Mission, Schindler Studio Put on Endangered Heritage List

The World Monuments Fund has selected two Southern California landmarks--the Kings Road house and studio designed by Rudolf Schindler in West Hollywood, and the San Juan Capistrano Mission Church--for inclusion on its 2002 Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites.

And this year, as an emergency measure, the New York-based, nonprofit preservation organization has added a 101st site--lower Manhattan--to its fourth biennial list, following the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center.

The list, selected by an independent panel of experts from nominations submitted by governments and preservation groups, is intended to draw attention to threatened cultural-heritage monuments and to leverage fund-raising for conservation.

Sites chosen for the list also become eligible to receive money from the World Monuments Fund through a $1-million annual grant provided by American Express Co. Grants will be announced in the spring.

The 2002 list represents 50 countries: Africa and the Middle East (17 sites); Asia (20), Europe (42) and the Americas (22). Sites include the Great Wall of China, Egypt’s Valley of the Kings and the Petra archeological site in Jordan. Selections range in age from the Karelian petroglyphs in Russia (circa 4000-3500 BC) to 20th century sites such as the National Art Schools in Cuba (1961-65).

The fund’s president, Bonnie Burnham, said Schindler’s Kings Road house was selected because of severe structural problems and leakage that will require a major restoration campaign. Most sites remain on the list for only two years but continue to be monitored by the fund. Burnham said the organization selects projects based on three criteria: significance, urgency and viability. “Can the site be saved? We don’t want to take things on just to chronicle the fact that they are going to no longer be part of the world,” Burnham explained.

Burnham added that she hopes the decision to place lower Manhattan on this year’s list will not divert attention from other deserving projects. The Sept. 11 attack “is a massive catastrophe for the city, but in fact, every site on the list is very significant to its community, in the same way that lower Manhattan is significant to New Yorkers.”