Film Academy Building Wins Award

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills, once a broken-down waterworks building, recently received national recognition for its renovation.

Building Design & Construction, a magazine for architects, designers and engineers, awarded one of four Reconstruction Project Awards to the film industry showcase. The reconstruction awards have been presented for eight years to outstanding commercial, institutional and industrial projects throughout the United States.

Francis Offenhauser, architect for the project, said he is thrilled with the award. “For architects, this is one of the major national awards.”

The academy spent nearly three years and $6 million to remodel the former municipal water treatment plant. The 65-year-old building, designed by Arthur Taylor, was the first municipal water treatment plant on the West Coast.

Abandoned in 1976, the building at La Cienega and Olympic boulevards had become a target for vandals and graffiti artists. It was so beleaguered that in 1987 one councilman pronounced it a monstrosity.

The building had been tapped for demolition, but preservationists stepped in and suggested that the Spanish Colonial Revival-style structure be used as a theater, museum or some other public facility. Film academy officials, desperate for a new home to hold their ever-expanding collection, toured the aging concrete building and saw stars.

Academy officials negotiated a long-term lease with the city and hired Offenhauser, a specialist in rehabilitating historic buildings. The academy facility, which debuted in January, 1991, houses the collections of such film legends as Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Mary Pickford, Hal Wallis and Fred Zinnemann. It maintains 5 million photographs, 18,000 books and periodicals, 12,000 films, and 5,000 scripts.