BARLOW RESPIRATORY HOSPITAL

Photo by LAC staff

Environmental review commenced in late 2009 for a massive project that would completely transform, and largely destroy, the historic Barlow Hospital in Elysian Park.

The hospital was established in 1902 as a tuberculosis sanatorium, and its bucolic setting with fresh air and open space was a key element of treatment. The twenty-five-acre hillside campus contained administrative and medical offices; patient bungalows with sleeping porches; dining, laundry, and recreational facilities; and workshops for occupational therapy. The site has thirty-two separate “contributing” (historic) buildings dating from 1902 to 1952, mostly in the Craftsman and Spanish Colonial Revival styles. It has been recognized as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 504, and a historic resources evaluation in 1992 found the site eligible for listing as a National Register historic district.

Historic image of Barlow Hospital; photo from LAC archives

The hospital administration has previously considered demolition of significant structures on the site to accommodate a larger, more functional new facility. In 2006, the hospital solicited proposals to redevelop the site and help fund the construction of a new hospital that would meet rigorous state seismic requirements for hospitals that were adopted after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Although no development partner has been identified, the hospital is pursuing zoning changes and approvals through the environmental impact report (EIR) process. The proposed project would replace the existing hospital with a new fifty-six-bed acute care hospital and an administrative/support facility. The rest of the large site would be subdivided for 888 multi-family residential units totaling more than one million square feet. Of the thirty-two identified historically significant buildings, only nine would be retained in a small “historical zone.”

Williams Farinella Hall; photo by LAC staff