| State of California - The Resource Agency |
| DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION |
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| *Resource Name or #: |
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Survey Title: |
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| B1. |
| Historic Name: |
ROYAL LAUNDRY
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| B2. |
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| B3. |
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| *B5a. |
| Primary Architectural Style: |
Neoclassical Revival
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| B5b. |
| Secondary Architectural Style: |
Art Deco
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| *B6. |
| Construction History: |
Date Built: |
1915
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Garage, 1922 (source: building permit)
Main Plant at corner of Raymond and Bellevue, 1927 (source: historical ephemera and newspaper stories; year not entered on building permit)
South Annex of main plant c. 1930 (source: building permit not available; appears on 1931 Sanborn Map). Altered 1939.
Drive-up Building, 1939 (source: building permit)
Addition to rear of drive-up building, 1945 (source: building permit).
Adaptive use/rehabilitation of three buildings and construction of a new parking garage. 2001
Tenant improvement for TCP/ Disney. 2006
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| *B7. |
| Moved?: |
 Yes
 No
Unknown
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Date: |
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Original Location: |
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| *B8. |
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| *B9a. |
| Architect: |
Gordon B. Kaufmann
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| *B10. |
| Significance: |
Theme: |
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Area: |
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| Period of Significance: |
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Property Type: |
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| Applicable Criteria: |
| National Register Criteria: |
A, C
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California Register: |
1, 3
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Local Register: |
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The Royal Laundry property appears eligible for the National Register under two criteria and in two contexts. The 1927 Main Plant, architecturally significant among industrial buildings in Pasadena, is eligible under Criterion C for its high artistic merit. The Drive-up Building of 1939 and the adjacent 1930 Annex, which was modified at the time to integrate with the Drive-up, are eligible under Criterion A under the Multiple Property Documentation for Early Auto-related Properties in Pasadena. The building was identified in the initial survey for the documentation, but the owner at that time declined to have the building listed in the National Register. The Drive-up Building and the Main Plant were cited by the Pasadena Cultural Heritage Commission as eligible for local landmark listing, though the site has not been officially nominated for local listing. The site currently has a rating of 3S in the State Historic Resources Inventory.
The Main Plant 1927
The main plant at the corner of South Raymond Avenue and Bellevue Drive opened in 1927, and is the second oldest building currently on the site. It was designed by a highly noted architect, Gordon B. Kaufmann, during a very significant period of his career. Around the same time, Kaufmann was designing the campuses of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and Scripps College in Claremont. Hiring an architect of Kaufmann’s stature to design the facility appears to have been part of a plan to greatly strengthen the identity of the business within Pasadena. On September 27, 1927, the new plant of the Royal Laundry was opened to the public. The monumental concrete exterior, defined by striped neoclassical bays of columns and windows, featured cast concrete decorative details and an entrance surrounded by multi-colored tile.
The Royal Laundry main plant is significant for its design in the context of industrial buildings in Pasadena. Pasadena had a small industrial district, in which the main industries in the 1920s through the 1940s were laundries, light manufacturing (such as furniture), custom automobile assembly, storage and transport, lumber yards and milling. The industrial area grew around the north-south axis of the Santa Fe rail tracks, which entered the city the center of the block between Raymond Avenue and Arroyo Parkway (then Broadway). Passenger and freight terminals were located at the north end of the rail corridor, just south of the main commercial district of the city along Colorado Boulevard.
The significance of the Royal Laundry compared to other Pasadena laundry buildings in the 1920s and 1930s appears to have been due mainly to its emphasis on the modernity and attractiveness of its plant. Over a twelve-year period from 1927 to 1939, they used architectural design in order to create a recognizable, attractive and distinct public face to the city along South Raymond Avenue and later to adapt to the increasing use of the automobile. The Royal Laundry and the Home Laundry are the only remaining commercial industrial buildings in Pasadena from this time period which exhibit a similar high quality of design and the intent to draw recognition to an industrial business through architecture.
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| B11. |
| Additional Resource Attributes: |
HP06
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| *B12. |
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| B13. |
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| *B14. |
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