|
| Applicable Criteria: |
| National Register Criteria: |
A, C
|
California Register: |
1, 3
|
Local Register: |
|
|
|
|
|
Glenarm Power Plant:
The Glenarm Power Plant is regionally significant as an example of a monumental electrical power-generating plant, executed in Georgian Revival and Moderne architectural styles, with an adjoining electric fountain. The property has added significance because of the imposing turbine room in the 1932 building, which retains its open plan, its tile wainscoting and flooring, its streamlined turbines and control panels, and its bracketed lamps. The electric fountain, one of three similar fountains in the region, retains its original cast-stone walls, tiled basin, and glazed tower as well as its original site features. This grouping of a monumental power-generating plant—with a fully intact turbine hall and an outdoor electric fountain—is an exceptional representation in the metropolitan Los Angeles area of an industrial property from the Moderne era.
The building exhibits architectural integrity (its ability to demonstrate why it is significant) through its design, materials, workmanship, feeling and association. It is an excellent and intact example of the identified architectural styles designed by a distinguished regional architectural firm, contains all of its original materials, exhibits high quality workmanship and is associated with a period of growth in the city that is evident in the expansion of the facility to accommodate increasing use of electric power. The period of significance is 1928 – 1949, encompassing the oldest existing portion of the building through the last installation of power-generating equipment in the building.
Exterior character-defining features include, but are not limited to the roof form, symmetrical façade, decorative pilasters and frieze, window placement and material and exterior coating (which is currently undergoing restoration to remove texture coating that was added).
Given the fact that the city is no longer using the facility to generate power (much of the city’s power is purchased from outside sources, with the adjacent Broadway Power Plant being used for back-up power generation when needed), adaptive use of the building will occur in the future. The National Park Service has published a new Preservation Brief to assist with the design of new interiors in buildings with monumental interiors (Preservation Brief Number 44: “Subdividing Significant Historic Interior Spaces”). This publication suggests that installation of low partitions with casters to allow for easy reconfiguration would support the retention of the character-defining features of the interior space. Other publications that apply include Preservation Brief Number 18: “Rehabilitating Interiors in Historic Buildings: Identifying and Preserving Character-Defining Elements,” and the Illustrated Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings. In addition, the National Park Service has approved numerous tax certification projects with sensitively designed partitions of interior spaces.
Character-defining interior features include: the monumental spatial relationships in the western turbine hall and boiler room; the visible equipment and infrastructure including control panels, burner fronts, feed pumps, steam valves and turbines; the floor-to-ceiling hallway between the boilers (including the free-floating master gauge in the hallway); the railings, wainscoting, bracketed lamps, wall clock and flooring in the turbine hall and the remaining rail spur. Those features that are of secondary importance include: the boilers themselves and associated pipes, the condensers in the equipment wells, and the easterly portion of the building from which all equipment has already been removed, with the exception of the original tile wainscoting and bracketed lamps.
Other elements of the property are not included in this designation, including tanks, towers and other exterior power-generating equipment, all of which were installed after the period of significance.
Pacific Electric Substation #2:
Pacific Electric Substation #2 is significant under criterion A for its role in the development of the electric car railway system, both in Pasadena and the surrounding region. John Heller, Vice President of the Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California states that the building:
…began life as a steam power plant for the Pasadena and Los Angeles Electric Railway in 1893 and after a few re-buildings and street re-locations the remaining half of the building became the Pacific Electric's power substation No. 2. The PE operated the building until service to Pasadena was abandoned in 1951 and the building and adjacent car house site came to [Pasadena Water & Power]
The building is also significant under Criterion C. The remaining portion of Pacific Electric Substation #2 exhibits the distinctive characteristics of a brick warehouse building from the late-nineteenth century. Although the building is deteriorated and the front parapet has been removed, it retains sufficient integrity to qualify for designation. The building is also a rare example of its property type—buildings associated with electric power generation for rail systems and the inter-urban streetcar network that extended throughout the metropolitan area. The building exhibits architectural integrity (its ability to demonstrate why it is significant) through its location, design, materials, workmanship, feeling and association. It is in its original location, exhibits design and original materials consistent with the time in which it was constructed, and is associated with an important period in the growth and development of the city. The building may be the oldest publicly owned brick structure in the city.
|
|
|
| |
| B11. |
| Additional Resource Attributes: |
HP09
|
|
| *B12. |
|
|
| B13. |
|
| *B14. |
| Date of Evaluation: |
09/17/2007
|
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
