Visual Oases in Urban L.A.

A museum dedicated to Western heritage, a hotel inspired by a French chateau, a courtyard home, a Koreatown mall, a townhouse complex by the sea and a historic fire station reborn to a new role have been singled out for their positive visual impact on the urban scene.

The six buildings are among 12 that will be honored Monday at the 14th annual beautification award ceremonies of the Los Angeles Business Council.

The winners were chosen by a panel of five architects from about 100 entries in 12 categories. Entries had to be located within contest boundaries--City Hall to the east, the ocean to the west, Mulholland Drive to the north and Century Boulevard to the south.

The Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum at Griffith Park, chosen as outstanding new public building, reflects the intent of the Autrys “to create a sensitive relationship between the natural environment and the educational facility,” museum director Joanne Hale said.

Project architect Michael Heinrich of Widom, Wein & Cohen said he spent several weekends sketching at California mission sites to achieve “a design that would combine the (mission) influence with the Eastern influx and development in the West’s legendary mining towns.”

Lead architect Chester A. Widom said the museum design consists of two plazas, with the main plaza relating to the main entrance to the Los Angeles Zoo.

Honored as the outstanding new commercial development was the 375-room J. W. Marriott Hotel in Century City, done in an Art Deco stepped-up design that varies from seven to 17 stories. The hotel, designed by Gruen Associates, is situated between Fox Studios, Fox Plaza and the surrounding residential community.

The architects hoped to achieve the look of a French chateau rather than a city hotel through “a series of high-rise buildings adjacent to one another to form a pyramidal core and a spire,” said Gruen partner Allen Rubenstein.

The single-family residence winner is the home of Steven and Marlo Ehrlich and their two children. Ehrlich took a 1,200-square-foot cottage on a small lot in a Santa Monica Canyon neighborhood and expanded it to 3,300 square feet.

“The concept is a three-story courtyard house that opens at each level onto terraces cut into the hillside,” said Ehrlich, who heads his own Venice-based architectural and general contracting firm.

The winner in the new commercial mid-rise category is Koreatown Plaza, a design by managing partner Ki Suh Park and his team of architects at Gruen Associates.

Project architect Greg Moe said the objective of the plaza’s owners was to create “not only a retail but an image center for the Korean neighborhood, where people would want to gather.”

Access Made Easier

The three-story enclosed mall was designed with a middle story at ground level, the architect said--a “good retail philosophy,” he added, because it makes it easier to access by only one level, either the lower and upper stories of the building.

“We wanted to convey an Oriental flavor,” Moe said, “but only as an abstraction of traditional Korean architecture.”

Winner of the remodeled commercial low-rise award is a 1912 fire station at 644 S. Figueroa St. in downtown Los Angeles that once housed Engine Co. 28. It was saved from demolition by conservationists in 1979 and designated a historic landmark.

Brought Up to Code

The rebirth of three-story structure began when architects Altoon & Porter restored and converted the Renaissance Revival building for office space and a restaurant.

With the addition of a fourth floor, the skylight on the original top floor was removed, leaving a large opening at the third level. A new skylight was added to the top level, creating a light-filled atrium between the two floors, the architects said.

The award for outstanding new multifamily residence singles out the third phase of Dominion Property Co.’s 350-unit Sea Colony development on Ocean Park Boulevard in Santa Monica, a project that already has won two Urban Land Institute awards.

Architect David J. Flood said the project--a combination of townhouses with mid-rise units--has taken maximum advantage of the view potential through its stepped-up design.

One of the unusual design features noted by the judging panel included a detached, open-corridor system that bridges the units and provides them with separate entries. Individual identity is emphasized through the use of balconies, decks and trellis treatments.

The Landmark award, which recognizes outstanding construction of the past in buildings that have either been maintained or restored, will honor Los Angeles City Hall, the city’s first high-rise, erected in 1921.

Mayor Tom Bradley is scheduled to receive the award from Los Angeles Business Council President Dori Pye.

This year’s beautification awards program at the Bel Air Hotel will be dedicated to the memory of the late landscape architect Robert Herrick Carter who, for four decades, campaigned for more space and vegetation in Los Angeles.

Winners and categories:

LANDMARK AWARD:

Los Angeles City Hall

NEW OUTSTANDING

PUBLIC BUILDING:

Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, 4700 Zoo Drive, Los Angeles;

Developer: The Autry Foundation;

Architect: Widom Wein Cohen;

Contractor: Kiewit Construction Co.

NEW OUTSTANDING MID-RISE:

Koreatown Plaza, 928 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles

Owner: Korean Shopping Center Inc.;

Architect: Gruen Associates;

Contractor: Peck/Jones Construction Corp.

NEW COMMERCIAL

(Jerry L. Tamkin Award):

J. W. Marriott Hotel, 2151 Avenue of the Stars, Century City;

Owners: J. W. Marriott Limited Partnership;

Architect: Gruen Associates;

Contractor: Marriott Corp.

RESTORED COMMERCIAL

HIGH-RISE:

Eastern Columbia Building, 849 S. Broadway;

Owner: Palace Square/Barclay Associates;

Architect: John Ash Associates AIA;

Contractor: Turelk Inc.

REMODELED COMMERCIAL

MID-RISE:

655 S. Hope St.;

Owner: The Hammerson Property;

Architect: Gensler & Associates;

Contractor: McKee Construction.

REMODELED COMMERCIAL

LOW-RISE:

Engine Co. No. 28, 644 S. Figueroa;

Owner: Management Compensation Group;

Architect: Altoon & Porter;

Contractor: Lusk Construction.

NEW SINGLE-FAMILY:

The Ehrlich Residence;

Owner: Steven & Marlo Ehrlich;

Architect & Contractor: Steven Ehrlich.

NEW MULTIFAMILY

(Alan Casden Award):

Sea Colony III, 10-150 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica;

Developer: Dominion Property Co.;

Architect: David Jay Flood Architects;

Contractor: Morley Construction.

REMODELED MULTIFAMILY:

Lindbrook Manor, 10824 Lindbrook Drive, Westwood;

Owner: Lindbrook Associates;

Architect: GBW Properties and Peter Magaro;

Contractor: Tri-Con Builders.

LANDSCAPING,

NEW COMMERCIAL:

Citicorp Plaza;

Owner: Oxford Properties;

Landscape Architect: SWA Group;

Contractor: PCL Construction.

LANDSCAPING,

NEW RESIDENTIAL:

The Handel Residence;

Owner: Mr. & Mrs. Richard Handel;

Landscape architect and contractor: Galper/Baldon Associates.

LANDSCAPING,

REMODELED RESIDENTIAL:

Brentwood Residence;

Landscape architect & contractor: Raymond Hansen Associates.

CONTEST JUDGES: Dan Dworsky, president, Dworsky Associates; Harold Held, chairman, Held Properties; Richard Magee, president, Richard Magee & Associates; James F. Porter, president, Altoon & Porter, and Emmet Wemple, president, Emmet Wemple & Associates.