Santa Monica City Jail, 1685 Main St Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, CA
The Santa Monica City Hall, including the jail facility in the northwest wing, was designed in a PWA Moderne style popular in the 1930s by prominent Los Angeles architects, Joseph M. Estep and Donald B. Parkinson. Contractors, Campbell and Kelly, built the structure in 1938-39 and the project costs totaled $168,000. Funds to pay for the building were drawn from the federal government`s New Deal program, the Public Works Administration, as well as from city taxes and revenue generated from the property sale of the original City Hall on Fourth Street and Broadway. PWA projects, like the City Hall, typically incorporated many building and design trades into each project including masonry, woodwork, tilework, metalwork, sculpture and mural painting, employing the artists and artisans who practiced these crafts. The jail is part of the original design, and it served as the local Santa Monica Police Department jail until 2002. Not only does the building represent an outstanding example of PWA Moderne style architecture, it has also played an important role in Santa Monica`s political, social and civic history.
Santa Monica City Jail, 1685 Main St Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, CA
The Santa Monica City Hall, including the jail facility in the northwest wing, was designed in a PWA Moderne style popular in the 1930s by prominent Los Angeles architects, Joseph M. Estep and Donald B. Parkinson. Contractors, Campbell and Kelly, built the structure in 1938-39 and the project costs totaled $168,000. Funds to pay for the building were drawn from the federal government`s New Deal program, the Public Works Administration, as well as from city taxes and revenue generated from the property sale of the original City Hall on Fourth Street and Broadway. PWA projects, like the City Hall, typically incorporated many building and design trades into each project including masonry, woodwork, tilework, metalwork, sculpture and mural painting, employing the artists and artisans who practiced these crafts. The jail is part of the original design, and it served as the local Santa Monica Police Department jail until 2002. Not only does the building represent an outstanding example of PWA Moderne style architecture, it has also played an important role in Santa Monica`s political, social and civic history.
Posted Date
Sep 27, 2021
Source Name
Library of Congress
