Mid-century landmark demolished

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Top left: The Lytton Savings Building in the early 1960s. Right: The building’s demolition this week. (Photo by Vintage Los Angeles [@alisonmartino]. Left: Frank Gehry’s plans for the property.

The Lytton Savings building at 8150 Sunset Blvd. was finally demolished this week after years of planning and protest.

Designed by architect Kurt Meyer in 1960, the building is among Los Angeles’ Historic-Cultural Monuments (HCM). It was most recently occupied by Chase Bank.

In its place will be a noteworthy building of its own designed by famed architect Frank Gehry, who created the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

Located on the southwest corner of Crescent Heights and Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, just a few feet over the West Hollywood border, the complex will provide 203 residential units and approximately 57,300 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

Gehry’s latest designs seem to appear like glass blocks stacked on top of one another. This replaces the previous whimsical version with buildings of different heights and styles.

“I was fascinated with the frameless glass aesthetic. With this technology, I wanted to make the buildings look like glass blocks,” Gehry said in a statement. “This is a building system that has not much been used in building residential towers. It seemed that we could make a crystalline sculpture out of the buildings so that when it all went together, it had a unity and simplicity about it.”

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Construction is set to begin sometime in 2021 and be completed in 2023. The 8150 Sunset complex will replace the strip mall and bank building currently on the site. The shopping center was constructed in 1961. Prior to that, the famed Garden of Allah residential hotel sat on the site.

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[…] The property was once home to the Garden of Allah, a cloistered resort for the A-List of Hollywood’s Golden Age. For the last 10 years, the city of Los Angeles and Townscape Partners have tried to jumpstart a major project on the valuable corner. Renderings for the Gehry-designed building were released last year after the historic Lytton Savings Building and the nearby shopping strip with one of the only two McDonald’s adjacent to WeHo were demolished. […]

Shanno o
Shanno o
3 years ago

Moving towards stack and packs for mega citys

Vigilent
Vigilent
3 years ago

There are soon to be two intense projects on Crescent Heights at the NW & NE corners of Fountain compliments of Patrick Tighe and the IJAF & IJAC. Yes, the folks that brought years of disruption to the neighborhood until the City was sued over their presumed parking structure adjacent to 1307 N. Crescent Heights which the City Council wrongly decided. Now they appear to have returned with a vengeance and their choice of architects seems to be one that cares more about shining the light on himself with “iconic buildings” rather than benefitting the neighborhood. The Planning Department seems… Read more »

B C
B C
3 years ago
Reply to  Vigilent

Interested to know what is planned on these two corners. Could someone point me to some reading? Thank you

Teo
Teo
3 years ago

Much easier to destroy a building than incorporate it. This is going to be a nightmare during construction and just wait for the horror that corner will be when complete. Traffic will back up and down Crescent Heights during rush hour. No one cares about the impact on the community.

WeHoMikey
WeHoMikey
3 years ago

The shopping center was certainly nothing of note architecturally. Strictly functional, built at minimal cost with no design flourish, it was a box with lots of doors and plumbing, ready to be subdivided again (and again) for tenants coming and going. The bank, on the other hand, was designed and built with many eye-catching features, so that the building itself was the landmark that marketed the bank to every passer-by. It was also unmolested after some 60 years. I’m sad it couldn’t be incorporated into the new project; instead we’ll have what appears at street level to be a giant… Read more »

Saltwater
Saltwater
3 years ago

Another Gehry nightmare. I find his work unimpressive and disposable.

Martin Pal
Martin Pal
3 years ago
Reply to  Saltwater

Exactly. And his buildings always look out of place in the locations they’re built. Ugh.

Scott Sigman
Scott Sigman
3 years ago

Happily we roll along. The whole strip mall gone, worth losing a building.
What was there prior to the strip mall? I guess that area wasn’t historical.
buildings come and go, and some are dangerously tittering on. the edge of a fault

Art
Art
3 years ago
Reply to  Scott Sigman

Garden of Allah. Don’t comment when it’s clear you haven’t read the entire article.

Last edited 3 years ago by Art
Jamie Francis
Jamie Francis
3 years ago

In hindsight to vigilants comment, I hope & say to the developers and Frank Gehry that this does not create over gentrification! I support the new design over the previous, that is for sure. There is cubist uniformity instead of metallic, but what I don’t support are units selling for 1-2 million dollars plus, and the top penthouses millions more. Let’s not forget the stunt pulled when the developers arbitrarily decided to turn the top penthouse on Beverly Boulevard Propety at $100 million. How greedy can people be? Our neighborhood doesn’t need more jet setting millionaires that have taken over… Read more »

Last edited 3 years ago by Jamie Francis
Brian Holt
Brian Holt
3 years ago

Thank God! Something. Anything to replace that hideous and tragic strip mall. This famous and important corner deserves something beautiful, artistic and something with more greenery. Controversy aside, (which is not meant to dismiss legitimate concerns) one must admit what is currently there is tragic, and not befitting our great City. Upward and onward.

Vigilent
Vigilent
3 years ago
Reply to  Brian Holt

“Something”…”Anything” is not a particularly standard. The attributes you list deserve thought and cooperation. This was an unexplored opportunity for LA & WeHo to participate but there had to be excellence AND will as major components. Otherwise we wind up with ‘Anythings” of which there are too many around.

Vigilent
Vigilent
3 years ago

Dear Mr. Gehry, Folks that live in the area, specifically the the 6to 8 block radius that contains the greatest, most noteworthy Historic Landmarks in West Hollywood that have been around and admired for a hundred years are not fascinated with your design that might look at home in a Newport Beach Office Park or some other nondescript area. It will be a blemish at the beginning of the Gateway to West Hollywood that you and your client have provided with little consultation and no consideration. It was “I’m here and you’re not.! Nice, along the lines of respect or… Read more »

John Ryan
John Ryan
3 years ago
Reply to  Vigilent

I am no fan of gentrification, and I am dreading the construction nightmares that are sure to come. However, the Lytton or now Chase building; is it really a landmark worth saving? The only real distinctive feature is the roof. Efforts were made to save the building and ultimately it was offered to be preserved if interested parties would move it; none showed any interest. My opinion is they should have saved the Garden of Allah what was once on the spot. Other than the Chase bank building, who is going to miss the ugly strip mall that sits there… Read more »

Vigilent
Vigilent
3 years ago
Reply to  John Ryan

You may have missed the point of incorporating the Kurt Meyer building into the the Gehry design or allow it to inspire. An interesting leap might have occurred from the first Gehry design incorporating the origami like structure. After all it was considered a land mark and fully supported by the LA Conservancy and then favored by the Plum Committee and eventually the LA City Council. An unfortunate problematic issue arose during litigation brought by LA Conservancy. Steve Luftman, the force behind preservation with Keith Nakata may be able to add the particulars but my understanding is that the attorney… Read more »

WeHoMikey
WeHoMikey
3 years ago
Reply to  Vigilent

Excellent points. Too bad the usual commenters can’t read complex sentences.