Standard Oil Building - Whittier, CA - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

"The old Standard Oil Building is located within the downtown commercial area of Whittier, standing on the corner of Perm Street and Bright Avenue. Across the street on Perm is a garage built by Standard and designed to reflect the architecture of the Standard Oil building. The garage and the adjacent parking lot are slated for replacement by a large office complex in 1980. A new town house complex is under construction at the southeast corner replacing a residence, also built by Standard and rented at one time to employees. With those recent exceptions, the area is primarily one- and two-story commercial buildings.

The old Standard Oil building is a small complex of interconnected buildings arranged around a central courtyard. The original building, built in 1914, faces Bright Avenue and is a one-story rectangular Mission Style structure 32 feet high, 68 feet long and 34 wide on a reinforced concrete foundation. A single story garage stretched along Perm Street for 72 feet until 1922 when a second floor of office space was added above the garage and the garage was extended along the alley at the rear of the lot. The garage addition was connected to the small one-story building (added in the northwest corner of the property in 1918) via a cat walk.

The buildings are constructed of brick covered with smooth light-colored stucco. The baked red tile roofs are gabled and extend beyond the walls, forming roof eaves with exposed heavy timber rafters. The decorative brackets supporting the gable reflect the simple Mission Revival Style. Standing as an example of the romanticization of the Mexican period in California history, the buildings' design is characteristically simple and there is no ornamentation. The arched windows and garage entrances, light-colored stucco, red tile roofs and copper gutters and downspouts are designed to create a unified image, an architectural statement about Southern California in the first decades of the century.

The original building's east facade is symmetrically balanced by 3 arched windows on either side of the entrance. The windows are squared double-hung on the interior, with the arch created in stucco on the exterior. Access from the street level to the slightly elevated entrance is provided by a stairway curving away from the entrance in two directions. A canopy over the doorway further emphasizes the entrance. A large sculpture depicting the Zerolene bear, Standard's motor oil logo, stood for many years at the side of the entrance. The south and north facades are broken up by four arched windows and a small round window near the gable. The roof eaves are particularly noticeable on this facade, creating a rhythm along the length of the building and supporting a copper gutter." (visit link)

Street address: 7257 Bright Avenue Whittier, CA USA County / Borough / Parish: Los Angeles Year listed: 1980 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1900-1924 Historic function: Commerce/Trade Current function: Commerce/Trade Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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