Park Center Project Building Survey
Finding aid created by History San Jose Research Library staff using RecordEXPRESS
History San Jose Research Library
2023
1661 Senter Road
San Jose, California 95112
(408) 287-2290
research@historysanjose.org
http://www.historysanjose.org/
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
Open to the public for research by appointment. The photographs have been scanned and are available to view online.
Contact History San Jose's Research Library & Archives for information on publication and reproduction.
[Identification of item]. Park Center Project Building Survey. Collection Number: 1986-116. History San Jose Research Library
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.
Urban renewal
Nineteen sixties
Building inspection
Neighborhoods
Architecture, Victorian
Commercial buildings
San Jose (Calif.). Redevelopment Agency
San Jose (Calif.)
photographic prints
building inspection