Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument

Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are sites which have been designated by the Los Angeles, California, Cultural Heritage Commission as worthy of preservation based on architectural, historic and cultural criteria.

La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles, one of the first Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments that were designated in 1962

History

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The Historic-Cultural Monument process has its origin in the Historic Buildings Committee formed in 1958 by the Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Architects. As growth and development in Los Angeles threatened the city's historic landmarks, the committee sought to implement a formal preservation program in cooperation with local civic, cultural and business organizations and municipal leaders. On April 30, 1962, a historic preservation ordinance proposed by the AIA committee was passed.

The original Cultural Heritage Board (later renamed a commission) was formed in the summer of 1962, consisting of William Woollett, FAIA, Bonnie H. Riedel, Carl S. Dentzel, Senaida Sullivan and Edith Gibbs Vaughan.[1]

The board met for the first time in August 1962, at a time when the owner of the historic Leonis Adobe was attempting to demolish the structure and replace it with a supermarket. In its first day of official business, the board designated the Leonis Adobe and four other sites as Historic-Cultural Monuments.[1][2]

In the commission's first decade of operation (August 1962–August 1972), it designated 101 properties as Historic-Cultural Monuments. By April 2018, there were over 1150 designated properties.[3]

Process

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The designation of a property as a Historic-Cultural Monument does not prevent demolition or alteration. However, the designation requires permits for demolition or substantial alteration to be presented to the commission.[4] The commission has the power to delay the demolition of a designated property for up to one year.

Notable monuments

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Designated LAHCM outside the City of Los Angeles

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HCM #[5] Landmark name[3] Image Date designated[3] Locality[3] Area Description[6]
160 Manzanar   September 15, 1976 Highway 395
36°43′42″N 118°9′16″W / 36.72833°N 118.15444°W / 36.72833; -118.15444 (160. Manzanar War Relocation Center)
Inyo County, California Japanese American internment site, World War II. Located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada in the Owens Valley. Land was owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power when the US Government leased it for the Manzanar concentration camp.

Lists of L.A. Historic-Cultural Monuments

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission (July 1994). Historic-Cultural Monuments. City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.
  2. ^ "History of the Cultural Heritage Commission". preservation.lacity.org. Office of Historic Resources, City of Los Angeles. Archived from the original on September 16, 2010. Retrieved August 27, 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d Department of City Planning. "Designated Historic-Cultural Monuments". City of Los Angeles. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
  4. ^ Dedousis, Anthony (September 7, 2020). "How Los Angeles is preserving its housing crisis". Daily News. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  5. ^ Numbers are as designated by the L.A. Historic-Cultural Monuments program. Blue colors represent higher designations as National Historic Landmarks and listing on the National Register of Historic Places; yellow represents sites that are L.A. Historic-Cultural Monuments without a higher designation. No color represents delisted monuments.
  6. ^ Various sources cited in articles, retrieved on various dates.
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