Garfield finds blueprint for rebuilding

Plans and blueprints dating from 1924 of Garfield High School’s burned-out auditorium have been locked away in Los Angeles Unified School District vaults, and it is hoped that the building can be rebuilt to its original historic details, officials said Wednesday.

Days after the suspicious blaze shocked the East Los Angeles community that had seen the auditorium as part of its historic firmament, there were glimmers of promise that the building might rise again to approximate its glory days. District officials are coordinating celebrity fundraisers, preparing for insurance claims and have appointed a staff member to field offers of support pouring in from alumni and elsewhere.

Perhaps most important are the original design and technical drawings as well as plans from subsequent modernization, restoration and earthquake-damage repair projects. In addition to hard copies, a CD of the documents was being prepared for the district’s design team.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina said Wednesday that the county will assemble a special team to expedite the review and permit process for rebuilding. School officials said that plans should include competitive bids from firms with experience in historic preservation.

“They found the 1924 drawings, and every other architectural change is in our hands, and I think that’s an exciting piece of hope after the devastation of the fire,” said school board member David Tokofsky. “I’m confident of our legal and insurance team, and if the [insurance] contract is what we think it would be, we should be rebuilding back to the richness of that historic building and not a cafetorium or shopping-mall quick build. We’re not going to do CityWalk Garfield as long as I’m alive.”

The auditorium, built in 1925, suffered $30 million in damage in a three-alarm blaze that began around 7:15 a.m. Sunday. Investigators from the Los Angeles County sheriff’s and fire departments as well as Los Angeles school police were searching for the arsonists.

It is believed the fire started in the auditorium, burning and charring the arched proscenium, handcrafted wooden seating, the paneled ceiling festooned with decorative plaster and valuable Depression-era chandeliers.

It also damaged 10 classrooms and several offices.

Although classes have resumed for some 3,500 students, the school’s communications and computer systems were still knocked out Wednesday and teachers and staff were using district-supplied cellphones and laptops to communicate, said Principal Omar Mario Del Cueto.

The school’s bell system was working only intermittently, forcing the staff to sound the bells manually to signal class changes. On the way were eight temporary bungalows, which will be set up on the tennis courts to house classes uprooted from damaged rooms. In the meantime, a large space in the shop building was housing five of the classes with the use of a large partition lent by Wilson High, Del Cueto said.

In a U.S. history class, students viewed a tape of camera stills put together by Del Cueto during the fire, showing the burned-out auditorium and firefighters at work. Del Cueto said he hopes the viewings will satiate the curiosity of students and keep them from attempting to enter the area, which is roped off.

The auditorium is connected to the school’s three-story main building, the heart of the campus, and the immediate concern is to “stabilize the auditorium so it’s safe to reoccupy the main building,” said LAUSD architecture and design chief Richard Luke. “Then we’ll see if what remains is salvageable and we can rebuild or if we have to start from scratch, which will take time.”

Today, students will begin a round of state testing, and school officials hope to motivate them to raise their test scores with cheerleaders in uniform and a pep rally.

“One of my commitments in coming to this campus was to raise the academic performance of students, and then this happens,” Del Cueto said. “We’re trying to recover the momentum in a very short period of time so that tests will really reflect where our students are.”

carla.rivera@latimes.com