Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Complex Granted Historic District Status : Preservation: National register lists five Art Deco-style buildings that are among the city’s oldest.

The Art Deco-style Cedar Avenue Complex, which includes five buildings that are among the oldest in Lancaster, has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district.

The downtown complex, its buildings constructed between 1920 and 1938, was listed in the register Sept. 30 after months of community effort to save the city-owned buildings, which earlier this year were considered by the City Council for demolition.

“Although some people think they’re ugly, some people are charmed by them,” said Diana Gravatt, a member of the Committee to Save the Cedar Avenue Complex.

Being included on the National Register, which is considered an official list of the nation’s cultural resources, does not dictate that the Cedar Avenue complex be preserved, said Beth Savage, an architectural historian for the National Register of Historic Places.

But it is a “recommendation that the property be preserved, that it’s worthy of preservation,” she added.

The Cedar Avenue complex was approved for placement on the national register, Savage said, because of the buildings’ historical use and their architectural significance.

From the 1920s to the ‘50s the complex was the site of the county government center, including a jail and a health center.

The city of Lancaster bought the Cedar Avenue complex from Los Angeles County in 1985.

Area residents who support preservation said they hope its inclusion on the register is the first step to their goal.

“We hope to have a statement from the City Council (stating) they are intending to save (the buildings),” Gravatt said.

Four of five council members were out of the area at a conference Monday and Councilman Frank Roberts could not be reached for comment.