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Palo Alto Historic Buildings Inventory

440 – 450 Bryant Street

Palo Alto Fire and Police Station / Avenidas

historic photo

440 Bryant

Historic photo

Photo taken in 2015

The following is from the Historic Buildings Inventory as revised in 1981:

Physical appearance:   This stucco Spanish Colonial Revival public building contains an arcade along the ground floor, balconies on the second floor and fine decorative iron work.

There have been alterations at the ground floor due to use conversion.

Note: An addition to the building is currently under review. (2017)

Significance:  Originally the Palo Alto Fire and Police Station, this building has undergone remodeling to serve as a Senior Citizen Center. This activity may change some of its visual qualities. The most striking feature of the building, the elegant and inventive ironwork of its second floor balconies, will be unaffected by the proposed changes (1979). Only the two-story portion was in the original design. The one-story addition on the west side came later.

Designed by the important local architect, Birge Clark, the building's iron work shares workmanship with wrought iron designs of the Norris House, whose ironwork craftsman, Herman Bleiber, was a favorite of Clark. For the Senior Center, the interior was redesigned in 1978 by Walter Stromquist, one of Clark's colleagues.

  balcony
Court Entry light fixture
440 Bryant map

This sturcture was built in 1927 and is a Category 2 on the Historic Buildings Inventory. Birge Clark was the architect and E.K. Nelson of San Francisco was the builder. The property measures 150 by 100 feet.

Sources: Palo Alto Times 5/12/27. Clark, Commercial List.

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