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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Security Bank Building 888 North Main Street Santa Ana, CA 92701 NAME Security Bank Building REF. NO. ADDRESS 888 North Main Street CITY Santa Ana ZIP 1 92701 ORANGE COUNTY YEAR BUILT 1964-1965 LOCAL REGISTER CATEGORY: Landmark North Main Commercial HISTORIC DISTRICT None NEIGHBORHOOD Corridor AM & CALIFORNIA REGISTER CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION CALIFORNIA REGISTER STATUS CODE 3S Location: ❑ Not for Publication ® Unrestricted ❑ Prehistoric M Historic ❑ Both ARCHITECTURAL STYLE: New Formalism New Formalism began in the 1960s as a rejection of the strict Modernism that had stripped buildings of all ornamentation. New Formalism employed highly stylized forms based on Classical precedents in terms of building proportion and scale, and featured strict symmetry and the suggestion of columns and entablatures. Flat -roofed, frequently with a heavy, overhanging roof slab, New Formalist buildings featured smooth exteriors of concrete, stone, or marble. The usually single volume buildings were either rectangular or circular and often set on podiums. The use of a colonnade as a compositional device, the introduction of arches (often elliptical), and the use of ornamental screens of concrete, metal, and stone also characterize New Formalist buildings. At the same time, buildings designed in a New Formalist style made use of new technologies that allowed for a more plastic and fluid use of concrete. The style was popularized nationally by architects Minoru Yamasaki and Edward Durrell Stone, as well as by Southern California architects including Welton Becket and Associates and Pereira and Associates- SUMMARY/CONCLUSION: The Security Bank Building qualifies for listing on the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 4 for its embodiment of the post -World War II evolution of Santa Ana as the financial headquarters of Orange County and its historical association with a historical southern California financial institution, Security Bank. It also qualifies for listing on the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 1, for its exemplification of the distinguishing characteristics of the New Formalism style of architecture and under Criterion 2 as the work in Santa Ana of a notable architect, Welton Becket and Associates, whose work influenced architectural development. Additionally, the property has been categorized as "Landmark" because "it has an historical/cultural significance to the city" for its role in the historical development of Santa Ana as a financial center and its association with Security Bank, and because "it has a unique architectural significance" as an example of the New Formalism style of architecture designed by master architect Welton Becket and Associates. 25C-451