Home Savings Tower to Get Under Way : $75-Million Office Building Will Rise in Downtown Block With Historical Edifices
Monday, Bastille Day, is a logical day for ground-breaking ceremonies for the $75-million Home Savings of America Tower: The architecture of the 26-story building is derived from the style of the 16th-Century chateaux of the Loire Valley in France.
Designed by Albert C. Martin & Associates, Los Angeles, the building at the northeast corner of 7th and Figueroa streets in downtown Los Angeles is a development of Ahmanson Commercial Development Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Home Savings of America. Home Savings of America is the principal subsidiary of H. F. Ahmanson & Co.
Sharing the same block with three historic buildings--the 1929 Barker Bros. building, the 1925 Fine Arts Building and Fire Station No. 28--the Home Savings tower was “designed with strong historical references to be compatible with the older Beaux Arts structures in the area,” according to David C. Martin of the Martin firm.
The tower design features a richly detailed exterior in gabled marble and granite, with octagonal turrets at four corners. The base of the tower has three hues of marble and granite in horizontal bands.
A steeply pitched copper roof pierced by dormer windows will create a distinctive look when the project is completed in July, 1988.
“It was our objective to develop a building that would make an important architectural statement compatible with this exceptional part of downtown,” according to Jeffery M. Gault, chairman of Ahmanson Commercial Development Co.
Built on the site of the lending institution’s downtown branch, the building will have 375,000 gross square feet of space and 235,000 square feet of office space, he added. The temporary branch will be at the northeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Figueroa and will occupy ground-floor space in the new building.
The tower’s design includes a portal to the main station for the proposed Metro Rail and Long Beach light rail systems to be housed beneath the site.
