PRESSED FOR TIME
City commission refuses to recommend historic status for Los Feliz home facing demolition
A century- old house in Los Feliz— one of the few remaining residences designed by the firm of Los Angeles City Hall architect A. C. Martin— could face demolition after a city commission decided Thursday not to recommend making it a historic monument. Such a designation would have given the white clapboard structure added protection against alteration and demolition.
The Kenmore Avenue home, known as the Bartlett house, was designed in the American Colonial Revival style, with Tuscan columns, green rooftop shingles and a balconette below its second floor. A curve in its roof, overlooking the entrance, has the look of a raised eyebrow. It was built for Oswald Bartlett, a Hamburger’s Department Store furniture buyer.
The current owner, developer Elan Mordoch, has sought to demolish the house and replace it with six singlefamily units. In a letter to a city lawyer, his attorney argued that Mordoch had already gotten a demolition permit and other city approvals, has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in anticipation of redeveloping it and was told by a city official that the house needed no historical analysis.
City staffers recommended against deeming it to be a historic monument, saying that although Martin was considered a master architect — his firm is known for iconic Los Angeles designs such as City Hall and the Million Dollar Theatre at Broad--
way and 3rd Street downtown — the house wasn’t a “notable example” of his work.
A firm hired by Mordoch, PCR Services, also argued that the home was a minor, unimportant detour from the commercial and church designs for which the firm was known.
Residents rallying to save the house countered that it was a rare jewel. The Los Angeles Conservancy argued for preserving it, as did historian Charles Fisher, who called the house an excellent example of its style.
A motion by City Council man Tom LaBonge, who asked for the home to be considered as a monument, called it a rare reminder of “the historic development and character of the neighborhood.”
Preserving it would be “a shining example to everyone else that the history of Hollywood is important to this community,” said Doug Haines of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council.
But the Cultural Heritage Commission wasn’t swayed, voting 4 to 0 against making the Bartlett residence a monument.
“Although I highly revere A. C. Martin as an architect … this is not a notable example of his work,” said Commissioner Elissa Scrafano, a licensed architect.
The Los Angeles City Council now has roughly three months to take up the issue and decide if the home should be deemed a historic monument.
If the council does not act, the decision of the cultural commission will stand.
City officials said that until the council acts— or fails to — the demolition will remain on hold.
The house is now ringed by chain- link fencing covered in netting — the kind that routinely appears around construction sites.
“This story isn’t over yet,” said John Schwada, a media consultant representing the residents who oppose demolishing the house. “We’re determined to take this matter up with Tom LaBonge ... and we expect him to help his community.”
Some residents have publicly alleged that political pressure from the office of Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has appointed most of the cultural commission members, is shaping the debate: Los Feliz resident Rosemary De Monte said that an aide to LaBonge told her and other community members that themayor’s office was trying to stop their push to make the house a monument. Mordoch donated $ 1,500 to Garcetti’s campaign for mayor, according to city ethics records.
LaBonge said mayoral aides had spoken to his office about the home, but denied getting any pressure from Garcetti or his staffers to stop pursuing it. When asked about the specific allegations raised by DeMonte and other residents, LaBonge said Thursday that there had been a “miscommunication” between the mayor’s office and one of his aides that had later been resolved.
A spokesman for Garcetti said the mayor had no comment Thursday. Mordoch, who spoke at Thursday’s meeting, told the commissioners that “nothing was swept under the rug” as they tried to determine if the home had historic significance.
“We’ve taken steps in good faith,” Mordoch told the commission.