Central Tower Building on Fourth Street, Santa Monica, 1938

Description: The Central Tower Building was designed by M. Eugene Durfee and constructed in 1929 by the contractors J. Westley Forderer (west wing and tower) and Claude L. Freeman (north wing). It is an example of the Art Deco style, with vertical pilasters; recessed spandrels; stylized parapets on the second, sixth, seventh and eighth floors; and decorative patterns including the zig-zag styled ornamentation above the commercial storefronts. It was constructed of reinforced concrete with brick infill and finished with stucco. The form consists of two-story store front wings flanking an eight-story tower. In this photograph the original metal screening on the exterior of the storefront transom windows, the black-tiled store front base and black and white storefront checkered flooring are visible.
Elevated view of the Central Tower Building from the intersection on Fourth Street and Broadway. The commercial building has a row of shops/stores lined up along the ground level, including "Baida's Persian Chinese Rugs", "Tower Cafe," "Clark Furniture Co." In the foreground is a lit sign for "Southern California Edison" while the "Bay Cities Building" (now part of the Third Street Promenade) stands tall in the background.
Caption: Text on negative sleeve: Santa Monica, Downtown Streets, 1938

Genre: aerial views
cellulose nitrate film
black-and-white photographs
Names: Central Tower Building (Santa Monica, Calif.)
Location: California--Santa Monica
Longitude: 34.015566
Latitude: -118.4939
Resource type: still image
Subjects: Business districts --California--Santa Monica
Commercial streets--California--Santa Monica
Art deco (Architecture)--California--Santa Monica

Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections
Local Identifier: uclamss_1300_5913
ARK: ark:/21198/zz002d860j
Manifest url

Rights statement: copyrighted
Funding Note: Access to this collection is generously supported by Arcadia funds.