{"nrhp_refnum":"96000776","name":"Bullock's Pasadena","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"401 S. Lake Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pasadena","county":"Los Angeles County","state":"CA","lat":34.13763036700004,"lon":-118.13362240299995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-07-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story, free-standing suburban department store at 401 S. Lake Avenue, Pasadena, California, on an 8.2-acre landscaped site. Designed from 1945 by Wurdeman and Becket, it opened September 10, 1947.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is one of the best California examples of the Late Moderne style and a leader in the postwar suburban department store. It broke from downtown sidewalks to a landscaped residential setting, treated its parking lots as designed space, and used architecture rather than display windows to promote itself. Its original interiors and Ruth Shellhorn's landscaping add to its importance, and more of its original character survives than in comparable stores.","narrative":"Bullock's Pasadena is a large department store at 401 S. Lake Avenue, built on an 8.2-acre site and opened in September 1947. The Los Angeles firm Wurdeman and Becket designed it, beginning in 1945, in the Late Moderne style. Reinforced concrete on a steel frame is faced with Pennsylvania fieldstone below and whitewashed brick above, with bands of windows shaded by flat concrete hoods. Landscape architect Ruth Shellhorn and site planner Carl McElvy shaped the surrounding gardens and parking lots with ivy, palms, eucalyptus and flowering plants. Inside, sixty-one small specialty shops each had a distinct style, with custom furniture by Paul Laszlo, murals and exotic woods. The store matters because it pioneered the free-standing suburban department store aimed at car-driving customers, and treated parking and landscaping as architecture. Its exterior, much of its landscaping and many interiors survive largely intact, apart from a 1957 addition and a later parking structure.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Wurdeman and Becket (architects); Ruth Shellhorn (landscape architect) with site planner Carl McElvy","architectural_style":"Modern Movement: Moderne, Late Moderne","criteria":[],"status_note":"Exterior is in original condition apart from a small 1957 addition; much original landscaping and many original interiors remain. A non-contributing three-level parking structure was added on the south side. Listed use is still department store.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.610106-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/96000776.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000776/a19ec9da50-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000776/a19ec9da50-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Grbrumder","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bullock%27s_Pasadena_(looking_S).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Grbrumder</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:Bullock%27s_Pasadena_(looking_S).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858993","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullock%27s_Pasadena","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4996978"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/los-angeles-county/bullocks-pasadena-96000776/"}