By Jonathan Friedman
September 15, 2009 -- A building that once was home to a bohemian arts community and later became the initial site of a famous architectural school was unable to pass the City Council test for landmark designation.
At its meeting last week, the council voted 5 to 2 to overturn the Landmarks Commission’s decision to give the highest historic status to the tin and concrete building located at the corner of Nebraska Avenue and Berkeley Street.
Mayor Pro Tem Pam O’Connor, whose day job is in historic preservation, sided Tuesday with the city staff report that the building had been "significantly altered" through the years.
“To keep a building that no longer reflects the heritage as embodied and reflected in such improvements, I think goes contrary to the purpose, the real basis of our" landmarks ordinance, O’Connor said.
The staff report recommended the council reject the Landmarks Commission's conclusion that the building met the "architectural characteristics" criterion for landmark designation, but that the property still be named a landmark because it was the original home of SCI-Arc, a famous architectural school founded by Ray Kappe.
The building has a long and colorful history. It was known as “Drescherville” when it was an arts community, named after inventor and philanthropist John Drescher, who built the structure nearly 60 years ago.
Drescher, who invented the mechanism that helped drop the atomic bomb on Japan, also built a three-level bomb shelter on the site.
But the main reason for the building being up for landmark status is because of its association with SCI-Arc and Kappe. The architect founded the school in 1972, and it remained at the Santa Monica location for 20 years. The institute is now located in Downtown Los Angeles.
Mayor Ken Genser, who was associated with the school in its early years, said he did not think the structure ever represented SCI-Arc or Kappe, who is famous for his large homes.
“I think that it was a convenience that SCI-Arc was in that building,” Genser said. “SCI-Arc looked for cheap space, cheap open flexible space. And that’s what they found.”
City Council member Kevin McKeown, who cast a dissenting vote along with Council member Bobby Shriver, agreed the structure did not qualify under the ordinance’s criterion on architectural characteristics.
But he said it did meet the standards for two other criteria, including that the structure be “identified with historic personages or with important events in local, state or national history.”
This is despite the fact that Kappe himself told the city’s historic preservation consultant, PCR Services Corp., that the structure is not significant.
“Our Landmarks Ordinance does not require Mr. Kappe like the building or feel that it represents his life,” McKeown said. “Our Landmarks Ordinance says that (it) is identified with historic personages or with important events.”
Several council members who voted against designating the structure as a landmark said a commemoration in the form of plaque or some other means should be placed at the site to note that it was once the SCI-Arc building. There is currently no City policy on doing this.
The future of the site, which is owned by developer Neil Shekhter, is uncertain. His most recent plan to build 623 “affordable” units there has struggled to make it through the city planning system.
