The Torrance Historical Society completed a comprehensive survey of historic resources in the Olmsted Tract within the City of Torrance from 2011 - 2013.  The Olmsted Tract is the area of the city originally planned by Fredrick Law Olmsted Jr.  It comprises 109 city blocks with residential, commercial and industrial sub-districts.  The plan is most notable for its axial landscaped mall aligned to have a view of Mount San Antonio in the San Gabriel Mountains.  The Olmsted Tract includes a number of buildings designed by the noted Southern California Architect Irving Gill.  Torrance was planned as a new prototype industrial city based on the principles of the Garden City Movement.

The industrial sections of the city were placed on the eastern side of the original tract to allow prevailing breezes to keep industrial pollution away from residential areas.   The original industries have been replaced by modern light industrial and commercial uses.  Public transportation was a key element of the plan with the town radiating outward from a Red Car Train Station that connected Torrance with downtown Los Angeles.  The Irving Gill designed station remains as an important historic element but has been converted to a private commercial use.  The Olmsted Tract embodies the ideals of low density planning that came to define urbanism in 20th Century American cities and as such is a very significant historic resource.

The survey was completed by a team of community volunteers.  The volunteers were provided a survey form that required them to document the original construction date, the style of the structures, if the structures have been altered and the condition of the structures.  Training and criteria was provided to the volunteers to assist them in completing the survey forms.  The survey was supervised by members of the Torrance Historical Society in the following roles:  Documents Control and Archival Systems; Janet Payne and Cleoan Ferm; Community & Governmental Relations, Debbie Hayes; Volunteer Coordinators, Kurt Weideman and Joanne Miyamoto; Lead Photographer, Gordon Olschlager; and Project Manager, Gene Higginbotham.  Historic Preservation Consultant Gordon Olschlager completed a peer review for each survey form.

The purpose of the survey was to document all structures, the landscape design and other features that are contributing elements to a potential (HPOZ) Historic Preservation Overlay Zone.  The creation of an HPOZ will allow property owners to obtain financial assist through the Mills Act and foster the preservation of the district.  The Torrance Historical Society completed a city wide survey of historic structures in 1979.  The 1979 survey identified individual properties that were a general representation of the historical development patterns and styles within the City of Torrance.  This current survey is a comprehensive inventory of specifically the Olmsted Tract and evaluated all structures with the Olmsted Tract.

The Torrance Historic Society and the City of Torrance Planning Department retained Gordon Olschlager of the firm Nakada + Associates Inc. to prepare the framework in which the survey was completed.  The survey was organized and conducted by blocks.  Each block in the district was giving a number of 1 - 109.  Nakada + Associates developed an overall block plan (See Section E).  Individual structures are identified by street address and the County of Los Angeles Tax Assessors Identification Number.

Gordon Olschlager prepared a Historic Context Statement that established the period of historic significance for the resources within the district.  The period of significance begins in 1912 when the initial construction of the Olmsted Tract commenced.  It extends through 1945 with the beginning of World War II.   Approximately 80 percent of the available sites within the Olmsted Tract had been developed by the beginning of World War II.  The War marked the beginning of a new era of development with the emergence of the mass home building industry.  Minimalist utilitarian design was favored by this new home building industry.  It stripped away stylistic details that are character defining.

The field survey was completed using a standard form for each structure which includes a photograph of the structure, its date of construction based on County of Los Angeles tax records, the style of the structure and whether the structure had been altered.  Based on the field survey, each structure has been classified as a contributor, an altered contributor or a non-contributor to the historic significance of the district.  The definition of a contributing structure is any building within the period of significance that retains is original form, massing, and character defining features.  An altered contributing structure is a structure that has been altered, but in a manner that is reversible and its historic integrity can be easily restored.   The California Mills Act can provide financial assistance to owners that want to restore original features.  Examples of reversible features include:  exterior wall finishes, windows where original fenestration patterns remain, roofing materials and wood moldings and trim.  Non-contributing structures are buildings completely altered or built after the period of significance.

Historic Context Statement 

Historic Resource Survey Summary