Final Withdrawal

With so many banks changing in this age of financial mergers, one institution, at least, seemed safe: The Gilmore Bank on 3rd Street, as coolly minimalist and modern as the Farmers Market next door is folksy and quaint. The Gilmore family, which owns the Farmers Market and chartered the bank in 1955, has long resisted overtures to sell. Its permanence seemed further assured by a $1.5-million remodel five years ago that kept intact its original red brick, birch wood and terrazzo state. Alas, the building appears doomed, to make room for a multiplex in “the Grove,” a new shopping and entertainment complex that includes a Nordstrom, Banana Republic and FAO Schwarz. The sole branch will be relocated midsummer to an interim location before settling at a new site around the corner.

The bank is “maybe the second-best modern building in Hollywood after the Cinerama Dome,” says Alan Leib, a member of the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Modern Committee. Although an environmental impact report in the early ‘90s had provisions for knocking it down, a supplement to the report filed last year indicated that the bank would remain. Which is why Leib was shocked when architectural renderings appeared showing a new building planned for Fairfax Avenue. “The public never had a chance to comment on the loss,” says Ken Bernstein, the conservancy’s director of preservation issues.

The Grove’s developer, Rick Caruso of Caruso Affiliated Holdings, says an earlier design did show the bank remaining, wrapped by a two-story multiplex. “But we can’t get a theater operator to take a two-story space, it’s too expensive,” he says. “I don’t think there’s a lot of options,” says Caruso, who has met with the conservancy.

Hank Hilty, president and CEO of A.F. Gilmore Co., has been around long enough that his “savings account is No. 13.” But he doesn’t seemed too choked up. “It’s a pretty building, but the bank function, which is the pride of the building, is going to end up with a better space.”

Try telling that to Leib. “It’s like walking into a bank in 1955,” he sighs. “Elegant and simple. Those trapezoidal skylights--when you walk in and look up, it’s just breathtaking.”