A renovation of the historic Paul Revere Williams-designed Blind Children’s Center (BCC) is underway in Los Angeles. The 80-year-old structure that preceded Williams’s seminal St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis and other hospital designs in Southern California by twenty years is now being remodeled and modernized to match the expanded needs of the BCC community for a new century.

Williams had been living in his now landmarked first residence in Jefferson Park at the time of his commissioning for the project. His design gave the nonprofit its first permanent home during a period of rampant discrimination, thus serving as a built testament to inclusivity.

Now, with support from the Ahmanson, W. M. Keck and Rose Hills Foundations, the BCC’s board of directors says the renovation of the 12,642-square-foot facility is to accomplish the following objectives:

• Remodel four classrooms to add a toddler component to the child care license of serving children from 18 to 36 months in the center-based program
• Update four preschool classrooms and restrooms
• Increase the capacity of the total childcare license
• Implement significant ADA upgrades, such as the addition of an elevator and ramps to the outdoor playgrounds
• Redesign one of the current playgrounds and develop a toddler play yard
• Refurbish shared spaces, including offices, lighting, flooring, plumbing and other infrastructures

“Blind Children’s Center is blessed to own its permanent facility in the heart of Los Angeles,” Sarah Orth, the BCC's chief executive officer, said finally. “Now we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to leverage federal and state funding, and private grants and donations, to modernize the Center and expand our inclusive early learning programs.”

Another major modernization project of Williams's 1967 Pritzker Hall at UCLA was completed recently by CO Architects at a reported cost of $30 million.