BURBANK : Officials Hail Return of the Warner Look

The Warner Bros. look is back, and Burbank historians acknowledged their gratitude for it at a special ceremony Wednesday morning.

“It was the project of a lifetime,” said Lee Pasteris, project designer with Gensler & Associates Architects in Santa Monica, who handled a brief but intense renovation of the Warner Bros. corporate headquarters last year.

The Burbank Historical Society presented Warner Executive Vice President Barry Meyer with an award of excellence for the renovation. The society had intended to list the property under a historic-preservation ordinance considered by the City Council, said Mary Jane Strickland, a member of the society’s board of directors. But when the ordinance fell apart before council approval, the society still wanted to recognize the company’s efforts, she said.

“To us, it’s a perfect example of what can be done with preservation,” Strickland said.

In the main part of the project, where the corporate offices were renovated, Warner replaced the Art Deco entrance and restored the building’s original look from 1926. The Art Deco work was added in the 1940s, when it was popular with the movie studios, said Ruth Gilliard, project manager with Gensler & Associates.

“A melting pot of a few different elements,” said Kirk Solomon, Warner Bros. director of studio design and construction, in describing the restored Warner Bros. look, part Mediterranean, part Spanish and bungalow.

In renovating the main building, crews worked 24 hours a day under a tight, 51-day schedule. A second floor was worked into the building while keeping the roof height intact. Renovation of the adjoining offices was completed in March.