Preservation and Loss of Philharmonic Building

The article about the demolition of the Philharmonic Auditorium (April 5), “Wreckers’ Ball Brings Down Final Curtain at Auditorium,” implied that preservationists were either asleep or indifferent to the fate of that landmark. This is a most erroneous impression.

By the time the case was presented for final review before the Cultural Heritage Board in March, 1984, all the evaluation had already taken place on the issue of preservation. Neither the board nor the public objected to issuance of a demolition permit because there was in fact no feasible way for the auditorium to survive. Once the Pershing Square project had been approved, the inevitable result was that the auditorium would come down.

The Los Angeles Conservancy had been monitoring this issue for several years, and was certainly unhappy about several aspects of the Pershing Square Center project besides the loss of the Philharmonic. The beautiful Federal Title Building with a striking frieze of figures sculpted on its facade would also go. And the scale of the entire project seemed far too massive and bulky for the framework of Pershing Square. The one good thing was the renovation of the art deco Title Guarantee Building at the corner of Fifth and Hill.

The Philharmonic Auditorium, although a cultural landmark, had many physical drawbacks, making rehabilitation and reuse difficult. The survival of large urban theaters generally is one of the hardest challenges for preservation, but we knew of two recent great successes: the renovation of the Embassy Theater at Ninth and Grand and the rebirth of the Wiltern Theater at Western and Wilshire. The Wiltern, an art deco jewel with 2,300 seats--the same size as the Philharmonic--is an architectural masterpiece worthy of prominence in the theater marketplace. The Philharmonic had little architectural significance aside from some Sullivanesque ornament in the interior, and had been denied listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Los Angeles is rich in architecturally significant theaters, and boasts the only Theater Historic District in the United States, on Broadway. Thirteen theaters in a six-block stretch encompass movie palaces dating from the nickelodeon to the birth of the talkies. They thrive today by catering to Los Angeles’s burgeoning Spanish-speaking population.

The Los Angeles Conservancy is currently fighting for the survival of the La Reina Theater in the San Fernando Valley, also a city cultural landmark. Threatened by a proposed retail development, this case is especially frustrating because a viable new use for the theater has emerged--a home for the expanding Back Alley Theater, and rebirth as a live theater.

Although the losses of cultural landmarks are painful, Los Angeles can be proud of many outstanding examples of successful preservation, most of which never make headlines. Just in the downtown, we have Firehouse 28, the Federal Reserve Bank, the Los Angeles Actors Theater, the Garfield Building, the Embassy, the Bradbury, the Oviatt, the Central Library and others.

Preservation is much more than theatrical demonstrations in front of demolition sites and sentimental wringing of the hands. The land-use issues, development pressures and reuse considerations are challenging questions that generally last for several years and which the Conservancy does not hesitate to deal with.

We have worked hard to cultivate a greater “preservation awareness” in Los Angeles and have seen come recent progress. Some developers, with projects like the Wiltern, Library Square, and the Biltmore Hotel, have shown how the rehabilitation of historic buildings can strengthen the entire development concept. We look forward to the day when this is the standard rather than the exception.

RUTHANN LEHRER

Executive Director

Los Angeles Conservancy