Gem of the Pacific Returns to Glory

The Coral Casino Beach and Cabana Club is a designated historic landmark set atop Butterfly Beach and known as a playground for Hollywood stars. It was originally designed by architect Gardner A. Dailey in 1937. The building is a two-story, wood-framed structure with a lighthouse tower. Known as the “Gem of the Pacific”, its style is grounded in crisp minimal detailing and sweeping horizontal lines, much like a luxury steamliner. Holmes provided full structural and fire engineering services, meeting Secretary of the Interior rehabilitation standards and keeping facilities operational from design through to construction.
 

Holmes’ structural engineering facilitated historic preservation per the Secretary of the Interior’s standards for rehabilitation. The facility was required to remain operational during the design process, allowing the Holmes team only key investigations of the existing buildings. Holmes was flexible throughout the design and construction phases, adapting to preserve and salvage existing structural framing and finishes in collaboration with the architectural team in a fluid process.

Holmes developed alternative methods utilizing performance-based strategies to achieve adequate fire protection to structural steel installed within the historic mural covered walls, where space and preservation constraints prevented conventional fire protection methods from being utilized. Holmes also developed alternative methods to protect boundary wall openings without the need for drencher protection, saving the client construction costs.