USC MASTER PLAN

The Latest
Background on the Issue
The Conservancy's Efforts
About the Campus

The Latest

University Religious Center (Killingsworth, Brady & Associates, 1964). Photo by LAC staff.

In December 2012, the Los Angeles City Council certified the final environmental impact report (EIR) and approved the University of Southern California’s 20-year development plan of its campus and surrounding areas. The University of Southern California (USC) was very responsive to the Conservancy’s concerns regarding historic resources on its campus and has committed to maintaining the California Register eligibility of its core campus historic district.

Background on the Issue

In May 2010, USC released the draft EIR for a master plan to guide development on and around the University Park campus over the next twenty years.

The proposed master plan encompasses the University Park campus, as well as USC-owned land in an industrial area just east of the 110 Freeway and the University Village area north of campus.

The draft EIR identifies about two dozen potential development sites that affect roughly thirty buildings and several vacant sites on the main campus. Four of the sites are occupied by buildings that have been identified as eligible for individual listing in the California Register of Historical Resources:

• University Club (Faculty Center) (A. Quincy Jones & Frederick Emmons, 1960)


• Olin Hall of Engineering (William L. Pereira & Associates, 1963)


• Registration Building (Ladd & Kelsey, 1963)


• University Religious Center (Killingsworth, Brady & Associates, 1964)

These buildings were designed by major Southern California architects who were also faculty and/or alumni of USC’s renowned School of Architecture.

Detail of the Ahmanson Center for Biological Research (William L. Pereira & Associates, 1964). Photo by LAC staff.

They are also contributors to a California Register-eligible historic district encompassing the historic core of the USC campus as well as its significant postwar development through 1976. In particular, William Pereira, a distinguished Southern California architect, played a crucial role in the development of USC over the years, designing a number of buildings and the 1960s master plans.

In addition to the four buildings above, six other buildings that contribute to the California Register-eligible historic district overlap with potential development sites:

• Stonier Hall (William H. Mead, 1927)


• Ahmanson Center for Biological Research (William L. Pereira & Associates, 1964)


• Booth Ferris Memorial Hall (William L. Pereira & Associates, 1964)


• Charles Lee Powell Hall (William L. Pereira & Associates, 1973)


• Stauffer Hall of Science (William L. Pereira & Associates, 1965)


• Hazel and Stanley Hall Building (Samuel E. Lunden & Joseph L. Johnson, 1976)

While the university has stated that it doesn’t anticipate developing all identified sites, the potential loss of up to ten of forty-eight contributing structures could jeopardize the historic district’s continued eligibility for listing.

An eleventh California Register-eligible building targeted as a potential development site is not on the main campus, but on USC-owned land just east of the 110 Freeway.

This 1927 Art Deco industrial building, called the Downtown Shopping News Factory/National Guard Building, was designed by the renowned local architecture firm Morgan, Walls & Clements. It is one of the few remaining resources reflecting the area’s industrial history and is currently used for storage.

The Conservancy's Efforts

Olin Hall of Engineering (William L. Pereira & Associates, 1963). Photo by LAC staff.

The Conservancy commented on the draft EIR in July 2010, urging USC to eliminate or reduce the number of historic resources targeted as potential development sites. At the very least, the university should evaluate the feasibility of reuse through additional environmental review when a replacement project is proposed for any of these sites. The full EIR and other documents related to the USC development plan are available online below.

USC Development Plan Documents and EIR

Conservancy staff met with USC representatives to discuss our concerns. USC had also received letters from alumni, the public, and USC architectural faculty about the potential loss of historic resources on campus, particularly the University Religious Center. To their credit, the school was responsive to the outcry.

In the final EIR released in July 2011, Olin Hall and the University Religious Center were removed from the list of potential development sites, reducing the number of threatened contributing structures on the main campus to eight. USC also prioritized maintaining the eligibility of the California Register historic district as part of its mitigation. Specific guidelines for rehabilitation of historic resources and compatible new construction in the historic district are outline in its Adaptive Mitigation Management Approach (AMMA) document. USC also strengthening the AMMA by including a procedure to review projects that impact historic resources on campus, and if demolition or extensive alterations is proposed, additional environmental review will be conducted.

Some historic resources may still ultimately be lost, including the University Faculty Club and the Registration Building. Nonetheless, we believe the process outlined in the AMMA will protect the historic district in the long run by discouraging development of sites with historic buildings while instituting a preservation-oriented approach to decision-making that ensures the district’s continued eligibility.

This multi-layer approach to managing a large collection of historic resources over the course of a 20-year master plan establishes a model for others to follow. We appreciate USC’s willingness to work with the Conservancy to protect the architectural legacy of its campus. In addition, the school will rehabilitate the 1927 Art Deco Downtown Shopping News Factory building along the 110 Freeway, and incorporate a 1949 Late Moderne fire station into its new University Village development.

About the Campus

Registration Building (Ladd & Kelsey, 1963). Photo by LAC staff.

Founded in 1880 on what was then the outskirts of Los Angeles, USC is the city’s second oldest college. Three main periods of development are visible on today’s campus:

• The Beaux Arts tradition of a 1919 plan by legendary architect John Parkinson


• A 1946 plan by Arthur Gallion that introduces the influences of modernism


• 1960s master plans by renowned Southern California architect William Pereira

While many people most closely associate USC with the grand, Romanesque Revival buildings from the Parkinson era, the campus’ most significant growth occurred after World War II.

As a result, the campus boasts a wide assortment of mid-century modern resources by noted architects, with designs ranging from the International Style to New Formalism that adhere to the school’s brick-and-concrete palette.

In 1994, a National Register-eligible historic district was identified within the core campus, focusing primarily on buildings from the Parkinson era and ranging from 1880 to 1944. The California Register-eligible district identified in the draft EIR expands the boundaries and timeframe of the National Register-eligible district to encompass all three main periods of campus development.