REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
March 9, 2017
FROM: JENNIFER K. CLARK, AICP, Director
Development and Resource Management Department
BY: DANIEL ZACK, AICP, Assistant Director
Development and Resource Management Department
SUBJECT
Title
CONTINUED HEARING to consider adoption of resolutions related to the designation of properties to the Local Register of Historic Resources
1.*** RESOLUTION - Designating the C.J. Ryland Home located at 573 E. Terrace Avenue, Fresno, California to the Local Register of Historic Resources (Council District 1).
2.*** RESOLUTION - Designating the J.B. Inderrieden Company Building located at 2721 Ventura Street, 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 C.J. Ryland Home located at 573 E. Terrace Avenue and the J.B. Inderrieden Company Building located at 2721 Ventura Street to the Local Register of Historic Resources pursuant to Fresno Municipal Code 12-1607 and 12-1609.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The owners of the C.J. Ryland Home and the J.B. Inderrieden Company Building 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 November 14, 2016 and concluded that the properties were eligible for listing on the Local Register of Historic Resources.
BACKGROUND
The C.J. Ryland Home (circa 1924) is a Period Revival Home with French eclectic detailing. The parcel is located in the prestigious St. Francis Wood Tract and was purchased by C.J. Ryland on August 18, 1921. The sale was finalized by Winnie Ryland on St. Patrick’s Day in 1923. The house has a rambling plan that wraps the northwest corner of E. Terrace Avenue and the beautifully landscaped North Van Ness Boulevard. Character-defining features of this property include clipped gables, a distinctive round arched wood panel front door and an entryway with a surround of decorative brick quoins. The home has impeccable integrity to its period of construction (circa 1924) and the garage and green house (1936) are contributors. Architect Columbus Ryland was the business partner of Fred Swartz and together the firm designed numerous homes and commercial properties in Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley. The best known of their commissions was the Fresno State College Library (now Fresno City College). The home appears to be eligible for listing under Criterion ii for its association with a person of importance in Fresno history, under Criterion iii as the work of a master, C.J. Ryland and as an architectural jewel, and as a contributor to the proposed Terrace Gardens Historic District (Criterion i).
J.B. Inderrieden Company Building was constructed in 1925 as a raisin packing plant for a Chicago-based cannery and packing company. It is one of several commercial buildings located on R Street (actual address is on Ventura Street) which is part of the proposed Warehouse Row Historic District. The reinforced concrete building is rectangular in plan and has a stepped parapet. It was designed by James A. McCullough who was an architect, engineer and builder. The Inderrieden Building was previously evaluated in the 1994 Ratkovich Survey and found eligible for listing for both its architectural (Criterion iii) and economic significance (Criterion i). The property owners, Bitwise Land Company LLC have submitted plans for the restoration and adaptive reuse of the warehouse as a second site for Bitwise Industries, to house technology start-ups. The conceptual plans for the project were approved by the Commission at the December 19, 2016 public hearing. Historic designation will allow the architects to apply the California Historical Building Code in the restoration.
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 and Local Historic
Districts (FMC 12-1607).
2. Resolution 1 -- A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Fresno, California Designating the C.J. Ryland Home located at 573 E. Terrace Avenue to the Local Register of Historic Resources.
3. Resolution 2 - A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Fresno, California Designating the J.B. Inderrieden Company Building located at 2721 Ventura Street, Fresno to the Local Register of Historic Resources.
4. State of California Primary and BSO Forms for the C.J. Ryland Home located at 573 E. Terrace Avenue, Fresno.
5. State of California Primary and BSO Forms for the J.B. Inderrieden Company Building located at 2721 Ventura Street, Fresno.