Neighborhood Declared Historic Zone

The City Council unanimously approved designation of a Miracle Mile North neighborhood as a historic preservation overlay zone, making it only the fourth such area in the city to receive such protection.

Under the plan adopted last week, developers will have to build projects that conform to the Spanish/Mediterranean and English Tudor-style architecture of the neighborhood. The preservation zone will be bounded by Beverly Boulevard, La Brea Avenue, 3rd Street and Gardner Street, city officials said.

A five-member neighborhood review board, called a historic preservation association, will be established to screen all building and remodeling proposals for conformity to the area’s architectural style and size. The advisory group will make recommendations to the city Planning Department and Cultural Heritage Commission, which are responsible for approving such projects, said Michael Davies, a hearing examiner for the city Planning Commission.

The preservation association also can make recommendations to save architecturally or historically significant buildings from demolition.

One member will be selected by the mayor, another by the City Council, two members by the Cultural Heritage Commission and an at-large member will be chosen by the first four members, Davies said.

Residents began a drive three years ago to protect their neighborhood from certain types of development, contending that some future projects would threaten an architectural style that has remained intact since the 1920s, when the first of the modest stucco and red-tile homes were built.

Since 1979, when city officials approved the concept, preservation zones have been established in Angeleno Heights in Echo Park, South Carthay in the Wilshire District and Melrose Hill in Hollywood, Davies said.