The Caffe Delle Stelle Building Finally Gets Permission for Renovation

The Design Review Commission on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to a long-sought proposal to give a facelift to North Main Street's  Sturm Building, which houses the Caffe Delle Stelle Italian restaurant.

Don Strouzas wants the city's  permission to upgrade the distinctive, pink 4,387-square-foot building he owns at North Main Street and Lincoln Avenue. In April, he proposed fixing up the building's exterior, transforming it from a style known as "1930s artistic front commercial" to a look that is more "upscale" and Mediterranean and Tuscan.

The Design Review Commission tentatively approved the upgrade at its July 7 meeting. This was after the chief architect explained that he would change the building's proposed color scheme and design finishes in a way that that would retain the building's original look. 

City staff were concerned about maintaining the character of the building and of keeping its look compatible with neighboring structures in the traditional downtown. The city's General Plan calls for a traditional downtown lined with small-scale buildings. It also seeks to foster the preservation and restoration of historically significant structures and sites.

However, the city has no standards or guidelines for defining its historic resources. So said Jerry Holland, an architectural historian, at the July 7 meeting.

She added that the Sturm building probably would not make the California registry of historic resources because there are no significant events or personalities associated with it; nor was it designed or constructed by a renowned architect. Finally, the building has no notable artistic merit, Holland said.

The plans for the proposed facelift would probably pass national guidelines for the rehabilitation of historic buildings, Holland added. Besides, Holland said, the significant design period in Walnut Creek history was not the 1940s, when the Sturm building went up, but the 1950s and 1960s.

Design review commissioners agreed at their July 7 meeting that they should not stop the Sturm building owner from proceeding with his upgrade plans, especially in these tough economic times. Commissioners concluded that the remodel would make the building more attractive. 

The Sturm building, with its second-floor balcony, first went up in 1940, and was named after one of the original owners. In that first decade, it housed  the Nut Bowl Fountain, one of downtown Walnut Creek's soda and ice cream shops. The ground floor later held the Melting Pot fondue restaurant, and is now occupied by Caffe Delle Stelle, a casual Italian eatery.