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Overview

In the 1950s, the Kimberly-Clark Corporation, a large-scale producer of paper and tissue headquartered in Neenah, WI, commissioned the Chicago architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill to design its main offices and a paper mill in Fullerton, CA.

Building History

The large and influential Chicago-based architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM)designed offices for the Kimberly-Clark Corporation in Neenah, WI, during the mid-1950s. The firm, likely its San Francisco office, also designed this paper mill in Fullerton, CA, for the same firm about a year or so later.

A writer for Progressive Architecture magazine said of the plant: "The sixty-acre site for the mill is located twenty-five miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles in an area now being developed for light industrial and residential use. The location offered good rail service and an abundant supply of water and electricity. First consideration in the development of the sitewas the establishment of a total, over-all plan with respect for: (a.) efficient arrangement for the manufacturing process; (b.) balanced distribution of the architectural elements; (c.) integration with the neighborhood. The need for speedy erection of the buiding and for large unencumbered spans for the manufacturing spaces made steel the desired structural material. Floors are of reinforced concrete; roof is composed of metal decking and precast concrete panels with built-up sand and gravel. For exterior wall construction 4' x 8' porcelain-enamel panels, 1" thick were employed. Colors of the panels are blue and tan. The boiler house...is sheathed with ribbed, insulated, steel panels." (See "Paper Mill," Progressive Architecture, vol 28, no. 7, 07/1957, p. 143.)

SOM designed an L-shaped factory set in a former orange grove, located nearby to railroad tracks. Part of the orange grove was preserved on the western section of the property. The vertical leg of the L was larger than the horizontal, and contained a warehouse for finished products, a converting area, cafeteria and offices. The offices and cafeteria viewed an enclosed courtyard. The horizontal leg, situated to the east, accommodated a maintenance shop, machine room and pulp room. A large parking lot stood to the south, while a truck loading dock stood on the north. A boiler house stood to the east of the horizontal leg, to which a garage stood just to the north. Two railroad spur lines enabled cars to be loaded and unloaded on the vertical leg's north side and the horizontal leg's east side.

SOM worked with Knorr Interior Planning of San Francisco, CA, and and the Los Angeles office of Lindgren and Swinerton, general contractors, also headquartered in San Francisco.

Kimberly-Clark closed the plant during financial restructuring during the first half of 2020, during which it laid off about 12.5% of its workforce and idled 10 plants. The Fullerton facilty employed 330 people when it closed. (See Helen Morris, Tissue World Magazine.com, "Kimberly-Clark to permanently close Fullerton plant," published 02/11/2020, accessed 06/06/2023.)

Building Notes

Space on the north side of the vertical leg of the L was set aside for future expansion.

Demolition

The Kimberly-Clark Paper Mill in Fullerton, CA, was demolished in 2021 to make way for a Sprouts Farmers Market Distribution Center.

PCAD id: 24669