HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 16 - COUNCIL READING FILE_f_Architectural Evaluation
Architectural Evaluation for
1144 Chorro Street, San Luis Obispo,
San Luis Obispo County, California
APRIL 2020
PREPARED FOR
City of San Luis Obispo
PREPARED BY
SWCA Environmental Consultants
ARCHITECTURAL EVALUATION FOR
1144 CHORRO STREET,
SAN LUIS OBISPO, SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY,
CALIFORNIA
Prepared for
City of San Luis Obispo
Community Development Department
919 Palm Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Attn: Kyle Bell, Associate Planner
Prepared by
Paula Juelke Carr, M.A., Senior Architectural Historian
SWCA Environmental Consultants
1422 Monterey Street, Suite C200
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
(805) 543-7095
www.swca.com
SWCA Project No. 27640.15
April 2020
1144 Chorro Street Architectural Evaluation
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
SWCA has prepared this architectural evaluation of the commercial building at 1144 Chorro Street, San
Luis Obispo, in connection with environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA) for the proposed Jamestown Premier SLO Retail development at 1144 Chorro Street/840 Marsh
Street (project). The building occupies County of San Luis Obispo Assessor's Parcel Number (APN) 002-
427-012. The project area limits are coterminous with the outer boundary of the parcel. As proposed, the
project entails the demolition of the commercial building, built in 1955, that operated at that location as
Rileys Department Store from 1955 to 1993.
Specifically, this report has been prepared, in conformance with 14 California Code of Regulations (CCR)
Section 15064.5 and Public Resources Code (PRC) Section 5024.1, to determine whether the former
Rileys Department Store building possesses sufficient historical significance and physical integrity to
meet the eligibility criteria for listing in the California Register of Historical Resources (CRHR), or
otherwise constitutes a “historical resource” for the purposes of CEQA, or whether it is eligible for local
designation on the City of San Luis Obispo (City) Master List of Historic Resources or as a contributing
resource to the Downtown Historic District in conformance with Section 14.01.070 of the City’s Historic
Preservation Ordinance.
This report concludes that the former Rileys Department Store commercial building located at 1144
Chorro Street does not retain sufficient physical integrity to the period of its significance (1955–1967) to
be able to convey its historic-period identity and role in the commercial life of San Luis Obispo. For a
business that relies on branding and visibility, the loss of distinctive and prominent signage (the letter “R”
above the canopy on the Chorro Street frontage, and a tall neon “Rileys” sign that rose above the roofline
at the corner of Chorro and Marsh) is a substantial loss to the building’s integrity of design, materials,
feeling, and association. The interpolation of the marble wall cladding and brick-and-cement bench on
Chorro Street; the expansive, angled canvas awning along both street frontages; and the black anodized
aluminum door frame, which replaced a display window and door on Marsh Street, have caused further
inroads on the integrity of design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association that would need to be
present to meet the eligibility criteria for listing in the CRHR or for local designation, or otherwise
constitute historical resources for the purposes of CEQA.
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CONTENTS
Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................... i
Project Description ..................................................................................................................................... 9
Methodology ................................................................................................................................................ 9
Historical Context ....................................................................................................................................... 9
San Luis Obispo Mid-Century Commercial Development .................................................................... 9
Mid-Century Architectural Trends in Storefront Design ..................................................................... 11
Rileys Department Store History .......................................................................................................... 17
Crocker & Bros 1887–c1900; J. Crocker & Co. c1900–1920 ....................................................... 17
D. J. Riley ...................................................................................................................................... 19
H.A. Landeck, Sr., and Coy C. Humphrey .................................................................................... 24
The New Store: Chorro and Marsh ................................................................................................ 27
Rileys in the Recent Past................................................................................................................ 37
Description of Historic-Period Built-Environment Resources in the Project Area Limits ................ 38
Evaluation of Architectural Resources in Project Area of Potential Effects ........................................ 59
California Register of Historical Resources................................................................................... 60
City of San Luis Obispo Local Historic Preservation Criteria ....................................................... 64
Findings ...................................................................................................................................................... 69
Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................ 69
Preparer’s Qualifications ......................................................................................................................... 70
References Cited ........................................................................................................................................ 71
Appendices
Appendix A. Mid-Century Commercial Modernism: Design and Materials, by Carol J. Dyson
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Figures
Figure 1. Project location and vicinity map. ............................................................................................... 10
Figure 2. Crystal Motors, Brooklyn, New York, designed by famed Mid-Century architect Morris
Lapidus in 1950 (Class Haus 2019). ......................................................................................... 14
Figure 3. Crystal Motors, Brooklyn, New York, designed by Morris Lapidus in 1950 (Class Haus
2019). ........................................................................................................................................ 14
Figure 4. Architectural rendering for Bullock’s Westwood (PatricksMercy 2010). ................................... 15
Figure 5. Becket’s Bullock's Westwood opened in 1951 (Los Angeles Public Library Photo
Collection c1953). ..................................................................................................................... 15
Figure 6. Libbey-Owens Ford Glass Company brochure, 1942. ................................................................ 16
Figure 7. This 1946 hardware store design “combines dramatic signage with linear display boxes
that run from the exterior plywood and aluminum frame through the open front and on
into the store” (Dyson 2017:6). ................................................................................................. 16
Figure 8. Floating display windows “deconstructed the front plane of retail windows,” Irene Burke
dress shop, Long Beach, 1948 (Dyson 2015:164). ................................................................... 17
Figure 9. February 1888 Sanborn map (sheet 5) showing of Crocker Brothers two-story brick
building under construction at Higuera and Garden Streets. .................................................... 18
Figure 10. December 1891 Sanborn map (sheet 9) showing Crocker Brothers store in operation. ............ 18
Figure 11. The first store building opened in 1888 as A. Crocker & Bros. (Franks 2004:49). ................... 18
Figure 12. After Jacob Crocker bought out his brothers’ interest in the store at the turn of the
century it operated as J. Crocker & Co., at the same Higuera Street and Garden Street
location (Middlecamp 2019). .................................................................................................... 19
Figure 13. Riley-Crocker Company advertisement (Santa Maria Times 1916:4). ..................................... 20
Figure 14. Store advertisement (Santa Maria Times 1917a:5). .................................................................. 21
Figure 15. Store advertisement (Santa Maria Times 1917b:8). .................................................................. 21
Figure 16. Christmas advertisement (Santa Maria Times 1917c:5). .......................................................... 22
Figure 17. Expert corset-fitting advertisement (Santa Maria Times 1918:2). ............................................ 22
Figure 18. Consultation advertisement (Santa Maria Times 1926:5). ........................................................ 23
Figure 19. School opening advertisement (San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune 1942:12)......................... 23
Figure 20. Lamson Pneumatic Tube catalogue, c1910s (Meanwhile, at the Manse 2012). ........................ 24
Figure 21. Landeck and Humphrey’s pledge to carry on the business according to Riley’s wishes
(San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune 1945b:6). ........................................................................ 25
Figure 22. Interior modernization efforts at the Higuera and Garden Street location (San Luis
Obispo Telegram-Tribune 1954:11). ........................................................................................ 26
Figure 23. Riley Department Store building nearing completion on the day before official opening
(San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune 1955c:1). ........................................................................ 27
Figure 24. Artist’s rendering of new Rileys Department Store (San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune
1956b:24). ................................................................................................................................. 28
Figure 25. The first unit of Rileys Department Store, with the Union Hardware store that occupied
the building next door between 1955 and 1960 (History Center of San Luis Obispo
County). .................................................................................................................................... 29
Figure 26. In September 1955, Rileys acquired the former Albrecht’s furniture store at 2211 Broad
Street “to complete Rileys growth as a full-fledged department store,” (advertising cuts
from San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune 1956b:24. ................................................................ 30
Figure 27. Rileys December 1956 “My Baby Magazine,” which probably appeared as an insert in
the San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune and other local Central Coast newspapers
(PicClick 2018). ........................................................................................................................ 30
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Figure 28. Beauty consultant advertisement (Santa Maria Times 1958:6). ................................................ 31
Figure 29. Wedding consultation advertisement (Santa Maria Times 1962a:4). ........................................ 31
Figure 30. Laura Righetti Garzola (1905–2014), who headed the store’s cosmetics department
(Trujillo 2018). .......................................................................................................................... 32
Figure 31. Interior view of store, including mezzanine and staircase, c1958 (KSBY 2018). ..................... 32
Figure 32. Another interior view of merchandise and stairway to mezzanine, taken on same day as
Figure 31, c1958 (Pinterest 2019b). .......................................................................................... 33
Figure 33. Window display advertising Historical Museum’s Cabrillo Scholarship, featuring
historical costume on left, artifacts in case, and Portuguese flag (History Center of San
Luis Obispo County). ................................................................................................................ 33
Figure 34. View of Rileys vertical sign and flagpole at the corner of Chorro and Marsh, c1959
(History Center of San Luis Obispo County). ........................................................................... 34
Figure 35. Artist’s rendering, probably c1955, of what may have been a proposed Rileys
Department Store exterior design; note the hardware store at the left (Pinterest 2019a). ......... 35
Figure 36. An advertisement published in 1962 featured the entire artist’s rendering of the Chorro
Street elevation (cf. Figure 17, above) (Santa Maria Times 1962b:6). ..................................... 35
Figure 37. Rileys opened another satellite store—a home furnishings and music center—on August
13, 1964, in the College Square Shopping Center on Foothill Boulevard (Santa Maria
Times 1964:7). ........................................................................................................................... 36
Figure 38. The former Rileys Home Furnishings and Music Center, at 872 Foothill Boulevard, now
houses CrossFit and Club 24 (Google, November 2018). ........................................................ 36
Figure 39. Former general manager George Christensen (left) and co-owner and general manager
Bob Humphrey in 1987, the centennial of the store’s founding (Middlecamp 2019). .............. 37
Figure 40. Co-owner Ross J. Humphrey (San Luis Obispo Tribune 2014). ............................................... 37
Figure 41. Rileys Department Store staff share a farewell meal on the last day of operation, January
31, 1993 (Middlecamp 2019). ................................................................................................... 38
Figure 42. Former Union Hardware store building incorporated into Rileys in 1960, camera facing
north (Google, November 2018). .............................................................................................. 39
Figure 43. Overview down Chorro Street, camera facing east (Google, November 2018). ....................... 39
Figure 44. View down Chorro Street elevation, camera facing southeast (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ............ 40
Figure 45. Articulation of marble-clad wall with display window supported on brick bulkhead at
left corner of former Union Hardware building, camera facing north (SWCA, May 5,
2019). ........................................................................................................................................ 40
Figure 46. Articulation of rectangular storefront window, brick bulkhead, and door assembly on
former Union Hardware building, camera facing north (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ..................... 41
Figure 47. Door assembly, including transom and wall surface below awning, former Union
Hardware building, camera facing northeast (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ...................................... 41
Figure 48. Articulation of door assembly with brick wall and projecting display window, camera
facing east (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ........................................................................................... 42
Figure 49. Approved plan for Copeland Sports project, 1992 (City of San Luis Obispo microfiche,
1144 Chorro Street). .................................................................................................................. 42
Figure 50. Recessed area on Chorro Street with Roman brick wall, memorial plaques, palm tree,
and bench, camera facing northeast (SWCA, May 5, 2019). .................................................... 43
Figure 51. Memorial plaques to Herbert A. Landeck, Sr. (1897–1972), and Coy C. Humphrey
(1906–1968), who owned and developed the property at 1144 Chorro Street in 1955,
camera facing north (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ............................................................................ 43
Figure 52. Articulation of brick masonry wall and concrete wall at recessed area, with palm tree and
horizontal flagpole, camera facing northwest (SWCA May 5, 2019). ...................................... 44
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Figure 53. Inner corners of Roman brick masonry between bench and angled display window,
camera facing northeast (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ...................................................................... 44
Figure 54. Underside of stuccoed canopy over Chorro Street sidewalk (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ............... 45
Figure 55. Chorro Street main entrance, camera facing northeast (Google, November 2018). .................. 45
Figure 56. View of interior and recessed area beyond, through display windows, camera facing
northwest (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ............................................................................................ 46
Figure 57. Angled display window at left side of main Chorro Street entrance, camera facing north
(SWCA, May 5, 2019). ............................................................................................................. 47
Figure 58. Right-angled corner of display window at right side of main Chorro Street entrance,
camera facing east (SWCA, May 5, 2019). .............................................................................. 47
Figure 59. Approved plan for Copeland Sports project, 1992 (City of San Luis Obispo microfiche,
1144 Chorro Street). .................................................................................................................. 48
Figure 60. View through display window to Marsh Street corner, camera facing southeast (SWCA,
May 5, 2019). ............................................................................................................................ 48
Figure 61. Approved plan for Copeland Sports project, 1992 (City of San Luis Obispo microfiche,
1144 Chorro Street). .................................................................................................................. 49
Figure 62. Articulation of Roman brick masonry walls at the corner of Chorro Street and Marsh
Street, with brackets that formerly held the vertical Rileys sign and flagpole, camera
facing north (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ......................................................................................... 49
Figure 63. Detail of brick texture and inclusions in clay body; note well-executed concave mortar
tooling (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ................................................................................................. 50
Figure 64. Overview of Chorro and Marsh street elevations, camera facing north (Google,
November 2018). ...................................................................................................................... 51
Figure 65. Marsh Street elevation, near Chorro Street, camera facing northwest (Google, November
2018). ........................................................................................................................................ 51
Figure 66. Approved plan for Copeland Sports project, 1992 (City of San Luis Obispo microfiche,
1144 Chorro Street). .................................................................................................................. 52
Figure 67. At west end of display window, aluminum frame is flush-mounted in brick wall, Marsh
Street elevation, camera facing northwest (SWCA photograph, May 8, 2019). ....................... 52
Figure 68. Roman brick masonry bulkhead on Marsh Street elevation, camera facing northwest
(SWCA, May 5, 2019). ............................................................................................................. 53
Figure 69. Upper wall surface, underside of canopy, and left concrete pillar of doorway portal,
Marsh Street elevation, camera facing northwest (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ............................... 53
Figure 70. At east end of display window, aluminum frame flares out on top of brick masonry,
Marsh Street elevation, camera facing west (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ....................................... 54
Figure 71. Articulation of brick masonry bulkhead, display window assembly, and door assembly,
Marsh Street elevation, camera facing west (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ....................................... 54
Figure 72. Doorway assembly set inside tall, stuccoed concrete entry portal, Marsh Street elevation,
camera facing northwest (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ..................................................................... 55
Figure 73. Articulation of stucco with metal mesh screen on underside of canopy and awning,
Marsh Street elevation, camera facing northwest (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ............................... 55
Figure 74. Metal mesh screening on underside of canvas awning, Marsh Street elevation, camera
facing southwest (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ................................................................................. 56
Figure 75. Overview of Marsh Street elevation near alleyway, camera facing northwest (SWCA,
May 5, 2019). ............................................................................................................................ 56
Figure 76. Approved plan for Copeland Sports project, 1992 (City of San Luis Obispo microfiche,
1144 Chorro Street). .................................................................................................................. 57
Figure 77. Replacement door assembly near alleyway on Marsh Street elevation, camera facing
west (SWCA, May 5, 2019). ..................................................................................................... 57
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Figure 78. Plan view of new canopy above original doorway and display case, constructed in
September 1962 by Maino Construction (City of San Luis Obispo microfiche, 1144
Chorro Street). ........................................................................................................................... 58
Figure 79. Elevation of new canopy shows original configuration of Marsh Street doorway and
adjacent display window (City of San Luis Obispo microfiche, 1144 Chorro Street). ............. 58
Figure 80. Upper corner of Marsh Street entrance near alleyway, showing where display window
was formerly located, camera facing west (SWCA, May 5, 2019). .......................................... 58
Figure 81. Steel angle bar protecting brick masonry at corner of Marsh Street alleyway behind
Rileys building (SWCA, May 5, 2019). .................................................................................... 59
Figure 82. Modest example of early Mid-Century style, 1335–1337 Monterey Street (Google,
November 2018). ...................................................................................................................... 62
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PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Jamestown Premier SLO Retail, LP redevelopment project proposed for 1144 Chorro Street/840
Marsh Street (project), currently under environmental review by the City of San Luis Obispo (City),
entails the demolition of the one-story commercial building currently present on the parcel. The building,
constructed in 1955, operated as Rileys Department Store from 1955 to 1993, when it was purchased by
the current owners.
METHODOLOGY
Historic-period built-environment resources (i.e., resources 50 years old or older) are present in the
project area. Under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), such resources are considered part
of the environment and are subject to review. This architectural evaluation will determine whether any of
the historic-period resources onsite have sufficient significance and integrity to constitute “historical
resources” for the purposes of CEQA. A project that may cause a substantial adverse effect on the
significance of a historical resource is a project that may have a significant effect on the environment.1
The project area limits are coterminous with the outer boundary of County of San Luis Obispo (County)
Assessor’s Parcel Numbers (APN) 002-427-012 (Figure 1). The architectural evaluation of the subject
property is based on a combination of observations made during site visits to the property on May 2, 5,
and 8, 2019; preliminary research in standard secondary sources; archival research at the County
Assessor’s Office, San Luis Obispo County Recorder’s Office, and San Luis Obispo City/County Library;
City Community Development Department address and permit files and microfiche for 1144 Chorro; and
desktop research conducted through online databases, including Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com,
GenealogyBank.com, and the California Digital Newspaper Collection. The corporate offices of the L.A.
Darling Company in Bentonville, Arkansas, were also contacted on May 6, 2019, for information about
the original merchandise display systems installed in 1955; no reply has been received to date. SWCA
Environmental Consultants (SWCA) Senior Architectural Historian Paula Juelke Carr, M.A., conducted
the fieldwork, evaluation, and report preparation.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The historical context for the proposed project includes brief reviews of three topics: San Luis Obispo’s
Mid-Century commercial development; national Mid-Century trends in commercial architecture; and the
corporate history of Rileys Department Store and its antecedents.
San Luis Obispo Mid-Century Commercial Development
For the project area, the most relevant period and theme from San Luis Obispo’s history relate to the
City’s mid-twentieth-century growth, and especially to its mid-twentieth-century commercial
development. The City of San Luis Obispo Citywide Historic Context Statement (Historic Resources
Group 2013:125–129) provides useful background information on these topics. Although San Luis
Obispo experienced a tremendous amount of building activity associated with troop training facilities in
anticipation of United States involvement in both Europe and the Pacific during World War II, there was
very little new commercial development in the 1940s.
1 CEQA is encoded in Sections 21000 et seq. of the California Public Resources Code (PRC), with guidelines for implementation
codified in 14 California Code of Regulations (CCR) Chapter 3, Sections 15000 et seq. The definition of “historical resources”
is contained in Section 15064.5 of the State CEQA Guidelines.
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Figure 1. Project location and vicinity map.
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The end of wartime rationing and restrictions on building materials, together with the general post-war
economic boom and population increase, brought both new development and architectural remodeling to
downtown San Luis Obispo. As part of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s emphasis on creating a
national highway system, highway funding became more readily available with the passage of the
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. Locally, a new alignment of U.S. Route 101 was completed in 1958,
bypassing the former city-street route along Higuera and Monterey Streets, but greatly facilitating
automobile tourism along the Central Coast. In addition to being at the midpoint between Los Angeles
and San Francisco, and at a strategic location along the Central Coast, San Luis Obispo also benefitted
from its role as county seat and the most important shopping hub for miles around. In 1940, San Luis
Obispo’s population had not yet reached 9,000, by 1950 it had surpassed 14,000, by 1960 it was nearly
20,500, and by 1970 it had reached just over 28,000 (Wikipedia 2019). Over the course of these three
decades, San Luis Obispo both grew and modernized as a city.
Many existing commercial buildings in the original downtown core were modified with
contemporary storefronts during this period. New commercial development during this
period included a small number of low-density commercial retail and office buildings
located outside of the historic core. Many of these low-density office buildings were
developed for use as medical offices and health services. The most prominent of these is
the Kundert Medical Building, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and
completed in 1956. During the 1950s, San Luis Obispo saw its share of suburban sprawl
within geographically defined borders, and the first mall was built just a few miles from
downtown. In the 1970s, another mall was added. But unlike in other communities in
California, the two shopping centers proved to be little competition for downtown San
Luis Obispo as the major commercial center.
Architectural styles associated with this period include Mid-century Modern. Architects
who are represented in San Luis Obispo during this period include Frank Lloyd Wright
and Craig Ellwood, along with local architects Mackey Deasy, Homer Delawie, George
Hasslein, Warren Leopold, Paul Neel, and Piercy K. Notable local builders include Stan
Bell, Leonard Blazer, Roger Brown, Alex Madonna, Patrick Smith, Arnold Volney, and
Jack Westerman. (Historic Resources Group 2013:126)
Mid-Century Architectural Trends in Storefront Design
In his contribution to the 2000 Preserving the Recent Past 2 conference proceedings (Jackson 2000:2-57–
2-64), architect Mike Jackson, affiliated with the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, presented a
synopsis of American storefront design from 1949 to 1970, excerpted here:
The architectural history of the storefront is one of continuous evolution, with the mid-
twentieth century as one of the most dynamic periods of innovation. Changes in
architectural fashions and construction technologies allowed commercial property owners
to use storefront design and alteration as a method of improving their niche in the
American marketplace. This transformation was never more rapid than in the mid-
twentieth century. The forces prompting these changes were physical, psychological, and
economic, and intensely promoted in the architectural and retail publications. Merchants,
by their very nature, are prompting buyers to stay current by purchasing new things.
Architects and architectural product makers promoted a similar need for merchants and
commercial property owners to keep their buildings up-to-date and appealed to the same
marketing impulses that merchants used to woo their customers . . .
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In a major competition sponsored by [architectural trade journal] Pencil Points magazine
in 1942, architects around the country were invited to submit designs for the “Storefront
of Tomorrow.” . . . The winning entries to this competition all explored the display
window as both a window and an architectural form, released from the normal bounds of
the wall. The storefront became far more three-dimensional than the Art Deco and Art
Moderne designs promoted in the Modernize Main Street competition just seven years
earlier. The jutting, floating, jewel-box quality of the display window was emphasized.
The same effort was placed in the manipulation of the signs and canopies. The overall
effect seemed to be to defy gravity, since the structural elements that held it together were
minimized in expression. The limits of glass as a self-supporting material were explored.
Manufacturing advances in glass technology, including tempering (higher strength) and
improved attachment details, allowed more glass and less framing.
The “open front” or visual front” was the name attached to this new generation of
storefronts. While the earliest versions date to 1940, the limits of the wartime economy
meant that this form did not gain center stage until the 1950s and 1960s, when the last of
the Art Moderne and streamline designs were fading from popularity. In its ideal
variation, the “open front” was integrated with an interior renovation so that the entire
interior of the store became the “display window,” not just a front window zone. The
principal design characteristics of the “open front” included large display windows that
were often cantilevered . . . , nonsymmetrical and angular plans, angled or jutting support
structures, projecting flat canopies, floating elements such as signs (often used with free-
form cutouts or silhouettes), and a picture-frame motif instead of a display window as the
most prominent design element, a marked contrast to the storefront designs of the
previous decade, which placed much more emphasis on the wall and graphics framing the
display window.
In addition to form changes, the palette of construction materials changed. Clear polished
plate glass was the largest single surface, but the front bulkhead and enframement could
be brick, stone, or tile. The smooth monolithic surfaces of the streamline era gave way to
textured surfaces or those made of very small tile. Brick, in a blond color as well as the
traditional red, with a stacked bond pattern was particularly popular. Regional stone was
used for the bulkhead panels and sidewalls, including simulated stone of cement and
asphalt in the most utilitarian versions. The storefront framing was almost always tubular
aluminum, with varying finishes. Beginning in the mid-1950s, a light tan-colored
(“champagne”) aluminum gained popularity . . .
The front canopy as both a shading device and integral part of the architectural
composition was a major difference from previous generations of commercial structures,
It replaced the fabric awning, which had served for centuries. The canopy separated the
display window from the structure or from the surface above and could be extended into
the interior in a similar design capacity . . . In its most utilitarian form, the canopy was a
thin, cantilevered horizontal line in the overall composition.
In the same article, Jackson goes on to quote Morris Lapidus, a trend-setting Mid-Century architect who
specialized in storefront and hotel design:
The store front is the silent salesman working on the street 24 hours a day . . . Mr. and
Mrs. America and their children have been educated to shopping habits in which the store
front plays a stellar role. Window shopping is probably the greatest single pastime of
men, women and children throughout the country. Millions of dollars are spent on
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window display, and retailers today are much too canny to spend their money on
anything that does not produce an ample return on investment. To my mind, store fronts
are the catalysts which turn window shoppers into customers and as such are a vital part
of the retailer’s selling equipment. As an architect who has spent many years in the store
field, I feel that nothing contributes more to the quick and continued recognition of a
retailing establishment by the public than a store front.”
In another contribution to the 2000 Preserving the Recent Past 2 conference proceedings (Longstreth
2000:2-1–2-11), architectural and cultural landscape historian Richard Longstreth used Mid-Century
architectural changes in Savannah, Georgia, as an example of the national trend of sweeping postwar
alterations in downtown commercial districts and the rising competition with suburban shopping centers:
Broughton Street served as the primary retail corridor for the city from the late nineteenth
century until the 1960s, when it was eclipsed by shopping centers and other development
on the urban periphery. Most of Broughton Street’s fabric dates from the period of its rise
in the 1920s . . . But another major component dates from the fifteen-year period
following World War II. Between 1942 and 1960, leading national chain stores and
prominent local companies alike constructed substantial new quarters . . .
The new work stood in unabashed contrast to that of previous, decades, but . . . there was
no interest in harmonizing with the past. Indeed the objective in Savannah and elsewhere
coast to coast was to transform main street, to make it seem entirely new. Only then,
retailers believed, could they remain competitive in their merchandising agenda. Locally
the precedent was set in the 1946 outlet of Lerner Shops, a New York-based chain
specializing in women’s and children’s apparel. The ambient newness that it exuded was
made possible through technological advances. Air conditioning and fluorescent lights
reversed the traditional objective of selling floors arranged for maximum natural
ventilation and light. The resulting windowless upper section was, in turn, used as a
backdrop for the boldly-scaled store letters – the whole treated as a great sign that would
quickly attract the eye of the motorist no less than the pedestrian and stand out amid its
neighbors.
Longstreth noted that Savannah’s Woolworth and J. C. Penney stores also erected large new stores, and
“a major local retailer, the R. H. Levy Company, greatly expanded and completely remodeled its building
in 1954, several years after its purchase by Allied Stores, one of the nation’s foremost department store
ownership groups” (Longstreth 2000:2-2).
Figures 2 through 6, below, document high-style commercial architectural designs that clearly
demonstrate the major architectural elements diagnostic of the Mid-Century commercial style, as
discussed by Jackson and Longstreth. Figures 2 and 3 are views of Morris Lapidus’s 1950 design for an
automobile showroom, and Figures 4 and 5 are the work of Welton Becket and Associates, “responsible
for a stunning array of iconic modern structures that literally defined post-war Los Angeles” (Emerton
2003:3). Through an array of architectural and popular magazines, trade journals and catalogues,
newspapers, and advertisements, the Mid-Century style was made known to the American public. Figures
6 through 8 present more modest examples of the Mid-Century commercial style, which nonetheless
incorporate important diagnostic elements. Other examples are depicted in Appendix A (Dyson 2008).
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Figure 2. Crystal Motors, Brooklyn, New York, designed by famed Mid-
Century architect Morris Lapidus in 1950 (Class Haus 2019).
Figure 3. Crystal Motors, Brooklyn, New York, designed by Morris Lapidus
in 1950 (Class Haus 2019).
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Figure 4. Architectural rendering for Bullock’s Westwood (PatricksMercy 2010).
Figure 5. Becket’s Bullock's Westwood opened in 1951 (Los Angeles Public
Library Photo Collection c1953).
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Figure 6. Libbey-Owens Ford Glass Company brochure, 1942. “Steel lintels
now easily spanned across an entire façade, transparent ‘open fronts’
replaced earlier opaquely backed display windows . . . ” (Dyson 2017:4).
Figure 7. This 1946 hardware store design “combines dramatic signage
with linear display boxes that run from the exterior plywood and aluminum
frame through the open front and on into the store” (Dyson 2017:6).
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Figure 8. Floating display windows “deconstructed the front plane of retail
windows,” Irene Burke dress shop, Long Beach, 1948 (Dyson 2015:164).
Rileys Department Store History
Crocker & Bros 1887–c1900; J. Crocker & Co. c1900–1920
Rileys Department Store had its origins in the dry goods store founded in 1887 as A. Crocker & Brothers
(Aaron, Jacob, and Adolph Crocker) at the southeast corner of Higuera and Garden Streets. Their two-
story brick building, which fronted on Higuera Street, was depicted on the February 1888 Sanborn Fire
Insurance map (sheet 5 of 9) as “being built” (Figure 9). In December 1891, the Sanborn map (sheet 9 of
17) documented the store as offering drygoods, clothing, and gentlemen’s furnishings (hats, gloves,
cravats, etc.); offices were located on the second floor (Figure 10). The Crocker Brothers specialized in
“piece goods”—cloth, thread, lace, and ribbon—as well as ready-to-wear clothing, trunks, suitcases, and
household items (Franks 2004:49). The finished building opened for business in 1888 (Figure 11). By
1900 Jacob Crocker had bought out his two brothers and was operating the store as J. Crocker & Co., still
at the corner of Higuera and Garden Streets (Figure 12).
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Figure 9. February 1888 Sanborn map (sheet 5)
showing of Crocker Brothers two-story brick building
under construction at Higuera and Garden Streets.
Figure 10. December 1891 Sanborn
map (sheet 9) showing Crocker
Brothers store in operation.
Figure 11. The first store building opened in 1888 as A. Crocker & Bros. (Franks 2004:49).
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Figure 12. After Jacob Crocker bought out his brothers’ interest in the store at the turn of the
century it operated as J. Crocker & Co., at the same Higuera Street and Garden Street location
(Middlecamp 2019).
D. J. Riley
One of Jacob Crocker’s young employees was Daniel John (D. J.) Riley, who was learning the
department store business. Articles of incorporation for the new firm—the Riley-Crocker Corporation—
were filed with the County Clerk on February 9, 1914 (San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram 1914a:1). As
reported succinctly in the San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram on the following day (1914b:1), “Daniel J.
Riley of Gilroy to assume entire management of the Riley-Crocker Corporation store (formerly
Crocker’s) tomorrow; from cash-boy2 to store head in fourteen years.” Under the new business
arrangement, Crocker, operating from corporate offices in San Francisco, was in charge of buying; Riley
ran the San Luis Obispo store. Jacob Crocker praised his new partner, saying,
In bringing Mr. Riley to this city and placing him in charge of the entire store we are
bringing a man who is by no means a stranger to this business or to us. Mr. Riley began
life as a cash boy with us in Eureka at the age of fourteen. He rapidly worked his way up
the ladder and after being in our employ six years in Eureka he launched the biggest dry
goods store in Gilroy where he has prospered the past eight years . . .
Mr. Riley will make such changes as in his judgment will make for the betterment of the
business and that may better serve its patrons. If he deems alterations necessary they will
be made. He will be in absolute charge of the entire store and of every department.
2 In the era before cash registers were widely available, “cash boys” were employed in department stores to carry the customer’s
money and the sales clerk’s transaction note from the sales counter to the cashier at a centralized cash desk, and then return to
the sales counter with the customer’s change and the transaction note stamped “paid.”
1144 Chorro Street Architectural Evaluation
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Riley immediately made good on his partners’ predictions. On February 16, the day the store formerly
transferred into his hands, Riley announced that the “first and most important improvement contemplated
was the utilization of the entire building for the store and added departments. A broad stairway will be
constructed from the main floor of the building to the second floor where a department of blankets,
comforters, lace curtains, portiers [interior doorway draperies] of all descriptions, draperies and kindred
departments will be established” (San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram 1914c:1). The motto of the new
management was to be: “The Best Made for the Price Paid.”
In November 1916, the company ran a large advertisement in the Santa Maria Times (1916:4). At the top
of the ad was what purported to be a copy of a Western Union telegram from Crocker to Riley (Figure
13):
Have bought entire sample line of Fall coast from one of New York’s largest
Manufacturers whose output for this season has been entirely sold up. Also line of silk,
and wool one-piece dresses from another manufacturer at greatly reduced prices, very
clever styles and a good range of sizes. And about 50 or 60 of this season’s suits. Will
ship to-morrow. Advertise heavily, fill show windows and price them low as you will
have big stock to move. Had several good offers on these here but thought it best to give
our San Luis Patrons an opportunity to economize. Believe they will appreciate it.
Figure 13. Riley-Crocker Company advertisement (Santa Maria Times
1916:4).
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At a time when ready-made goods were replacing home-made clothing and making it less necessary to
employ seamstresses and milliners, the Riley-Crocker Company made good use of extensive and detailed
advertisements (Figures 14–17).
Figure 14. Store advertisement (Santa
Maria Times 1917a:5).
Figure 15. Store advertisement (Santa Maria Times
1917b:8).
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Figure 16. Christmas advertisement (Santa
Maria Times 1917c:5).
Figure 17. Expert corset-fitting advertisement
(Santa Maria Times 1918:2).
In 1920 D. J. Riley acquired sole ownership of the Riley-Crocker Company, which retained that name. In
1923 Riley undertook a thorough remodeling of the store’s interior, driven by his intention to introduce an
“efficiency program that is not a mere thing of words arranged in a business slogan, but that is to
permeate the entire store built into its physical properties and an essential part of each department.” As
reported in the San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram (1923:8), the store was closed for about 2 weeks,
during which time it has been practically rebuilt in the interior, the departments having
been completely rearranged in conformity with the store’s new plan of an efficiency that
will make for a lower overhead, a greater labor and stock turnover, an increased volume,
a smaller margin for profit, resulting in a wonderful price benefit to the customer. The
foundation step in this program, Mr. Riley stated, is that of inter-related departments and
fixtures that will utilize space in the displaying as well as the storing of goods . . . We
believe this arrangement serves the important purpose of making it possible for a clerk to
1144 Chorro Street Architectural Evaluation
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serve more customers with a minimum of effort and labor, thus we hope to increase the
volume of business 100 per cent without adding to our expenses, because of the basic
efficiency of the new store plan.
In 1925, Riley stepped away from the daily operations of the store, turning it over to the partnership of
William Lannon and a Mr. Martin; the store was renamed the Riley-Lannon Company (Figures 18 and
19). As reported in his 1945 obituary (San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune 1945a:1), Riley traveled
extensively in the late 1920s and early 1930s, “but eventually returned to San Luis Obispo and once more
took over his old store.” Riley was in charge of the business decision making, but the store was managed
by William Lannon for about 20 years, from the mid-1920s into the 1940s.
Figure 18. Consultation advertisement
(Santa Maria Times 1926:5).
Figure 19. School opening advertisement (San
Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune 1942:12).
In August 1929, the San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram noted (1929:2), “in keeping with its policy of
making any improvements that tend to increase the efficiency of sales service,” Riley installed a Lamson
Pneumatic Tube system to carry cash and sales tags from the various departments to the cashier’s office
on the top floor, and to return change to the customer—the job formerly carried out by the “cash boys”
(Figure 20).
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Figure 20. Lamson Pneumatic Tube
catalogue, c1910s (Meanwhile, at the Manse
2012).
H.A. Landeck, Sr., and Coy C. Humphrey
In August 1945, Riley’s health was failing, and he sold his business to partners Coy C. Humphrey and
H.A. Landeck. In his obituary, published on the front page of the San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune
(1945a:1) (Figure 21), Riley was commemorated as a business and civic leader who had been:
proprietor of the Riley-Lannon dry good store here for the past 31 years. Originally in the
haberdashery business in Gilroy, he had sold out there in 1914 and came to San Luis
Obispo where he purchased the dry goods company owned by A. J. Crocker. ….
Always alert to improve his operating methods, Mr. Riley installed the first pneumatic
tube carrier system in San Luis Obispo. He made it a point to keep up with the latest
methods of display and lightning. He was constantly concerned with keeping the quality
of the store’s merchandise, establishing a quality reputation for Riley-Lannon which has
endured through the many years.
The length of service of Riley-Lannon employees is a testimonial of the fair and generous
attitude Mr. Riley maintained toward his personnel…. In transferring ownership, Mr.
Riley stipulated that the former policies of his concern be maintained, He especially
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requested that his personnel be retained in their current capacities. The new owners
agreed to this provision and have announced that the store will continue to operate as
before under the complete managership of George L. Christiansen and with no change
whatever in personnel or policies.
Figure 21. Landeck and Humphrey’s pledge
to carry on the business according to Riley’s
wishes (San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune
1945b:6).
Rileys Department Store is well documented both for its customer service and its dedicated, knowledgeable
employees. In 1948, for example, when the store celebrated its 61st anniversary since its July 1887 founding,
the San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune (1948:6) ran an article about its longest-serving staff members:
Pride in the record length of service of many of its employes, in the reputation established
by the pioneer firm and in the merchandise which it now offers its customer,
characterizes the anniversary observance. Ten of Rileys employes have been employed
by the company for a grand total of 253 years, or an average of more than a quarter
century each.
Leading the list of veteran employes is Miss Louise Floyd, head of the lingerie, gloves
and hosiery department, who has been with the store continuously since 1902, when it
was known as Crocker Brothers, under which name it was established in 1887.
Second longest record of service is held by Mrs. D. W. Brophy, who has been with the
firm continuously since 1908, and who is now in active charge of the business office,
George L. Allen, former manager of the store, still oversees its business transactions. He
has been associated with Rileys for the past 25 years.
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Present manager of Rileys is George L. Christensen, who first started work there 24 years
ago while in the eighth grade at the old Court school. Promoted through successive
positions, he became manager three years ago.
Both Mrs. Daria Ramonetti, graduate corsetier and buyer for the corset department, and
Miss Dora Bergh, who is in charge of alterations, have been with the firm 23 years; Mrs.
Sophia Leitcher, buyer in charge of the ready-to-wear floor, is a veteran of 21 years
service; and Mrs. Milvia Hanrahan, head of the bags, gifts, and jewelry department, has
20 years continuous service.
Other long-time employes include Mrs. Louise Ros, sales lady in the piece goods
department, 17 years; Mrs. Margie B. Tomasini, buyer in charge of the piece goods and
bedding department, 14 years; Miss Lora Scaroni, sales lady of the ready-to-wear floor,
nine years; and Mrs. Stella Chiesa, buyer in charge of the infants wear section, eight
years.
Additional Rileys personnel include Miss Dorothy Gracia, Miss Mary E. Bowden, Miss
Sally Babcock and Miss Lena Oliveira, all of whom work in the business office; Miss
Marilyn Fitzgerald, piece goods; Miss Pearl Anderson and Miss Nora Smith, ready to
wear; Miss Grace Silacci, corset department; Mrs. Donna Amos, baby department; Mrs
Shirley Sondono, gifts; Miss Mary Oliveira and Miss Arline Baker, lingerie section; and
Mrs. Laura Garzoli, who is newly in charge of the cosmetics department.
By 1954 the store building at the corner of Higuera and Garden Streets was bursting at the seams, and the
owners undertook the “first major remodeling job in years.” Store manager George Christensen stated,
“Continued business growth in San Luis Obispo has made it necessary for the store to make the best use
of all available space.” As reported by the Telegram-Tribune (1954:11), “To provide more room for
merchandise and easier access all new fixtures were installed on the mezzanine floor. A large floor-to-
ceiling partition in the balcony’s center was removed,” and the “former solid wall surrounding the
mezzanine floor, restricting view and space, was replaced with a modernistic wire fence with a wooden
railing (Figure 22).
Figure 22. Interior modernization efforts at the Higuera and Garden Street
location (San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune 1954:11).
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The New Store: Chorro and Marsh
The stopgap alterations made in May 1954 proved fruitless, however: by early 1955, Landeck and
Humphrey had made the decision to relocate. They acquired the subject property at the corner of Chorro
and Marsh Streets, and in May 1955 announced plans for a new store. The City issued building permit
No. A475 on June 23, 1955, listing C. F. Hamlin as the engineer and [Theo.] Maino Construction as the
builders. There is no indication of any architect being associated with the project. The building permit
was finaled on June 23, 1955 (City of San Luis Obispo 2019), and the new Rileys Department Store
officially opened 4 months later, on October 20, 1955 (Figure 23). The old store at Higuera and Garden
Streets was condemned and demolished in November 1955 (San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune
1956a:21).
Figure 23. Riley Department Store building nearing completion on the day before official opening
(San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune 1955c:1).
As reported by the San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune (1955c:1–2), the opening of the new store was a
milestone for the company. Co-owner Coy C. Humphrey referred to it as:
a completely new frontier in retail merchandising . . . We designed this store with the
customer in mind . . . We wanted to avoid cramping, we wanted wider aisle width for the
convenience of our customers.” The store definitely provides “a forward look,”
Humphrey observed, particularly stressing the “interesting architectural aspects” of the
store . . . Humphrey pointed out that by increasing the floor space over its old location by
two and one-half times, Rileys has now provided several new departments and is enabled
to expand all previously existing departments considerably by the addition of new lines
of merchandise and a much wider selection.
One additional department getting particular emphasis is the men’s furnishings
department. Among the others are the gift shop – the “Pink Pony,” and the “Mirror
room,” providing a separate section for the selections of bridal wear and formal attire.
“We are adding lines where we knew we were short,” Humphrey disclosed.
The design of the fixtures provides “semi-self selection” for the customer, the specialist
said, affording “complete flexibility,” under the “Visusel” trade name.3 The furnishing
3 The term “semi-self selection” would seem to refer to the customers’ ability to browse items at free-standing “Visusel” fixtures
out on the store floor, rather than needing to be waited on at the department counter. This trade name also appears in a
contemporary advertisement for the Children’s Shop, published in the Millville Daily (1964:6): “It’s easy to select from the
‘visusel’ displays.”
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set a “completely new trend in store merchandising,” providing exercise of imagination
in patterns of display arrangement . . .
Much of the professional assistance in developing today’s modern merchandising plant
was provided by Lee B. Kuhn, Los Angeles, who has been engaged in the project since
last February. Kuhn is a merchandising and store design expert with the firm of L.A.
Darling Co., which engineered the fixtures installed by Rileys. “It is the unique system of
the future,” it was explained. “Everything is adaptable, moveable and non-rigid,” with all
fixtures lending themselves to rapid changes in floor and merchandising arrangement.
As suggested by the photograph taken of the new store building the day before its official opening (see
Figure 23), there was still construction work to be finished. On November 5, 1955, the City issued a
permit (No. E306) to install a porcelain sign (reading “Rileys” from top to bottom) with neon
illumination, 12 feet above the sidewalk at the corner of Chorro and Marsh Streets; the sign was 15 feet
high, 30 inches wide, and 9 inches thick. A second permit issued the same day (No. E307) was to install a
porcelain enamel metal sign (the letter “R”), 8 feet × 8 feet and 9 inches thick, above the horizontal
cantilevered canopy on the Chorro Street elevation (City Building Department, address file for 1144
Chorro Street).
An artist’s rendering of the completed store building (Figure 24), which extended down Chorro Street
only as far as the palm tree, shows good correspondence with the 1955 photograph (Figure 25). Canopies
are shown extending outward above the projecting display windows on Chorro Street and cantilevered out
over the flush-mounted display windows on the Marsh Street elevation. The prominent central entryway
on Marsh Street is easy to spot just beyond the display windows.
Figure 24. Artist’s rendering of new Rileys Department Store (San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune
1956b:24).
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Figure 25. The first unit of Rileys Department Store, with the Union
Hardware store that occupied the building next door between 1955 and
1960 (History Center of San Luis Obispo County).
Overlapping with construction of the Rileys store, the new Union Hardware building had been under
construction next door at 1126 Chorro Street (see Figure 25). The San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune
(1955b:2) reported that the hardware store occupied the “former site of frame store buildings razed for the
new project:”
The construction firm of Schmid and Wiswell was engaged for the excavation and for the
foundation work. Plans have not been completed for the store building, and are now
being drawn by William D. Holdredge, local architect. The store front design was be
“coordinated” to complement Rileys proposed new building, which will occupy the
corner of Chorro and Marsh…. The one-story structure will provide a main floor with
38x114 feet of floor space, a mezzanine which is 26x39 feet in size, and a 38x65 foot
basement…. The general contract bid information will not be out until the architect has
completed his plans. It is expected that the store will be ready for occupancy in October.
Newspaper ads and advertising supplements showcased the Rileys satellite furniture store, newly opened
on Broad Street at South Street (Figure 26), as well as the main store’s various specialty departments,
such as infant wear, cosmetics, and the bridal salon (Figures 27–30). The ads often featured the services
of visiting expert consultants, as well as Rileys’ own in-house experts. Window displays often promoted
local events and community celebrations (Figures 31).
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Figure 26. In September 1955, Rileys acquired the former Albrecht’s
furniture store at 2211 Broad Street “to complete Rileys growth as a full-
fledged department store,” (advertising cuts from San Luis Obispo
Telegram-Tribune 1956b:24.
Figure 27. Rileys December 1956 “My Baby Magazine,” which probably
appeared as an insert in the San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune and other
local Central Coast newspapers (PicClick 2018).
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Figure 28. Beauty consultant advertisement
(Santa Maria Times 1958:6).
Figure 29. Wedding consultation
advertisement (Santa Maria Times 1962a:4).
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Photographs of the department store interior, probably taken not long after the opening, reveal some of
interior designer Lee B. Kuhn’s design aesthetic, as well as his incorporation of store fixtures
manufactured by the L.A. Darling Company (Figures 30–32). The company’s manufacturing plant was
(and still is) located in Arkansas, and Kuhn was their West Coast representative at the time of his contract
with Landeck and Humphrey.
Figure 30. Laura Righetti Garzola (1905–2014), who headed the store’s
cosmetics department (Trujillo 2018).
Figure 31. Interior view of store, including mezzanine and staircase, c1958
(KSBY 2018).
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Figure 32. Another interior view of merchandise and stairway to mezzanine,
taken on same day as Figure 31, c1958 (Pinterest 2019b).
Figure 33. Window display advertising Historical Museum’s Cabrillo
Scholarship, featuring historical costume on left, artifacts in case, and
Portuguese flag (History Center of San Luis Obispo County). The exact
location of this display window has not been determined.
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Figure 34. View of Rileys vertical sign and flagpole at the corner of Chorro
and Marsh, c1959 (History Center of San Luis Obispo County).
By 1959 Rileys Department Store was already embarking on plans to expand its footprint on Chorro
Street. On December 24, 1959, Rileys acquired the adjacent Union Hardware business. The San Luis
Obispo Telegram-Tribune (1959:1) announced that “Major alterations are planned to combine the
hardware store, 1126 Chorro Street, with Rileys building next door, 1144 Chorro Street . . . Integration of
the two structures, which will include the addition of a sprinkler fire control system and air conditioning,
is expected by the fall of 1960. This will add approximately 9,000 square feet to Rileys existing floor
space of 24,000.” The number of new store departments was planned to double from 20 to 40, and
another nine employees were expected to be hired, bringing the total to 75.
Two artists’ renderings (both undated and with no documented provenience) of “Rileys Department
Store” suggest that Rileys may have been planning the incorporation of the Union Hardware store
location for several years. In the first, the architectural firm of Frank E. Martin and Associates, together
with J. H. Leman, engineer, produced a color drawing (Figure 35) that seems to correspond with the
general configuration of the Chorro Street elevation (Figure 36). 4 The second, originally published in
1956 (see Figure 24) and included in a subsequent ad, was actually only the eastern portion of the full
artist’s rendering published in 1962 (Figure 36). Presumably the western portion had already been drawn,
but a decision had been made not to show the entire sketch in 1956.
4 To date, no further information has been located about this architectural firm or structural engineer.
1144 Chorro Street Architectural Evaluation
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Figure 35. Artist’s rendering, probably c1955, of what may have been a
proposed Rileys Department Store exterior design; note the hardware store
at the left (Pinterest 2019a).
Figure 36. An advertisement published in 1962 featured the entire artist’s rendering of the Chorro
Street elevation (cf. Figure 17, above) (Santa Maria Times 1962b:6).
In 1960, Union Hardware’s going-out-of-business advertisement announced the acquisition of the
property by Rileys and noted that the new owner was “closing out all of the hardware stock, moving the
houseware, giftware, glassware, dinnerware stock into the department store. Rileys will continue these
lines but will not continue the hardware business . . . When all the stock is gone, the name of Union
Hardware will be discontinued. Shoppers were advised that they could use their “Rileys credit plate” for
purchases (San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune 1960:6). The building permit (No. 3240) for the
remodeling project that would connect the Union Hardware building to the Rileys store was issued by the
City on May 9, 1960. A 9 × 12-foot opening was cut through the shared wall. Rileys continued to expand
its operations in the 1960s. The largest addition was the construction of another satellite store in the
College Square Shopping Center at Foothill and Highway 1 (Figures 37–38).
1144 Chorro Street Architectural Evaluation
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Figure 37. Rileys opened another satellite store—a home furnishings and music center—on
August 13, 1964, in the College Square Shopping Center on Foothill Boulevard (Santa Maria Times
1964:7).
Figure 38. The former Rileys Home Furnishings and Music Center, at 872 Foothill Boulevard, now
houses CrossFit and Club 24 (Google, November 2018).
In early 1966, H. A. (Bud) Landeck, Jr. (1929–2014), the son of founder H. A. Landeck, Sr. (1897–1972),
resigned from his position as president of the Rileys Corporation, accepting the post of general
merchandise manager for Levy Bros stores in the Bay Area (San Mateo Times 1966:17). The younger
Landeck had begun his career with Rileys working as an assistant to manager George Christiansen.
Landeck’s successor as president was Ross J. Humphrey (1935–2014), son of founder Coy C. Humphrey,
who, along with his brother Robert A. Humphrey (1929–2018), owned and operated the store for nearly
25 years, from 1966 until its closure in 1993. Robert’s obituary, published in the San Luis Obispo Tribune
(2018) stated that, together, “Bob and Ross worked side by side to expand Rileys throughout the county.”
Although Coy C. Humphrey (1906–1968) had been co-owner of the store since 1945, the Humphrey
family did not move to San Luis Obispo until 1955. Both sons received business degrees from San Jose
State College and returned to San Luis Obispo to work at the family business. Ross began working for the
Rileys advertising department. In 1966, when Bud Landeck resigned, Ross took over as president and
Bob Humphrey became vice president and general manager (San Luis Obispo Tribune 2014).
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Figure 39. Former general manager George Christensen (left) and co-owner
and general manager Bob Humphrey in 1987, the centennial of the store’s
founding (Middlecamp 2019).
Figure 40. Co-owner Ross J. Humphrey (San
Luis Obispo Tribune 2014).
Rileys in the Recent Past
In the 1970s Rileys opened additional stores in Arroyo Grande, Atascadero, and Morro Bay. In August
1987, however, the entire chain was sold to the Charles Ford Company, owners of Ford’s Department
Store, founded in Watsonville in 1852, with store locations in Watsonville, Santa Cruz, Pacific Grove,
Salinas, Hollister, Gilroy, and Half Moon Bay (Santa Cruz Sentinel 1987:D-2). The acquisition, which
seemingly had the potential to be a good fit, given the very similar market niches, ended up being
doomed, in part by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which caused extensive damage to three of the
Ford’s department stores, and in part by the general economic downturn of the early 1990s (Santa Cruz
Sentinel 1992:D-6). In October 1992, the Ford Company filed for bankruptcy, taking Rileys down with it.
1144 Chorro Street Architectural Evaluation
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The Rileys locations in Arroyo Grande, Atascadero, and Morro Bay had already been shuttered, with only
the San Luis Obispo store still in operation (Santa Maria Times 1992:3). The San Luis Obispo store’s last
day of business was January 31, 1993 (Figure 41).
Figure 41. Rileys Department Store staff share a farewell meal on the last
day of operation, January 31, 1993 (Middlecamp 2019).
DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC-PERIOD BUILT-ENVIRONMENT
RESOURCES IN THE PROJECT AREA LIMITS
The parcel is occupied by a rectangular commercial building made up of two adjoining buildings with a
slight recessed area between them on the Chorro Street frontage. The building is one story high, with an
interior mezzanine. City records (City Building Department, address file for 1144 Chorro Street) state
that the building is Type III construction. The main structural support depends on a grid of columns and
beams, with infilled exterior wall areas of Roman brick interspersed with anodized aluminum-framed
plate-glass door and display-window assemblies. The west end of the Chorro Street elevation was built as
the Union Hardware building in 1955 and incorporated into the main Rileys Department Store building in
1960. The façade of this portion is characterized by a tall, boxy, plain stuccoed wall that rises above a
canvas awning running the width of the façade; the awning turns the corner to intersect with the brick
wall in the recessed area (Figures 42 and 43).
Below the awning, the storefront configuration is different from the rest, reflecting its different origin as
the hardware store, as well as later modifications. On the left side of the display windows, the wall is clad
with marble slabs (Figures 44 and 45). The display windows on either side of the doorway are
rectangular, rather than angled in toward the entrance. On the left side of the door, the display case is
supported by a low bulkhead of Roman brick laid in a common bond pattern. On the right side of the door
a smaller display window projects from the brick wall, with no supporting bulkhead; bricks below the
window are laid in common bond, and to the right (at the edge of the recessed area) are laid in stacked
bond. Both display windows and door assembly have plate glass framed in anodized aluminum (Figures
46 through 48).
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Figure 42. Former Union Hardware store building incorporated into Rileys
in 1960, camera facing north (Google, November 2018).
Figure 43. Overview down Chorro Street, camera facing east (Google,
November 2018).
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Figure 44. View down Chorro Street elevation, camera facing southeast
(SWCA, May 5, 2019).
Figure 45. Articulation of marble-clad wall with display window supported
on brick bulkhead at left corner of former Union Hardware building, camera
facing north (SWCA, May 5, 2019).
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Figure 46. Articulation of rectangular storefront window, brick bulkhead,
and door assembly on former Union Hardware building, camera facing
north (SWCA, May 5, 2019).
Figure 47. Door assembly, including transom and wall surface below
awning, former Union Hardware building, camera facing northeast (SWCA,
May 5, 2019).
1144 Chorro Street Architectural Evaluation
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Figure 48. Articulation of door assembly with brick wall and projecting
display window, camera facing east (SWCA, May 5, 2019).
The recessed area that marks the transition between the former Union Hardware building and the original
portion of the Rileys building is trapezoidal in plan (see Figure 49). This area is characterized by four
prominent features: a tall Roman brick wall, laid in a common bond pattern; a pair of inset bronze
memorial plaques to Herbert A. Landeck, Sr., and Coy C. Humphrey (co-owners and developers of the
property in 1955); a tall palm tree in a low brick planter; and a brick and concrete bench (Figures 50–53).
The bench is a more recent addition to this area; made of a mixture of brick types it is adjacent to the back
wall but not tied into it (see Figure 50). The blocky upper wall and awning-covered canopy of the
adjacent Rileys building project into the recessed area, intersecting the tall brick wall at different heights
and angles. Additional exterior and interior photos are included as Figures 54 through
Figure 49. Approved plan for Copeland Sports project, 1992 (City of San Luis Obispo microfiche,
1144 Chorro Street). The red arrow shows the limits of the former Union Hardware building; the
yellow arrow shows the location of the recessed area.
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Figure 50. Recessed area on Chorro Street with Roman brick wall,
memorial plaques, palm tree, and bench, camera facing northeast (SWCA,
May 5, 2019).
Figure 51. Memorial plaques to Herbert A. Landeck, Sr. (1897–1972), and Coy C. Humphrey (1906–
1968), who owned and developed the property at 1144 Chorro Street in 1955, camera facing north
(SWCA, May 5, 2019).
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Figure 52. Articulation of brick masonry wall and concrete wall at recessed
area, with palm tree and horizontal flagpole, camera facing northwest
(SWCA May 5, 2019).
Figure 53. Inner corners of Roman brick masonry between bench and
angled display window, camera facing northeast (SWCA, May 5, 2019).
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Figure 54. Underside of stuccoed canopy over Chorro Street sidewalk
(SWCA, May 5, 2019).
Figure 55. Chorro Street main entrance, camera facing northeast (Google,
November 2018).
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Figure 56. View of interior and recessed area beyond, through display
windows, camera facing northwest (SWCA, May 5, 2019). The exterior brick
wall extends into the enclosed space; the structural support for the canopy
is also visible.
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Figure 57. Angled display window at left side of main Chorro Street
entrance, camera facing north (SWCA, May 5, 2019). Note gap in brick
masonry at exterior corner of bulkhead.
Figure 58. Right-angled corner of display window at right side of main
Chorro Street entrance, camera facing east (SWCA, May 5, 2019). Inner
corner of bulkhead brick masonry is not integrated into wall plane.
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Figure 59. Approved plan for Copeland Sports project, 1992 (City of San Luis Obispo microfiche,
1144 Chorro Street). The red arrow indicates the trapezoidal shape of the main Chorro Street
entrance.
Figure 60. View through display window to Marsh Street corner, camera
facing southeast (SWCA, May 5, 2019). Display window cases have been
removed.
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Figure 61. Approved plan for Copeland Sports project, 1992 (City of San Luis Obispo microfiche,
1144 Chorro Street). The red arrow indicates the brick wall extending into the interior of the store.
Dashed lines on blueprint show where display cases were removed.
Figure 62. Articulation of Roman brick masonry walls at the corner of Chorro Street and Marsh
Street, with brackets that formerly held the vertical Rileys sign and flagpole, camera facing north
(SWCA, May 5, 2019).
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Figure 63. Detail of brick texture and inclusions in clay body; note well-
executed concave mortar tooling (SWCA, May 5, 2019).
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Figure 64. Overview of Chorro and Marsh street elevations, camera facing north (Google,
November 2018).
Figure 65. Marsh Street elevation, near Chorro Street, camera facing northwest (Google,
November 2018).
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Figure 66. Approved plan for Copeland Sports project, 1992 (City of San Luis Obispo microfiche,
1144 Chorro Street). The red arrow indicates the area shown in Figure 65, above, and Figures 67–
75, below; yellow arrows indicate the pair of stuccoed pillars forming doorway portal.
Figure 67. At west end of display window, aluminum frame is flush-
mounted in brick wall, Marsh Street elevation, camera facing northwest
(SWCA photograph, May 8, 2019).
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Figure 68. Roman brick masonry bulkhead on Marsh Street elevation,
camera facing northwest (SWCA, May 5, 2019).
Figure 69. Upper wall surface, underside of canopy, and left concrete pillar
of doorway portal, Marsh Street elevation, camera facing northwest (SWCA,
May 5, 2019).
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Figure 70. At east end of display window, aluminum frame flares out on top
of brick masonry, Marsh Street elevation, camera facing west (SWCA, May
5, 2019).
Figure 71. Articulation of brick masonry bulkhead, display window
assembly, and door assembly, Marsh Street elevation, camera facing west
(SWCA, May 5, 2019).
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Figure 72. Doorway assembly set inside tall, stuccoed concrete entry
portal, Marsh Street elevation, camera facing northwest (SWCA, May 5,
2019).
Figure 73. Articulation of stucco with metal mesh screen on underside of
canopy and awning, Marsh Street elevation, camera facing northwest
(SWCA, May 5, 2019).
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Figure 74. Metal mesh screening on underside of canvas awning, Marsh
Street elevation, camera facing southwest (SWCA, May 5, 2019).
Figure 75. Overview of Marsh Street elevation near alleyway, camera facing northwest (SWCA,
May 5, 2019).
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Figure 76. Approved plan for Copeland Sports project, 1992 (City of San
Luis Obispo microfiche, 1144 Chorro Street). The red arrow indicates the
area shown in Figures 69-73, below; the yellow area indicates a display
case removed to accommodate the replacement door.
Figure 77. Replacement door assembly near alleyway on Marsh Street
elevation, camera facing west (SWCA, May 5, 2019).
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Figure 78. Plan view of new canopy above
original doorway and display case,
constructed in September 1962 by Maino
Construction (City of San Luis Obispo
microfiche, 1144 Chorro Street).
Figure 79. Elevation of new canopy shows original
configuration of Marsh Street doorway and
adjacent display window (City of San Luis Obispo
microfiche, 1144 Chorro Street).
Figure 80. Upper corner of Marsh Street entrance near alleyway, showing
where display window was formerly located, camera facing west (SWCA,
May 5, 2019).
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Figure 81. Steel angle bar protecting brick masonry at corner of Marsh
Street alleyway behind Rileys building (SWCA, May 5, 2019). Note
difference in brick type and dimensions, and in depth of mortar tooling,
camera facing west.
Evaluation of Architectural Resources in Project Area of
Potential Effects
The former Rileys Department Store building, at 1144 Chorro Street in San Luis Obispo, is evaluated
here, pursuant to CEQA, to determine whether it meets any of the eligibility criteria for listing in the
CRHR, or otherwise constitutes a “historical resource” for the purposes of CEQA, or whether it is eligible
for local designation on the City of San Luis Obispo (City) Master List of Historic Resources or as a
contributing resource to the Downtown Historic District in conformance with Section 14.01.070 of the
City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance.
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California Register of Historical Resources
The CRHR includes buildings, sites, structures, objects, and districts significant in the architectural,
engineering, scientific, economic, agricultural, educational, social, political, military, or cultural annals of
California. Eligibility to the CRHR is demonstrated by meeting one or more of the following criteria:
• Criterion 1. Associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad
patterns of local or regional history or the cultural heritage of California or the United States;
• Criterion 2. Associated with the lives of persons important to local, California, or national
history;
• Criterion 3. Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, region, or method of
construction, or represents the work of a master or possesses high artistic values; or
• Criterion 4. Has yielded or has the potential to yield, information important to the prehistory or
history of the local area, California or the nation.
EVALUATION UNDER CRITERION 1
For an entire century, Rileys Department Store and its direct antecedents played an undeniably large role
in the commercial life of San Luis Obispo—both at its original location on Higuera Street and at the
subject location at Chorro and Marsh Streets. It was, as it claimed to be, a shopping destination for many
Central Coast communities, where customers could find merchandise not readily available elsewhere.
Constructed in 1955, the larger, modern store, with its interior designed by a merchandising and design
professional, was also part of the evolving story of post-World War II consumerism, when Mid-Century
modern storefronts began to prevail and when shopping acquired recreational and acquisitional aspects
for an expanding and relatively well-off middle class. The business also demonstrated a consistent pattern
of employee loyalty and decades of service. As a store that catered primarily to women, most of its sales
staff were also women. Although no women were employed in the uppermost levels of Rileys corporate
management, many female employees were career employees, holding departmental management
positions, sometimes over the course of decades.
EVALUATION UNDER CRITERION 2
The business enterprise known most recently as Rileys has historical associations with the founders of an
earlier iteration (Aaron, Jacob, and Adolph Crocker, owners during 1887–1920), with D. J. Riley (1920–
1945), and with partners Herbert A. (H. A.) Landeck, Sr., and Coy Humphrey (1945–1987). The 1955
construction of the current commercial building, however, and the relocation of the Rileys Department
Store business to the corner of Chorro and Marsh Streets took place under the sole direction of Landeck
and Humphrey. Neither the Crocker brothers nor D. J. Riley had any direct influence on the selection of
the current site or on the design or construction of the modern store. In some respects, D. J. Riley’s legacy
of business acumen might be regarded as continuing to influence company policies about the primacy of
customer comfort and service, a broad selection of quality merchandise, and an attention to the well-being
of its staff—but those policies needed to be endorsed and sustained by Landeck and Humphrey (as they
were) in order to succeed. Their partnership, as well as the subsequent partnership of Humphrey’s sons,
Bob and Ross, proved successful and allowed Rileys to retain its local ownership and local customer base
for an unusually long time.
EVALUATION UNDER CRITERION 3
Research for this evaluation has not found evidence of any architect associated with the design of the
1955 Rileys Department Store building. William D. Holdredge, the local architect who designed the
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elegant Mid-Century San Luis Obispo City Hall building in 1951, is credited with the rather ordinary
design of the Union Hardware building absorbed by Rileys in 1960. It seems unlikely, however, that
Holdredge also designed the Rileys building: the two structures are quite different, perhaps surprisingly
so, given the stated intention for the hardware store front design to be “coordinated” to complement
Rileys proposed new building (San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune 1955b:2). Despite the architectural
color rendering (see Figure 35) produced by Frank E. Martin and Associates and J. H. Leman, Engineer,
neither of these principals is mentioned on the building permit, either. Rather, the Rileys building appears
to have been designed by local civil engineer C. F. Hamlin (1910–1999), who had worked as an associate
bridge engineer for the California Division of Highways (San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune 1947:6) and
later owned a manufacturing firm specializing in steel bowstring roof-truss systems. The Rileys building
features large expanses of well-executed Roman brick masonry interspersed with large display windows.
At present, these windows offer extensive interior views and cross views that did not exist originally; the
window displays were relatively shallow, with a rear wall and door allowing the window dresser to access
the mannequins on display. The structural engineer selected cantilevered canopies above standard
commercial plate glass and aluminum display window and door assemblies.
Though it is obviously unrealistic to expect the same of level of architectural merit from the Rileys
building as that embodied in the works of a Morris Lapidus or a Welton Becket, the work of such
architects did establish the Mid-Century style. The Rileys design may appropriately by evaluated in
relation to diagnostic features of the style identified by Mike Jackson (Jackson 2000) and Richard
Longstreth (2000), discussed earlier in this report, as well as the features illustrated by Carol J. Dyson
(Dyson 2008) in Appendix A. As a result, the architecture of the Rileys Department Store building
appears to be a rather underdeveloped example of the Mid-Century commercial style, especially given the
fact that the building was newly constructed in 1955, rather than merely remodeled and updated. Given
the fact that Riley’s owned a parking lot across Marsh Street, and given the auto-centric nature of Marsh
Street, which was much broader than pedestrian-oriented Chorro Street, it was perhaps a surprising
decision to make the primary entrance—with its large-scale signage—face Chorro Street. The vertical
sign at the corner, and the name “Rileys” on the suspended awning, seem to have been the only store
signs facing Marsh Street. Most importantly, the long street frontages on both Chorro and Marsh Streets
lack the dramatic “open front” design that treats views of the interior of the store as part of an integrated
window display. Each of Rileys window displays was backed by a rear wall (with a visible door hatch),
blocking interior views. The window assemblies do feature large plate glass display windows with narrow
extruded aluminum frames, but the windows are supported by bulkheads that do not recede (not even by
as much as a toe kick) and that do not allow the windows to “float” or achieve a gravity-defying “jewel-
box” quality. Window planes are all vertical, as are all wall elements. In plan view, there is some use of
angled windows near the doorways, but the approach from the sidewalk to the door is still basically
perpendicular. The (now-covered) roof canopy is cantilevered, but did not express much dynamic
movement; by 1960 it had already been covered by a boxy canvas awning that hung straight down from
the outer edge of the canopy, obscuring the original design intent. The rough-textured Roman bricks
making up the expansive walls are handsome, and the brick masonry shows excellent workmanship, with
consistent, well-tooled concave mortar. Stacked brick, if used at all in the original design, made up only a
miniscule percentage of the wall surface. Though the brick masonry is indeed admirable, it is not
sufficient to carry an eligibility determination for the building as a whole.
Even without the cumulative loss of physical integrity (discussed below), the Rileys Department Store
building lacked important diagnostic features associated with good examples of Mid-Century commercial
architecture necessary for architectural significance under Criterion 3 (which requires a resource to
embody “distinctive characteristics of a type, period, region, or method of construction, or represent the
work of a master or possesses high artistic values”). This lack can probably be attributed, at least in part,
to the fact that H.A. Landeck. Sr., and Coy C. Humphrey were preoccupied with the store’s interior. The
fact that they hired a professional store merchandising display expert (the representative of a
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manufacturer of store fixtures) but did not hire an architect probably made all the difference in the final
design.
By way of contrast, one modest example of the dawning use of Mid-Century elements in San Luis Obispo
is the small two-unit commercial building at 1335–1337 Monterey Street (Figure 82), built in 1949, which
includes a vertical element above the roof canopy, a jutting triangular wall feature between the two units,
angled wall planes fronting on Monterey Street, and angled plate-glass windows that cant out slightly
from the upper edge but are flush mounted at the lower edge. This is not meant to suggest superior
workmanship or style, but to demonstrate that diagnostic elements of the Mid-Century design vocabulary
were already being adopted in downtown San Luis Obispo in the late 1940s.
Figure 82. Modest example of early Mid-Century style, 1335–1337 Monterey
Street (Google, November 2018).
EVALUATION UNDER CRITERION 4
Criterion 4 is almost exclusively applied to archaeological resources and is not pertinent to the Rileys
Department Store historic-period built-environment resources.
EVALUATION OF INTEGRITY
Illinois architectural historian and Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer Carol J. Dyson recently
posed the following questions regarding architectural evaluations of Mid-Century design (Dyson 2017:8,
11):
What is the integrity of midcentury design? Can you still understand the design intent?
Does the building still tell the story with most components, display windows, and
materials still remaining? For many of these buildings loss of design impact may be due
to the loss of the historic signage. Business or aesthetic changes may have caused
removal of the original postwar signage and replaced it with either neutral or
incompatibly designed signage. Many of these building designs were co-dependent on
their midcentury modern signage. It is likely that the period signage does not remain and
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should not be given undue weight in evaluation. If it is missing, new signs can usually be
designed that work with the midcentury storefront and help revive the design aesthetic.
The commercial buildings and storefront modifications of the midcentury exhibited an
exuberance, drama, and elegance, as they showcased up-to-date businesses within. These
modifications were just one more step in the continuum of change exhibited in our
dynamic downtowns. They are an important part of our past, and are old enough to no
longer be our “recent past.” As such they deserve our study, survey, careful evaluation,
and in many cases, preservation (Dyson 2017:11).
When considering the potential for historical significance under CRHR Criterion 1 through 4, the
question of the physical integrity of the building must also be considered. The integrity of built-
environment resources is evaluated against seven aspects of integrity: location, design, setting, materials,
workmanship, feeling, and association.
Location
The store building retains integrity of its prominent location at the corner of Chorro and Marsh Streets.
Design
The building’s exterior does little in the way of expressing what Dyson refers to as “exuberance” and
“drama.” As seen in Figure 34, above, the store in its early years of use appears rather boxy and staid,
with windows cluttered with posted notices, and a suspended canvas awning obscuring the clean, thin line
of the cantilevered canopy. It is just modern enough to distinguish itself from older businesses, but it does
not make any innovative architectural statement. The store’s Chorro Street frontage incorporates a portion
designed in 1955 by local architect William D. Holdredge, a portion designed in 1955 by engineer C. F.
Hamlin, and more recent additions and alterations, including a canopy built by Maino Construction in
1962, and the removal of an original display window and installation of a distinctly different doorway
assembly on the Marsh Street elevation, sometime after 1992. Figure 33, above, presents a conundrum
about the integrity of other display windows. The photograph shows the two-light window set within a
very shallow recess, with Roman bricks laid in a stacked bond pattern beneath, but this combination of
wall configuration and brick pattern doesn’t exist anywhere on the current building. This suggests that
one or more of the other display windows may have been replaced or modified. The original canopy
design (along with the style of awning added sometime in the late 1950s) is very different from the
current canopy-and-awning configuration. The new canvas awning completely encloses the edges and
upper surface of the original extant canopy and extends the awning continuously across both the Chorro
Street and Marsh Street elevations. In doing so it adds a prominent new angled form to the overall design
and obscures the tall, bulky entry portal facing Marsh Street. The removal of this awning, though feasible,
would not restore the building to its original appearance. The palm tree, planted on Chorro Street in 1955,
has survived in its planter and grown so tall that, at street level, it appears more pole-like than tree-like.
The two bronze plaques are obviously later installations, but are appropriate to the building. The bench is
a poorly designed and poorly executed recent addition. Because of a change in ownership in 1993, none
of the original Rileys signage (neon vertical sign at corner, letters “R” above the canopy, and the name
Rileys printed on awnings) is still in place on the building. As noted above, Dyson cautions against
attaching too much significance to the loss of the signage, but in this instance, the signage was among the
most conspicuous Mid-Century elements incorporated in the building.
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Setting
Although the store’s setting became increasingly commercial and less residential over time, it retained its
essential character as part of the existing downtown core, facing and flanked by other downtown
businesses.
Materials
Most of the original Roman brick masonry is extant and still in excellent condition. The concave-tooled
mortar also appears to be original, with no repointing or painting. Plate glass windows are still in place,
and the aluminum frames are intact, though dinged and bent at street level in some locations. With the
exception of the new black-framed doorway on Marsh Street (which constitutes a new and visually
prominent material), the aluminum door assemblies are also original. New materials that have been added
include the discordant application of marble slabs at the west end of the building, a canvas awning with a
metal mesh screen attached to the bottom frame, and the concrete-topped bench.
Workmanship
With the exception of the brick bulkheads directly below the window displays, the brick masonry is of
very high quality and has retained its integrity. The masonry for the bulkheads does not tie into the
adjacent walls; rather, the bricks are merely mortared up against the walls. An examination of the
aluminum frames shows that the installation was serviceable, but not exceptional.
Feeling
The building still “reads” as a storefront, but definitely appears to be stripped down and lacking visual
coherence.
Association
The most deleterious impact to this aspect of integrity is the loss of the store’s signage, interior fixtures,
display cases, and visual identity.
City of San Luis Obispo Local Historic Preservation Criteria
The City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance (Section 14.01.070, Evaluation Criteria for Historic Resource
Listing) provides:
When determining if a property should be designated as a listed Historic or Cultural
Resource, the CHC and City Council shall consider this ordinance and State Historic
Preservation Office (“SHPO”) standards. In order to be eligible for designation, the
resource shall exhibit a high level of historic integrity, be at least fifty (50) years old (less
than 50 if it can be demonstrated that enough time has passed to understand its historical
importance) and satisfy at least one of the following criteria:
A. Architectural Criteria: Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type,
period, region, or method of construction, or represents the work of a master,
or possesses high artistic values.
(1) Style: Describes the form of a building, such as size, structural shape
and details within that form (e.g. arrangement of windows and doors,
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ornamentation, etc.). Building style will be evaluated as a measure
of:
a. The relative purity of a traditional style;
b. Rarity of existence at any time in the locale; and/or current rarity
although the structure reflects a once popular style;
c. Traditional, vernacular and/or eclectic influences that represent a
particular social milieu and period of the community; and/or the
uniqueness of hybrid styles and how these styles are put together.
(2) Design: Describes the architectural concept of a structure and the
quality of artistic merit and craftsmanship of the individual parts.
Reflects how well a particular style or combination of styles are
expressed through compatibility and detailing of elements. Also,
suggests degree to which the designer (e.g., carpenter-builder)
accurately interpreted and conveyed the style(s). Building design will
be evaluated as a measure of:
a. Notable attractiveness with aesthetic appeal because of its artistic
merit, details and craftsmanship (even if not necessarily unique);
b. An expression of interesting details and eclecticism among
carpenter-builders, although the craftsmanship and artistic quality
may not be superior.
(3) Architect: Describes the professional (an individual or firm) directly
responsible for the building design and plans of the structure. The
architect will be evaluated as a reference to:
a. A notable architect (e.g., Wright, Morgan), including architects who
made significant contributions to the state or region, or an architect
whose work influenced development of the city, state or nation.
b. An architect who, in terms of craftsmanship, made significant
contributions to San Luis Obispo (e.g., Abrahams who, according to
local sources, designed the house at 810 Osos - Frank Avila's father's
home - built between 1927 – 30).
B. Historic Criteria:
(1) History – Person: Associated with the lives of persons important to
local, California, or national history. Historic person will be
evaluated as a measure of the degree to which a person or group was:
a. Significant to the community as a public leader (e.g., mayor,
congress member, etc.) or for his or her fame and outstanding
recognition - locally, regionally, or nationally.
b. Significant to the community as a public servant or person who
made early, unique, or outstanding contributions to the community,
important local affairs or institutions (e.g., council members,
educators, medical professionals, clergymen, railroad officials).
(2) History – Event: Associated with events that have made a
significant contribution to the broad patterns of local or regional
history or the cultural heritage of California or the United States.
Historic event will be evaluated as a measure of:
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(i) A landmark, famous, or first-of-its-kind event for the city - regardless of
whether the impact of the event spread beyond the city.
(ii) A relatively unique, important or interesting contribution to the city (e.g., the
Ah Louis Store as the center for Chinese-American cultural activities in early
San Luis Obispo history).
(3) History-Context: Associated with and also a prime illustration of
predominant patterns of political, social, economic, cultural, medical,
educational, governmental, military, industrial, or religious history.
Historic context will be evaluated as a measure of the degree to
which it reflects:
a. Early, first, or major patterns of local history, regardless of whether
the historic effects go beyond the city level, that are intimately
connected with the building (e.g., County Museum).
a. Secondary patterns of local history, but closely associated with the
building (e.g., Park Hotel).
C. Integrity: Authenticity of an historical resource’s physical identity
evidenced by the survival of characteristics that existed during the resource’s
period of significance. Integrity will be evaluated by a measure of:
(1) Whether or not a structure occupies its original site and/or whether or
not the original foundation has been changed, if known.
(2) The degree to which the structure has maintained enough of its
historic character or appearance to be recognizable as an historic
resource and to convey the reason(s) for its significance.
(3) The degree to which the resource has retained its design, setting,
materials, workmanship, feeling and association.
EVALUATION
The primary directive of the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance is that a prospective historical
resource shall meet three criteria: a high level of integrity, sufficient age (generally 50 years), and
significance. These criteria are standard within the preservation community, with each criterion
accomplishing a specific goal. The integrity threshold is to ensure that resources retain the physical ability
to convey their significance. The 50-year-old threshold is not, as is sometimes thought, to certify that an
older building is automatically an important one; rather, the threshold is meant to ensure that sufficient
time has elapsed to be able to make an informed assessment of its significance. (It is for this reason that
some exceptional buildings and structures that are not yet 50 years old may already be determined eligible
for listing.) Significance is perhaps the most elastic of the City’s three criteria. It is often the case that
local ordinances are more inclusive than CRHR eligibility criteria, where factors such as familiarity in the
landscape, a broad base of personal experience with the resource, and even nostalgia may be considered
along with historical importance.
Age of Resource
In evaluating the former Rileys Department Store building for eligibility under the City’s local ordinance,
the age of the building, constructed in 1955–1956, can easily be seen as sufficient for a fair assessment to
be made of its place in Mid-Century architectural design. The resource as it appears today is therefore
evaluated here in relation to its appearance between 1955 and 1970 (from the time of its construction to
50 years ago, which is the “historic-period” for this resource). The criteria of integrity and significance
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are interdependent. That is, to constitute an eligible historical resource under the City’s Historic
Preservation Ordinance, the former Riley’s building needs to demonstrate both significance and a high
level of integrity.
Significance of Resource
The architecture of the Rileys building was a rather undeveloped and unexceptional example of the Mid-
Century commercial style, especially given the fact that it was developed in two phases: the first portion
was newly constructed in 1955, and the second phase was the 1960 annexation and remodeling of an
adjacent hardware store. Rileys was not a trend-setting building in the downtown commercial core. The
building’s exterior expressed neither the exuberance or drama suggested in an early (c1955) architectural
rendering produced by Los Angeles-based Frank E. Martin and Associates but not adopted as the final
design (see Figure 35). The Martin and Associates design featured important hallmarks associated with
the Mid-Century modern style: large-scale signage, including a very prominent tall and broad panel
extending well above the roofline; a broad, uninterrupted span of plate glass permitting unobstructed
views into the interior; a broad and deep overhang sheltering the entire window wall; and a row of tall
pillars articulating the Rileys building with the neighboring Union Hardware building. A comparison of
the Martin and Associates architectural rendering with contemporary photographs (see Figures 23 and 25)
and with local advertising sketches published in 1955 and 1962 (see Figures 24 and 36) reveals that
Rileys operated for 4 to 5 years—until it annexed the 1960 hardware store building—with an overall
architectural design concept that was only partially realized. Martin and Associates is not listed on the
City’s building permit, although, in its completed form, the Rileys building shows the influence of their
design. Rileys owners Landeck and Humphrey ended up constructing a much more staid (and certainly
less expensive) building, as well as annexing the hardware store building designed in 1955 by local
architect William D. Holdredge. Whether Martin and Associates had any further input is as yet
undocumented. The building cannot be said to meet any of the City’s architectural criteria.
This evaluation assessed the potential for local significance in the business and merchandising aspects of
Rileys, as part of the continuing development of San Luis Obispo as a commercial hub and for its
association with merchant-owners Landeck and Humphrey. This potential, however, is tempered in two
ways. In the first place, Landeck and Humphrey were demonstrably less interested in the exterior design
of the building than they were in the interior design of the store. Rileys’ reputation was based on its
excellent customer service, the expertise and well-being of its many longtime employees, its broad
selection of quality merchandise, and its attention to the shopping “experience.” The exterior of the Rileys
building reflects only some of the contemporary Mid-Century design ideas envisioned by Martin and
Associates, but the interior spaces, as documented in contemporary photographs (see Figures 30–32),
clearly show the modish unified architectural interior design and merchandising design aesthetic of the
professional designer, Lee B. Kuhn, hired by Landeck and Humphrey. The difference between Kuhn’s
stylish merchandise displays on the inside (incorporating modern store fixtures and merchandising
techniques) and the ad hoc window displays outside, facing Chorro and Marsh streets (see Figure 33),
demonstrate the disparity in design focus. Eschewing the Mid-Century trend toward unobstructed views
into the store’s interior, Landeck and Humphrey put in large plate glass windows, and then covered them
up with boxed-in display cases. In building their new store, Landeck and Humphrey were chiefly
interested in acquiring more space for the comfort and convenience of shoppers. In that respect, the
“modern” store building was only as modern as it needed to be to house their expanded stock and new
departments. The real modernization effort happened inside. The potential for significance under the
City’s historical criteria lies a great deal in the intangible realm of Landeck and Humphrey’s decisions
about business practices, employee relations, and merchandising, as well as customer reactions to and
memories of their personal shopping experiences.
1144 Chorro Street Architectural Evaluation
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INTEGRITY OF RESOURCE
The second consideration in evaluating the historical significance of the Rileys building is the
complementary evaluation of the resource’s integrity. The opening paragraph of Section 14.01.070 of the
City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance states, “In order to be eligible for designation, the resource shall
exhibit a high level of historic integrity.” The seven aspects of integrity specified in the City’s Historic
Preservation Ordinance—location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association—are
identical to those aspects of integrity evaluated in determinations of eligibility under CEQA:
• Location: The Rileys building retains its prominent downtown location at the corner of Chorro
and Marsh Streets; its foundation is original.
• Design: The historic-period design of the Rileys building is a troubled topic to begin with. The
original design of the building appears to have been influenced by an architectural rendering by
Martin and Associates, although the Rileys building is much more conservative and pared down.
The person responsible for the final design of the first phase of Rileys was not identified, but may
have been San Luis Obispo structural engineer C. F. Hamlin. Local San Luis Obispo architect
William D. Holdredge is credited with the design of the Union Hardware building annexed by
Rileys in 1960. The two parts of the Rileys building are similar in style but distinguishable,
nevertheless. The doorway reconstruction fronting on Marsh Street was carried out by Maino
Construction in 1962. Between 1955 and 1962, then, portions of the Rileys building were
designed by, or at least influenced by, at least four architects or structural engineers. The interior
architectural design was the work of Lee B. Kuhn.
The building, as completed in 1962, was in continual service as the Rileys Department Store until
1993. With the change in ownership, the former department store building lost character-defining
features that were not only original to the building but also fundamental to identifying and
advertising its purpose. On the exterior, these features included distinctive signage, display
windows, and canopies. The loss of signage in this instance was especially deleterious to the
building design. The large 8 × 8-foot porcelain “R” installed above the entrance on Chorro Street
and the vertical 15-foot-high neon “Rileys” sign rising above the corner of Chorro and Marsh
Streets had been eye-catching contributors to the building’s limited range of Mid-Century-style
decorative elements. Removal of the boxy window display cases further distanced the purpose of
the building from its form. It is interesting that, even in the 1950s and 1960s, Rileys covered the
strong, thin horizontal line of the cantilevered canopies with substantial scalloped canvas awnings
that were much more in keeping with storefronts from the 1930s and 1940s. After the store
closed, newer awnings of a different configuration were installed over the cantilevered canopies.
It appears that Landeck and Humphrey continued to treat the building’s exterior from a practical
point of view and were not zealous about maintaining or promoting the Mid-Century aesthetic as
a selling tool. The customers evidently patronized Rileys for other reasons and, once inside the
store, were treated to a good selection of merchandise that suited their wants and needs and were
waited on by knowledgeable staff. In 1992, the store was remodeled to accommodate Copeland
Sports, with a prominent new door assembly installed on Marsh Street. This change demolished a
small original display case and created a blank windowless face for much of the Marsh Street
elevation.
• Setting: Facing and flanked by other commercial buildings, the Rileys store building retains its
place as an element of the downtown commercial core,
• Materials: The well-formed, well-fired, textured, full-dimension bricks that make up large
sections of the Rileys building’s walls have very good physical integrity despite decades of
exposure. Most if not all of the extant plate glass windows and their aluminum channel frames are
probably original, or at least were replaced in kind during the years the building operated as
1144 Chorro Street Architectural Evaluation
69
Rileys Department Store. The addition of discordant materials such as the heavy black steel
doorway assembly on Marsh Street, and the odd inclusion of marble slab panels on the Chorro
Street, elevation post-date the store’s operation. The current canvas awning is also a later addition
in a style that does not match the original design. These additions degrade the physical integrity
of the exterior design.
• Workmanship: The brick masonry walls continue to exhibit their original high-quality
workmanship, including the well-executed concave mortar tooling. No other features of the
building can be said to display exceptional workmanship.
• Feeling: The Riley building still “reads” as a storefront, but presents itself now as an
undifferentiated and altered commercial structure, stripped down and lacking visual coherence.
• Association: The most deleterious impacts to this aspect of integrity are the loss of the distinctive
signage that contributed so much to its visual identity and the loss of interior fixtures. As a litmus
test for integrity, the “degree to which the structure has maintained enough of its historic
character or appearance to be recognizable as an historic resource and to convey the reason(s) for
its significance” is the crux of this analysis. From the point of view of architecture, Rileys is an
example of a building that was never on a firm stylistic path capable of giving full support to its
commercial purpose. The fact that it annexed a neighboring building designed in 1955 by a
different person did not help. Even in its heyday, the building was an unremarkable structure that
happened to house a department store business. The owners were far more vested in the
appearance and modernity of the store’s interior. As a result, they never seem to have made full
use of what the building did offer, particularly by blocking potential views of the array of
merchandise within—expansive windows were blocked with very ordinary display cases (which
have all been removed). The strongest associations with the former Rileys Department Store
would depend on an interior with good integrity—capable of conveying the building’s prior use
and documentation of their business practices.
FINDINGS
As owners of Rileys Department Store, Landeck and Humphrey seem to have adopted a middle ground in
their selection of building style. Though advertised as extremely modern, this claim does not hold up to
close scrutiny. Documentation makes it reasonable to suggest that they put their corporate money into
signage and into the interior design and amenities. With the exception of the original interior staircase and
mezzanine railings, these aspects of the overall design have not survived.
CONCLUSIONS
The former Rileys Department Store building at 1144 Chorro Street evaluated as part of this study does
not meet the eligibility criteria for listing in the CRHR or otherwise constitute a historical resource for the
purposes of CEQA. Similarly, the former Rileys Department Store building does not meet the high-
integrity threshold criterion for historic resource listing under the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance.
In order for the building to express its integrity as “part of the continuing development of San Luis
Obispo as a commercial hub and for its association with merchant-owners Herbert A. Landeck, Sr., and
Coy Humphrey,” it would need to be restored using Secretary of the Interior Standards for Restoration to
its c1965 appearance by restoring/replicating the signage, decorative canopy awnings, and display
window cases; removing the steel door assembly on Marsh Street and reconstructing the original doorway
and display window; removing the marble panels; restoring the landscaping; and the restoring character-
defining interior features and primary fixtures.
1144 Chorro Street Architectural Evaluation
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PREPARER’S QUALIFICATIONS
SWCA Senior Architectural Historian Paula Juelke Carr, M.A., meets the Secretary of the Interior’s
Standards for Professionally Qualified Staff as both historian and architectural historian. Ms. Carr has
more than 25 years of experience in California history and architectural history, including more than 11
years as an Associate Environmental Planner (Architectural History) for the California Department of
Transportation, District 5. She has been with SWCA since 2017.
1144 Chorro Street Architectural Evaluation
71
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1144 Chorro Street Architectural Evaluation
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APPENDIX A
Mid-Century Commercial Modernism: Design and Materials, by Carol J. Dyson
Carol J. Dyson, AIA, is the Chief Architect and a Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer for the
Illinois State Historic Preservation Office. Since 1999, she has also co-taught a course on the Recent Past
for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Historic Preservation program. Carol has given frequent
presentations on this topic and has written several articles on midcentury modernism.
Proceedings of the
Mid-Century Modern Structures: Materials and Preservation Symposium
St. Louis, Missouri, April 13-16, 2015
Edited by
Kathryn Doyle, The World Monuments Fund
Andrew Ferrell, NCPTT
Frank E. Sanchis Ill, The World Monuments Fund
Mary F. Striegel, NC PTT
Organized by
The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT)
Friends of NCPTT
In association with
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
National Park Service Cultural Resources, Partnerships, and Science Directorate
American Institute for Architects St. Louis
Washington University Samuel Fox School of Architecture
World Monuments Fund
Friends of NCPTT
645 University Parkway
Natchitoches, LA 71457
ISBN
Hard copy: 978-0-9970440-0-3
Epub Format: 978-0-9970440-1-0
Mobi Format: 978-0-9970440-2-7
AckJ:1o""UTledgemeJ:1ts
The Editors wish to thank Stephanie Toothman, Associate Director for Cultural Resources and Science for the National
Park Service, for her support in seeing that the symposium came to fruition. Special thanks to NCPTT Executive Direc
tor, Kirk A. Cordell, who offered the staff that planned and organized the symposium. We appreciate the support of
the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, including Superintendent Tom Bradley, Franklin Mares, Janet Wilding, Vic
toria Dugan, Robert Moore, and Jennifer Clark, who provided much of the logistical support in St. Louis. The Samuel
Fox School of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis provided space for the public lecture and John Guen
ther and Andrew Raimist served as guides for the site tour. Michelle Swatek and the AIA St. Louis Chapter helped
with marketing and logistics. The World Monuments Fund supported the efforts of this symposium and included the
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on the 2014 World Monuments Watch. Without Thomas Whitehead and the
efforts of the Friends of NCPTT, the symposium would not have been possible.