Los Angeles is a cornucopia of sites and experiences. However, beyond the city's experiential characteristics it's also home to an elaborate collection of historical landmarks and structures. This week the Los Angeles Conservancy announced its 2019 Preservation Award Recipients. The selected projects reflect a wide range of efforts to preserve L.A. County's architectural heritage. 

Since 1982, the Los Angeles Conservancy has reviewed and recognized historical structures that represent excellence in the field of historic preservation. A selected jury comprised of experts in architecture, historic preservation, and community development are chosen to award winners in various categories. Some categories include rehabilitation, sensitive restoration, adaptive reuse, as well as special Chair's Award for exceptional contributions. 

What started as a nonprofit membership organization in the late 1970s, the Los Angeles Conservancy had dedicated their time and efforts through education and advocacy to recognize, preserve, and revitalize the historical and architecture and cultural resources of Los Angeles County.

Below are this year's award recipients:

Chair's Award Winner: Vibiana | Redbird

The effort to save the Cathedral of St. Vibiana was a defining moment for Los Angeles preservation. Its creative adaptive reuse solution continues to serve as a model for projects across the region. The former Cathedral of St. Vibiana, now known simply as Vibiana, opened in 1876. Designed by architect Ezra F. Kysor, one of Los Angeles’ first practicing architects, the cathedral was a stunning work of architecture in a town still emerging from its pueblo origins.

Renowned architect John C. Austin enlarged the structure in 1924 and created a new Main Street façade fashioned from Indiana limestone. St. Vibiana’s Cathedral was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #17 in 1963.

Project Award Winners

Asian Americans in Los Angeles Historic Context Statements
Location: Los Angeles
These documents provide an important framework for evaluating historic places associated with L.A.’s rich (but too often overlooked) Asian American heritage.

A.V. Walberg Residence & Adjoining Properties
Location: Highland Park - Garvanza
This visionary project serves as a creative example of how we can balance the need for adding density to L.A.’s neighborhoods while still respecting a neighborhood’s historic character.

Beverly Fairfax Historic District National Register Nomination
Location: Beverly Fairfax
A successful grassroots effort to list one of L.A.’s most prominent Jewish enclaves in the National Register of Historic Places celebrates the community and heritage that formed within this tight-knit community. 

Bradbury House
Location: Pacific Palisades
This extraordinary rehabilitation of a cultural landmark fueled by a family’s passion to protect it for the next generation.

Google Playa Vista
Location: Playa Vista
This stunning project brought a hub of innovation back to life for a new generation of tech giants.

Los Angeles Union Station
Location: downtown Los Angeles
This five-year rehabilitation project ensures that the crown jewel of L.A.’s transportation system will continue to serve generations of Angelenos.

William Andrews Clark Memorial
Location: West Adams
This creative design solution to a historic library proves that preservation and modernization can coexist.

Learn more about the selected projects  and the Los Angeles Conservancy here.