San Diego County Administration Center

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Coordinates: 32°43′19″N 117°10′20″W / 32.7219°N 117.1721°W / 32.7219; -117.1721
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San Diego County Administration Center
San Diego, California
Coordinates32°43′19″N 117°10′20″W / 32.7219°N 117.1721°W / 32.7219; -117.1721
GroundbreakingDecember 5, 1935[1]
Construction startedJanuary 4, 1936[1]
CompletedDecember 23, 1938[1]
InauguratedJuly 16, 1938[1]
Height150 feet (46 m)[1]
Technical details
Floor count7 (incl. 2 basement floors)[2]
Floor area200,000 square feet (19,000 m2)[2]
Design and construction
Architect(s)Samuel Wood Hamill, William Templeton Johnson, Richard Requa, Louis John Gill
Website
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/cob/cacs/
San Diego Civic Center
Area16.7 acres (6.8 ha)
NRHP reference No.88000554[3]
Added to NRHPMay 16, 1988

The San Diego County Administration Center is a historic

Government of San Diego County. It was completed in 1938 and was primarily funded by the Works Progress Administration. It was previously known as the San Diego Civic Center and as the City and County Administration Building. Because of its notable architecture and its location fronting San Diego Bay, it is nicknamed the Jewel on the Bay.[1] Architects were Samuel Wood Hamill, William Templeton Johnson, Richard Requa and Louis John Gill. The building used innovative construction techniques to guard against earthquakes, and the project was considered to be "a prototype of American civic center architecture".[1][2] The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 16, 1988.[4]

History

In order to consolidate city and county government offices which were scattered across downtown San Diego, city planner John Nolen was engaged to plan a civic center. Voters rejected the first draft plan (1908) which would have placed the civic center downtown. In 1926 Nolen completed a plan which placed the civic center on newly dredged tidelands. This plan was approved in a March 1927 election. There was considerable opposition to building on the tidelands, in part because it was felt such a building would be unstable in an earthquake, but it was stabilized by 30-foot-long steel pilings driven in the ground and other measures. Some of the steel pilings were alternated in a manner designed to bear lateral stress; this was a novel design and was considered to be "on the cutting edge of engineering developments."

Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicated the building on July 16, 1938 before a crowd estimated as 25,000 people.[2]

In 1964 the city moved its offices to a new downtown Community Concourse, and since then the building has held county offices only.[5][6] Today many county offices are housed in a County Operations Center at 5500-5600 Overland Avenue, and the county maintains several branch offices to serve the public. The historic County Administration Center is still the home of the Board of Supervisors, the Chief Administrative Officer, the Assessor, the County Clerk, the Treasurer/Tax Collector, and many forms of public records.[7]

In 2014 a waterfront park was opened on the former site of the building's parking lots.[8]

Architecture

The design was intended to complement structures in

Zigzag moderne
through the use of a large amount of ornamentation, "recessed windows in vertical patterns," and "smooth-surfaced columns." The county's art collection shown inside the building includes works by Charles Reiffel, Charles Fries, and a portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Donald Armand Luscomb.[1]

Artwork

A sculpture fountain,

egg tempera, a popular water medium used in Italy in the 13th-15th centuries.[1]

Waterfront Park

In May 2014, the 12-acre (4.9 ha) County Administration Center Waterfront Park opened on both the north and south sides of the building, formerly surface parking lots. The Waterfront Park, more than a decade in the making, contains open grassy areas, gardens planted with drought-tolerant flowers on the north side, and picnic areas, a playground with colorful swings and slides, and an interactive water fountain on the south side.[8][9]

Gallery

  • Detail of west entrance
    Detail of west entrance
  • Closeup of headstone on mosaic, west entrance
    Closeup of headstone on mosaic, west entrance
  • County Building, west facade
    County Building, west facade
  • County Building, seen from across Harbor Drive
    County Building, seen from across Harbor Drive
  • Fountains, Waterfront Park
    Fountains, Waterfront Park
  • Playground, Waterfront Park
    Playground, Waterfront Park
  • Building lit in Los Angeles Lakers shortly after the death of Kobe Bryant
    Building lit in
    death of Kobe Bryant

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "San Diego County Administration Center History", San Diego County Government website
  2. ^ a b c d e The Journal of San Diego History, SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY, Winter 2002, Volume 48, Number 1, "CIVIL ENGINEERING FOR BUILDINGS", Thomas G. Atkinson
  3. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  4. ^ "National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet". United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  5. ^ "Important Events in the City of San Diego's History". City of San Diego. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  6. ^ "The County Administration Center". County of San Diego. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  7. ^ "Your County Government Services". County of San Diego. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
  8. ^ a b "New Waterfront Park Opens to Public", NBC7 San Diego, May 12, 2014
  9. ^ "CAC Waterfront Park", San Diego County website Archived 2014-05-05 at the Wayback Machine
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