1) ATTEND THE AUG. 5TH  STATE HISTORICAL RESOURCES COMMISSION MEETING IN SACRAMENTO. CHECK BACK ON THIS WEBSITE FOR EXACT DETAILS.

2) WRITE to the State's Office of Historic Preservation and encourage them to list Lincoln Place in the California Register of Historical Resources. By successfully designating this property, we can ensure that Lincoln Place will be there, for us, for you, for all future generations. Thank you! Mail your letter to: 

WHAT TO SAY:

Lincoln Place is eligible for the California Register of Historical Resources under Criterion One and Criterion Three.

Points you could include:

Lincoln Place was the largest development in California financed under the historic mortgage insurance program, Section 608 of the National Housing Act. The program, a response to the critical shortage of low- to moderate-income housing in the 1930ís and after World War II, was administered by the Federal Housing Authority, whose guidelines reflected the influence of the Modern movement and the "Garden City" style of site planning and architectural design.

Lincoln Place is a textbook example of post-war garden apartment housing, embodying the FHAís landmark 1947 rental housing principles:  Multi-family housing units were to be placed in a garden-like, open setting with common courtyards and other features (such as collective parking areas and communal laundry rooms) which stimulate resident interaction and emphasize a sense of community.
 

Significant Design features of Lincoln Place include:

ï Park-like open space
ï Superblock construction rather than grids
ï Separation of vehicular and pedestrian traffic
ï Purposeful unification of indoor and outdoor space through large windows and patios.
ï Luxurious, drought-resistant subtropical themed landscaping typical of Southern California in 1951
ï Low-pitched hip roofs which harmonize with the homes in the surrounding community
ï 2 and 3 ft overhangs providing passive solar cooling and a unique architectural  statement 
ï Visually distinctive buildings

Multi-family interaction is encouraged by the provision of common courtyards, collective parking areas and the 48 communal laundry buildings scattered throughout the property. It maintains the low density and low scale characteristics of the garden apartment type, the highest building being only two stories.

While Lincoln Place was built for low- to moderate-income residents and the buildings were standardized to keep material costs down, great care was obviously taken to making each building visually distinctive and Modern in character.

The two story buildings are uniquely staggered, decreasing shared wall space and breaking up the building mass. Each building has a formal courtyard and an informal courtyard in the back. One-story bungalows step the two story buildings down to human scale, providing height variation, natural light and a sympathetic transition to the surrounding neighborhoods.

Lincoln Place is a classic example of the Modern movement. Bold, geometric shapes frame the entrances to each building, while the large dramatic window is treated in many unique ways.  Different design elements result in no one building looking identical to another, unlike the monotonous structures of many similar housing developments.

The Architects:

Ralph Vaughn, an African-American architect, teamed up with Heth Wharton, whom he had met while they were co-workers designing sets for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, to develop Lincoln Place for Union Housing Corporation. According to project architects, Wharton and Vaughn Associates were the most sought after firm in LA doing Section 608 projects, designing in all over 2000 units, or approximately 1/4 of all built under the program. They were known for delivering "the most building for the least money" and for designing "the finest footprints and site plans" in the Southland.

Vaughn was responsible for the design development of Lincoln Place, while Wharton functioned primarily as the project manager. Vaughn believed that the movie industry was a strong influence on architecture in Los Angeles, and Lincoln Place is a classic example of his modern "Hollywood styling" sensibility. Lincoln Place was the first and largest of three major FHA housing project commissions for Wharton & Vaughn Associates in Los Angeles.  The other two are the Hollywood Manor and Chase Knolls, which is listed as a Cultural Monument in Los Angeles, and has been determined eligible for National Landmark status.

Early in Vaughn's career he was recruited by Paul Williams to be the head draftsman on Langston Terrace Dwellings, now a National Landmark, in Washington, D.C.   Vaughn continued to work for Williams as a lead designer on many high profile projects, including Saks Fifth Avenue Department Store, the Music Corporation of America headquarters, and the homes of Charles Correll, Bert Lahr, Tyrone Power and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.
 

Conclusion: 

Lincoln Place is eligible under Criterion One as a significant and outstanding example of the FHAís guidelines for housing, demonstrating how well the landmark 1947 rental housing principles work. These principles are fully realized at Lincoln Place.  The post-war goals of "the Garden City Movement" and  have succeeded and withstood the test of time. The residents continue to experience a welcome sense of community and a higher quality of life. 

Lincoln Place is eligle under Criterion Three as and an excellent example of the garden apartment property type and of the Modernist Movement. 

This type of housing is rapidly disappearing in Los Angeles and throughout the United States. The best examples, especially Lincoln Place, must be preserved to set an example for future urban designers and planners.
 

Historical designation was endorsed by the

National Trust for Historic Preservation, 
Los Angeles Conservancy, 
California Preservation Foundation
American Institue of Architects (AIA), Los Angeles Chapter
National Organization of Minority Architects
Venice Historical Society,
Jeffrey Samudio, Commissioner Emeritus of the State Historical Resources Commission, President Emeritus of the Societh of Architectural Historians, So. California Chapter
Bradford C. Grant, President, Association of Collegiate Schools of             Architecture
Diane Favro, President, Society of American Architectural Historians, 
Gail Sansbury, Board Member of the Society of American Regional and City Planning History, 
Dorothy Wong, author of the National Landmark and National Register nominations of Baldwin Hills Village Green
Julius Shulman, premier photographer of Modernist architecture, 
Katherine H Anthony, Professor, School of Architecture, Universisty of 
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Michael Palumbo, Emeritus Chairman of the Modern Committee of the
Los Angeles Conservancy
Judy Branfman, Research Scholar, UCLA Center for the Study of Women
Wesley Howard Henderson, AIA, Associate Editor of the BIOGRAPHIC 
DICTIONARY OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN ARCHITECTS
and many more preservation experts, historians and architects in Los Angeles andaround the nation.

Designation has also been enthusiastically endorsed by 

Senators Dianne Feinstein 
Senator Barbara Boxer
Congresswoman Jane Harman
State Senator Debra Bowen
CA Assemblyman Mike Gordon (Ý)
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
City Councilman, 11th District, Bill Rosendahl
Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council

________________________________________________________________