Los Angeles County is preparing to walk away from one of its most important civic assets on the strength of a deeply flawed cost estimate. The County’s push to vacate—and potentially demolish—the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration in favor of the Gas Company Tower rests on a single, unusually elaborate base-isolation retrofit scheme priced at roughly $700 million, presented as if no other seismic solution exists. Yet experienced engineers and preservation professionals point to more conventional methods, routinely used on comparable buildings that could make the Hall safe for a fraction of that amount.​ A recent Los Angeles Times story highlights this issue. Read our November 5, 2025 letter here.

A landmark worth keeping

The Hall of Administration is not just another office building; it is the architectural and symbolic heart of Los Angeles County government. Designed in association with Paul Revere Williams as part of the 1947 Civic Center Master Plan, the 1960 Late Moderne landmark anchors the westward expansion of the Civic Center and frames today’s Grand Park. It spans two city blocks, with grand porticos, landscaped forecourts, Italian marble interiors, and gold-glazed terra cotta sculpture panels by Albert Stewart, and it has already earned listing in the California Register and eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places.​

The cost of needless demolition

Razing a structurally sound, million-square-foot civic building would squander public dollars, erase a key work in Los Angeles’ mid-century architectural legacy, and undercut the integrity of the Civic Center Historic District. It would also carry enormous environmental costs, discarding decades of embodied energy while forcing the County to replace space it already owns—directly contradicting stated goals around sustainability and climate responsibility.​

A smarter, public-first approach

Instead of treating demolition as a foregone conclusion, the County should pause any such plans and commission an independent, transparent reassessment of the Hall’s true seismic and rehabilitation needs by qualified professionals. That process must weigh a full range of retrofit options, along with the building’s civic, environmental, and historic value, with findings made public before irreversible decisions are made. Angelenos deserve a future in which the Hall of Administration continues to serve as a modernized, safe, and vibrant seat of County government—not as a cautionary tale of avoidable loss.​

The Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration has long been understood to be a historic site and a key anchor of the Civic Center Historic District. We believe the County has a responsibility to maintain and steward this important asset.