A Call to Action – Help Save Capitol Towers Historic District!

captowers_buttonWe need your help to save Capitol Towers Historic District. You can help by speaking up at public hearings and by writing letters opposing its demolition. Upcoming hearing dates and an easy-to-use online form are listed below.

Capitol Towers is an established mixed-use neighborhood in the heart of downtown Sacramento. Its award-winning design includes the interplay of high-rises, individual low-rise garden apartments, green spaces, recreational areas, and car-free bicycle and pedestrian areas. Even after over 50 years, the Capitol Towers neighborhood remains a highly successful model for a livable, walkable, densely populated, and public transit-oriented downtown community.

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Capitol Towers has been deemed a historic district by Federal and State law. The City of Sacramento’s Preservation Director and Preservation Commission have also determined it is a local landmark. At every hearing in 2014, experts unanimously voted in favor of its historical importance. However, these decisions are not enough to save it. That is why we need your help.

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Big Day of Giving – May 5, 2015

SacMod is pleased and excited to be a part of the Big Day of Giving on May 5, 2015, in partnership with Sacramento Region Community Foundation and Give Local Now.  

We ask you to kindly consider making a donation (starting as small as $25) to Sacramento Modern on May 5th.  

Your donation of any amount will help fund our research and preservation efforts, and help launch our next MCM Home Tour in 2016!  We can’t do this without your help!  

Thank you!
SacMod Board/Volunteers

SAVE Capitol Towers! Important Hearings this Week!

UPDATE 4.20.15 – Planning and Design Commission continued their “Review and Comment” hearing until 4.30.15.

MEANWHILE…. SacMod has submitted comments to the City of Sacramento regarding Sacramento Commons Draft Environmental Impact Report.

2015.04.20 DEIR.Response.SacMod (PDF)

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IMPORTANT HEARINGS REGARDING CAPITOL TOWERS THIS WEEK! Please join us in support of Capitol Towers Historic District and in opposition of the Sacramento Commons proposal to demolish the historic district.

1) Wednesday, 4/15/15 — Preservation Commission — 5:30pm New City Hall, 915 I Street, Sacramento, 1st Floor. The Preservation Commission will weigh in on both the Capitol Towers Historic District local landmarking and Sacramento Commons’ request for demolition.

2) Thursday, 4/16/15 — Planning and Design Commission — 5:30pm New City Hall, 915 I Street, Sacramento, 1st Floor. The P+D Commission will weigh in on Sacramento Commons’ request for demolition. 

Written comments are also accepted. Please cc SacMod: info (at) SacMod (dot) org:

1) Preservation Commission email list
http://portal.cityofsacramento.org/Community-Development/Meetings/Preservation%20Commission?hc_location=ufi

2) P+D Commission email list:
http://portal.cityofsacramento.org/Community-Development/Meetings/Planning%20and%20Design?hc_location=ufi

Here is a template letter for your convenience, in Word, Pages, and PDF.

Letter-of-Support-of-M15-001-and-Opposition-to-P14-12 (Word)
Letter-of-Support-of-M15-001-and-Opposition-to-P14-12  (Pages)
Letter-of-Support-of-M15-001-and-Opposition-to-P14-12 (PDF)

Capital Decades 1960s at the Sacramento Library

Capital Decades 1960s
Capital Decades 1960s

On May 12th, 2015 at 6:30 pm. we are joining our friends at the Sacramento Public Library again this year for “Capital Decades: 1960s.” We’ll be teaming with James Scott for “The Best of Times, the Toughest of Times: Sacramento Life, Leisure and Reaction to that Damned War in Southeast Asia.”  Join us and reminisce or learn about our local history!

Capitol Towers Officially Declared Historic District!

photo by Justin Wood
photo by Justin Wood

Sacramento Modern (“SacMod”) is pleased to announce that Capitol Towers — a thriving park neighborhood and urban oasis near Capitol Mall — has been determined eligible to be on the National Register of Historic Places. As a result, the district is also listed in the California Register of Historic Resources.

SacMod continues to seek protections at the local level by requesting that the City of Sacramento include Capitol Towers on the Sacramento Register of Historic and Cultural Resources. This pending decision temporarily prevents demolition permits from being granted for parcel numbers relating to the historic district until the matter is voted upon by the City of Sacramento Preservation Commission and City Council.

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Preservation Commission Supports Capitol Towers Historic District!

FloraCapTow
Photo © Flora Chou

Many thanks to the City of Sacramento Preservation Commission, who unanimously voted at their 10.15.14 meeting to write a letter of support for the nomination of Capitol Towers to the National Register of Historic Places!

SacMod also suggested during the meeting via an application submitted to the City of Sacramento Preservation Director that Capitol Towers Historic District be listed on the Sacramento Register of Historic and Cultural Resources.

FloraCapTow2
Photo © Flora Chou

Join SacMod for two 2014 AIACV Experience Architecture Week events!

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The Bateson Building is one of several buildings featured on the Drawing Safari, October 12, 2014. Photo © Rob Super

Sacramento Modern (SacMod)  will be teaming up with the Central Valley Chapter of American Institute of Architects (AIACV) for two great events this October: a Drawing Safari on October 12th and a film screening of “The Vision of Paulo Soleri: Prophet In The Desert” on October 13th!

What exactly is Experience Architecture Week? AIACV President Kris Barkley explains here and here.

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Capitol Towers Preservation Update!

Overlay of historic Capitol Towers master plan circa 1964 with Google satellite view circa 2014, by Dane Henas/SacMod

Due to the efforts of preservationists and neighbors, Capitol Towers is now subject to a full Environmental Impact Review (EIR). As of August 2014, we have also made progress with our assertion that the neighborhood is a historic resource.

Read more about Sac Mod’s response to the proposed project and our efforts to protect Capitol Towers and Garden Apartments, including our nomination of the neighborhood to the National Register of Historic Places.

SacMod Advises City : Protect Historic Urban Oasis

Capitol Towers and Garden Apartments as they appear today. Photo SacMod
Capitol Towers and Garden Apartments as they appear today. Photo SacMod

A new proposed project seeks to destroy a thriving and historic mid-century modern neighborhood in our urban core that is already a pedestrian and bicycle-friendly mixed-use community.

Read more about Sac Mod’s response to the proposed project and our efforts to protect Capitol Towers and Garden Apartments, including our nomination of the neighborhood to the National Register of Historic Places.

Circa 1964 photo of Capitol Towers and Garden Apartments by Sirlin Studios
Capitol Towers and Garden Apartments circa 1964. Photo Sirlin Studios