Tower Removal at St. Vibiana’s Begins, Stops

Huge cranes pulled the crowning cross and cupola from the bell tower at St. Vibiana’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, a spectacle that intensified debate over the landmark cathedral’s future. But the controversial demolition of the tower was halted abruptly because a city building inspector ruled that the archdiocese did not have the proper permit.

In starting the razing, Los Angeles archdiocese officials said they were following a city order issued Friday afternoon to “abate” the imminent danger that the earthquake-damaged, 83-foot-high tower posed to public safety. Outraged, preservationists summoned an inspector Saturday after an energetic duel waged with cellular telephone calls from the sidewalk next to the church.

The drama was the latest chapter in Cardinal Roger M. Mahony’s complicated efforts to build a new $45-million cathedral at the 2nd and Main streets location. Observers were provided the spectacle of the wood-frame beige cupola, about 20 feet tall, being plucked into the sky like a decoration from an elaborate wedding cake and deposited in the parking lot behind the 120-year-old cathedral.

“We are pleased that they are now following the law,” Linda Dishman, executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy, said of church leaders after the work halted. “But it is appalling that they tried to do this illegally.”

However, O’Malley Miller, attorney for the archdiocese, said the demolition began in response to a Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety order Friday to “abate” the seismic hazard within 72 hours. That order did not mention the need for a permit, although the archdiocese will apply for one Monday, he said.

“The notion that we are doing this on anything other than a full disclosure basis is just poppycock,” Miller said. Although the Friday order did not specify demolition, Miller said the preservationists’ suggestion to brace the tower with supports would not have provided sufficient safety.

Late Saturday, the conservancy obtained an oral temporary restraining order from Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Diane Wayne against any demolition permit being issued until a court hearing Monday morning, attorneys on both sides reported.

Except in cases of imminent danger, demolition of any part of city-declared historic-cultural monuments such as St. Vibiana’s usually requires special review by the Cultural Heritage Commission. City law does not ban landmark demolition but can delay it for a year. Dishman described the church as one of the few remaining links to 19th-century Los Angeles.

Mahony said last year that he wanted the 1,200-seat St. Vibiana’s demolished to make way for a larger replacement. More recently, he said he would delay the razing until he hears the advice of a soon-to-be named architect for the project.

But last week, Mahony announced that he might build the new cathedral elsewhere, possibly out of downtown, if prices of adjacent land remained high and if a legal battle with preservationists ensued. Meanwhile, sacred artifacts and stained glass windows were being removed from the church, which has been closed to the public for a year.

The threat of the cathedral possibly leaving downtown upset some City Hall officials and business leaders who see the project as a catalyst for urban renewal. For this reason, some opponents of demolition privately suspected that Friday’s abatement order was pushed through quickly to please the cardinal, a contention that church and city leaders dismiss.

“Nobody pushed anything through,” said Jan Perry, chief of staff for Councilwoman Rita Walters, who represents that downtown neighborhood and who wants the new cathedral there. Perry blamed Saturday’s events on confusion within the Department of Building and Safety.

The matter began, church officials contend, because St. Vibiana’s, which was badly damaged during the Northridge quake two years ago, suffered “dramatically” more damage in a 3.6 temblor May 23. That earthquake produced no other reports of major damage in downtown.

Nabih Youssef, the highly regarded structural engineer hired by the church, told city engineers in a letter Friday that the new damage “considerably reduced” the building’s safety and invited their questions. That Youssef memo led to a quick city inspection and the abatement order for the tower, not for the adjoining cathedral itself.

Mary George, the president of the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission, which governs landmarks, was first told of the demolition by a reporter Saturday morning. “Oh my God,” she gasped. “This is a total surprise.”

She rushed to the cathedral and attempted without success to speak to demolition workers, who remained behind a locked gate guarded by security officers. Later, George said her commission would study the issues Monday.

By 9:30 a.m. Saturday, workers in crane baskets had strapped belts onto pieces of the tower, a delicate pile of balconies and arches constructed mainly of unreinforced masonry and plaster that shows earthquake cracks. At 11:18, the cross was lifted off. At 12:55 p.m., the cupola followed.

Lourdes M. Brent, a member of Friends of St. Vibiana, another group seeking to prevent demolition, watched the cupola dangle from the crane. “To see this swing off is to see a part of Los Angeles history swing off,” she said.

About 20 minutes later, building and safety inspector Timothy Thayne emerged from the construction site and told conservancy attorney Jack H. Rubens that he had just ordered the work stopped because of the lack of a permit. Rubens had been on the phone most of the morning with Thayne’s supervisors.

The bells were removed from the tower in the 1970s and now rest on display in the garden area close to 2nd Street.