Oceanside plans to update another of its historic buildings designed by the respected architect Irving Gill, who created a number of notable structures in the city and across Southern California.
The Crown Heights Resource Center was built in 1931 on Division Street at Center Avenue, where it initially served as Oceanside’s Americanization School for more than 10 years. Today it offers after-school programs and social services to residents of a diverse, low-income neighborhood just west of Interstate 5 and south of Mission Avenue.
Gill also designed Oceanside’s first fire station and its companion City Hall building, now the Oceanside Museum of Art, on Pier View Way next to the city’s present-day Civic Center.
Other Gill buildings in Oceanside include the former Blade-Tribune newspaper building on Seagaze Drive, now the Blade 1936 restaurant, and a house in the Fire Mountain neighborhood.
In more recent years Gill’s distinctive style influenced the design of several newer Oceanside municipal buildings. They include the Civic Center built in the 1980s and the newer Senior Center and William A. Wagner Aquatic Center at El Corazon Park.
La Jolla has several Gill buildings. Probably the most well-known is the former home of newspaper journalist and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, built in 1916 and now the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. He also designed structures in San Diego and Los Angeles.
“Gill was a pioneer of the Modern Architecture movement, shifting San Diego architecture by focusing on design that responded to climate and context, embracing pure form designs, and stripping all ornament to focus on enduring strength and simplistic beauty,” states a report prepared for Oceanside’s Historic Preservation Advisory Commission.
“Gill developed his own Mission-influenced, cubist style, which is apparent in the Crown Heights Resource Center,” the report states.
“It is very fitting that the future Americanization School would be designed by Irving Gill,” Oceanside historian John Daley, a member of the advisory commission, said Friday. “The openness of his look says welcome to America.”
The Oceanside School District built the Americanization School as a place where Spanish-speaking Oceanside residents were taught English and civics. It’s unclear how Gill became involved, but he had already worked on other Oceanside buildings.
At the time, school enrollment was rising sharply and nearly half the district’s students were non-English speaking, according to the city report. School districts across the Southwest created Americanization schools, primarily for the children of Mexican immigrants.
Some students sent there resented the process and felt the segregation robbed them of their cultural heritage.
Oceanside Mayor Esther Sanchez said Wednesday she could remember some of the city’s old-timers, including former Councilwoman Lucy Chavez and Pete Magana, a Korean War veteran and founder of the American G.I. Forum, talking about their experiences at the school.
“Pete talked about it a lot,” Sanchez said. “I got the sense from him it was not somethin he liked. He felt like he was being treated differently … he was not pleased about it.”
After the Americanization School closed in 1943, the building was used for a while as a school annex and then as a warehouse. Later, it was boarded up and became neglected and a target for vandalism.
The city purchased the property in 1990. In 1994, it completed a restoration for about $450,000 with the help of neighborhood volunteers.
“It really brought the community together and then (when the restoration was finished) there was a big festival as well,” said David Marshall, a San Diego architect designing the proposed rehabilitation.
The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994, and has been used as a community resource center since 2001.
Gill was born in New York, lived in Los Angeles and San Diego for much of his career, and was at his wife’s family ranch in Carlsbad when he died of a heart attack in 1936.
His ashes were thought to have been scattered until they were found this year in cardboard box in a closet at the Cypress View Mausoleum, Mortuary and Crematory in San Diego. Apparently, they were left there for a family member who never collected them.
Shocked by the discovery, representatives of the Irving J. Gill Foundation held a belated funeral on Oct. 7 at Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego. The foundation is working to raise $15,000 for a gravestone.
Events and programs at the resource center in Oceanside include food distributions, reading campaigns, computer labs, community workshops and meetings offered by the city and other groups such as the Youth Development Programs hosted by North County Lifeline Community Services.
The rehabilitation will repair structural damage, refinish flooring, modify a kitchenette, add an all-gender restroom, and improve parking, landscaping and accessibility. Construction costs are estimated at $2.4 million, said Victor Velasco, a principal civil engineer and ADA coordinator for the city. Money for the work is available from the city’s share of American Rescue Plan Act funds and community development block grants.
“The intent is to make it Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant and … to provide a better service to the community, Velasco said. “This improvements will enhance the quality of service already provided at the center.”
The work requires a historic permit, which is expected to be approved by the Oceanside City Council later this year. The Historic Preservation Advisory Commission unanimously recommended approval on Oct. 29.
