DESIGN PROGRAM AT PALOS VERDES ESTATES AND OTHER LOS ANGELES SUBURBAN DEVELOPMENTS

The design program for the Palos Verdes Ranch was directed toward creating an upper middle-class suburban community in a Mediterranean-like environment. This is evident in a 1914 report by John C. Olmsted, sent to Vanderlip and his Los Angeles representative, W. H. Kiernan. The report outlines plans for three villages and specifies the desired architectural styles and building materials. It also describes deed restrictions as the means to achieve consistent harmony and beauty in the community. A portion of the report refers to the development of Long Point Village and reads as follows:

We should like to have this village made distinctive and interesting by having such restrictions embodied in the deeds as will result in a fairly close adaptation of the Mexican Spanish style of architecture to modern civilized requirements and prevent as far as possible the usual commonplace, even ugly and sordid appearance of most American small cities.

Tiresome monotony should be avoided, yet the excessive variety and especially the conspicuous lack of harmony and absence of beauty which results from the usual practice of permitting each owner to build without regard to what his neighbor has done or is likely to do, have made our cities a shame and reproach to all intelligent and patriotic Americans. We trust your investors will agree to restrict at least this one of the three villages in the deeds in such a way that the village will become a source of satisfaction and pride. It may even pay well in time by attracting attention in all parts of the country for its unique artistic qualities. The most important restrictions we suggest would be, first, to require the outer walls of all buildings to be of concrete or stucco whitened, and all roofs to be either flat or covered with full sized red terra cotta Spanish rounded tiles - (no imitation to be allowed); second, to limit the height of buildings; third, to require the esthetic designs for all proposed buildings to be approved (before contracts are 1st) by a board of architects; fourth, to define certain building limit lines depending on the size of lot; fifth, to prohibit advertising signs with certain exceptions;^Ref.10

The new and significant fact for which this new term "city planning," stands is a growing appreciation of a city's organic unity, of the interdependence of its diverse elements, and of the profound and inexorable manner in which the future of the great organic unity is controlled by the actions and omissions of today.^Ref.11

Two community management bodies were created at Palos Verdes Estates: the Home Association and the Art Jury. The latter was a paid board of professional architects headed by Myron Hunt, whose purpose was to approve or reject all proposed design at Palos Verdes Estates, including streets, buildings, structures, landscaping, public works of art, and plantings. Alteration of exterior building colors was also subject to Art Jury scrutiny. Every project proposal submitted for approval had to include models, maps, and drawings. Guidelines for the Art Jury were found in the deed restrictions with design specifications for residential architecture in the three districts described.

The other community managerial body of Palos Verdes Estates was the Homes Association, established by the developers to protect the common interest of the community. Each lot owner had one vote, and the Association was responsible for enforcing and amending the deed restrictions as well as collecting taxes for the maintenance of parks and roads. In addition to aesthetic and community management of Palos Verdes Estates, "social control," mandated by a clause in the deed restrictions, prohibited minorities from living there, except as domestic servants or laborers.^Ref.14

Although Palos Verdes Estates was marketed as a Mediterranean development, its community inhabitants were clearly Anglo-American upper classes for which amenities favored by that group were developed; these included country and yacht clubs, polo grounds, bridle paths, and tennis courts. Charles Cheney in a 1927 article commented on the overall design program at Palos Verdes Estates and the land uses provided for the community.

It [Palos Verdes Estates] was conceived primarily as a suburban residential district for a metropolitan area which now contains close to two million people. The zoning done by restriction therefore reserves over 90 percent of all lots for single-family dwellings. Local business centers consist of a few lots each, surrounded by a small group of apartment and house-court sites; necessary stores, garages, service stations and the like and are being located in a few compact blocks. The number and kind of these buildings are strictly limited, and the community controls their architectural design. By planning so large a tract at a time, it was possible not only to group the residences and shopping districts into convenient community units - the store centers being approximately two miles apart - but to make exceptional provision for open space and recreation.^Ref.15

Figure 6: Adopted General Design for Malaga Cove Plaza, Palos Verdes Estates, Charles H. Cheney, Consultant in City Planning, Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects

Figure 7: Gardner Building (La Casa Primera) Webber, Staunton, and Spaulding, Architects

At first only three villages with Anglo-American place names were planned at Palos Verdes Estates, but as the project progressed into its final stages, there were five subdivisions mapped for zoning; they all had Spanish place names except one, Margate; the others were named Valmonte, Malaga Cove, Miraleste, and Lunada Bay. Land use for each subdivision was basically the same, and nowhere at Palos Verdes Estates was industry permitted. The only fully realized subdivision is Malaga Cove at the northern entrance to the community. Its business district, a Spanish Colonial Revival plaza, is organized on three sides by commercial buildings, a program followed for the other shopping plazas at Palos Verdes Estates. (Fig.6) (Fig.7) (Fig.8) (Fig.9)

Figure 8: Alpha Syndicate Building (La Casa del Portal) Webber, Staunton, and Spaulding, Architects

Figure 9: Sallyport, Alpha Syndicate Building

The Palos Verdes Estates project, while unique in scale and design, was among many real estate ventures developing concomitantly in Los Angeles County during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Beverly Hills was one such venture, having some planning similarities to Palos Verdes Estates. The subdivision, once part of the Spanish land grant El Rancho de las Aguas, was purchased by the Rodeo Land and Water Company and laid out in 1906 by landscape architect Wilbur D. Cook who had worked earlier for the Olmsted firm. (Myron Hunt also worked on planning Beverly Hills and Olmsted Brothers were later commissioned to design La Cienega Playground and Roxbury Drive Playground). Although much smaller in land mass than Palos Verdes Estates but equivalent in area to be developed, the 3200 acres of Beverly Hills was situated inland between the cities of Santa Monica and Los Angeles, on varying contours which rose gradually from level ground to more irregular and higher elevations into the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains. (Fig.10)

Figure 10: Plan, Beverly Hills

The plan for Beverly Hills concentrated on two large upper-class residential areas interspersed with parks. The districts were separated by primary streets. The third district was zoned for mixed, commercial, single and multiple-family dwellings, and industrial uses. The northernmost area was zoned for large estates and ranches. There apparently were no deed restrictions in Beverly Hills that mandated a certain style or type of residential architecture.