Following a June 4 commission vote that cleared the Wilshire Montana home for removal, preservationists are seeking a permanent landmark title.
Preservation advocates are executing a secondary strategy to protect a 1923 Craftsman bungalow in the Wilshire Montana neighborhood, located at 1125 18th Street, after municipal officials cleared the property for demolition.
The Santa Monica Conservancy announced on June 4 that it is backing a resident-led petition for full City Landmark status, a protective designation designed to supersede a recent local regulatory timeline that left the building vulnerable. Located within the Green Acres Tract, the home stands as one of the last intact examples of vernacular, single-family Craftsman architecture built during the city’s 1920s real estate expansion.
The group’s decision follows a Santa Monica Landmarks Commission vote that officially concluded a mandatory six-month negotiation window, allowing the property owner to move forward with clearing the site. The Conservancy originally secured a “Structure of Merit” designation for the property in July 2025, which the City Council upheld on appeal in November to temporarily stave off demolition.
The Conservancy said, “Let us be clear — the Conservancy’s intent is to preserve Santa Monica’s limited historic resources, full stop. With just over 150 designated landmarks in a city of nearly 30,000 structures (representing a minute fraction), we must do our due diligence to ensure historic architectural resources are identified, documented, maintained, and have their stories preserved according to the applicable standards and policies in City codes and planning documents.“
Under local ordinance, the Structure of Merit status only delays demolition for a six-month period to allow for negotiations. Throughout those talks, the property owner declined to integrate or reuse the bungalow on-site but expressed a willingness to cooperate with any party capable of physically moving the structure to a different parcel. City planning staff advised the commission to end the process rather than invoke a final six-month extension, leading to the commission’s vote to allow the demolition permit.
The new Landmark nomination introduces a far more restrictive level of local oversight. Unlike the previous expiring classification, a verified City Landmark designation remains permanent, completely bars demolition, and mandates formal commission approval for any future physical changes to the structure.
