Los Angeles County Hall of Records
| Hall of Records | |
|---|---|
 Rear view of Hall of Records | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Modernist |
| Location | Downtown Los Angeles Civic Center |
| Address | 320 W. Temple Street |
| Town or city | Los Angeles |
| Country | United States |
| Construction started | 1961 |
| Completed | 1962 |
| Cost | $13.7 Million U.S. Dollars |
| Owner | County of Los Angeles |
| Height | |
| Top floor | 17 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Richard Neutra, Robert Alexander |
| Other designers | Malcolm Leland |
The rare high-rise by Richard Neutra (co-designed by Robert Alexander) sits in the northern end of the Civic Center in Downtown Los Angeles. An exemplar of modernist architecture, the building includes louvers similar to the Kaufmann Desert House. Additionally, this was an initial attempt by Malcolm Leland to incorporate ornamentation into modernist buildings.[1]
Description
The Hall of Records was estimated to cost 13.7 million dollars in 1961. Counter proposals were made by the Los Angeles County Chief Administrative Officer to preserve the old Hall of Records and move it to the Temple Street location, however, Richard Alexander estimated that the cost of moving the building would be prohibitively high--$1.5 million to move, and much more to renovate.[2]
Originally envisioned as a two separate buildings, one for storing records and the other for workers,[3] Alexander and Neutra combined the buildings into one. The T-shaped building has only odd floors on the north side, with double high ceilings and tall windows. Currently, no vital records accessible to the public are in the building, and the windowless section designed for storage has been converted to office cubicles.
The Hall of Records houses offices for the Alternative Public Defender, Probation Department, Regional Planning, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney. The Los Angeles County archives are below the building, and there are publicly accessible tunnels to the County Hall of Administration.
There are terraces on the 13th and 15th floors, and at ground level. The upper terraces were designed for a dining room and lounge with panoramic views of downtown.[4] Accessible from the 13th floor, they are currently only used by workers for smoking breaks. The escalators from the ground through 3rd floor are flanked by grilles and screens designed by Malcolm Leland, also known for his work in the ModulArt movement.[5]
The building was designed to be energy efficient, with large aluminum louvers on the south face running the height of the building. Originally, they turned with the angle of the sun throughout the day to allow more indirect light into the building. No longer operable, they are now locked in one position.
The Temple Street side of the building is covered with a Mosaic Mural titled Water Sources in Los Angeles County by Joseph Young. The mural and reflecting pool were restored in 2007.
The Civic Center/Tom Bradley subway station serviced by the Metro Purple Line and Metro Red Line is directly behind the Hall of Records.
Critical reception
The original design drawings were praised as "contemporary and at the same time unusual" by County Engineer John A. Lambie in 1958.[6] David Gebhard and Robert Winter describe the design of the building as "disorganized" in their guide to Los Angeles Architecture.[7] The Los Angeles Times called the Hall of Records "Striking" in the week after it opened.[8] The building was nominated for the 1964 R. S. Reynolds Memorial Award by the American Institute of Architects.[9]
Reyner Banham's Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies (1971), mentions the Hall of Records in passing, in the midst of a broader critique of downtown Los Angeles as "where the action cannot possibly be" (190). Banham concludes his thoughts on downtown with the following, placed below an image of the Hall of Records: "They are, frankly, a gutless–looking collection but not gracious with it; they are neither tough-minded nor sensitive, nor architectural monuments, nor Pop extravaganzas. Above all they are not Los Angeles, but memorials to a certain insecurity of spirit among timid souls who cannot bear to go with the flow of Angeleno life." (192)
References
- ^ County Collection, Hall of Records. LA County Arts Commission
- ^ "Plan to Move Hall of Records 50ft., Twist it Around, Studied." Los Angeles Times, June 9, 1961. B1
- ^ "Permit Issued for New Hall of Records" Los Angeles Times, July 31, 1958. B1
- ^ "Permit Issued for New Hall of Records" Los Angeles Times, July 31, 1958. B1
- ^ "Jazz Pottery From the 30's Comes of Age" by Patricia Leigh Brown, New York Times August 16, 2001. Section F, Page 1.
- ^ "Permit Issued for New Hall of Records," Los Angeles Times, July 31, 1958. B1
- ^ An architectural guidebook to Los Angeles By David Gebhard and Robert Winter, page 259. 2003
- ^ "Southern California's Cultural Status Rises," Charles E. Davis. Los Angeles Times, May 20, 1962. J1
- ^ "8 Southland Buildings in Running for Award" Los Angeles Times, Feb 16, 1964. pg O9.
External links
- Analysis of Richard Neutra's Los Angeles Hall of Records Building by Barbara Lamprecht
- Flickr Set of the Hall of Records by Kansas Sebastian
- County Arts Commission site on Hall of Records
