Preservationists to Study New Uses for St. Vibiana

In hopes that a buyer and new use can be found for St. Vibiana’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, the Los Angeles Conservancy on Wednesday announced the selection of a group of architects and urban experts to study the now-abandoned downtown church.

Headed by USC’s School of Architecture, the panel will spend the next three months examining such issues as seismic repairs and neighborhood redevelopment to see if the 120-year-old church might be converted into offices, housing, a community center, school or an arts complex.

Although most of the study team wants to see the cathedral saved from demolition, the group will aim for an objective view of the structure and adjacent archdiocese-owned buildings at 2nd and Main streets, said project coordinator Jeffrey M. Chusid, director of the preservation program at the USC School of Architecture.

“We are not going into this to develop justifications for positions we already have. We are going into this to see if there are feasible alternatives for the site,” Chusid said.

The conservancy has fought in court to save the cathedral. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony had wanted to raze St. Vibiana and build a new cathedral on the site. But after losing a series of legal battles, Mahony decided in September to move the project to another downtown location, a county-owned parking lot just south of the Hollywood Freeway near Hill Street.

Linda Dishman, the conservancy’s executive director, said the organization is funding the $25,000 study because “it is incumbent on everybody to find a positive solution.”

The cardinal is taking steps to demolish the building next year, but is willing to sell the church and property for about $5 million, according to spokesman Father Gregory Coiro. “The only problem would be if it would be used for some terribly profane purposes, such as a saloon,” Coiro said.

Engineers for the archdiocese have estimated that the cathedral needs about $20 million in seismic repairs, four times the amount the conservancy estimates. O’Malley Miller, an attorney for the archdiocese, said repair costs will make it too expensive to adapt the cathedral for a new use. He said he expected that seismic hazards will keep the conservancy team out of the church, but Dishman said their work can be based on previous engineering reports.

A Superior Court judge has ordered the archdiocese and the city to prepare an environmental study before they can tear down the church. An appellate court upheld the order, and the state Supreme Court recently denied a request from the church and city for a review.