Council Acts to Take Church Off Historic Roll

After an emotional hearing in which parishioners wept and many speakers invoked God’s will, the Los Angeles City Council took a major step Tuesday toward deleting St. Vibiana’s Cathedral from the city’s list of historic monuments, which could hasten its demolition and replacement with a new church.

A new cathedral “needs to be in central Los Angeles, it needs to be by the birthplace of the city of Los Angeles,” Councilman Richard Alarcon said before joining the 13-1 vote that sent the matter to the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission before it returns to the council for final action next week. “It would be a glorious thing if we could resurrect the cathedral and, in the process, resurrect downtown Los Angeles.”

Tuesday’s vote marked the City Council’s first official foray into the controversy, which has pitted Cardinal Roger M. Mahony against the city’s leading historic preservation activists.

Mahony wants to demolish the cathedral at 2nd and Main streets and replace it with a much larger, $50-million complex that would be open by 2000. He has threatened to move the project out of downtown--and possibly out of Los Angeles--if lawsuits and other obstacles delay it too long.

A Superior Court judge is pondering a lawsuit by the Los Angeles Conservancy that seeks to turn a 2-week-old ban on demolition of the cathedral’s 120-year-old bell tower into a more lasting injunction.

Designation as a historic-cultural monument in Los Angeles does not ban demolition but can delay it by a year, so Tuesday’s council action could help speed the process.

Architecture experts, business leaders and local Catholics testified on both sides of the issue.

Ira Yellin, a consultant for the archdiocese, told the council “it’s an arrogance and a presumption for any group to tell another group how and where it should conduct its worship service” and urged deletion from the historic registry.

“This church binds us together,” said Daphne McManus, crying as she stood at the podium. “We need to keep our memories. We need to keep unity.”

But Councilman Richard Alatorre, who was married in St. Vibiana’s, said a bigger, earthquake-safe cathedral is the only way to protect the church’s long-term role as an anchor to the city’s historic core.

“It’s not like the history of St. Vibiana’s is just going to be brushed away,” Alatorre said. “I love that church, but I believe strongly in its spiritual presence of being in downtown Los Angeles.”

Casting the lone dissenting vote Tuesday was Councilman Joel Wachs, who said he wants St. Vibiana’s to remain downtown but is concerned about setting a precedent of removing monuments from the register whenever a developer runs into opposition.

In a written statement, Mahony said the council’s vote would help keep St. Vibiana’s downtown.

Tuesday’s action reflects the council’s ongoing desire to revitalize downtown--as well as Mahony’s significant influence.

“I’m going to vote with the cardinal,” Councilman Nate Holden said. “When I leave this world, I don’t want anything in my way. I don’t know how you guys feel, but I might need a little help. Let the word go forth that I’m on the right side.”

Times staff writer Larry Gordon contributed to this story.