This is pretty last minute, but I just found out about a historic building in West Hollywood that could be demolished as part of a proposed development. I hadn’t heard anything about it until I opened up my e-mail this afternoon. A friend forwarded a message to let me know that this structure, designed by Wurdeman & Becket back in the thirties, might be wiped off the map unless we take immediate action.
The building, located at 9080 Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood, was originally the Jones Dog and Cat Hospital. Architects Walter Wurdeman and Welton Becket created a classic example of the streamline moderne style to house the veterinarian’s practice. As a firm, Wurdeman and Becket were active in the thirties and forties, their most famous creation being the Pan-Pacific Auditorium, which burned to the ground many years ago. After Wurdeman’s death, Becket’s new firm, Welton Becket & Associates went on to design some of the city’s most striking structures and played a huge role in defining the look of mid-century Los Angeles.
For more info about the building, click on this link.
And then if you decide you want to tell the West Hollywood City Council how you feel about this, here’s another link. See the left hand column for contact info.
Save the SMB Streamline Moderne
LA has made great strides in preservation over the last several years, but we’re still losing important parts of our past. The recent demolition of a building by Morgan, Walls & Clements on La Brea was a shock, and should be reminder to those of us who care about our city’s culture that we need to be vigilant and vocal.
The Horizon and the Skyline 