By Hector Gonzalez
Special to The Lookout

December 14, 2015 -- Planning staff is recommending that the Santa Monica Landmarks Commission on Monday deny a landmark designation for a 1925 Tudor Revival-style home that initially piqued the commission’s interest.

Commissioners originally considered a demolition permit for the home at 247 20th Street, but during the discussion of the permit noted “intriguing” features about the home's architectural style and requested more information about the building.

In October, the Commission heard a preliminary historic consultant’s report on the property and, based on that preliminary information, voted to file a landmark designation application for the house.

But a final landmark assessment report prepared by the City's historic consultant as required by the application process found that the home does not meet any of the criteria for landmark designation, staff wrote in its report.

“Staff concurs that the subject property does not meet any of the criteria for designation,” staff said.

The residence features Tudor Revival architectural elements, including a steeply pitched cross-gable roof, “decorative half-timbering on the second-story cross-gable end, round arch multi-pane windows, and a slightly projecting gable end that reveals supporting wood brackets and two paired diamond pane windows in a wood surround.”

The house was part of the Gillette's Regent Square Tract built in the 1920s and '30s, but is only considered a “modest example of a period revival residence in Santa Monica,” and retains “only a few of the character-defining features of the style, and therefore does not appear to have aesthetic or artistic value,” staff wrote.

“There are more characteristic examples of the Tudor Revival style extant in Gillette’s Regent Square and Santa Monica,” staff wrote.

The house once belonged to E.R.C. Billerbeck, who was the architect for the former Los Angeles Board of Education.

Billerbeck, who lived in the house for 50 years, from 1928 to 1978, may have played a role in shaping “the exceptional post-war building expansion of the Los Angeles school system that featured the work of many important mid-city modern architects.”

“However, there does not appear to be evidence to support this,” staff concluded.

Two successful “and influential” film producers, Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy, also lived in the home during the early part of their careers, but that fact does not elevate the home's historic value, as both producers “have continued successful careers in the film industry,” said staff.

“It would be more appropriate to evaluate the property's eligibility in the future when Kennedy's and Marshall's achievements can be better assessed.”

Finally, the historic consultant found that the home is not in a “unique location” and is not an “established and familiar visual feature” of the neighborhood, staff said.

The property owner can appeal Monday’s decision to the City Council. The owners have 10 days in which to file the appeal at the City's Planning Division.

The Landmarks Commission meeting will be held Monday, December 14, in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, 1685 Main Street, at 6:30 p.m.