More than a week after Los Angeles’s devastating fires began, the losses to the region’s rich architectural legacy are becoming clearer. The fires have already destroyed more of the county’s built heritage than other single event, according to Adrian Scott Fine, president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Conservancy, which recorded the loss of more than 30 significant structures on its website. That number is growing by the hour as officials, building owners and others make their way into the disaster zones to assess the damage.
The diversity of destruction reveals, in a tragic way, the stunning diversity of the region’s architecture, including Modernist, Beaux-Arts, Spanish Revival, Craftsman, Art Deco, Victorian, postmodern and contemporary buildings.
“That’s what made both the Palisades and Altadena so special,” Fine said. “They were a hodgepodge. It’s what made them so interesting and quirky, and why people loved them.”
The fires were as unpredictable as they were cruel. The celebrated architect Ray Kappe’s 539 W Rustic Road, in Rustic Canyon, was scorched but intact, while his treehouse-like Keeler house, about 10 minutes away, was obliterated. Arguably the region’s most famous modern house, Charles and Ray Eames’s home and studio — designed in 1949 for Arts & Architecture magazine’s Case Study House program — was spared. Though branches had fallen, and its expansive glass windows were covered in fire retardant, the home was largely unharmed.
“We are incredibly lucky,” said Lucia Dewey Atwood, the executive director of the Eames Foundation and a granddaughter of the Eameses.
“What’s made this month’s fires so staggering is the completeness and finality of much of its destruction,” said Ken Bernstein, manager of the city’s Office of Historic Resources. Some notable losses, like Will Rogers’s historic Ranch House, came to light last week. Here are 10 other cherished landmarks that were destroyed in the fires.
Benedict and Nancy Freedman House by Richard Neutra, 1949, Pacific Palisades
For a young couple, both writers, the Austrian-born architect Richard Neutra — one of the region’s most celebrated designers of midcentury Modernist architecture — designed a small sanctuary edging the bluffs of Pacific Palisades. In classic Southern California fashion, Neutra dissolved the boundaries between inside and out and incorporated a flowing, open layout that enabled a new kind of informal living. For Neutra, a home’s ability to connect people to nature — what he called an “exultant dance of interconnectedness” — was paramount. “You could see right through the house,” said his son, Raymond, who remembers the house being built when he was a child. “It was a small house, but opening it up in that way made the functional space much larger.” The home was renovated in 2014 by the architect Peter Grueneisen, who added a partial second story, opening clear views to the ocean.
Park Planned Homes by Gregory Ain, 1946-48, Altadena
Long a place of invention, Altadena lost several notable midcentury landmarks. Conceived by the social-minded architect Gregory Ain and the landscape architect Garrett Eckbo, Park Planned Homes was one of the first Modernist housing developments in the United States. Its 28 residences were grouped in two long, sloping rows, with each residence opening to its own private yard. The prefabricated homes were designed to connect working families to both nature and their neighbors. Laura Begley, who had just moved into a house here in December with her fiancé, said she had been amazed by the cluster’s sense of calm and connection. “It was such a beautiful and serene space,” said Begley, adding, “We immediately got the feeling that we had a really great community we were going to be immersed in.” All but six of the homes were destroyed.
Other midcentury landmarks lost in Altadena’s Eaton fire include the Asia-inspired Lowe House, by the early modernist pioneer Harwell Hamilton Harris, and the Straub House, residence of the noted architect Calvin Straub.
708 House by Eric Owen Moss, 1982, Pacific Palisades
This 600-square-foot house showcased the cheeky creativity of early work by the architect Eric Owen Moss, featuring unexpected angles, flying buttresses and whimsical references to the past. The home’s most visible element was its colorful, graphic facade, with the street address, 7-0-8, delineated on the building’s three street-facing walls. Moss called 708 an “oddity” in his overall portfolio, its diverse components serving as “a kind of illiteracy looking for a language.”
Pasadena Waldorf School/Scripps Hall, Charles W. Buchanan, 1904, Altadena
Scripps Hall, later the K-8 campus of the Pasadena Waldorf School, was an impressive example of the region’s legacy of Craftsman architecture, characterized by natural materials, handcrafted details and intimate links to the landscape. Samuel Glaze, who has taught at the school since 1992, noted its Japanese-influenced pagoda-like roofline and its Asian-inspired landscaping (which had been altered). Designed in 1904 by the prolific Pasadena architect Charles W. Buchanan, it had served as home to members of the Scripps newspaper family and, later, the Kellogg family, owner of the Kellogg’s cereal brands. The five-acre estate was on Mariposa Street, known in the early 20th century as “Millionaire’s Row.” (Other homes along the street that were destroyed in the fires include the writer Zane Grey’s estate and the Andrew McNally House.) In 1986 Scripps Hall, threatened with demolition, was bought by the Pasadena Waldorf School. “It was a wonderful place to come to work,” Glaze said. “I always liked going up the grand staircase.”
Nature Friends Clubhouse, Sierra Madre Canyon, 1924
This quirky, chalet-style building, which just celebrated its 100th birthday, had long brought a feeling of the Austrian Alps to the San Gabriel Valley. Hosting local theater groups, yoga retreats, artists and other free spirits, it was primarily home to the local branch of Nature Friends — a group founded in Vienna in 1895 to provide members with places to enjoy and study nature. The tiered wooden structure, constructed by hand by Austrian and German immigrants, was created floor by floor — each added as the group had more money on hand, said Zak Clark, director of Nature Friends LA. Its quirky details had been added by successive generations, he added. “Thousands have been touched by this magical place over the years,” said Clark, who noted that many had already pledged to volunteer their services to help rebuild. “It will have to be built of something far more durable,” he said.
William D. Davies Memorial Building by Charles H. Kyson, 1934, Altadena
This rustic two-story structure, clad in timber and cobblestone, was named for an Altadena booster, William D. Davies. It was built by the Works Progress Administration, which put millions of people to work during the Great Depression. Ansley Davies, associate curator at the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, remembers this hunting-lodge style residence as “a centerpiece of the community” that hosted summertime concerts, camps and her own cousin’s wedding. “It was really beautiful,” she said. “Kind of magical.”
Altadena Community Church, Harry L. Pierce, 1947, Altadena
The Spanish Colonial Revival church, built in 1947, was designed by the Los Angeles architect Harry L. Pierce, who conceived various revival structures in the area. Judson Studios, a historic Craftsman glassmaking firm in Los Angeles, made its lovely stained glass windows, highlighted by a multicolored rose window depicting Jesus holding a lantern. “Somehow these frugal Congregationalists put up the bucks for these Judson Studios window,” said the Rev. Paul Tellström, its pastor, who called Judson “The Tiffany of the West.” He added, “I could feel that this was a very spiritual place for many people.”
Pacific Palisades Business Block by Clinton Nourse, 1924
The two-story Business Block was a centerpiece of the original development plan for Pacific Palisades by John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., the sons of the landscape visionary Frederick Law Olmsted (co-creator of Central Park). This building, painted pink for a time, was a textbook example of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture by Clinton Nourse, for the Santa Monica Land & Water Company, which funded early development of Pacific Palisades. It recalled an open-air market with shopping, dining and pedestrian access. The Nourse building “was the historic anchor of the Palisades,” said Bernstein of the Office of Historic Resources.
21640 Pacific Coast Highway by Buff and Hensman, 1969, Malibu
Designed by Conrad Buff and Donald Hensman, noted creators of modern residences for Los Angeles’s midcentury rich and famous, this house on Malibu’s La Costa Beach was somewhat out of character — essentially an upscale version of a Malibu Beach shack. Clad in lapped cedar shingles, it connected to a tropical pool and garden via its unfolding form and extra-large windows. But the star of the show here was the panoramic view of the Pacific.
Corpus Christi Church by AC Martin, 1965, Pacific Palisades
The Los Angeles firm AC Martin designed much of modern Los Angeles, including landmarks like City Hall, and the May Company Building (now home to the Academy Museum.) The Corpus Christi Churchdesign, an expressive modernism, was loosely inspired by classical forms. The building’s unique parabolic shape was intended to both reflect its modern time and connect congregants.
Matt Stevens contributed reporting from Los Angeles.