HCM-13 — designated 1963-01-28
Rocha House
2400 Shenandoah Street
stone-family or non-stone masonry construction per bariscale material classification — the envelope is the artifact, architectural-significance argument unambiguous regardless of per-axis rubric signals. override layer that catches cases the per-axis classifier would otherwise leave in insufficient_data or reassess due to data sparsity (e.g. hcm-80 palm court of the alexandria hotel: marble columns + dome, but wikipedia + walking-tour signals are weak because the venue is a private-event interior).
stone-family or masonry construction per material classifier — envelope is the artifact; the architectural-significance argument is unambiguous regardless of per-axis signals.
street view ↗ satellite ↗ big orange landmarks ↗ (bariscale, 2007) adobe (orchestrator-captured imagery is not building-aimed — use these for HITL verification)
Six-axis scores
- A. would-survive 5 probability the structure would survive market forces without HCM designation. low = needs protection.
- B. tourist currency 0 tourist and cultural currency — Wikipedia pageviews, walking-tour inclusion, public visitation evidence.
- C. subsidy efficiency 0 subsidy efficiency — Mills Act and federal HTC value vs preservation outcome. zero means no active subsidy.
- D. externality load 0 externality load — code complaints, CSR cases, 311 encampment/dumping/graffiti, vacancy duration.
- E. neighborhood health 9 neighborhood health — median household income, distress indicators, displacement risk.
- F. alternative-use value 2 alternative-use value — parcel acres, TOC tier, TPA eligibility, zoning capacity for higher use.
overall confidence: unknown
Site
- lat / lon
- 34.03954, -118.38429
- parcel acres
- 0.8423644483556804 (inferred)
- typology
- sfr
- TPA / TOC
- no
- zoning capacity
- —
- nrhp listed
- no
- architect prominence
- —
Condition + subsidy
all "condition" fields below are proxies derived from LADBS permit history, 311 CSR cases, and code complaints. none of these directly measures occupancy. the vacancy line shows the proxy value and the specific rule that produced it; readers should treat "active" as "construction permits filed recently," not "people live or work here."
- vacancy proxy
- active
- vacancy proxy basis
- recent investment over 250k in 60mo
- last permit
- 2022
- permits last 24mo
- 0
- code complaints 24mo
- 0
- CSR open cases
- 0
- Mills Act contract
- no — not in la OHR appendix a (2019 list of Mills Act properties)
- federal HTC
- no
- Wikipedia pageviews 12mo
- —
- walking-tour inclusion
- no
- median hhi (tract)
- $122,237
- assessed value
- —
Street view vision classification
claude vision analyzed 4 Google street view captures (n/e/s/w from the parcel coordinates) for visible distress indicators. this is an automated screening — false positives and negatives both happen, and "well_maintained" only means the visible facade is intact; internal structural condition is not assessable from street view.
- building visible
- partial
- building type
- sfr
- overall condition
- well maintained
- other indicators
- none visible
- notes
- A white stucco single-family residence with red tile roof is partially visible in the 270° image, appearing well-maintained with landscaped grounds and no visible distress indicators.
Contextual signals (GIS)
these are contextual proxies — signals derived from spatial context, not direct measurements of the property. they help infer hidden variables (contamination probability, structural risk) that public open-data does not measure directly. source: cal OEHHA CalEnviroScreen 4.0 (cumulative pollution burden by census tract).
- census tract
- 6037269700
- CalEnviroScreen overall percentile
- 73.7 (decile 8)
- cleanups percentile
- 47.0
- groundwater threats percentile
- 50.9
- hazardous waste percentile
- 90.8
- toxic release percentile
- 78.0
- lead exposure percentile
- 62.1
- EnviroStor cleanup sites nearby
- —
- in CGS liquefaction zone
- yes — designated under seismic hazards mapping act of 1990
- type-1 contamination probability (fused)
- 0.41 — moderate
- type-2 structural-risk probability
- 0.80 — elevated (liquefaction zone membership combined with pre-modern-code designation date)
Narrative
history
the rocha house (hcm-13) is among the earliest designated historic-cultural monuments in los angeles, reflecting the city's initial wave of hcm designations in the late 1960s. the structure is associated with the rocha family, early californio landowners whose adobe and rancho-era holdings were integral to the pre-american settlement of the los angeles basin. the precise construction date is contested in the literature, with estimates ranging from the 1840s to approximately the 1850s; the building is generally regarded as one of the surviving examples of vernacular californio domestic architecture in the region. no architect of record is attributed, consistent with the owner-builder tradition of the adobe construction period. the property's historical significance derives primarily from its association with the rancho era and the rocha family lineage rather than from any documented architectural commission.
architectural significance
the rocha house represents vernacular adobe construction typical of the mexican and early american territorial period in southern california, characterized by thick load-bearing earthen walls, low-pitched roofing, and minimal ornamentation. comparable extant examples in the los angeles region include the avila adobe in el pueblo de los ángeles historical monument and the pio pico mansion in whittier, both of which retain stronger visitor infrastructure and interpretive programming than the rocha house. the structure's fabric retains (approximately) original massing, though the degree of authenticity of surviving material versus later reconstruction or repair is not fully documented in accessible records. the absence of a named architect is not historically anomalous for this typology but does limit the building's claim on architectural-pedigree preservation arguments.
neighborhood context
the census tract surrounding the rocha house records a median household income of $122,237 and a five-year population gain of 242 residents, placing it firmly in a stable-to-appreciating submarket. the 311 externality load is effectively zero across all measured categories — no encampment, dumping, or graffiti incidents within the relevant buffer — indicating that the immediate block environment is well-maintained and does not generate measurable negative spillover. transit proximity and parcel-level zoning capacity data were not returned in the fetch, leaving redevelopment pressure unquantified. the neighborhood health profile (axis e score: 9) is among the strongest in the hcm portfolio and argues against any urgency framing based on district distress. | metric | value | |---|---| | census tract | 06037269700 | | median hhi | 122237 | | 5yr δ population | 242 | | 311 within 500ft (24mo) | 0 | | encampment 311 calls | 0 | | ladbs code complaints (24mo) | — | | last permit year | — |
subsidy and condition
| field | value | |---|---| | mills act | — | | federal htc | — | | vacancy status | — |
classification reasoning
axis a (survival without protection) scores 5 at medium confidence, reflecting genuine ambiguity: the high surrounding hhi suggests redevelopment demand, but single-family adobe structures in stable residential neighborhoods have historically attracted ownership interest from buyers who prize the historical association, moderating demolition risk. without owner-investment data, assessed value, or recent sales comps, this score cannot be refined further. axis b (tourist/cultural currency) scores 0, driven by null returns on google reviews, wikipedia pageviews, and walking-tour inclusion; the structure appears to generate no measurable visitor draw, which is a substantive finding given its age and hcm number. axis c (subsidy efficiency) scores 0 because no mills act contract or federal historic tax credit is on record, meaning the city is not currently expending preservation subsidy — this is neither a positive nor a negative signal in isolation, but it eliminates one common justification for continued protection. axis d (externality load) scores 0 at medium confidence, consistent with the clean 311 data; the structure is not generating neighborhood harm. axis e (neighborhood health) scores 9 at high confidence, reflecting the strong income and population-growth indicators. axis f (alternative use value) scores 0 due to missing parcel acreage, zoning capacity, and toc/tpa designation data, making any redevelopment-benefit argument unsubstantiated at this time. the candidate flag is not triggered: axis a (5) exceeds the a_max threshold of 4, axis b (0) satisfies b_max ≤ 3 but neither c nor d meets the c_min/d_min threshold of 6, axis e (9) far exceeds the e_max of 5, and axis f (0) does not meet the f_min of 6. multiple axes return 'unknown' confidence, which independently disqualifies a candidate designation under the framework's confidence_min requirement. the reassess flag is the analytically honest outcome: the building holds an early hcm designation with significant data gaps across subsidy, vacancy, parcel, zoning, and tourism axes. a field visit combined with a title search, mills act eligibility assessment, and toc tier determination would resolve the unknowns needed to make a defensible final classification.
sources
- la311: https://data.lacity.org/resource/h65r-yf5i.json?$where=within_circle(location%2c%2034.03953916477036%2c%20-118.38428708515906%2c%20152)%20and%20createddate%20%3e%20'2024-05-10'&$limit=1000 --- _generated by hcm-1200 orchestrator on 2026-05-10t22:01:11.117z._