REPORT TO THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION June 23, 2025 FROM: JENNIFER CLARK, Director Planning and Development Department BY: ASHLEY ATKINSON, Assistant Director Planning and Development Department SUBJECT ..Title Consideration of Designation of the following Property to the Local Register of Historic Resources and Adoption of Findings Pursuant to FMC 12-1607 & FMC 12-1609. * 1844 S Cherry Ave. (Assessor Parcel Number: 467-020-14) 1. RECOMMEND to City Council the designation of 1844 S Cherry Ave to the Local Register of Historic Resources ..Body RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends that the Historic Preservation Commission recommend to City Council designation of the following property to the Local Register of Historic Resources. * 1844 S Cherry Ave. (Assessor Parcel Number: 467-020-14) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The property located at 1844 S Cherry Ave. was evaluated in June 2025 and found eligible for local registration under Fresno Municipal Code Sec. 12-1607 Criteria a (1) (i), and a (1) (iii), specifically the former Rosenberg Brothers and Company fruit packing warehouse and the adjacent former boiler house and machine shop. They are associated with significant events, and embody distinctive architectural characteristics of the period. BACKGROUND The subject property was included in a 1978 historic resource survey and evaluated for designation to the Local Register in 1980. Designation to was recommended by the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC), but declined by City Council due to the opposition of the property owner. Per the request of the HPC, properties found to have been considered and rejected for designation will be re-evaluated under current conditions and criteria if an applicant is proposing substantial changes to a property. At this time, the applicant is proposing interior and exterior renovations to the warehouse building under building permit application B25-03423 (the property will continue its previously-approved use as a self-storage facility). In June 2025, an update to the DPR resource inventory form was commissioned by the City of Fresno Planning and Development Department and prepared by Karana Hattersley-Drayton. Analysis Fresno was the center of raisin production in California by the late 1800s. A typical packing house employed more than 2,000 people a day; Sanborn Fire Insurance maps for the late 19th and early century Fresno document numerous packing sheds and fruit processing facilities straddling both sides of the Southern Pacific rail corridor (for additional details and sources, see Exhibit A). Rosenberg Brothers was a San Francisco-based dried fruit company founded in 1893 by Max Rosenberg, Abraham Rosenberg, and Adolph Rosenberg to pack and ship California fruit to the east. The company had packing houses in the Santa Clara, Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys as well as in Oregon, drying and packing a variety of fruits (Exhibit A). In 1918 Rosenberg Brothers and Company constructed a state-of-the-art 3-story packing and processing facility at 1844 S. Cherry Avenue in South Fresno. Constructed adjacent to the massive building was a two-story brick building that served as both a boiler house and machine shop. The new complex was the "largest raisin packing operation in the world in [the] 1920s." The move south to an industrial area of Fresno coincided with their expanding empire (Exhibit A). Both the three-story former warehouse/packing house and adjacent boiler room/machine shop building currently serve as self-storage facilities. The warehouse was evaluated by architect Bill Patnaude in June 1978 as part of the first comprehensive historic resource survey for the City. The building was presented individually to the City Council for the Local Register in 1980 and was denied, due to objections from the owner (Exhibit A). In 2015, the warehouse building was evaluated as part of the City of Fresno's "South Van Ness Industrial District Historic Survey." It found that the Rosenberg Building was eligible for both the California and the Local Registers under Criterion 1 /i and 3/iii as "one of the best remaining examples of a fruit packing facility in the survey area" (Exhibit A). The survey was presented to the HPC and was approved by the Commission in 2015. A comparison between the warehouse building today with the 2015 survey indicates that the building has not had any substantial changes to character defining features. The former Rosenberg Brothers and Company Dried Fruit Packers Building (as it is named on the 1918/48 Sanborn Map), retains sufficient integrity to its period of significance of 1918 to be eligible for both the California Register of Historical Resources as well as the Fresno Official Register of Historic Resources The former boiler room/machine shop was noted in the 2015 survey but was not formerly evaluated. As part of the current revaluation, a Primary and BSO form were prepared for this building, which was constructed in 1918 to provide support services to the adjacent fruit packing warehouse. The building was subdivided to include the boiler house on the west end and machine shop and storage on the east. The entrances and large arched windows have been covered on the exterior but the original multi-pane iron sash windows are still intact, as visible on the interior. The building has exceptional integrity to its period of significance of 1918 and appears to be eligible to both the California Register and the Local Register, individually and/or as a contributor to the Rosenberg Brothers and Company fruit packing warehouse, "the largest raisin packing operation in the world in [the] 1920s" (Exhibit A). Any building, structure, object or site may be designated as an Historic Resource if it is found by the Commission and Council to meet the FMC SEC. 12-1607. - Designation Criteria: (1) It has been in existence more than fifty years, and it possesses aspects of integrity to convey its significance based upon location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling or association, and: (i) It is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or (ii)It is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or (iii) It embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction, or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values; or (iv) It has yielded or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. (2) It has been in existence less than fifty years, it meets the criteria of subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of this section and is of exceptional importance within the appropriate historical context, local, state or national. The property located at 1844 S Cherry Ave. was evaluated as described above and found eligible for local registration under Fresno Municipal Code Sec. 12-1607 Criteria a (1) (i), and a (1) (iii), specifically the former Rosenberg Brothers and Company fruit packing warehouse and the adjacent former boiler house and machine shop. At the time of this report, the property owner's support of or objection to the nomination had not been decided. Duties and Powers of the Commission Relevant duties and powers of the commission in making this determination are as follows: SEC. 12-1606. - DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE COMMISSION. (a) The primary duties of the Commission shall be: (1) The identification, designation and preservation of Historic Resources and Historic Districts owned by the city or located within the city limits; (b) The Commission shall have the following additional duties and powers: (1) Conduct studies and evaluations of applications requesting the designation of Historic Districts, make determinations and recommendations as appropriate for consideration of such applications in order to effectuate the purposes of this article. SEC. 12-1609. - HISTORIC RESOURCES. (c) Commission Hearing: (1) The Commission shall review all materials prepared and submitted and only members of the Commission who have physically visited and seen the proposed property may vote on the designation recommendation. (2) At the conclusion of the hearing, the Commission shall recommend to the Council approval, disapproval or modification of the proposal for designation and make findings in support of that recommendation; or the Commission may continue the hearing. (3) An affirmative roll call vote of a majority of the authorized membership of the Commission is required for a recommendation to the City Council. ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS The designation is not a project for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), as it will not result in a direct or indirect change in the environment. FRESNO MUNICIPAL CODE FINDINGS The warehouse located at 1844 S Cherry Ave meets the criteria a (1) (i), and a (1) (iii) for historic designation under the Fresno Municipal Code Sec. 12-1607. CONCLUSION Staff recommends that the Historic Preservation Commission recommend to City Council designation of the following property to the Local Register of Historic Resources: * 1844 S Cherry Ave. (Assessor Parcel Number: 467-020-14) ATTACHMENTS Exhibit A - DPR Inventory Forms (1978 and 2025) Exhibit B - Notice of Public Hearing Exhibit C - Fresno Municipal Code Designation Criteria & Process