REPORT TO THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
March 23, 2026
FROM: JENNIFER K. CLARK, AICP, Director
Planning and Development Department
BY: ASHLEY ATKINSON, AICP Assistant Director
Planning and Development Department
SUBJECT
Title
CONTINUED FROM FEBRUARY 23, 2026
Hearing to consider eligibility for listing on the Local Register of Historic Resources, the property located at 755 E Shaw Ave (Assessor Parcel Number: 427-030-37)
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommend that the Historic Preservation Commission review the available evidence, hold the hearing and determine whether to initiate designation of the property located at 755 E Shaw Ave (Assessor Parcel Number: 427-030-37) as a Historic Resource.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City has received an application for demolition of the property located at 755 E Shaw Ave., which was constructed in 1970 as Weinstock’s Department Store, the eastern anchor of the Fashion Fair shopping mall. It is not a designated Historic Resource nor located in a historic district but based upon its date of construction and intact exterior, it may be eligible for listing on the Local Register of Historic Resources under Fresno Municipal Code Sec. 12-1607.
BACKGROUND
The Late Modern structure at 755 E Shaw Ave. was constructed in 1970 as Weinstock’s Department Store, serving as the eastern anchor of the new Fashion Fair shopping mall. A time capsule with a plaque indicating that it contains historic items to be removed in one century was placed under the building on June 26, 1970. News reports from the time indicate that the store was designed by Charles Luckman Associates of Los Angeles and that it opened on August 31, 1970, at a construction cost of $8 million. Its construction was noted in news articles for the steel frame that allowed for a lack of interior columns; the climate-controlled interior; and an “advanced” exterior with a “series of protruding levels and planes which give a dramatic play of light and shadow in the bright California sun” (Exhibit B).
According to the City of Fresno’s Mid-Century Modernism Historic Context Statement (Exhibit C), The development of Fashion Fair Mall was initiated when Gordon L. MacDonald Investments Ltd. of Santa Barbara purchased a 58-acre undeveloped tract fronting Shaw Avenue between Fresno and First Streets in 1965 with the intent to build a regional shopping center. To allow this, City Council had to approve a rezoning of the land uses designated by the College Community Plan, which took place in December 1966. The proposed development sparked concern and discussion about the spread of commercial development away from its historic core in downtown Fresno, and the opening of the mall is widely regarded to have resulted in the northward migration of retail activity in Fresno. Although included in Fresno’s Mid-Century Modernism Historic Context Statement, the design of the building is more appropriately aligned with Late Modernism, a broad and varied architectural style of the 1960s-1980s that includes the subgenres of Brutalism and is prevalent elsewhere in Fresno (Exhibit D).
Fashion Fair relied upon three major anchors to draw customers: Weinstock’s, a department store chain founded in Sacramento in 1874; Gottschalks, a chain founded in downtown Fresno in 1904; and JC Penney’s, founded in Wyoming in 1902. Per staff research, JC Penney’s and Weinstock’s each contracted their own architects and launched independent construction bids. Weinstock’s eastern anchor building was financed by Broadway-Hale Stores and designed by Charles Luckman Associates.
Charles Luckman Associates is a commercial architecture firm founded by renowned architect Charles Luckman in 1958 after he parted ways with his original partner, architect William Pereira. Charles Luckman Associates is known for its work nationwide with offices in Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and Phoenix as of 1968. The firm is responsible for the design of well-known buildings around the country such as the LAX Theme Building in Los Angeles (1961); the Prudential Center in Boston (1964); and Madison Square Garden in New York (1968), as well as numerous other commercial projects. Per the Historic Resource Evaluation Prepared by Page & Turnbull, the Weinstock’s Department Store design was replicated in in other department stores designed by Charles Luckman Associates in locations such as Riverside and Citrus Heights. The firm had an ongoing relationship with Broadway-Hale Stores and designed at least 18 other department stores throughout the West for the company, of which 13 remain extant. As noted on the plans, the building’s Project Architect was Richard McKnew (Exhibit C).
The structure at 755 E Shaw Ave. first housed Weinstock’s; then Gottschalks; and most recently Forever 21, a women’s retailer founded in Los Angeles that closed its doors nationwide in 2025. An extensive interior remodel took place in 2010-2011 to accommodate Forever 21, during which the primary entrance was modified to a new double-height glazed entry, and secondary entrances were also modified. Previous changes at an unknown date include infill of a plate glass glazing wall at the north façade’s east projection with cement plaster. Signage has also been updated to reflect the change in tenants (Exhibit C).
ANALYSIS
Per the Fresno Municipal Code (FMC) Sec. 12-1606, Duties and Powers of the Commission, a primary duty of the commission is the “identification, designation and preservation of Historic Resources and Historic Districts owned by the city or located within the city limits.” Any building, structure, object or site may be designated as a Historic Resource if it is found by the Commission and Council to meet the Designation Criteria in FMC SEC. 12-1607 (Exhibit D):
(1) It has been in existence more than fifty years, and it possesses aspects of integrity to convey its significance based upon location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling or association, and:
(i) It is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or
(ii) It is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or
(iii) It embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction, or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values; or
(iv) It has yielded or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.
(2) It has been in existence less than fifty years, it meets the criteria of subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of this section and is of exceptional importance within the appropriate historical context, local, state or national.
The building located at 755 E Shaw Ave. was constructed in 1970 and as noted above, largely maintains the original integrity of its exterior, except for modifications to entrances and signage. A Historic Resource Evaluation prepared by Page & Turnbull was submitted by the applicant on March 17, 2026 and further analyzes the building against each of the Designation Criteria (Exhibit D), concluding that there is a lack of significance under any criteria (see pages 35-39 for detailed analysis).
Regarding Criteria (1)(i), the report notes that as one of three anchor department stores at the new Fashion Fair Mall, it was not individually associated with or responsible for the decline of downtown; nor was the mall the first suburban shopping center constructed outside the city center. The store was one of 19 new stores constructed by Broadway-Hale Stores between 1961 and the early 1970s, thirteen of the which are extant. Speaking to Criteria (1)(iii), the report notes that the company utilized the same design at two other locations in California between 1969 and 1972, and as such it was not unique to local conditions in Fresno. The report further concludes that the design does not appear to be a unique or important example of Late Modern building practices of the late 1960s and early 1970s, nor is it a distinguished example of the work of Charles Luckman Associates. The architect of record, Richard McKnew, is not recognized as a master architect. The report notes that although Charles Luckman was involved in the design aspects of some projects, he was not involved in the design of the subject building. No persons of importance to Fresno’s history were identified in association with the building or the business (Criteria (1)(ii)), nor was the potential to yield information important to the prehistory or history of California (Criteria (1)(iv)).
The report concludes that 755 E Shaw Ave does not appear to be individually eligible for listing on the California Register of Historical Resources or the Fresno Local Register of Historic Resources under any criteria and does not appear to be a historic resource for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The determination of eligibility and initiation of designation is not a project for the purposes of CEQA, as it will not result in a direct or indirect change in the environment.
CONCLUSION
Staff recommend that the Historic Preservation Commission review the available evidence, hold the hearing, and determine whether to initiate designation of the property located at 755 E Shaw Ave (Assessor Parcel Number: 427-030-37) as a Historic Resource.
ATTACHMENTS:
Exhibit A - Notice of Public Hearing
Exhibit B - Fresno Bee Articles
Exhibit C - Fresno Mid-Century Modernism Historic Context (2008)
Exhibit D - Historic Resource Evaluation for 755 E Shaw Ave
Exhibit E - Fresno Municipal Code Designation Criteria & Process