Board Recommends 2nd Reprieve for Historic Apartment Building

The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Board has recommended a second six-month delay in issuance of a demolition permit for a historic Westwood apartment so the building can be moved to another site and used as senior-citizen housing.

R.W. Selby and Co. Inc. said in July that it would tear down its 54-year-old El Greco apartment building and replace it with a 65-unit complex. But the Los Angeles City Council granted a six-month stay of demolition for the Spanish Mediterranean-style building.

That delay is scheduled to expire in February, but the heritage board Wednesday recommended delaying demolition until August.

The proposal will be considered by the Cultural Affairs Commission on Jan. 10 and then by the City Council.

Janet Witkin, director of Alternative Living for the Aging, a senior housing service, said she wants to preserve the building and move it from Tiverton Avenue in Westwood Village to Hayworth Avenue in the Beverly-Fairfax District.

The 12-unit building will be cut into sections, moved to the new location and reassembled, Witkin said. The El Greco will provide 12 units of low-cost communal housing for senior citizens.

Councilman Zev Yaroslavksy has supported the organization’s effort to relocate the building.