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State of California —The Resources Agency Primary #
<br />DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
<br />CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
<br />*Recorded by Leslie Heumann *Date August 28,
<br />© Continuation ❑ Update
<br />*B10. Significance (continued):
<br />became an example of the newly emerging corporate architectural firm. Before his death in
<br />1969, Becket's firm was one of the largest in the country with around 500 employees. Becket
<br />met with all clients, checked all designs and plans and visited job sites. Becket attracted and
<br />retained skilled designers who he lead [sic] with his vision of architecture working along the
<br />continuum of Modern styles from Streamline Modern&, Later Moderne, and International Style.
<br />By the 1960s Welton Becket and Associates was the nation's largest architectural office.
<br />Becket and his firm are responsible for dozens of: Southern California's significant Modern
<br />structures of the postwar era, including the Capitol Records Tower (1956); the Cinerama
<br />Dome, the world's first concrete geodesic dome (1964); and the Los Angeles Music Center
<br />(1964-1969), Beverly Hilton Hotel (1953-55); Security Pacific National Bank, Westwood (1967);
<br />UCLA, various campus buildings (1959-1968); master plan for Century City.
<br />In 1952 Becket was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Becket and his
<br />firm received dozens of local, national and international awards for design and implementation
<br />of their designs.
<br />The Security Bank Building is an example of one of the Modern architecture substyles that emerged in response to the
<br />perceived sterility and ahistoricism of the International Style. New Formalism began in the 1960s and employed proportions,
<br />massing, articulation, and detailing derived from Classicism, including symmetry and the suggestion of columns and
<br />entablatures. Flat -roofed, frequently with a heavy, overhanging roof slab, New Formalist buildings featured smooth exteriors
<br />of concrete, stone, or marble. The usually single volume buildings were either rectangular or circular and often set on
<br />podiums. The use of a colonnade as a compositional device, the introduction of arches (often elliptical), and the use of
<br />ornamental screens of concrete, metal, and stone also characterize New Formalist buildings. At the same time, buildings
<br />designed in a New Formalist style made use of new technologies that allowed for a more plastic and fluid use of concrete.
<br />The style was popularized nationally by architects Minoru Yamasaki and Edward Durrett Stone, as well as by Southern
<br />California architects including Welton Becket andAssoclates and Pereira and Associates.
<br />The Security Bank Building qualifies for listing in the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 4 for its
<br />embodiment of the post -World War I/ evolution of Santa Ana as the financial headquarters of Orange County and its
<br />historical association with a historical Southern California financial institution, Security Bank. It also qualifies for listing in the
<br />Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties under Criterion 1, for its exemplification of the distinguishing characteristics of
<br />the New Formalism style of architecture and under Criterion 2 as the work in Santa Ana of a notable architect, Welton
<br />Becket and Associates, whose work influenced architectural development. Additionally, the property has been categorized
<br />as "Landmark" because "it has an historical/cultural significance to the city" for its role in the historical development of Santa
<br />Ana as a financial center and its association with Security Bank and because 'it has a unique architectural significance" as
<br />an example of the New Formalism style of architecture designed by master architect Welton Becket and Associates.
<br />Character defining features of the Security Bank Building include: its massing, with a nearly square, tower set atop a podium
<br />with side wings; symmetrical compostion; two and ten -story height; flat roofs, edged by broad fasciae; roof overhangs at the
<br />side pavilions; exterior materials and textures, including concrete skin of the tower, pebble dash finish of the arcade,
<br />anodized aluminum window, door and wall frames, and fluted surfaces along a portion of the first floor; organization and
<br />articulation of bays; ground floor arcade; and shallow front courtyard.
<br />*B12. References (continued):
<br />Harris, Cyril M. American Architecture: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. New York, WIN Norton, 1998.
<br />Marsh, Diann. Santa Ana, An Illustrated History. Encinitas, Heritage Publishing, 1994.
<br />McAlester, Virginia and Lee. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984.
<br />National Register Bulletin 16A. 'How to Complete the National Register Registration Form. " Washington DC: National
<br />Register Branch, National Park Service, US Dept of the Interior, 1991.
<br />Office of Historic Preservation. `Instructions for Recording Historical Resources. " Sacramento: March 1995.
<br />Whitten, Marcus. American Architecture Since 1780. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1969.
<br />Santa Ana and Orange County Directories, 1905-2017.
<br />Ancestry.com
<br />Newspapers.com (Santa Ana Register) and Proquest (Los Anueles Times).
<br />*B12. References (continued):
<br />DPR 523L
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