REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
November 3, 2016
FROM: JENNIFER K. CLARK, AICP, Director
Development and Resource Management Department
THROUGH: DANIEL ZACK, AICP, Assistant Director
Development and Resource Management Department
BY: KARANA HATTERSLEY-DRAYTON, M.A., Historic Preservation Project Manager
Development and Resource Management Department
SUBJECT
Title
HEARING to consider adoption of resolutions related to the designation of properties to the Local Register of Historic Resources
1.*** RESOLUTION - Designating the Wilbur and Edna Marie Chandler Home located at 520 N. Yosemite Avenue, Fresno, California to the Local Register of Historic Resources (Council District 3)
2.*** RESOLUTION - Designating the Homer A. Allen Home located at 548 N. Yosemite Avenue, Fresno, California to the Local Register of Historic Resources (Council District 3).
Body
RECOMMENDATION
The Historic Preservation Commission recommends that the City Council adopt the attached Resolutions designating the Wilbur and Edna Marie Chandler Home located at 520 E. Yosemite Avenue and the Homer A. Allen Home located at 548 N. Yosemite Avenue to the Local Register of Historic Resources pursuant to Fresno Municipal Code 12-1607 and 12-1609.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The owners of the Wilbur and Edna Marie Chandler Home and the Homer A. Allen Home have requested in writing that their properties be considered for listing on Fresno’s Local Register of Historic Resources. The residences were evaluated with respect to the historic resource criteria of the City of Fresno’s Historic Preservation Ordinance, Article 16 of Chapter 12 of the Fresno Municipal Code, and were publicly noticed in the Fresno Bee as required by the Ordinance. The Historic Preservation Commission held a noticed public hearing on September 26, 2016, and concluded that the properties were eligible for listing on the Local Register of Historic Resources. The Commission hereby forwards the nomination to the City Council for consideration.
BACKGROUND
The Wilbur and Edna Marie Chandler Home is a two story home designed with Prairie, Mission and Arts and Crafts influences. A character defining feature of this circa 1916 residence is the use of Flemish bond for the brickwork. The property is associated with Senator and Mrs. Wilbur (Marie) Chandler who lived in the home from 1919 until March 1932 when they died 5 days apart. Wilbur Chandler moved to the San Joaquin Valley in 1889 and purchased 320 acres 3 miles north of Selma of which he planted 250 acres in vines. In 1900 Chandler was elected to the California State Assembly and in 1914 he was elected to a 4-year term in the State Senate. Wilbur Chandler formed a partnership with Dr. Chester Rowell and in 1912 the Rowell-Chandler Company completed the first steel frame building in Fresno, the 6-story “Rowell Building” located at Tulare and Van Ness Avenue (HP#170). The Chandlers, however, are best memorialized through their generous gift of 110 acres for Fresno’s first public airport, Chandler Field. Their home appears eligible for listing on the Local Register for its association with the Chandlers (Criterion ii), as a unique example of masonry brick in Flemish bond (Criterion iii) and also under Criterion i for its association with the northward expansion of Fresno during the streetcar era.
The Homer A. Allen Home (1915) is also masonry brick with a variety of bond patterns including common, English and a more elegant three brick design applied near to the cornice. The home has a strong affinity with the Mission Revival including the use of pent/visor roofs on three elevations, the overall “flat” roof on the main house, and Mission barrel roof tiles (although of tin). A two story volume off the southeast corner is original, or at least dates to 1918 as it was depicted on the 1919 Sanborn map. The first owner Homer A. Allen is listed on the building permit and is identified in city directories as a brick contractor. It is likely that Allen was the contractor for this home, and possibly for the Chandler Home as well which was completed a year later. The second owner/resident listed in the City Directories for 548 N. Yosemite was C.B. Hanner, a building contractor. Perhaps the best known of the home’s early owners was John S. McCain, who worked for Miller and Lux and ultimately served as Fresno County’s Purchasing Agent. The Homer A. Allen appears eligible for listing on Fresno’s Local Register of Historic Resources under Criterion iii as a truly unique expression of masonry brick construction and under Criterion i, as an early residence in the streetcar suburb of the Bloomington Park Tract.
Local Register Criteria and Protocols:
The City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance is found at Article 16 of Chapter 12 of the Fresno Municipal Code. Section 1607 outlines the criteria for designation of a resource to the Local Register of Historic Resources. A “historic resource” is “any building, structure, object or site” which is generally more than fifty years of age and “possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association, and:
(i) Is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or
(ii) Is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or
(iii) 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) Has yielded or may be likely to yield, information in prehistory or history.
The City’s criteria for assessing significance are patterned after the National Register of Historic Places (1966 as amended) which uses letters A-D for significance. Fresno’s Local Register is also similar, although not equivalent, to the California Register of Historical Resources which uses a numbering system of 1-4 for criteria. Although the concept of “integrity” is not specifically defined in the City’s Ordinance, it is implicitly understood to follow the National Register which defines “integrity” as “the ability of a property to convey its significance.” “To retain integrity a property will always possess several and usually most, of the aspects.” (“How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation” 1988:44).
The process for designating a historic resource is outlined in FMC 12-1609. In brief, a request to designate a resource to the Local Register may be made by the Council, the Commission, the Secretary to the Commission, the property owner, or an authorized representative of the owner (12-1609(a)). Applications for listing use the state protocol for survey forms with both a DPR 523A (Primary) as well as a DPR 523B (Building, Structure, Object Form) (12-1609(a)(1-9)). A notice must be published in a local newspaper at least ten days prior to the hearing and sent to the property owner as well. Commissioners must also physically visit the property prior to the Commission hearing (12-1609(c)(1)).
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
The designation of historic properties is not a “project” for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) as it will not result in a direct or indirect change in the environment.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference was not considered because this agenda item does not include a bid or award of a construction services contract.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no additional impact beyond the expenditure of staff time.
Attachments:
1. Designation Criteria for the Local Register of Historic Resources (FMC 12-1607).
2. State of California Primary and BSO Forms for The Wilbur and Edna Marie Chandler Home Located at 520 N. Yosemite Avenue, Fresno.
3. A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Fresno, California Designating the Wilbur and Edna Marie Chandler Home Located at 520 N. Yosemite Avenue, Fresno, California to the Local Register of Historic Resources.
4. State of California Primary and BSO Forms for The Homer A. Allen Home Located at 548 N. Yosemite Avenue, Fresno.
5. A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Fresno, California Designating The Homer A. Allen Home Located at 548 N. Yosemite Avenue, Fresno, California to the Local Register of Historic Resources.