80A - JT PUBLIC HRG-320 WEST FOURTH

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Historic Resource Impacts Courthouse Lofts Project 320 West Fourth Street Santa Ana, California West of Broadway, on the 300 West block, the easternmost two-thirds of both sides of the street are within the Historic District. The north side of Fourth Street contains a contributing building on the east end that is within the District boundaries. Adjacent to the Historic District (on the west) is the large parcel that contains the 11-story Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse, built in 1997. The Historic District boundary stops on the north side of Fourth Street at the eastern end of the Courthouse lot which is across the street frorn the subject parcel at 320 West Fourth Street. The building to the west of the subject property, at 322-326 West Fourth Street and the eastern half of the south side of the 400 block of West Fourth Street, lie within the Historic District. The National Register Nornination for the Downtown Historic District provides the basis for its designation as well as its historic context regarding developrnent of the cornrnercial center of Santa Ana. The City was founded in 1869 by Williarn Spurgeon as a speculative townsite on land that had been part of the Spanish land grant known as Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. Spurgeon and a partner, Ward Bradford, acquired land to layout a 24-square block townsite bounded by Broadway on the west, Spurgeon Street on the east, First Street on the north, and Seventh Street on the south with the comrnercial center developing at Fourth and Main Streets. Growth and development was stimulated by arrival of the Southern Pacific Railway in 1878 and the Santa Fe Railroad in 1886. By the end of the 1880s a downtown business district had been established at the intersection of Fourth and Main Streets consisting of five city blocks of brick business buildings. Only a few exterior examples remain from Santa Ana's first wave of downtown development in the Victorian era. With the railroads came expansion of agriculture and related packing and shipping operations. The early years of the 20th century saw residential growth. The regional prosperity of pre-World War I years resulted in numerous new business blocks sprouting up along Fourth Street as and new civic buildings were constructed to the north (near Civic Center Drive and Main Street). Downtown grew again in the 1920s with new construction along north/south arterials such as Main Street and Broadway, extending the footprint of the downtown. The commercial center along Fourth Street served the larger county population as growth in the county's smaller cities spurred Santa Ana's commercial prominence. By the 1920s Santa Ana had become the professional center of Orange County with lawyers and doctors located in "prominent new high-rises" such as the First National Bank Building and executive offices in the Santora Building. (National Register Nomination) The National Register Nomination states that "the primary historic significance of downtown Santa Ana is found in its 1920s commercial and architectural identity." It goes on to note that the predominant architectural style of the 1920s was Spanish Colonial Revival with numerous regional adaptations Kaplan Chen Kaplan 2 April 20, 2006 80A-81