§ 16.52.650. The Long Beach Museum of Art.

Pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 2.63 and with the recommendation of the Planning Commission, the City Council designates the following building as an historical landmark in the City: The Long Beach Museum of Art.

A.

Location, description and reasons for designation. Located at 2300 East Ocean Boulevard, the Long Beach Museum of Art was built in 1912 as a summer home by Elizabeth Milbank Anderson, a wealthy philanthropist and heir to Jeremiah Milbank, who was a financier, a co-founder of the Borden Company, and a founder of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad (in 1863, later extended to the Pacific Coast). According to Fortune magazine, "A number of Milbanks have been considerable figures in the industrial history of the U.S. and the family has also left its mark on the educational and medical institutions of the country." (May 1959) Elizabeth Milbank Anderson (1850-1921) was an energetic, strong-minded woman with a wide range of interests. She was a successful businesswoman, a philanthropist, and an art collector who traveled frequently to Europe. She established Milbank Memorial Fund in 1905, which gave grants to various medical and educational projects; this fund is still in existence. She donated a library to Greenwich, Connecticut, and gave three (3) blocks of choice New York City land to Barnard College, upon which was built Milbank Hall. She built public facilities for the poor, such as a sports arena and public baths, and established a program of free school lunches. Her husband, Abram A. Anderson, was a well-known portrait painter and friend of Teddy Roosevelt.

This large house was built on the bluff to take advantage of one of the City's prime assets - the ocean view. The house is a splendid and imposing example of the Craftsman Bungalow, a style popular in the period 1905 - 1915. It is similar to others of that style built around the same time near the ocean bluff along Ocean Boulevard and First and Second Streets in what is now the Bluff Park Historic District, and thus represents an early stage in the residential development of Long Beach. Later, in 1926, the home became the Club California Casa Real, an important social institution of Long Beach. It was owned from 1929 - 1944 by Thomas A. O'Donnell, a pioneer oil industrialist. During the Second World War, it was used by the Navy as the Chief Petty Officers' Club. In 1950, it was purchased by the City for a Municipal Art Center and was renamed in 1957 as the Long Beach Museum of Art. Thus, its succession of uses has mirrored important stages in the history of the City.

The building is a classic example of the California Craftsman Bungalow, using the natural materials and rugged texture of wood shingles and clinker brick. The prominent gables, projecting rafter beams and horizontally are all typical of the style. The exterior of the main house and carriage house retain their original integrity and have not been altered. This style is echoed by several similar homes nearby in the Bluff Park Historic District.

The Milwaukee Building Company was an influential architectural firm which did other work for the Milbank family and associates. Isaac Milbank, a co-founder of the Borden Milk Company and an oil investor, had a magnificent Craftsman summer home constructed for him in 1911 by the Milwaukee Building Company on a bluff overlooking the ocean in Santa Monica. At the same time, the Milwaukee Building Company constructed a similar home on the same street in Santa Monica for retired hotel proprietor Henry Weaver, who owned several Midwest hotels.

The Milwaukee Building Company later became the Los Angeles firm of Meyer & Holler, an eminent firm which constructed numerous landmark buildings. Their most famous designs were the Chinese and Egyptian Theaters in Hollywood. In Long Beach, they designed the Ocean Center Building, Walkers Department Store and the Fox West Coast Theater (demolished).

B.

General guidelines and standards for any changes. The "Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings" prepared by the Secretary of the Interior (Revised 1983), as amended, are incorporated by reference, and the following additional guidelines and standards as recommended by the Cultural Heritage Commission are adopted:

Any exterior alterations, modifications or repair of the above structure shall be done so in keeping with its historic character, and any exterior alterations, modifications or changes shall follow the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings.

No environmental changes shall be permitted to the exterior of the building unless a certificate of Appropriateness has been applied for and approved by the Cultural Heritage Commission or by the City Planning Commission, upon appeal, authorizing such environmental changes. Nothing in this Section shall be construed to restrict internal modifications to the building not visible externally.

(Ord. C-6730 § 2, 1990)