Historical Status Sought for Library

The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission is set to decide today whether to start a process that could lead to the Woodland Hills Library being designated a historic-cultural monument.

Los Angeles Public Library officials have decided to tear down the local library and replace it with one twice its size after years of complaints that it is too small and lacks sufficient parking.

But Sherman Oaks resident Mary-Margaret Stratton nominated the 38-year-old library on Ventura Boulevard for historic status to block demolition. Stratton said she admires the building’s roof line and ceiling windows, which provide natural lighting and allow patrons and staff to view the large trees outside.

“We are losing too many of our modern landmarks,” said Stratton, who belongs to a group opposed to the demolition and to the nonprofit Los Angeles Conservancy’s modern committee.

Although the conservancy has said the Woodland Hills branch is a significant example of mid-century architecture, it has not taken a formal position.

Stratton said she favors using the library as a community center and building a new library elsewhere or expanding the present structure.

But Fontayne Holmes, director of library facilities for Los Angeles Public Library, said there are no funds to buy property for a new branch.

“It’s very upsetting to think this [project] could be stopped,” she said.

Holmes added that bringing the structure up to code with modern equipment would destroy the building’s charms that people want to save.

At 12,500 square feet, the new $3.1-million structure would be more than twice the size of the current building. It would offer an after-hours meeting room, a children’s storytelling area and more computers, parking and shelf space.

Funds from the $178.3-million Proposition DD bond approved by voters in 1998, have been designated for construction, which is expected to last a year. The Woodland Hills branch is one of 12 Valley libraries to be renovated, expanded or replaced.

The Cultural Heritage Commission will decide whether to recommend that the Los Angeles City Council designate the structure a historical landmark.

Library officials are expected to ask the five-member commission to reject historical status for the old library. But they intend to recommend commissioners consider the similarly designed Canoga Park Library, built in 1960, for historic status. Both libraries were designed by the firm Bowerman and Hobson.

A consultant has said the Canoga Park branch is more historically and architecturally significant than its Woodland Hills counterpart, Holmes said.

A new Canoga Park branch is scheduled to be built on Sherman Way, while the older structure will be used for other city services.

The Cultural Heritage Commission will meet at 10 a.m. at 433 S. Spring St., 10th floor, Los Angeles. For more information, call (213) 487-6793.