An S.O.S. From Preservationists

Under the knowing smiles of gold-winged cherubs, vestiges of the former glory of the central lobby of the downtown Herald Examiner building, a roomful of architectural historians and other interested parties gathered Sunday to talk about what’s gone wrong with architectural preservation.

It was a fitting setting for such a conference. Closed to the public since the newspaper’s 1989 shutdown, the now-worn structure has since been a favored location site for Hollywood filming; its eclectic design by architect Julia Morgan mixes Renaissance, Mission and Moorish styles and was built for William Randolph Hearst even before the designer and client embarked on their more famous Hearst Castle at San Simeon. Designated as a historic landmark, it has been saved but not yet preserved. Windows to the street have long been boarded up, and its interior clearly shows years of neglect. Yet there was hope in the room.

Urban Partners, the development team that includes Ira Yellin, who preserved such landmarks as downtown’s Grand Central Market, has just teamed up with the Hearst Corp. to market the building, which stands at the corner of Broadway and 11th Street. They are hoping to restore and adapt the structure to fit the needs of “creative tenants,” such as an architectural firm or a museum, Urban Partner’s Devan M. Pailet told the audience of about 100, virtually all of whom had raised their hands when asked whether they had ever before visited the building. His announcement was greeted with happy nods, as much of Los Angeles’ architectural history has long been closed off--or lost--to even the most interested.

Bad news inspired the panel discussion, which was moderated by KPCC’s Larry Mantle and will air on KPCC radio this morning. It was organized by the Society of Architectural Historians, Southern California Chapter, in response to recent tear-downs of three major architectural residences in the region, only one of which has received widespread attention. When the Maslon House in Rancho Mirage, a much lauded 1963 home by the Modernist architect Richard Neutra (1892-1970), was destroyed by its new owner earlier this year, it surprised the preservation community; a collective cry of anguish filled newspapers and architectural forums from L.A. to New York. Yet no such outcry occurred at the destruction of two houses last year by the equally renowned Rudolph Schindler (1887-1953)--the 1924 Packard House in San Marino and the 1931 Wolfe House in Avalon, on Catalina Island--the latter despite earlier reports that it had been sold to owners interested in restoring it. No one knew, speakers at the conference admitted. How could such information have passed everyone by?

“We were all shocked by these recent demolitions,” said Ken Bernstein, director of preservation issues for the Los Angeles Conservancy, an L.A. County preservation advocacy group. “We can only respond if we find out. In both of these cases, we never received a phone call.”

Were the actions legal? In these cases, yes. Ordinances limiting tear-down of historic properties exist in only a few cities, among them Los Angeles, the conference’s members made clear. And even those ordinances often can only delay, and not absolutely prevent, destruction of landmark buildings. As a result, many works of architecture remain virtually unprotected from owners who choose to radically alter or destroy them.

Preservation, the speakers pointed out repeatedly, remains a grass-roots effort, where neighbors are often the ones who alert organizations such as the Los Angeles Conservancy to possible danger of demolition. Warnings, these experts say, have come from anyone from a devoted gardener to the preservation-minded seller who has lost control of a once-prized architectural building.

“If we had known even a week before, we might have been able to do something” to save the Neutra and Schindler homes, said Alan Leib, chairman of the Conservancy’s Modern Committee. With public structures, such as the endangered Trails Restaurant on Route 66 in Duarte, people drive by and see that it is closed. Empty buildings tell architecture and history enthusiasts there may be problems ahead, but private residences are often hidden from view and unprotected by such scrutiny. New owners who plan to demolish a historic building are often “way down the road of escrow before preservation people are alerted,” Leib said.

Although progress has been made, thanks to such organizations as the conservancy, whose membership numbers about 7,000 and has grown by 50% in the last four years, according to Bernstein, the problem is long-standing. Neutra’s son Dion Neutra stood up from the audience to say that he has been getting calls about destruction of his father’s legacy since 1972. And the destruction persists nationwide. The National Trust for Historic Preservation recently named “tear-downs in historic neighborhoods” as one of “America’s 11 most endangered historic places” this year.

When a city’s records don’t say which buildings should be treasured, government officials don’t know when not to issue a demolition permit. Yet public embarrassment following such destruction can do great damage to a city’s image. Anger at the widespread news of the loss of Neutra’s Maslon house in Rancho Mirage prompted city officials to begin a historic-resources survey, said Peter Moruzzi, who founded the Palm Springs Modern Committee, an advocacy group for the Coachella Valley, in 1999. This kind of survey, along with preservation ordinances, allows officials to take steps to delay and review any proposed demolitions.

During a break at the L.A. conference, Leib said the issue is even more grave than many realize. “The biggest-name architects represent the smallest percentage of what has been destroyed,” he said. Secondary names are far more vulnerable, and he cited recent works by such Modern architects as Welton David Becket, Kem Weber, Gregory Ain and Wallace Neff that have been irreparably altered or destroyed.

The only answer, participants said, is education. Realtors who recognize that historic architectural properties have a niche market can profit and serve the community simultaneously, Leib said. Selling a landmark building as a tear-down is, he said, “the equivalent of an art dealer selling a Picasso painting as an old canvas that can be reused.”

Public radio station KPCC-FM (89.3) will air the two-hour program in its entirety this morning at 9 on “Airtalk.”