Building Description Mission Brewery - American Agar Company, San Diego California
The American Agar Company building, formerly the Mission Brewery, is actually two buildings, a small single-story structure in front of a large multi-level tower structure. The buildings are connected by an archway composed of brick and faced, along Washington Street, with stucco. Originally built in 1913, they are joined examples of large-scale industrial Mission Revival architecture. Although the buildings have served various functions, they have retained the integrity of their Mission Revival design.
The property sits on the southwest corner of Washington and Hancock Streets. Originally sited on San Diego Bay, successive landfills have resulted in its present location, approximately one mile distant, separated from the bay by Lindbergh International Airport.
The small building sits in front of the large building and faces onto Hancock Street. The original office section, it is separated from the tower building by a 14-foot wide driveway, connected by the aforementioned archway. Initially set farther back from Hancock Street, a forward section was added in 1940-50, virtually doubling the building's size and extending it toward the street. An espadana parapet runs continuously down Washington Street, starting at the corner of Hancock on the small building, progressing to the archway, and spanning the east elevation of the tower building.
The tower building, an imposing, coral colored structure of industrial design, was largely constructed of brick masonry. The ground floor was faced with stucco and the upper floors were painted, leaving the masonry exposed to view. The March 17, 1912 San Diego Union noted that the purpose of the first level stucco was to emphasize the Mission Revival architecture. The east ground floor elevation consists of a series of large arched windows and an arched vehicular entrance midway between the tower and office buildings on the east. Arched windows are also seen at various points on all elevations, and on the west, east, and north facades of the fifth floor tower.
Roof espadana parapets occur at all levels. This pattern is repeated on all but the south and west facades, beginning at the roof line and continuing along the north and east facades of the tower. The entire first floor, except for the southern "rear" elevation is delineated by espadanas. The second floor west addition of the tower section does not include this Mission Revival element.
The actual square footage varies among the floors of the tower section. The ground floor is divided into three main sections partitioned on a north/south line across the structure. This interior division was repeated in each of the upper floors, although the square footage encompassed by each varies. The tiered look of the building, when viewed from the east and north, reflects this variation.
The southern elevation of the tower building reaches to one and one half stories, with an espadana roof line similar to the others. It is exposed to the railroad spurs, some of which were installed at the time of construction to access the brewery. Fenestration on the south elevation is more standard without the extensive use of arches; a double door entrance is in the eastern section. On this elevation, both of the lower floors were stuccoed. At the west end of the south elevation, a loading dock area with elevated entrances and overhead cables (the rear section of the nonextant western addition) once assisted the loading and unloading of cargo.
There were two additions to the tower building. The ground floor of the main section was extended west, and a second story was added (the one briefly referred to above). These additions probably occurred at the same time, in 1941, after the War Production Board identified a significant lack of agar production and the second agar operation, the American Agar and Chemical Company, moved back to the Mission Brewery site. In January 1988, when the current architects first inspected the premises, they found no remnants of either brewery or agar production equipment in the extended western section. Only storage racks were found, located along the westernmost wall. Through photographic evidence, we can document that the addition was not present in 1928. We know what happened in October 1929 and its impact on the business climate. Through the title records we can document that the decline of the first agar era-was clearly underway in 1932. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that the American Agar Company would have undertaken expansion construction during this time period which was also just prior to its relocation to National City in 1934. The western addition is no longer extant.
Five other structures, tin sheds, were at one time on the site. Architects in 1988 found that they were all used for seaweed storage, evidenced by the seaweed storage racks in them. Most of them were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s but the construction date for one shed has been difficult to establish. The buildings on the site were appraised for Commercial Building Records by a San Diego County assessor in the late 1950s. This followed a purging of the county Commercial Building Records which occurred sometime in the 1950s. At the time of the appraisal, a 1930 construction date was assigned to the tin shed which was virtually up against the western addition to the tower building but the actual date was certainly later and more in line with the post-1941 construction detailed previously. Supporting a later date is the fact that the western wing addition had three windows facing the adjacent shed which was less than four feet from the building wing. If the shed had been constructed in 1930, a wing would not have been added that included windows from which only the metal walls of the shed could be viewed. Therefore, a construction date in the 1940s would be a more appropriate estimate for the construction date for the earliest of the five tin sheds. None of the sheds remain today.
Most of the structure's interior is vacant with few remnants of the brewery and/or agar processing equipment, and their structural accomodations, still evident. Some interior walls are in poor condition. Storage areas were created out of the western and southeastern sections, including the added western wing which no longer exists.
The northern end of the east section of the tower building was the area where the original sterilizer/ovens were located. The appearance of the roof in this section suggests that it was raised to accomodate the retrofitted equipment. Other evidence of alterations include steel beams, support columns, and the absence of stairs accessing the elevated door on the north wall. Dates for such alterations, as was the case with the aforementioned construction, cannot be ascertained as there is no documentation.
The second floor of the tower section is accessed via a freight elevator or enclosed stairs. (The freight elevator ascends to the fourth level, and the pulleys are on the fifth floor roof.) The second floor is generally vacant and in poor condition. Vents were located on the west wall in the center section and the western room is in particularly poor condition.
The third floor is also vacant and in disrepair. Brick walls were built to a thickness of approximately one foot. Arched windows of the east elevation have rectangular frames in the interior. A ladder roof access in the southwest corner of the east room exits onto the roof southeast of the laboratory.
As with the second and third floors, the fourth floor is currently vacant, except for the remnants of various platforms and tank supports.
A chemical laboratory was located on the fifth floor. This area was originally used as a laboratory for the brewery and then also served as a lab for the isolation hospital. Eventually, the American Agar Company used it in similar ways. There is a landing, leading to the laboratory, off from which a former office area was constructed, with stained wood walls. Access to the roof was built into the south wall. This is also the access to the fifth floor restroom, which is located in an enclosed setting on the roof.
The spaces on the various roofs were fully utilized for miscellaneous storage and for the required ventilation, ductwork and fire prevention equipment. The roofs behind the espadana parapets are flat and covered with rolled roofing material. The brick masonry of the structure is evident in several exposed walls and along the parapets themselves.
