Modern Issues | Los Angeles Conservancy

If you know of a historic Modern place that is threatened with demolition or excessive alteration, please notify us right away at info@laconservancy.org or call (213) 623-2489.

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Photo by Adrian Scott Fine/L.A. Conservancy

Barry Building

Urgent
Through a deliberate act of no maintenance and removal of historic features, the owner is currently seeking demolition and approval by the City of Los Angeles.
Photo by Adrian Scott Fine

Union Bank Square

Saved
Significant for its Corporate International style design and Garret Eckbo landscape, Union Bank Square was the first completed Bunker Hill Urban Renewal development. On February 26, 2020, the City Council voted in support, making this the first Downtown skyscraper to be designated a Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM).
Photo by Adrian Scott Fine/L.A. Conservancy

Verbin Residence

Saved
Built in 1959-60, the Verbin Residence is a Post-War Modernist A-Frame house, with distinctive Polynesian influences. The Conservancy and its Modern Committee have submitted a Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM) nomination for the house.
Covina Bowl, following its closure. Photo by Adrian Scott Fine/L.A. Conservancy

Covina Bowl

Saved
This rare and flamboyant 1956 Googie bowling alley was vacant and previously endangered. A partial preservation approach has now been completed, while the remaining portion of the historic building is awaiting a final reuse.
Photo by Adrian Scott Fine/L.A. Conservancy

CBS Television City

Active
In March 2021, Hackman Capital Partners announced plans to reinvest and build new stages and offices throughout the 25-acre property. In June 2018, it was designated a Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM).
Photo by Hunter Kerhart

Chase Bank / Lytton Savings

Lost
We believe the 8150 Sunset Boulevard project’s fundamental objectives could have been accomplished without demolition of the historic Lytton Savings building.
Photo by Hunter Kerhart

Parker Center/Police Facilities Building

Lost
The Los Angeles City Council voted in support of a plan that paves the way for the destruction of Parker Center, the Modernist former police headquarters built in 1955. It was demolished in 2019.
Photo by Adrian Scott Fine/L.A. Conservancy

Mission Hills Bowl / Citrus Lanes

Saved
In 2016, the 1957 Googie-style Mission Hills Bowl building was adaptively reused as part of a new shopping center.
Demolition underway. Photo by Jessica Hodgdon/L.A. Conservancy

Commonwealth Savings Building

Lost
The loss of this striking building in March 2013 underscores the technical challenges of preserving certain types of structures from the 1960s.
Chuey Residence, as photographed by Julius Shulman. Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

Chuey Residence

Active
This Richard Neutra-designed home now has a path forward for preservation and a new buyer that plans to rehabilitate the Modernist residence.
Postcard from L.A. Conservancy Archives

Hollywood Center Project/Capitol Records Tower

Resolved
The Los Angeles City Council approved the Millennium Hollywood Project in 2013, which will retain the iconic Capitol Records Tower. A new environmental impact report was released in April, 2020 for the Hollywood Center Project.
Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist (2011). Photo by Larry Underhill.

Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist

Saved
Once threatened with redevelopment, the Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist is now safe.
Photo by Larry Underhill

Cinerama Dome

Saved
Once threatened with a plan that would have encased Hollywood's famous geodesic dome, instead a plan emerged in 1998 to showcase the dome and build new construction to the rear.

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Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. - An Initiative of the Getty

Curating the City: Modern Architecture in L.A. is part of Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. This collaboration, initiated by the Getty, brings together seventeen cultural institutions from April through July 2013 for a wide-ranging look at the postwar built environment of the city as a whole, from its famous residential architecture to its vast freeway network, revealing the city’s development and ongoing impact in new ways. Major support for this project has been provided by the Getty Foundation. pacificstandardtimepresents.org.