Local reference page expanded from the California State Military Museum source provided for militarymuseum.org/PomonaParkAveArmory.html.
Built as a combination opera house and armory sometime in the late 1800s, this first Pomona armory stood on the south side of Second Street between Gordon Street and Park Avenue. It was occupied by Company D, 7th California Infantry Regiment, National Guard of California, including the period when the company was redesignated into the 9th California Infantry Regiment before the regiments were consolidated again.
The building remained in use until 1904, when a new armory was established at 633 West 2nd Street.
The source also cites LosAngelesTheaters.blogspot.com, which describes the building as a combination theatre and National Guard armory, sometimes called the Pomona Opera House, Armory Opera House, or simply The Armory.
Located at 633 West 2nd Street, this armory was built in 1904 for Company D, 7th California Infantry Regiment, at an approximate cost of $8,000. It was vacated in 1917 during World War I mobilization.
The source notes that the building survives today in adapted form as the Armory Lofts.
The area that became Pomona was first associated with Gabrielino occupation, then mission grazing lands, then Rancho-era ownership under Ignacio Palomares and Ricardo Vejar, before later subdivision and agricultural development reshaped the city in the late nineteenth century. The armory context in the source is framed against that broader civic history.
The Pomona armory was constructed in 1933 and was one of the first ten armories built and owned by the State of California. Funding included a $25,000 state legislative grant, matched through Depression-era federal programs associated with PWA and WPA funds. A half-acre parcel was acquired from the Pomona City School District in 1932, the building was completed on November 1, 1933, and later changes in 1952 and 1958 brought the total cost to $52,162.
The source describes the armory as standing near the intersection of Sixth Street and Park Avenue with a shallow setback and a civic neighborhood context. The main building is a two-story assembly hall oriented east-west, with subordinate wings extending north and south to form an overall I-shaped plan.
Architecturally, the building is described as strongly evocative of California Mission and Spanish Revival design, with exposed rafters, rounded red roof tiles, an arched entry composition, decorative lanterns, and columned porches. The assembly hall retains a polished maple floor and a stage in the southwest corner.
The eastern and western wings include support rooms such as storage, office, and orderly rooms, while the northwest orderly room contains a fireplace and a chimney capped with a turret-like feature. To the rear sits a fenced vehicle and equipment yard.
The source evaluation concludes that the Pomona armory is eligible for the National Register under Criterion A for its World War II association and under Criterion C for its role in the early-twentieth-century state-owned armory program and for its architecture.
It emphasizes that the building was one of the ten prewar state-owned armories and one of the four built as part of the WPA-era program. It also notes the building’s dual role as both military facility and community center, reflected in features such as the wood floor and built-in stage.
The source further states that the armory retained integrity of location, setting, design, materials, feeling, and association, and remained readily recognizable as a pre-war armory with Spanish Revival and Art Deco influences.