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<br />cm\historic\templates\Main 200 N (Builders Exchange)
<br />9/25/01
<br />CONSTRUCTION HISTORY: (Construction data, alterations, and date of alterations)
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<br />October 19, 1928. Store building.
<br />January 23, 1931. Alterations.
<br />January 27, 1933. Alterations.
<br />March 15, 1933. Repairs to brick building.
<br />September 17, 1935. Alterations.
<br />July 29, 1937. Fire door.
<br />May 27, 1938. Repair store building.
<br />March 6, 1940. Repairs to store front.
<br />April 12, 1940. Alterations to store and office building.
<br />August 2, 1948. Alteration to store building.
<br />September 6, 1949. Alterations to kitchen.
<br />October 27, 1949. Alterations to business building.
<br />June 9, 1970. Replace wood overhead door with metal type.
<br />January 20, 1983. Historic rehab.
<br />July 8, 1983. Tenant improvements, 2nd floor.
<br />November 16, 1983. Tenant improvement.
<br />December 5, 1983. Toilet room.
<br />May 8, 1984. Alter: repair fire damage.
<br />July 25, 1984. Tenant improvement.
<br />September 9, 1988. Tenant improvement and restroom.
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<br />RELATED FEATURES: (Other important features such as barns, sheds, fences, prominent or unusual trees, or landscape)
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<br />None
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<br />DESCRIPTION: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, settings, and
<br />boundaries.)
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<br />Located on the northwest corner of Main and Second Streets, this is a two-story plus basement commercial building influenced by the
<br />Italian Renaissance Revival style. Constructed of steel, reinforced concrete, and brick, the building features architectural
<br />ornamentation executed in terracotta. The two public elevations (east and south) are faced with brown brick and banded between
<br />stories by a terracotta belt course. Above the second story windows, a second belt course defines the lower edge of an entablature
<br />consisting of a brick frieze ornamented with terracotta roundels and a denticulated cornice. A plain parapet tops the cornice, crowned
<br />by terracotta coping. At the center of the principal (east elevation), a panel embellished with garlands and swags decorates the parapet
<br />with ornamental scrolls and volutes rising above it and a flagpole appearing to emerge from the apex. Fluted piers, with stylized
<br />composite capitals, sit on a polished black tile base and divide the lower story of the façade into four bays. The narrow, central bay
<br />contains the entrance, highlighted by a shield-embellished panel over the flat-headed opening and by an entablature surmounted by
<br />urns. Above a decorated spandrel, the single second story window in this bay features a quoined surround. The name of the building
<br />is incised into a terracotta panel centered in the frieze. At street level, two bays to the south of the entry and a double-sized single bay
<br />to the north of the entry are similarly composed, with black tile bases, display windows, and transoms. Four pairs of one-over-one
<br />double-hung sash windows are located to either side of the central bay on the second story. The south elevation is asymmetrical in
<br />organization, with a single bay on the east and two bays on the west duplicating the layout of the façade bays. A second building
<br />entrance in the westernmost bay echoes the design of the main entrance. The Builders Exchange Building retains a high degree of
<br />exterior integrity, with only minor modifications to the transom glazing apparent.
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<br />HISTORIC HIGHLIGHTS:
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<br />The Santiago Improvement Company constructed the Builders Exchange Building in 1928 at an announced cost of $75,000. The
<br />owners intended the building to be a model project of the Orange County Builders Exchange, the building trades organization of the
<br />county, which would showcase the most modern and progressive building techniques and materials. Designed and built by
<br />C. A. Lansdowne and William Rohrbacher, both of whom would have distinguished careers in Santa Ana, the building housed the
<br />Builders Exchange offices on the second floor after its opening in April 1929. Southern California Edison occupied space on the
<br />ground floor. Other tenants of the building included Western Auto Supply and National Cash Register.
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<br />Members of the building trades founded the Builders Exchange in the early 1920s. It played a role in the local adoption of building
<br />codes, and provided financial services, insurance services, and both a professional and a social forum for members. In 1938 it became
<br />the Orange County Builders Association, which became affiliated with the California Association of Builders Exchanges in 1949
<br />(Thomas, 1980).
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<br />The Builders Exchange Building was rehabilitated in 1983, and storefront alterations were reversed to return the building to its
<br />original appearance.
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