Historic Landmarks Commission gives concept-level OK to revised plan for Andalusia Building at 330 State Street

The Santa Barbara Historic Landmarks Commission on Sept. 24 reviewed a revised design proposal for the Andalusia Building (330 State Street) and voted to support project design approval with specific design study items and findings required before final approval.

The commission’s action followed a 15‑minute presentation from the project team and more than an hour of questions and comments from commissioners. The application covers alterations to the historic Andalusia Building and adjacent parking lot to create a public plaza and outdoor dining area, a music venue, a piano lounge, a market and related sitework including canopies, new doors and windows, landscaping and bike and trash enclosures.

Commissioners said they supported the project’s intent to restore historic steel windows and to reinvigorate the State Street corner. Commissioner Enzberg said, “I am pretty excited about this project. I think it’s really, really nice,” and praised the team’s approach to restoring historic openings and for using lightweight steel detailing for new canopies.

Project architect Clay Aurel (AB Design Studio) and landscape designer Graham Goldich (Bosgate Landscape Architecture) described the proposal as a departure from an earlier 2021 approval. Aurel told the commission the new owner purchased the property last year and the applicant is proposing “to remove all the parking” on the parcel and to create a park‑like plaza at the corner of State and Gutierrez with planters, seating areas and trees. He also explained the team’s decision to use lightweight steel canopies for the venue entry and a glass‑and‑steel vestibule at the piano‑bar entry.

Commission members asked detailed questions about access, lighting, paving, and planting. Commissioner Drury asked whether there would be any vehicle access from Gutierrez and was told by the project team that the revised design provides “0 parking spaces” on the former lot; event and customer parking would rely on nearby city lots and negotiated agreements with private lots. Commissioners urged the team to study the hardscape palette — particularly paving colors and materials at the main corner — and to consider darker, brick‑tone materials at pedestrian entries rather than the very light pavers shown in early studies.

On landscaping, the team said it plans to use mature, field‑dug trees and palms to give immediate scale and a “park‑like” feel on day one, with lower shrub and perennial planting filling in over one to two years. Commissioners suggested simplifying the geometry of the planting beds and paths so the building facades remain visible and the plaza reads as an urban space rather than a heavily gardened botanic setting.

Commissioners also asked for more detail on lighting and asked the applicant to provide a photometric plan showing proposed fixture types, locations and lumen levels. The commission expressed concern about the potential for over‑lighting a Downtown plaza and asked the team to prioritize subtle building lighting to highlight architectural features and use lower‑intensity landscape lighting in planting areas.

The commission made a motion to support project design approval and to require project compatibility findings and minor alteration findings at a later hearing, with the following key study items: refine the steel canopy detailing and study more decorative structural options; simplify and regularize the landscape geometry; study brick or darker entry paving at the main corner; supply a photometric lighting plan; and continue to develop the affordable and market‑rate design language so that workforce units have equal architectural dignity. The motion passed in roll call (8–0).

The commission’s vote was advisory to the formal land‑use entitlement process; staff noted that final project design approval and required findings will be completed in a subsequent hearing after the applicant submits full construction documents.

The commission closed the item by thanking the applicants and staff and asking for return materials that respond to the design items listed above.