Archinect - News

Los Angeles Conservancy CEO Linda Dishman explains the resurgence of preservation efforts in the last 30 years

2023-11-03T17:38:00-04:00

Preservation has really become more of a commonly held value. I think of my first years, when we were fighting to save the Herald Examiner building. Fighting to save the Ambassador Hotel. Fighting to save the May Company. The Herald Examiner was going to be torn down for a parking lot, which seems so strange now. But that’s how little value people placed on these buildings and their history.

Linda Dishman’s tenure at the helm of the Los Angeles Conservancy has seen major gains for the preservation of Paul Revere Williams’ nearly forgotten legacy, the LA Coliseum, and several important Welton Becket designs, among other newsworthy accomplishments. Adrian Scott Fine will replace her in December. Dishman said she anticipates a better climate for her predecessor, adding that she personally counts the Ambassador Hotel’s demolition and preservation of the Cathedral of Saint Vibiana downtown as the LAC’s biggest wins and losses, respectively.

Paul R. Williams' first LA home finally gains historic monument status

2022-02-17T14:31:00-05:00

Encouraging news for preservationists and Paul Revere Williams fans as local news outlets are reporting that the architect's first Los Angeles home, bought under the auspices of segregation, has now officially been named a Historic-Cultural Monument by the city's Cultural Heritage Commission.

The Jefferson Park home had been listed in early September for $1.6 million, prompting several local groups to petition commissioners for the designation which now gives the body the formal ability to delay any future demolition efforts for at least a year.

Williams bought the home in 1921 and used it as his principal residence until he moved to Lafayette Park in 1952. His move-in coincided with the opening of his Hollywood Masonic Temple. Commissioner Gail Kennard said the home‘s significance had more to do with the housing covenants that essentially forced the then 27-year-old architect into the neighborhood where he resided over a prolific output that yielded some of Los Angeles' most iconic...

An early Paul R. Williams house is on the market as conservationists push for monument status

2021-09-06T10:00:00-04:00

A home belonging to one of Los Angeles’ most storied architects is now one step closer to being saved following a unanimous vote by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission.

The Jefferson Park home was Paul Revere Williams’ principal residence for nearly 30 years and has been listed on the market for $1.6 million. The Los Angeles Conservancy submitted an application to the Commission wherein it cited the historic value of the home, which Williams inhabited during his rise to prominence in the city’s busy interwar period. The site “illustrates a part of Paul Revere Williams' life and story that is rarely told or fully understood,” according to a Los Angeles NBC affiliate.

Many of Williams’ houses have been mistakenly demolished owing to the fact that many of his business records, which were kept in a bank vault in nearby South Central Los Angeles, were destroyed when the branch was burned to the ground as part of 1992’s LA Riots.

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California launches state historic tax credit program

2019-11-11T19:42:00-05:00

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Senate Bill 451 into law, creating a new statewide historic rehabilitation tax credit incentive to help spur the reuse of existing historic buildings.

According to the Los Angeles Conservancy website, the bill builds on previous historic tax credit advocacy work pursued by the California Preservation Foundation (CPF) and the American Institute of Architects California (AIA California) organization, and makes California the 37th state to have its own rehabilitation tax credit program. Under the program, projects that reuse historic buildings will receive a "dollar for dollar reduction in tax liability" to help make these types of difficult and costly projects financially viable.

The Conservancy reports that between 2002 and 2016, the Federal Historic Preservation Tax incentive program helped fund 169 projects worth a total of $2.8 billion in California alone. A third of these projects, according to the group, "have improved or helped crea...