Office of Historic Resources
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
City of Los Angeles, Department of City Planning Office of Historic Resources JULY 2010 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 Cultural Heritage Commission Works to Preserve Historic Bridges With the release of the Environmental Impact Report this project would result in an adverse effect and loss of (EIR) for the proposed widening of the North Spring the bridge’s landmark designation. Street Bridge (HCM #900), the Cultural Heritage The monumental Los Angeles River bridges between Commission has expressed concerns about the po- Downtown and Griffith tential loss of his- Park are some of the toric status for this City’s most iconic land- and other landmark marks, with 14 bridges L.A. River bridges. designated as Historic- The bridge project Cultural Monuments, as proposed would including the North widen the deck by Spring Street Bridge. 20’ feet on each side, Constructed in 1927 near nearly doubling the the original site of Los size of the current Angeles’ founding, the bridge. It would North Spring Street remove historic rail- bridge sits in one of the ings, light fixtures, most historically rich and brackets, ob- areas of the city, located scure the double- The N. Spring Street Bridge is one of two Historic-Cultural Monu- between two of the oldest ment bridges faced with potential loss of historic status arch span over the Los Angeles River river, and incorpo- Bridges: the North Main rate new additions that mimic the historic features Street Bridge (1910) and the North Broadway-Buena lost through the widening. The EIR concluded that (Continued on page 2) Inside this issue: HPOZ Program Moves to the OHR LAX Theme Building 2 Rehabilitation As part of a major reorganization of Bureau, who spent a small amount of SurveyLA Year 1 Survey’s the Department of City Planning, the time on HPOZs while also handling 3 City’s staffing for Historic Preserva- other planning assignments. Launched tion Overlay Zones (HPOZs), or his- Because HPOZ review requires spe- OHR Receives State Grants 3 toric districts, will come under the full cialized knowledge of historic preser- direction of the Office of Historic vation, the reorganization will concen- Thank You, Gail Goldberg 4 Resources for the first time in August. trate the HPOZ planners in a single 4 The City’s HPOZ program has experi- division, under the direction of the Survey LA Wins Planning enced explosive growth in recent OHR. Five planners will staff the 25 Award years, increasing from eight HPOZs in HPOZs on a full-time basis rather 4 1998 to 25 districts today. Since 2006, than the previous system which had as Interns Join OHR the OHR’s staff has provided policy many as 16 planners devoting a frac- City Acquires Oakridge 5 direction and training to the HPOZ tion of their time to HPOZs. program; however, the day-to-day Estate The new section will report to the staffing and case processing for OHR’s Manager Ken Bernstein, and 6 HPOZs has been provided by plan- New HCMs ners from the Community Planning (Continued on page 2) Page 2 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 Historic Bridges (Continued) (Continued from page 1) trict 1 to continue developing alternatives that would protect the historic designation of the bridge while meeting the goals of Vista Bridge (1911). The North Spring Street Bridge has been the project. determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, The Commission and the OHR are also closely monitoring the is listed in the California Register of Historical Resources, and proposed demolition and replacement of the Sixth Street was designated as Historic-Cultural Monument #900 in 2008. Bridge (HCM #905), constructed in 1932. The bridge, nearly At hearings held on April 15 and June 3, the Cultural Heritage 2/3 of a mile long, is the largest and longest bridge constructed Commission heard from community stakeholders and voted to over the L.A. River. Unfortunately, the bridge is suffering approve letters to the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineer- structurally from Alkali Silica Reaction (ASR), a chemical reac- ing (BOE) detailing the Commission’s opposition to the pro- tion that is causing destruction to the bridge’s concrete. ject as currently proposed. These communications also pro- While it appears likely that the ASR will require replacement of posed further study of alternatives that would safeguard the the bridge’s concrete, the Cultural Heritage Commission has historic designation of the bridge, such as a separate pedes- requested that BOE fully evaluate a reconstruction alternative trian/bicycle bridge or a more modest widening with sufficient consistent with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards, akin to retention of historic fabric. the approach taken in Pasadena during the early 1990s with the The staff of the Office of Historic Resources (OHR) is now Colorado Street Bridge over the Arroyo Seco. If reconstruc- working closely with representatives of BOE and Council Dis- tion is not feasible, the Commission has requested that BOE consider partial preservation alternatives that maximize reten- LAX’S LANDMARK THEME tion of the bridge’s key historic features. BOE may be bringing the bridge project to the board of Public Works and City Coun- BUILDING REOPENS cil for approval during August. The landmark Theme Please contact Edgar Garcia, Preservation Planner with the Building, home to the Office of Historic Resources, at 213-978-1189 for more infor- Jetson-esque Encounter mation regarding the current efforts to preserve the city’s his- Restaurant, reopened toric bridges. on July 10 with a rib- bon-cutting ceremony attended by Mayor An- HPOZ Move (continued) tonio Villaraigosa, Cul- tural Heritage Com- missioner Roella H. Photo: Michael Zara (Continued from page 1) Louie, and the OHR’s Preservation Architect Lambert Giessinger. The building was will be under the direction of City Planner Craig Weber, who closed to the public for nine years for security reasons follow- has several years of experience in staffing HPOZs. He will ing the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and went oversee four other full-time HPOZ planners: Matthew Glesne, through a significant seismic retrofit and upgrade after a 1,000– Steven Wechsler, Antonio Isaia, and Nora Dresser. pound piece of stucco fell from an arch in 2007. One of the first major tasks for the new HPOZ Section is to The structure is one of the most recognized buildings in the take forward 17 Preservation Plans for approval by the City United States, featuring four 135-foot high parabolic steel Planning Commission this fall for those HPOZs that currently arches intersecting each other at 90 degree angles, and is sur- lack such plans. The Department of City Planning has given rounded by a courtyard with plaques commemorating the each HPOZ Board a three-month period, ending on August 1, opening of the new jet-age airport in 1961. The Theme building to craft tailored design guidelines that build upon a citywide was completed in August 1961. template. The new Plans will greatly assist the OHR and the Boards in providing expeditious review for those proposals that In 1992, the Cultural Heritage Commission considered the in- are clearly in conformance with these guidelines. clusion of the Airport Theme Building as an excellent and en- during example of modern futuristic architecture fulfilling its Please welcome the new HPOZ staff as they begin their work role of symbolically representing Los Angeles as an interna- in the coming weeks; they are eager to learn more about the tional city. It was declared Historic-Cultural Monument No. unique architectural heritage and community concerns within 570 in 1993. each neighborhood. Page 3 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 SurveyLA Year 1 Surveys OHR Receives Two Launched State Grants for 2010-11 SurveyLA’s initiation phase has The City of Los Angeles has been awarded two Certified Local come to a close and the imple- Government (CLG) grants this year by the State Office of His- mentation phase has now be- toric Preservation. The grants total $50,000 and will be used gun. During this phase, historic to assist the OHR in completing SurveyLA, the citywide his- preservation professionals will toric resources survey. work with the OHR to com- The first grant focuses on plete field surveys throughout developing the industrial Los Angeles over a multi-year Weatherwolde Castle, HCM context for SurveyLA’s period. The field surveys #841, Tujunga Historic Context State- follow the Phasing Plan de- ment. The context will veloped for SurveyLA, which is organized by Community Plan provide field surveyors Area (CPA). The first phase of survey work, begun earlier this with the information they month, is headed by Historic Resources Group of Hollywood need to identify and and includes the following three CPA’s: Hollywood; West Ad- evaluate industrial re- ams-Baldwin Hills-Leimert; and Sunland-Tujunga-Lake View sources in themes relating Terrace-Shadow Hills-East La Tuna Canyon. to industrial types and Surveyors at work in the field Field surveyors are working in teams of two throughout these architectural styles, key areas and are conducting the industries and industrial firms that shaped Los Angeles, and surveys from the public right- industrial work culture including ethnic and gender groups that of-way using tablet PCs and formed the work force. digital cameras. The OHR has The second grant will help the OHR implement the SurveyLA been working with several or- Public Participation and Outreach Program. The program fo- ganizations and individuals in cuses on working with neighborhood groups and individuals to these areas to identify potential collect specific information about potential historic resources historic resources to be in- that should be included in the field surveys. Clark Library, HCM #28, cluded in the surveys.