Battle Lines Drawn Over St. Vibiana’s Cathedral : Landmarks: Local preservationists hope to prevent demolition of the quake-damaged church. The Catholic Archdiocese plans a larger, modern facility.

Preservationists are hoping to keep St. Vibiana’s Cathedral from the wrecking ball despite plans by the Catholic Archdiocese to demolish the 19th-Century Downtown landmark to make way for a larger, modern facility.

In recent meetings with Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and Msgr. Terrance Fleming, Linda Dishman, executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy, said she has made it clear that “we are committed to find a way to preserve this building.”

Although archdiocese officials listened politely as preservationists probed alternatives to razing the 119-year-old structure, Father Gregory Coiro said he was doubtful the archdiocese will be swayed from its plans to level all its buildings at 2nd and Main streets.

A new complex, to be built by the year 2000, will include a cathedral with double the current 1,200-seat capacity, an 800-seat conference center, an underground parking lot and a new residence for the archbishop.

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The archdiocese does hope to preserve the baroque Spanish-style cathedral’s stained glass windows, its main altar and pulpit, and statuary.

A $25-million grant from the Dan Murphy Foundation, which will be used along with $10 million from the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation to build the $45-million cathedral complex, is contingent upon tearing down the existing church, Mahony said.

The conservancy, however, has requested the archdiocese’s engineering reports so its architects may study them in an effort to devise a cost-efficient way to maintain the structure.

At one time, it did not appear that the conservancy would be able to save either the Central Library or the May Co. building on Wilshire Boulevard, but preservationists succeeded in those efforts, Dishman noted. They hope to save St. Vibiana’s as well.

“We just keep plugging away, and sometimes preservation is the result,” Dishman said.

William F. Delvak, a private attorney who specializes in historical preservation issues, is convinced that the cathedral can be saved and said he is willing to donate his time and resources to see that it is.

“It would be a sin committed against our ancestors to erase one of our city’s few remaining remnants of the 19th Century,” Delvak said.

He pointed to several tools at the preservationists’ disposal:

* Under the California Environmental Quality Act, the archdiocese must complete an environmental impact report showing that preservation is not feasible. Preservationists will have an opportunity to show that the archdiocese could build its expanded Catholic center at another Downtown site or build a new structure around the old one, as is done to preserve many of the historical churches in Europe.

A dispute over the environmental impact report could result in a delay in construction or a legal challenge by the preservationists, Delvak said.

* The city’s cultural heritage ordinance is another weapon in the preservationists’ arsenal, Delvak said.

Although the cathedral was one of the city’s first designated landmarks, the cultural heritage ordinance does not prohibit destroying the building.

“The ordinance provides a cooling-off period--a time to consider alternatives,” said Jay Oren, staff architect for the city’s cultural heritage commission.

* Preservationists may write and testify before the commission when the archdiocese demolition permit is submitted for approval, but if the archdiocese is not amenable to saving St. Vibiana’s, the longest its plans can be delayed is one year, Oren said.

The fate of St. Vibiana’s will not turn on laws but on public opinion, Delvak said.

“Since when do a couple of rich guys sitting on a foundation board get to decide what of our heritage is worth preserving? If people speak clearly to the church saying, ‘We don’t want this to happen,’ it won’t happen,” he said. Delvak said preservationists must galvanize the public in order to save St. Vibiana’s.

One parishioner, Charles Glass, 37, of Los Angeles, who visits the cathedral every day to pray, said: “It just won’t be the same if they tear down the cathedral. People have a lot of memories here that can’t be replaced.”

Although Catholics who worship at the cathedral were saddened about losing their church home, many say they are proud that it will be replaced with a complex more befitting the headquarters of the nation’s most populous Roman Catholic archdiocese.

So far, the preservationists’ plans have received little support from City Hall. City officials have said the new cathedral complex will be a cornerstone in their efforts to revitalize a part of Downtown that is dotted with abandoned buildings.

“This will anchor the Downtown core. We will do all we can to speed the reconstruction along,” City Councilwoman Rita Walters said.