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Park Center Project Building Survey
1986-116  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Access
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • Biography/Administrative History
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Indexing Terms

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Park Center Project Building Survey
    Dates: 1961
    Collection Number: 1986-116
    Creator/Collector: San Jose (Calif.). Building Department
    Extent: .25 linear feet
    Online items available
    Repository: History San Jose Research Library
    San Jose, California 95112
    Abstract: Building survey forms and photographs compiled by the City of San Jose Building Inspector between March 20 - April 13, 1961, believed to be part of a neighborhood survey completed for the Park Center Plaza Redevelopment Project in downtown San Jose.
    Language of Material: English

    Access

    Open to the public for research by appointment. The photographs have been scanned and are available to view online.

    Publication Rights

    Contact History San Jose's Research Library & Archives for information on publication and reproduction.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item]. Park Center Project Building Survey. Collection Number: 1986-116. History San Jose Research Library

    Acquisition Information

    Transferred to the San Jose Historical Museum in 1986 from the City of San Jose Building Department.

    Biography/Administrative History

    Park Center Plaza was the San Jose Redevelopment Agency's first major urban renewal project, designating thirteen blocks in the west-of-Market neighborhood to be leveled and replaced by a high-rise commercial center. Plans were announced to residents in 1959 and city inspectors visited the properties to assess them as part of the City's plans to purchase properties at fair-market-value. The area was declared "blighted" by the San Jose City Council on February 25, 1960, and the official redevelopment plan was adopted on July 24, 1961. Groundbreaking ceremony took place in July, 1968 and most of the buildings were completed by 1972.

    Scope and Content of Collection

    The survey covers 64 residential and commercial addresses in the proposed Park Center Plaza redevelopment area along Almaden, Locust, South Market, Park, Post, South River, West San Carlos, West San Fernando, and Vine. Each survey sheet includes address, type of unit, and structural survey denoting code violations, photographs of exterior (front) as well as some interior and detail code violation shots. Most of the residences are Victorian-era, and document the original working-class neighborhood. Commercial structures are one or two-story, most with businesses on the ground floor and apartments or hotels on the upper floor.

    Indexing Terms

    Urban renewal
    Nineteen sixties
    Building inspection
    Neighborhoods
    Architecture, Victorian
    Commercial buildings
    San Jose (Calif.). Redevelopment Agency
    San Jose (Calif.)
    photographic prints
    building inspection