Brenner Place is a narrow one-block private street located perpendicular to the east side of Alamitos Boulevard between Seventh Street and Hellman, and connects to a rear alley. Both sides of the street contain identical small-scale structures, ten on each side. They are Spanish Colonial Revival in architectural style. Each one is one-story, rectangular in plan, with a flat roof. The houses are all 560 square feet in size. The façade of each has a front door surrounded by a projecting door frame with a parapet. A small front porch contains a stairway placed perpendicular to the door, and framed by a low patio wall. A pair of double-hung windows is placed in the mass which projects slightly forward from the doorway. Three circular vents form a triangle above the paired windows. A single double-hung window is placed on the other side of the door. A small wrought iron lantern sits adjacent to the door frame on the projecting building edge.
The last structure which abuts the alley is two-story with a staircase leading tot he second story under and archway with the same scalloped design as the small houses. A shed roof supported by tall thin posts covers the stair.
The structures were all constructed as one development project by a man named Steinbrenner in 1923.
Early City Directories (between 1924-1927) provide information about the first occupants of Brenner Place. Residents were working class people in a variety of occupations: salespeople, clerks, painting and wallpaper, bank teller, Pacific Electric conductor, traffic manager for Long Beach Transportation Company, mechanic, carpenter, financier, insurance agent, and oil worker. Women were listed as the sole occupant of several homes. However, turnover was about 40-50% on Brenner Place, and many occupants were listed for just one year. This indicates the transitional nature of these small-scale units. |
