Agency / Organization:
Preservation Action Council of San Jose (PAC*SJ)

Status:
Complete / In progress

Intent:
The Preservation Action Council of San Jose (PAC*SJ) and its dedicated partners and allies celebrated a significant advocacy achievement in 2022 with their successful campaign to prevent the demolition of San Jose’s former City Hall. Celebrated as a modern marvel when it opened in 1958, the five-story, 113,000-square-foot structure was one of the first International Style civic buildings constructed on the West Coast and a groundbreaking example of glass curtain wall construction, designed by locally prominent architect Donald Francis Haines. It survives today as an iconic symbol of the city's 20th-century suburban expansion and proud legacy of progressive civic participation, eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural and cultural significance.

Unfortunately, Former City Hall has been vacant since 2005, when a new downtown City Hall was completed. In 2011, ownership transferred to Santa Clara County, which has maintained but never occupied the structure. In early 2020, County staff announced their intention to demolish the building, citing ongoing maintenance and security costs.

From the outset of its campaign, PACSJ identified two major obstacles to a successful preservation outcome. First, like many buildings of its era and style, Former City Hall suffered from a relative lack of public appreciation or widespread recognition of its historic significance,especially among County staff, whose current offices stand immediately adjacent to the long-vacant building. Second, the County had commissioned an initial study that accompanied the demolition proposal, concluding (incorrectly, in PACSJ and Omgivning’s opinion) that reuse of the building would be prohibitively expensive and structurally infeasible.

Recognizing the existential threat that both challenges posed, PAC*SJ undertook a two-pronged advocacy strategy to both “rehabilitate” the building’s stature in the mind of the public and its elected officials, and to simultaneously develop a compelling reuse strategy that convincingly challenged the assumptions and conclusions of the County’s initial study.

To achieve the first goal—heightened public awareness and appreciation—PACSJ featured the building prominently in its inaugural “Endangered Eight” list of threatened historic resources and developed a website featuring archival images highlighting the building’s architectural and historic significance. As the civic heart of San Jose during an era of profound physical and cultural transformation, PACSJ emphasized the building’s strong associations with two groundbreaking mayors—Norman Mineta, the first Asian-American mayor to lead a major U.S. city, and Janet Gray Hayes, the first female mayor of a major U.S. city. This campaign culminated in a targeted letter-writing campaign and a public petition directed to the County Board of Supervisors. PAC*SJ collaborated with local neighborhood organizations and Docomomo NOCA promoted the petition through social media and in-person events, resulting in over 300 citizens signing onto the following statement:

I support the preservation and adaptive reuse of San Jose's historic 1958 City Hall, a civic icon and architectural landmark with immense potential for adaptive reuse. Demolishing this building for a vacant lot would be an environmental, fiscal, and cultural mistake and a lost opportunity for responsible and transformative redevelopment.

To address the second major challenge—the County’s “infeasibility analysis”—PAC*SJ commissioned an independent peer review and alternative redevelopment proposal from a highly-respected team of subject-matter experts led by Omgivning, who immediately recognized the potential for Former City Hall to be a compelling demonstration project. Our deep understanding of adaptive reuse and years of experience in historic conversions were further augmented by a select team of expert consultants Omgivning recruited for the project. These included Swinerton Builders, who analyzed the County’s rehabilitation figures and flagged major unsupported assumptions and unrealistic assessments; Architectural Resources Group, who helped ensure that the proposed reuse plan would meet historic design standards; and Degenkolb Engineers, who developed a cost-effective seismic retrofit strategy for the building. Degenkolb’s involvement was particularly significant, as this 83-year-old firm also engineered the building’s original design in 1958!

PAC*SJ’s two-pronged “hearts and minds” advocacy strategy culminated in a crucial Board of Supervisors vote on November 15, 2022. Armed with the public petition, the alternative redevelopment proposal, and a favorable recommendation against demolition from the Santa Clara County Historical Heritage Commission, an advisory body whose appointed members were also vocal advocates for the building’s preservation, the Supervisors ultimately voted 4-0-1 to reject the proposed demolition plan and redirected County staff to more thoroughly explore reuse options for the Former City Hall!

The team has been awarded the Docomomo Modernism in America Award in 2023 and the California Preservation Foundation President's Award for Advocacy in 2024. Recognition of this ongoing advocacy campaign by these organizations is a powerful and persuasive validation that Former City Hall stands today as so much more than a vacant, disposable building. Instead, it represents a nationally significant opportunity to highlight the cultural, environmental, and economic benefits of preservation, honoring the past while embracing new possibilities and meeting new challenges.

In Progress: While this watershed vote was an affirmation that adaptive reuse—not demolition—should be the preferred path forward, PAC*SJ’s advocacy work remains far from complete. The building no longer faces the imminent threat of demolition, but County staff have yet to outline a path forward, and the building remains vacant and vulnerable to time, the elements, and the uncertain support of future County Supervisors.

Along with PAC*SJ and its partners and allies, we must continue to press elected officials and the local development community, which is often ambivalent towards or even hostile to preservation solutions, to embrace the adaptive reuse potential of this landmark modern building.

https://www.docomomo-us.org/register/former-san-jose-city-hall

The full study PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/127y-Ymma7Ck8VMXhMMftCgAbql1V3z_V/view?usp=drive_link