Los Angeles Civic Center Survey

LOCATION: Los Angeles, California
CLIENT: Los Angeles Conservancy
DATE COMPLETED: 2006

Developed piecemeal between 1925 and the present day, the Los Angeles Civic Center is bounded by the Hollywood Freeway to the north, the Harbor Freeway to the west, Alameda Street to the east, and Second Street to the south. The Los Angeles Civic Center is one of the most important centers of government in the United States. In addition to being the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populous in the United States, it is the location of city government and the greatest concentration of federal workers outside Washington, D.C. Contained within the survey area are icons like Los Angeles City Hall and the Los Angeles County Hall of Justice, as well as lesser-known resources such as the Richard Neutra-designed Hall of Records and the Department of Water and Power, and more recent monuments, including the Los Angeles Cathedral and the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

As the target of perennial redevelopment attempts, the Los Angeles Conservancy became concerned enough over the fate of the Civic Center that it hired Page & Turnbull, Chris VerPlanck's former employer, to survey the area and to document its important character-defining features in 2005. Chris VerPlanck took the lead on the project, surveying and researching the approximately 30-block district, preparing survey forms for all properties regardless of age, and an extensively researched historic context statement. Mr. VerPlanck identified a potential National Register-eligible district at the center of the survey area, as well as several other California Register-eligible properties. VerPlanck presented his findings in a paper and slideshow presentation given at the 2007 California Preservation Foundation Conference in Hollywood.

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