Security Trust and Savings Building

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

The Security Trust and Savings Building is a bank building at 110 Pine Ave. in Long Beach, built in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. Construction began in 1924, and it opened in 1925 as a bank with speculative office space. Its architects were the firm of Curlett and Beelman, partners Alexander Curlett (1880-1942) and Claud W. Beelman (1884-1963).

Why it's listed

It was listed under criterion C in 2019, with local-level significance in architecture. Its period of significance is 1925, the year it was completed.

Physical character

The tripartite facade rises from a granite foundation, with limestone, marble, terra cotta and brick walls, and a clay tile roof covered with rubber membrane. Monumental fluted Corinthian columns and pilasters with decorative capitals flank a recessed entrance with colossal windows, dentil molding, relief medallions, a terracotta balcony and penthouse. In 1994 the banking hall became a restaurant and billiards hall, and by 2003 the eleventh and twelfth floors had been stripped.

Historical context

In 1921 Security Bank and the National Bank of Long Beach merged, and the building was later renamed First National Bank of Los Angeles in 1939 and First National Bank of Long Beach in 1969. Long Beach listed the building as a historic landmark in 1985.