Preservation Goes to Hollywood
By John Lesak, AIA, LEED-AP, and Richard Sucré | From Preservation | May 15, 2007
At the California Preservation Conference
Credit: Ken Breisch
Paris Hilton's jail sentence took a back seat to the 32nd annual California Preservation Conference for the biggest news in Hollywood in early May. More than 300 preservationists gathered at the 1927 Roosevelt Hotel May 3-6 to focus on adaptive use, modernism, advocacy, and Hollywood itself.
Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti commended the role of preservationists in "bringing the vitality back to unused shells of buildings" in his home district of Hollywood. A one-industry town, it suffers the same pressures of infill and development as other cities. In several sessions, attendees examined Hollywood's specific challenges, such as adapting and repurposing specific-use structures like old movie houses.
Through presentations, study tours, and mobile workshops, the message of perseverance was clear: Older buildings must be put to use or they will be lost to neglect.
At the conference, the American Institute of Architects, Association for Preservation Technology, and National Trust announced a new partnership, which will work with the U.S. Green Building Council to ensure more appropriate accommodation of historic structures in its LEED® green building rating system.
"Preservation is a forward-looking endeavor, as odd as that might sound," says Jay Turnbull, president of San Francisco-based architects Page & Turnbull. "California's preservationists save the best features and ambience of place while leading the profession in finding new ways to make adaptive use economically viable. All the while, they emphasize the inherent sustainability of their work. It is a new perspective on preservation."
Participants heard a bigger, broader, more diverse story of preservation this year, including the need to better serve the preservation objectives of minority communities. One example is to develop more documentation about how, why, and when to retain historic windows. At a reception at Frank Lloyd Wright's theatrical Ennis House, participants saw a work in progress by Historic Resources Group: this 1926 property is under restoration.
Another hot topic this year: Modern buildings present a new range of complexities for owners and preservationists, who must assess whether and how best to preserve these buildings and their aesthetic.
Stephanie Kingsnorth, an associate of Pfeiffer Partners, presented a case study of the $86 million restoration of the Compton Union Building at Washington State University. Since it is sentimental favorite on campus, the university made a conscious decision to renew the building, avoiding the costs of new materials and systems and a longer construction period.
Although Pfeiffer Partners is replacing the Compton Union Building's windows, it is preserving its modernist sensibility and integrating green building design. Many people agreed to expect more of this kind of give-and-take decision-making as mid-20th-century structures come under scrutiny and LEED ratings become increasingly sought.
Conference organizers gave a 2007 President's Award to the Little Manila Foundation for its work to preserve the two-block Little Manila Historic Site in Stockton, Calif., and, in the process, an entire community. Dating to the late 1920s, Little Manila once was home to the largest Filipino population in the country. But segregation was intense, and several blocks of the neighborhood were torn down in the name of urban renewal in the 1950s. A freeway cut through it in the 1960s. For its project, the foundation reached out to mainstream Filipinos and youth, partnering with the popular hip-hop group, Black Eyed Peas, which filmed a video about the early days of Little Manila.
The conference is sponsored by the 31-year-old California Preservation Foundation and several national, state, and local agencies, groups including the California Office of Historic Preservation and the National Trust.
This year's location wasn't entirely irrelevant. "The movies, like the preservation movement, hold up a mirror of who we are, what we believe, our fears and obsessions," said Milford Wayne Donaldson, California state historic preservation officer.
Associate Principal John Lesak heads the Page & Turnbull office in Los Angeles, and Richard Sucré is an Architectural Historian in the San Francisco office.
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