Ruth C. Powers Child Development Center (Richmond, California)

 Second World War 1939-1945, school, day care, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, historic landmark

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Two original World War II-era Day Care Centers that are little changed from that period are the Maritime Child Development Center on Florida Avenue and Ruth C. Powers Child Development Center on Cutting Boulevard.

Three important principles of the International Style were exterior geometric forms and emphasis of the interior volumes, standardization of details and material production, and no applied ornament. Typical architectural features include floor to ceiling windows, cantilevered sections of the building or roof, balconies without visible support, large sections of blank wall surfaces (no windows or decoration), and horizontal window bands or clerestory windows.

The Ruth C. Powers and Maritime Child Development Centers continue to function as child care facilities almost eight decades later. The buildings are a testament not only to their effective design, but also to the continuing demand for assistance for mothers who work and a historical remnant of the working women who participated in the World War II wartime effort.

Located adjacent to the railroad tracks on Maine Avenue in Richmond, the Ruth C. Powers Child Development Center faces north onto Maine Avenue. The building shares the block with the Richmond Housing Authority, which is located on the southern part of the lot. The Housing Authority structure is of approximately the same era and design. The building is set within a neighborhood that is primarily residential, but within proximity to the shipyards along the bay shoreline. The industrial influence of the shipyards is not immediately evident within the grounds of the child development center, though it is because of the nearby shipyards that the need arose to construct the building.

The Powers Child Development Center is, in plan, an irregularly shaped structure built in the Modernist idiom, an architectural vocabulary derived from the philosophy of the International Style. The philosophy of the International Style first took hold around 1920 and was meant to rebuke late 19th century architectural traditions. The tenets of the International Style originated in a number of European movements including the Bauhaus and De Stijl and is closely associated with innovative architects such as Le Corbusier in France, Oud and Rietveld in Holland, Gropius and Mies van der Rohe in Germany. These architects worked with “pure” geometric forms and avoided historic references in their designs. They incorporated innovative use of new materials and technology and exploited the inherent qualities of these materials in their designs. Several of these architects and others who had studied with them fled to the United States to escape the Nazis and war torn Europe importing a style that was popular through 1945 and influential on derivative styles through the 1960s.

The layout of the Ruth C. Powers Child Development Center consists of two double-loaded wings set at a right angle. The wing to the north is a simple rectangle, while the east wing contains a short jog at the end. The overall layout focuses the administrative and support areas closest to the intersection with the classrooms at the end of each wing. The architectural features of the Powers Center that are characteristic of the Modern movement are a long, low building profile, a flat roof, long expanses of horizontal ribbon windows, flat canopies over doors, and the angular walls that flank the entrance. The building materials are also characteristic of the Modern movement, such as wood-framed clerestory windows, plaster surfaces, exterior horizontal wood siding, exterior plasterboard, and wood trim. The front entrance faces north onto Maine Avenue and protrudes from the main wing of the building, the north wing. A secondary, single-story wing (the east wing) extends from the northeast corner of the site toward the south. The form of the structure is asymmetrical with a set-back second story only on the main wing. The angular entrance portico protrudes from the northeast end of the north wing. Originally this portico contained four tall doors all surrounded by square window openings, creating a window wall. The portico shields the main entrance, now extended by a vestibule with Plexiglas windows. The flat roof over the portico is supported by walls that flank the portico and slant outward at the top.

The exterior of the Ruth C. Powers Child Development Center retains a high degree of integrity according to the seven aspects of integrity defined by National Register 36: location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. The building remains at its original historic location. The building’s original modernist design, room configuration and circulation, and features, finishes and fixtures remain intact. The current setting within proximity to the shipyards has not changed although many of the various buildings and structures associated with the shipyards are no longer extant. The historic materials originally employed on the exterior portions of the building are extant, though some have been replaced or covered. The workmanship of the building is still evident in the exterior, and the feeling or historic sense of the child development center building is articulated through its form and details,as well as its continued use as a Child Development Center. While minor modifications have occurred inside the building, the interior retains its original configuration and circulation and a significant amount of original material.

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