The St. Regis Building is a historic oceanfront residential building at 1030 East Ocean Boulevard in the Alamitos Beach neighborhood of Long Beach, California. It stands on the coastal bluff at Ocean Boulevard and Second Place, was designated a Long Beach historic landmark in 1983, and is now used as a condominium building.

Sources differ on the building's opening or completion date. The Long Beach Public Library catalog states that the St. Regis opened in 1922, while the City of Long Beach's Historic Context Statement and the Los Angeles Times date it to 1926. City sources also use different descriptions of its style: the historic context report lists it as Renaissance Revival, while the landmark ordinance emphasizes its large-scale Greek Revival design.

History

Development context The St. Regis was conceived during a period of rapid growth in Long Beach. After oil was discovered at Signal Hill in 1921, the city's population more than doubled from 55,000 in 1920 to an estimated 135,000 in 1925. The resulting demand for housing triggered a construction boom that the city's historic context report valued at approximately $1 million per month in downtown and along the shoreline. Luxury high-rise buildings in Period Revival styles began to reshape the downtown skyline. At the same time, a cooperative multifamily format known as the “own-your-own” was being promoted across California as an alternative to a single-family house. More than 300 real-estate agents met in Long Beach in the spring of 1922 to endorse the campaign, and the St. Regis was among dozens of cooperative apartment developments planned in and around downtown.

The “own-your-own” arrangement was a predecessor of modern condominium ownership: individual apartments were sold to buyers instead of being retained as rental units. Contemporary local-history coverage describes the format as spreading rapidly among Long Beach's waterfront apartment buildings during the 1920s.

Construction date The historical record contains conflicting dates. The Long Beach Public Library dates photographs of the building's entrance and interior to 1922 and describes the St. Regis as having opened that year. In contrast, the city's inventory of designated landmarks identifies the St. Regis as a 1926 Renaissance Revival work by Joseph H. Roberts, and the Los Angeles Times also lists 1926 as its construction date.

Architect Joseph Halstead Roberts was born in Cincinnati in 1898 and moved to Long Beach in 1903. He studied architecture and engineering, worked for two local contractors as a superintendent engineer and draftsman, and established his own architectural office in 1919. The city's historic context report credits Roberts with approximately 70 structures in Long Beach, many of which were later demolished following the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. Roberts died in 1932.

The Historical Society of Long Beach identifies the St. Regis, the Californian apartment building, the Elizabethan Studio, and the Babb residence among Roberts's best-known works.

Later history The St. Regis survived the 1933 Long Beach earthquake with minimal damage, according to a 2025 report in the Beachcomber. The same report states that the property became a condominium building in 2010; current Los Angeles County parcel data identify individual units at 1030 East Ocean Boulevard as condominiums.

The City Council designated the St. Regis a historic landmark through Ordinance C-5945 in 1983. Its designation is codified in Long Beach Municipal Code § 16.52.140.

Architecture The landmark ordinance describes the St. Regis as a 76-unit, eight-story brick-and-masonry high-rise. The penthouse forms the eighth floor and is comparatively restrained in design, in contrast to the ornament of the stories below. The ordinance calls the building a rare example of Greek Revival architecture executed on a large scale and an early example of high-rise apartment construction along the coastal bluff.

The upper composition includes an Ionic entablature around the seventh floor, a large triangular pediment, and a boxed cornice with oversized dentils. A shallow sixth-floor balcony centered above the principal entrance has a masonry spoke design supported by cement brackets. Flat columns rising above it terminate in voluted capitals.

Marble platform stairs lead to a recessed principal entrance framed by a semi-elliptical arch and keystone. Round columns flank the doorway beside windows with molded arch trim. The upper stories are faced in brick laid in a header-bond pattern, while the first floor is cement block with horizontal detailing radiating from its larger windows.

Round columns with bracket-like capitals support the second-story balcony, whose railing consists of masonry spindles and large square corner posts. The building's name is inscribed across the center of the balcony. The ordinance describes the Ocean Boulevard entrance as similar in design to the principal entrance, although that facade is visually dominated by an exterior fire escape.

Long Beach Public Library catalog records for two circa-1920s photographs describe the original lounge as having ornate columns and ceiling work, matching overstuffed chairs and sofas, a Turkish-style carpet, and a gas fireplace faced with brick-like ceramic tile. The records also note large picture windows with full-length drapes, floor and ceiling lighting, and an adjoining main hallway.

Preservation When the landmark ordinance was adopted in 1983, the original exterior was described as largely intact except for some replacement window frames and aluminum awnings. Documented interior changes included relocated apartment walls and the combination of some units.

The ordinance incorporates the Secretary of the Interior's rehabilitation standards and requires alterations to remain consistent with the building's architectural style. It specifically protects the character of the brick-and-masonry facade, triangular pediment, boxed cornice, masonry balconies, and recessed entrances. Exterior environmental changes require a certificate of appropriateness from the city's historic-preservation authorities.

In 2014, the St. Regis Condominium Association received preservation grant funding from the Long Beach Navy Memorial Heritage Association for a window-restoration project guided by a master architectural restoration plan.

The building's rooftop solarium was closed in 1970 because of fire regulations. It was opened for a one-day public tour in July 2025 as part of a Long Beach Heritage fundraiser intended to support restoration and increase public engagement with the building.

See also List of City of Long Beach historic landmarks

References