Bakery Nominated for Monument Status
The now-empty Van de Kamp’s Holland Dutch Bakery in Glassell Park--a large manufacturing plant with a facade reminiscent of a row of 16th-Century Dutch townhouses--has been nominated as a city monument by members of the Los Angeles Conservancy, who fear the building is slated for demolition. The city’s Cultural Heritage Commission agreed Wednesday to consider the nomination and will hold a public hearing within the next three months.
The bakery, which once employed about 500 people, was closed in October, 1990, after Van de Kamp’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection. Conservancy members are concerned that the owner, VDK Square Ltd., plans to tear down the 62-year old facility to make way for new development.
Designed in 1930 by architect J. Edwin Hopkins, the facade complemented Van de Kamp’s Dutch advertising theme, which extended to the packaging of its products, the windmill designs of its retail stores, and the blue and white Dutch girl uniforms of its staff, the monument application says.
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