Los Angeles Surveyed
2009 may shape up as a big year for a comprehensive architectural survey of the
City of Los Angeles. SurveyLA started out with a two year initiation program in 2006. Hopefully, the implementation phase will start this year. The survey will cover the years 1860 to 1980 and include buildings, structures, and natural features, along with a few other significant pieces of the city's cultural pie.
Once the survey is finished around 2011, it will be a boon for preservationists,
neighborhood groups, developers and most importantly, anyone who has an interest in the city and its built environment.
flickr; Detail of Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House, Clinton Steeds via flickr /Artwork: designslinger]
The Getty Trust has provided millions of dollars in funding, and the city's largest
preservation organization, The Los Angeles Conservancy, is playing an active, advisory role in the development, planning and implementation of the program. The city's Office of Historic Resources is the lead organization, and if you want information about helping them out click here, or go to the Conservancy's page here. (Go to the LAC main page and become a member!)
This is a gigantic undertaking. As the Historic Resources web page points out:
A comprehensive survey in a city the size of Los Angeles cannot be completed overnight.
Los Angeles comprises 466 square miles and 880,000 separate legal parcels - an area larger
than eight of the nation's largest cities combined.
Chicago did its own architectural survey of the city, which was completed in 1995 after
10 years of effort. The survey identified over 17,000 properties, built before 1940, that were considered architecturally and historically significant. The commitment of time and money is worth every second and penny, if it prevents one more building from having a date with the wrecking ball, without considering its history.
Posted by designslinger at 1/14/2009 9:53 AM 
Categories: Cities, Architecture, History, Architects, Preservation
Categories: Cities, Architecture, History, Architects, Preservation
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