An overlooked design from one of Southern California’s most respected midcentury designers, Richard Neutra’s Mariners Medical Arts building in Newport Beach, California, was restored thanks to Los Angeles-based ShubinDonaldson. 

The project for client Burnham-Ward Properties sought to bring the three-pavilion design as close to its original appearance as possible. Key elements include the re-installation of water features that had been removed in the early 1970s. 

ADA accessibility upgrades, new drought-resilient landscaping, LED lighting, and other environmental improvements were equally vital in achieving the developer’s aim to once again establish Neutra’s design as an architectural superlative of the Orange County enclave.

“Having admired Mariners Medical Arts for decades, it has been an honor for me to be part of the team trusted to restore the building as originally designed by Neutra,” Shubin Donaldson Principal Sieglind Pukke said. “Working collaboratively with Chattel, Inc, a Historic Preservation Consultant, while utilizing original building drawings and many historic photographs, allowed the team to rehabilitate much of the structure with its original details and features.”

It has the same features (expressionistic louvering, rectangular volumes, and the reflecting pool) used in other local Neutra designs, including the library his late son Dion made for the city of Newport Beach and the elder Richard’s 1969 Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

“Our initial effort was to maintain the architectural intent, period,” Burnham-Ward's Stephen Thorp summarized to the LA Times recently. “That was the goal and then … through our efforts with the city, the original building plans and a lot of the historical photographs, we were able to see exactly what the intent was of the architecture at that point in time and our effort was purely to bring it back to life with providing some additional upgrades."

The group also expressed a desire to apply for the property to receive a historic landmark designation in the near future.