The National Trust for Historic Preservation has added the Century Plaza Hotel to its list of endangered historic places, setting up a legal battle between preservationists and the landmark hotel’s new owners, who plan to tear down the building and redevelop the site.
At the request of the Los Angeles Conservancy, the National Trust on Tuesday said it named the Minoru Yamasaki-designed hotel to its 2009 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The 19-story hotel, known for its curved fa & #231;ade, opened in 1966 as the centerpiece of Century City.
Once nicknamed the “West Coast White House,” the Century Plaza was a favorite of both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
“All over Los Angeles, too many of our great modern buildings have already fallen to the wrecking ball,” actress Diane Keaton, a former conservancy board member and a current trustee of the National Trust, said in a statement. “We need to lead by example and show the rest of the country that buildings are renewable, and we shouldn’t be throwing them away. We should be recycling them just like we recycle newspapers.”
Next Century Associates, the new ownership group led by Los Angeles developer Michael Rosenfeld, plans to replace the hotel with a $2-billion complex that includes two 50-story towers containing condos, offices, shops and a smaller luxury hotel. Rosenfeld has argued that the current hotel’s nearly 600-foot length blocks circulation in Century City and the planned new open, tree-lined plaza would encourage pedestrian traffic.
Rosenfeld bought the property a year ago for $367 million with backing from D.E. Shaw Group.
Next Century Associates in a statement argued that the less-than-50-year-old hotel not only “does not qualify for consideration under stringent criteria for historic designation of a building of this recent age” but is not considered one of Yamasaki more significant works.
“We are disappointed to see the Century Plaza Hotel politicized in this way, particularly at a time when the City of Los Angeles is suffering from a $400 million deficit and is in dire need of new jobs,” the company said.
