West Hollywood’s Historic Preservation Commission is set to discuss at a public hearing tonight whether the Carolwood Condominiums at 1033 Carol Drive should be named a local cultural resource.
The nomination for this designation was filed on June 18 by Architectural Resources Group, representing the Carolwood Homeowners Association. City Hall is recommending that the commission give it the green light, pointing out the property’s excellent example of Late Modern architectural style and how well it’s been kept up over the years.
The Carolwood Condominiums, built in 1975, were designed by the Beverly Hills architectural firm Brent, Goldman, Robbins, and Brown. The complex consists of four buildings: a four-story tower and three two-story townhouses. They sit on about 38,000 square feet in a neighborhood with both single-family and multi-family homes. The complex was built after five older homes were torn down in the early 1970s.
It’s known for blending into the sloping landscape just south of the Sunset Strip, with its red brick and horizontal redwood siding fitting right in with the surrounding neighborhood.
According to the staff report, “The property is an excellent local example of Late Modern style architecture. It exhibits a high quality of design that renders it significant to a historical study of Late Modern architecture generally, and to an understanding of West Hollywood’s postwar architecture specifically.”
The nomination highlights how the property has kept all its key architectural elements, like the original materials, geometric shapes, and the minimal impact it has on its environment. These are all features of the Late Modern movement, which came out of the Modern Environmental Movement in the 1960s.
If the commission gives its approval, the proposal will move on to City Council for the final say. The designation would officially recognize the property’s impact on the city’s aesthetic and architectural history, while also ensuring its preservation.
The city has sent out public notices about the hearing, inviting residents to chime in.
If the commission backs the nomination, City Council will make the final call on whether to officially grant the Carolwood Condominiums cultural resource status.
They look like public housing from the 60’s. A real eye sore.
Beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder and I’m not beholding the beauty of this. I’m all for saving history, and this place isn’t in jeopardy but it doesn’t make sense to me. This is so they can tap into funding.
This is what’s passing for historic status these days?!
I have been in two units in that complex and both were unremarkable, dark, and they had the oddest feature at the top of the stairs where there is a step before the handrail. The handrail started at the second stair down. Did I mention it is dark there?
You get historic status… And you get historic status… And you..