Century Plaza reservations

There’s not much doubt that the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel, a concrete-and-glass crescent on Avenue of the Stars in Century City, is a historic place, if by “historic” one means a place where the makers of history have gathered. It became a home base for presidents and world leaders visiting Los Angeles after its completion in 1966. But is a building historic because of the people who have passed through it, or because of its architectural significance?

If it’s the latter, the Century Plaza may be in trouble. It is one of many mid-century buildings in Los Angeles in the path of the wrecking ball, in part because buildings must be more than 50 years old to merit a spot on the National Register of Historic Places unless they’re deemed to be of “exceptional significance.” That will make it hard for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which last week listed the hotel among the nation’s 11 most-endangered historic places, to stop plans by owner Michael Rosenfeld to tear down the structure and replace it with a $2-billion mixed-use complex that would include two 50-story towers.

We’ll leave it to the architects, historians and politicians to determine whether the Century Plaza should be saved. Yet we are concerned about government’s cavalier approach to important mid-century architecture. Winning official protection for newer buildings is difficult, and that’s a particularly serious problem in Los Angeles. Many of the world’s most important architects flocked here in the middle of the last century, and more of their works vanish every year. The 50-year milestone is arbitrary and has nothing to do with a structure’s true worth.

Unfortunately, instead of battling over important questions of historic or architectural significance, preservationists and the developer are in a contest to see which side is “greener.” Rosenfeld claims the project will be highly energy efficient and make the neighborhood more pedestrian friendly. Richard Moe, head of the National Trust, counters that tearing the hotel down and building new towers in its place would use so much energy and generate so much pollution that it would take 50 years for the more environmentally friendly structures to make up for the damage. This is just political opportunism on both sides; as local and federal lawmakers become more sensitive to environmental concerns, interest groups from across the spectrum are jumping on the bandwagon. When it comes to historic preservation, we’d like to hear more about Greene & Greene, and less about green.