{"nrhp_refnum":"85001066","name":"Singer Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"16 S. Oakland Ave. and 520 E. Colorado Blvd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pasadena","county":"Los Angeles County","state":"CA","lat":34.14560018200007,"lon":-118.13969440099999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-05-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story commercial building in Spanish Colonial Revival style at the southeast corner of Colorado Boulevard and Oakland Avenue in downtown Pasadena, California, built in 1926 and designed by Everett Phipps Babcock.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is a good, largely unspoiled example of Spanish Colonial Revival commercial architecture that captures the character of Pasadena's Colorado Boulevard in the 1920s. It adapts the ornate Churrigueresque style to a small commercial scale using expensive materials and fine workmanship. It is also Babcock's only known non-residential commission.","narrative":"Standing at the southeast corner of Colorado Boulevard and Oakland Avenue in downtown Pasadena, this two-story commercial building was completed in 1926 for the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Architect Everett Phipps Babcock gave it a Churrigueresque-influenced Spanish Colonial Revival design in brick and concrete, with a red tile roof, cast stone finials, ornamental ironwork, glazed tile and a three-sided corner bay crowned by a flattened tower. Construction cost $105,000, reflecting costly materials and fine workmanship. Babcock, who had worked briefly in Wallace Neff's office, is known for fewer than a dozen buildings in the region, and this is his only known non-residential commission. The building is presented as a rare survivor of the small, pedestrian-oriented Spanish-style shops that once lined downtown Pasadena in the 1920s, many since demolished. A sympathetic restoration reinforced its viability, though the nomination noted it was unoccupied and vulnerable to redevelopment.","period_of_significance":"1926","architect_builder":"Everett Phipps Babcock","architectural_style":"Churrigueresque-influenced Spanish Colonial Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as recently restored with the Colorado Street level frontage the main remaining alteration; the nomination also states the building is currently unoccupied and threatened by downtown development.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:28.002591-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/85001066.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85001066/41b1472b49-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85001066/41b1472b49-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"TheCatalyst31","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Singer_Building_Pasadena.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">TheCatalyst31</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Singer_Building_Pasadena.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"94000462","name":"Pasadena Playhouse Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/california/pasadena-playhouse-historic-district-94000462/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859512","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singer_Building_(Pasadena)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14683993"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/los-angeles-county/singer-building-85001066/"}