Clock Tower Building, Santa Monica

The Clock Tower Building is an Art Deco office tower in Santa Monica rising 12 stories with white stone cladding and geometric patterning. An off-center four-story stepped clock tower topped with terra-cotta tile faces crowns the main rectangular structure and contains retail at street level with professional offices above.

Built in 1929 for the Bay Cities Guaranty and Loan Association, this tower remained Santa Monica's tallest building for 40 years. Its completion during the prosperous late 1920s economic period shaped the city's skyline significantly.

The building combines pre-Columbian architectural elements, particularly in its geometric patterns that echo Mayan and Inka designs. Visitors can spot these details throughout the ornamental bands between the upper windows and across the facade.

The tower sits directly on Santa Monica Boulevard with accessible ground-floor retail spaces visible from the street. The upper office floors are not open to public access, but the full architectural features and clock tower are viewable from sidewalk level.

The stepped four-story clock tower sits deliberately off-center at the roof rather than centered, creating visual asymmetry. This intentional design choice gives the facade a sense of dynamic movement that breaks from typical Art Deco symmetry.