Page & Turnbull performed a historic resource evaluation for Pritzker Hall (formerly, Franz Tower), the 1967, eight-story building designed by renowned architect Paul R. Williams with Claude H. Coyne for UCLA’s Department of Psychology. This evaluation determined that the Tower met Criterion A/1 for listing in the National Register and California Register as part of UCLA’s 1960s period of expansion and modernization of its campus architecture. Pritzker is also significant under Criterion C/3 for its Late Modern design by Williams and Coyne, who was a partner in Williams’ firm. For the subsequent seismic retrofit and lobby improvement project, Page & Turnbull served as the preservation design consultant to ensure the project was compatible with the building’s historic character and that it retained its historic status.

Together with our local consulting partner, Healing Justice Santa Barbara (HJSB), Page & Turnbull prepared the Santa Barbara African American/Black community Historic Context Statement (HCS). The City and local activists secured a Certified Local Government (CLG) grant for the HCS to facilitate the designation of historic sites important to the African American/Black community. The HCS is one of the critical ways to support and recognize the contributions of Santa Barbara’s African American and Black community.

The HCS offers a historical overview of the community’s growth and development primarily at the east side of the city, along with thematic contexts that shaped its physical environment. These include patterns of migration and settlement; residential enclaves and housing patterns; commercial development; social, fraternal, and community groups, religious organizations; civil rights; artistic and cultural contributions, among others. HJSB, a Black women-led collaborative of local activists and historians, hosted community conversations and workshops and gathered input from community members who shared memories and experiences that supplement and enrich archival research.

Page & Turnbull was the historic preservation consultant to Rios Clementi Hale Studios for the Greek Theatre Facility Historic Enhancement. The open air theatre, located in Griffith Park was constructed in 1930 in the Greek Revival style. Over the years, accumulated signage and post-historic additions hid character-defining features on the theatre’s façade and, in many instances, obscured significant details entirely. The project aimed to address minor structural repairs, freshen up dressing rooms, introduce a reduced, cohesive signage program, allow for better concession opportunities, and beautify the theatre especially at the street-facing front.

After the 1989 earthquake, the entire third floor of this ornate stucco and cast stone building was deemed unsafe and closed off. In addition to replacement of the eight sculptural chimneys, historic fixtures, and damaged finishes and restoration of the major interior public spaces, a seismic upgrade was performed. The Knoll is now home to Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA, pronounced “karma”). The rehabilitation also included sensitive integration of a state-of-the-art music studio, top-notch research facilities, and performance spaces to support the department.

Adaptive reuse of the Hoover Pavilion, part of the Stanford University Medical Center, has rehabilitated this art deco gem into a state-of-the-art medical office building. The exterior board-formed concrete walls had been pockmarked by small spalls, a condition caused by reactive aggregate in the concrete itself. A novel and cost-effective patching system was custom-made to mitigate the issue, and colors matched to the original finish were used to paint over the new work. Further, reconstruction of a (lost) decorative finial drawn from historic drawings and photographs literally capped the finished project.

The Grand Canyon National Park Service has made a commitment to enhance the experience of visitors beyond views of the canyon itself. The built landscape at the North and South Rims include buildings and lookout points within the bounds of the Grand Canyon Village Historic District. Many of these buildings were designed by notable American architects, including the Desert View Watchtower and Lookout Studio, both designed by Mary Jane Colter in 1914; and the North Rim Cabins, designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood in 1928.

The rehabilitation of the newly branded Market Square, San Francisco’s former Merchandise Mart, reintroduced an Art Deco-style terracotta building to a struggling part of town as a centerpiece around which to rally. The exterior rehabilitation, complete with its replacement windows, façade rehabilitation, marquee canopy restoration, and its new tenant, Twitter, Inc., have brought new life to the Mid-Market area of San Francisco. The project has been highlighted as an “Urban Game Changer,” one symbolic of the relationship between today’s urban renewal and the power of preservation.

The exterior rehabilitation and lighting project at One Kearny complemented the introduction of a new private executive club on its top floor. The One Kearny Club’s white wall palette contrasts with and highlights the exposed historical structural supports for the upper floor and roof. The steelwork mostly dates to the building’s original construction of 1902, before the 1906 Earthquake, with some modern reinforcement. The dynamic interplay of light and dark, and historic and modern, balances the space and its function as a business center and conference facility.

The rehabilitation of the stately, 19^th-century Carson Block Building included a seismic retrofit and restoration of several exterior features.  The project revived one of Eureka’s first commercial buildings and reignited a communal pride in the city’s National Register-listed Historic District. The 50,000 square-foot building was built mostly of redwood with terra cotta panels, brick arches, cast iron columns, and a tall redwood storefront. Boasting Richardson Romanesque features, a style indicative of east coast refinement, the building was initially a stark contrast to structures that populated Eureka, then still a frontier town. The Carson Block Building also contained the luxurious, 1,400-seat Ingomar Theater, one of the first in the region.

An extensive rehabilitation of the historic façade and storefronts of this turn-of-the-century landmark married a contemporary aesthetic with the historic configuration of the original building design. Not only a survivor of the Great Earthquake and Fire, this exquisite Renaissance Revival style building also managed to survive two attempts by the Army to destroy it with dynamite, hoping to create a firebreak that was intended to save the Palace Hotel.