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68℉Eastside Alum Rock Historic Survey Project
The Eastside Alum Rock Historic Resource Survey project is a part of the preparation of the Eastside Alum Rock Urban Village Plan (UVP) Update, which is currently underway.
The vision for the UVP area, located east of 680, is to create a more urban, vibrant, and walkable corridor with high-density residential uses and high-intensity commercial/office uses. The Eastside Alum Rock corridor is planned to connect to the future 28th Street/Little Portugal BART) station, the Alum Rock Light Rail Station, and the Alum Rock Transit Center on Capital Avenue.
Project Goal
This Eastside Alum Rock Historic Survey project is one of several historic surveys that implement the Citywide Historic Resource Survey Strategy, authorized by the San José City Council in 2017.
The project's goal was to identify potential historical resources in the Eastside Alum Rock UVP Update area and document the area’s history from the community’s perspective. This work will inform the preparation of the urban village plan update and will help decision-makers consider the protection of significant cultural and historical properties that tell the stories of the community’s development.
Read the San José Historic Context Statement Update and East Santa Clara Street/Alum Rock Avenue Historic Context Statement to learn about the historical development patterns of San José and the survey area. These documents provide a foundation for understanding the potential significance of properties in the survey area.
Project Location
The Eastside Alum Rock Urban Village is located northeast of Highway 680 in East San José and centers around Alum Rock Avenue. Major intersections include North Capitol Avenue and North White Road.
The area is currently developed with a mix of commercial and residential uses. It is bordered to the north, south, and east by residential neighborhoods comprised of single-family detached residences and low-rise apartment buildings.
Project Description
The City hired Architectural Resources Group (ARG) to conduct the historic resource survey under the guidance of the City's Historic Preservation Officer.
The first phase of the project was a reconnaissance-level pedestrian survey of 86 properties within the survey area that were built in 1980 or earlier, or with no recorded construction date, based on Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office data. Reconnaissance level surveys are visual evaluations of a large group of properties that include photographing buildings, and noting development patterns, architectural styles and how buildings may have changed over time. The fieldwork, and data collection and organization, was done on smartphones using a customized mobile survey application called Fulcrum. Limited research with building permit and newspaper archives was also done, and relevant historic context statements were used to establish a list of properties to advance to the intensive-level survey phase.
The second phase of the project was the intensive-level survey of any property that appeared through the reconnaissance-level survey to be potentially eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places or the California Register of Historical Resources and/or for inclusion in the San José Historic Resources Inventory as a Candidate City Landmark or Structure of Merit. Of the 86 properties included in the reconnaissance-level survey, 17 properties were selected for further study in the intensive-level survey to document and evaluate each property against the national, state, and local significance criteria and to prepare California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) 523 forms. Six (6) properties identified for inclusion in the intensive-level survey were determined, upon further research, not to have sufficient historic significance and/or sufficient historic integrity. Information on these properties was consolidated into the reconnaissance-level survey findings Excel spreadsheet for future planning purposes.
community engagement
Working with historic resources consultant ARG, the San José Planning Division held an evening community meeting on November 7, 2024 where everyone could learn about the project and how to share information and stories. Please visit the Meetings Detail page for details.
Share Your Story. Community members were encouraged to share information using the Share Your Story page. The public was invited to submit photographs, documents, or memories related to a specific building, public space, or streetscape within the Eastside Alum Rock Survey area.
project results and findings
Draft survey documents were reviewed by City staff including the Historic Preservation Officer and Urban Village team, and the Historic Landmarks Commission’s Eastside Alum Rock and Saratoga Avenue Historic Resources Surveys Ad Hoc Committee, which was established on June 5, 2024 for the purpose of project review.
11 historic properties identified. The intensive-level survey concluded that eleven (11) properties are eligible for either listing in the California Register of Historical Places (CR) and/or inclusion in the San José Historic Resources Inventory as Candidate City Landmarks (CCL) or Structures of Merit (SM). The property address, type and specific eligibility for each property is outlined in the table below.
FINAL PROJECT DOCUMENTS
The project resulted in these final documents which were presented to the Historic Landmarks Commission at the June 4, 2025 regular meeting:
CONTACT
For questions, please contact:
Dana Peak, Principal Planner and San José Historic Preservation Officer
dana.peak@sanjoseca.gov
(408) 534-2990