Council to debate whether civic center is historic
At least one elected official doesn’t think the 55-year-old civic center should be considered a landmark as one city commission has suggested.
Councilman Herb Katz’s has appealed the city’s landmark commission that designated the Santa Monica Civic Center Auditorium as a historic landmark. The issue will be debated by the Santa Monica City Council Tuesday.
City officials want to bestow landmark status on the auditorium for its unique architecture and for hosting significant cultural events throughout its history.
But Katz believes the auditorium is an antiquated theater badly in need of a complete renovation, lacking in both architectural significance and character.
Landmark officials say the building does have a unique architectural style, which was designed by a well-known local architect, and has acoustics designed by a famous UCLA dean.
The auditorium once hosted the Academy Awards and over the years, many famous musical acts played to cheering fans. Recently the auditorium has been out of commission.
“It’s an icon. It’s a building that by anyone’s definition is a landmark,” said Ruthann Lehrer, a landmarks commissioner. “Either by its design or by the events that have occurred there, this is a very special building.”
City staff, after studying the building’s history and getting an independent analysis, are recommending the city preserve the building’s exterior as well as the lobbies, the wood paneling, and the main hall.
But Katz said just because the building is old doesn’t mean it’s historic. That’s why he appealed the November decision of the landmark’s commission.
“We can do much better today. We know a lot more about acoustics and sound than we did in the 1950s and we could drastically improve the building,” Katz said. “Parts of the front of the building are impressive, but the rest of the building is really just a box.”
“We can do much better today. We know a lot more about acoustics and sound than we did in the 1950s and we could drastically improve the building.” — — HERB KATZ Santa Monica City Councilman
Katz also pointed out that the city is in the process of redesigning the entire civic center as part of a $120 million plan and preserving the auditorium could interfere with those plans.
City staff members say the landmark designation would not interfere with plans to renovate the civic center area.
“Changes would have to be analyzed on a case by case basis. The city is looking to the future and enhancing the functionality of the auditorium as well as the economic stability of the building,” said city senior planner Kimberly Christensen. “Yes, in some instances there would be a higher threshold in design sensitivity, but that doesn’t mean long term plans for the area are impossible.”
Officials say assigning landmark status to the auditorium would still allow the building to be renovated, and additional costs would me minimal.
“It does not prevent changes. It only manages how they are done,” said Lehrer. “They need to be respectfully done and consistent with existing architectural features, but certainly change is a dynamic in an urban environment and landmark status would take that into account.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 6, 2002. Read the original PDF.