Ramona Street Architectural District

Ramona Street in downtown Palo Alto holds a compact group of eight commercial buildings put up between 1924 and 1938, just south of University Avenue. Their heights run from one to four stories, and they share stucco walls in muted colors, Spanish tile roofs, arches, balconies, wrought iron and decorative glazed tile. Most are Monterey Colonial or Spanish Colonial Revival, with Craftsman woodwork in several interiors and exteriors. Designer Pedro de Lemos and architects Birge Clark and William H. Weeks created the buildings, some for specific tenants such as a dress shop, a savings and loan and a men's clothing store, and others for the Palo Alto Improvement Company. The Cardinal Hotel, with its classical details, is the one stylistic exception, yet it balances the four-story Medico-Dental building at the corner of Hamilton Avenue. The district was recognized for its unified character, the absence of intrusions and the sensitive handling of later changes, giving the block the feel of a Spanish village.