Restoring Wilshire Boulevard Temple

Restoring Wilshire Boulevard Temple Wilshire Boulevard Temple: Storied Past, Bright Future nderstanding the restoration Wilshire Boulevard Temple was no of Wilshire Boulevard Temple exception. Dedicated in 1929 and built Uillustrates how a highly skilled for a then-princely sum of $1.4 million, restoration team comes together and the octagonal building was designed by conducts the physical act of historic A. M. Edelman, with Allison & Allison preservation. It also tells the story of as consulting architects, and S. Tilden a group of people who cared enough Norton as honorary consultant. Its about history and tradition to do the Wilshire façade combines a traditional work and raise the funds to preserve it. Romanesque three-arch portal and rose And the restoration promises a future window with a vast Byzantine-style for the campus as a resource not only dome. View of Wilshire Boulevard, looking east for congregants but for the surrounding The spectacular interior of the toward Western Avenue with the Wiltern community. sanctuary is resplendent with black and Theatre on the right side and the domed Wilshire Boulevard Temple on the left in the Wilshire Boulevard Temple serves gold Belgian marble columns, walnut background, circa 1930s. Photo courtesy of as the third home of the Congregation paneling, marble marquetry, bronze Ark Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection. B’nai B’rith, which was founded in 1862 doors, and bronze chandeliers. As a gift In accordance with Rabbi Magnin’s and is the oldest Jewish congregation in to the synagogue, the Warner brothers, wishes, the sanctuary was designed with Los Angeles. The congregation left each founders of the famous Hollywood some elements similar to a movie theatre. of its first two synagogues, both located studio, commissioned artist Hugo Ballin It featured a grand entrance and spacious downtown and both now demolished, to design breathtaking murals depicting lobby; broad, carpeted stairways leading as its size grew and as the city moved 3,000 years of Jewish history. to the balcony; a dramatically domed westward. The Warners were not the only and acoustically perfect auditorium with 2 Under the dynamic leadership of Hollywood connection to the Temple. no central aisle; and a raked floor. The Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin, often called Many prominent Jewish filmmakers Temple proved to be such a source of the “Rabbi to the Stars” because of his who had found success in Southern identity that in 1937, the congregation friends in Hollywood, the congregation California’s movie business had strong officially changed its name from B’nai purchased property at the corner of relationships with Rabbi Magnin—and, B’rith to Wilshire Boulevard Temple. Wilshire and Hobart Boulevards in 1921. thus, the Temple. Hollywood legends Despite the building’s designation At the time, the Mid-Wilshire area was an including Sid Grauman, Carl Laemmle, as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural upper-class suburban enclave with great Sol Lesser, Louis B. Mayer, and Irving Monument in 1973 and listing in the commercial promise, sometimes called Thalberg donated funds for features such National Register of Historic Places the “Fifth Avenue of the West.” Religious as stained-glass windows, chandeliers, in 1981, its golden age passed. By the organizations of many denominations and marble columns. built grand and impressive churches here, following their members as they moved Exterior view, 1932. Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection. west from downtown. Workers are seen on the dome of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple during its construction, 1928. Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection. This booklet budget of $150 million for the entire highlights the primary campus expansion. elements of the In July 2014, the Temple will break Conservation Master Plan, ground on a new structure to provide which focused on the most the neighboring community with an significant threats to the expanded food pantry and a variety of sanctuary and building, social services. The new building will including the coffered also contain rooftop athletic facilities for dome ceiling, the stained- Temple and community use, as well as Prior to restoration, decorative plaster in the sanctuary was covered in a powdery efflorescence due to water and humidity glass rose window and its parking. This next phase of construction damage. Photo courtesy of Simpson Gumpertz & Heger. surrounding cast stone, will also include the renovation of two the west tripartite art glass school buildings and landscaped areas early 1990s, many congregants had windows, and the Hugo Ballin murals. throughout the campus. moved west to other parts of the city, Infrastructure improvements were This vision for Wilshire Boulevard and the structure suffered from deferred also needed to make the building safer, Temple makes it not only a symbol maintenance. The stunning Ballin more accessible, and more comfortable. of religious vitality for Jews, but an murals were in need of conservation, The restoration team undertook important resource for its surrounding plaster from the dome ceiling had fallen seismic upgrades; the installation of an neighborhood, which is predominantly due to water damage, art glass windows HVAC system; acoustic, audio visual, Korean and Latino. While there is still were bowed, and nearly every surface was and lighting enhancements; improved money to raise and work to do, the dingy and dirty. accessibility and sanctuary seating; and first phase of the campus renovation Temple leaders faced a difficult new and restored restroom facilities. symbolizes hope and optimism for decision: sell the building and focus The enormity of this project cannot the congregation and the larger on their Westside facilities, or find the be overstated. According to Brenda community—and stands as a testament money to invest in its future. In 2004, A. Levin, FAIA, principal of Levin & to the power of preservation. the Temple’s Board of Trustees made Associates Architects and lead project “When a community comes together 3 restoring the building a priority. The architect, every element of the building to restore a historic structure, they Jewish community responded in force, required work. forevermore approach it with a far deeper not only funding the restoration but The project was made possible by sense of gratitude and respect,” said continuing to raise money to expand the a massive fundraising effort by Temple Rabbi Leder. “And I thought to myself, entire campus. leadership, under Executive Director ‘If we go down as the generation that The original building’s restoration Howard Kaplan and Senior Rabbi Steven helped Jews in Los Angeles approach and renovation spanned two years, from Z. Leder, and the support of the 2,400 the synagogue with a deeper sense of September 2011 to September 2013. It families in the Temple’s congregation. To gratitude and respect, I’ll die a very cost $47.5 million and required many date, the congregation has raised more fulfilled man.’ ” specialists. than $120 million toward the expected After the restoration was complete, the congregation attended services in the Each octagonal coffer on the dome was covered with over 80 years of built-up dirt and had colorful and bright sanctuary. to be carefully hand-vacuumed. Photo courtesy of Wilshire Boulevard Temple. Photo courtesy of Tom Bonner Photography. octagons and soaring 110 feet above the sanctuary floor. The inner dome had deteriorated from water damage and high humidity, which caused efflorescence (a powdery substance) to form on some of the plaster, crack, and even break off in some places. The octagonal coffers were also covered in layers of brown dirt, dimming the original colors and decorative shapes. The gilded plaster throughout the sanctuary had oxidized, turning its original gold leaf into a brown color. The restoration team built two enormous scaffold Scaffold platforms enabled the restoration team to work high above the sanctuary floor. Photo courtesy of Levin & Associates Architects. platforms, one rising fifty feet and the other a hundred feet. Every coffer was vacuumed, loose areas were stabilized, and new Restoration of the Dome plaster castings were made to replace deteriorated or lost pieces. hat seems like one dome is actually two. An outer Historic documentation allowed the architects to replicate the Wcircular dome of steel and concrete spans 135 feet in original paint, glaze, and gold-leaf colors. The prayer inscribed diameter. Suspended inside this outer dome is an octagonal in gold around the oculus at the apex of the dome is once again inner dome, 100 feet in diameter, covered in coffered plaster vibrant: Sh’ma Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad (“Hear O Israel, the Lord Our God, the Lord Is One”). Careful restoration allowed the bright colors and gold leafing around the oculus to once again be vibrant. Left and middle photos courtesy of MATT Construction. Right photo courtesy of Tom Bonner Photography. 4 Upgrading the Sanctuary Eight chandeliers hang from the ceiling of the sanctuary. They are known as the Spice Box Chandeliers because they were he Romanesque-style sanctuary is massive, with 10,000 patterned after the spice boxes used in the Havdalah service that square feet of floor space and seating capacity of nearly T ends the Sabbath. To restore them, the project team lowered each 1,700 including the main floor and balcony. The sheer size of one from the ceiling using a winch. New LED lights were added the space meant that it had historically been impossible to heat to the base ring to illuminate the beads and chain. To augment or cool effectively. The 1920s their beautiful yet insufficient ventilation system blew air over Members of the restoration team removed the eight Spice Box Chandeliers to clean and repair them before rehanging. light, eight new light niches with blocks of ice into a chamber Left photo courtesy of Levin & Associates Architects.

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