URGENT ACTION NEEDED TO SAVE LANDMARKED BARRY BUILDING AND CORAL TREES

Now that the final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the proposed Green Hollow Square project in Brentwood has been released, your voice isurgently needed to prevent demolition of the Barry Building.  The developer still wants to demolish the building.  If City Council approves the EIR as is, he likely will demolish the Barry Building AND cut-through the Coral Trees Median—one of the earliest Historic-Cultural Monuments in Los Angeles—thus destroying part of that beautiful monument as well.

It would be sadly ironic if—at a time when the Pacific Standard Time exhibitions across the city celebrated the creativity and culture of postwar Los Angeles as never before—if such an important part of this legacy were lost.  The Barry would become one of only about a half-dozen of the City’s designated monuments ever to be destroyed for purely commercial reasons when clear adaptive reuse options exist.

The Barry Building, perhaps more well-known as the former home of Dutton’s Brentwood Books, is a gem of California Modern architecture, embodying the principles and ideals of this movement, while translating them from residential to commercial context.  It was designed by Los Angeles-based architect Milton Caughey (1911-1958) in 1951, as postwar development was beginning to redefine Brentwood’s San Vicente Boulevard commercial corridor. Mr. Caughey received four Merit Awards for Excellence in Design and Execution from the So. California Chapter of the American Institute of Architects before his premature death at 46.

Further information can be found online at:

• Los Angeles Conservancy  – www.laconservancy.org/issues/issues_barry.php
• Downsize Green Hollow Square –  http://www.downsizegreenhollowsquare.org
• Brentwood Residents Coalition – http://www.brentwoodresidentscoalition.org/
• Brentwood News, – http://www.westsidetoday.com/m3-7003/why-we-should-save.html

Please write to Councilmember Bill Rosendahl ([email protected]) and copy the Los Angeles Conservancy ([email protected] ) and Brentwood Residents Coalition ([email protected]) so we can monitor the response.  Include your address, and let him know that destruction of the Barry Building and any part of the Coral Tree Median is unacceptable, and that both must be preserved intact.  If you live in Councilmember Rosendahl’s district, please emphasize that you are a constituent and that retaining the landmarked Barry Building and keeping the Coral Tree Median intact is important to the character of Brentwood.

To be most effective. the letter should be in your own words and reflect your own experience,  but please be sure to note that:

• The structural and architectural integrity and vision of The Barry Building (HCM #887) — a designated historical monument—must be preserved. Clear adaptive reuse options exist, but have been ignored. The Barry Building can be sensitively upgraded for enhanced energy efficiency to meet the project’s sustainability goals. As have historic properties throughout the country, the Barry Building can be modified to meet ADA requirements. Demolition of the Barry Building, a city landmark, would call into question the City’s commitment and ability to protect our cultural heritage.
• Any road cuts into the median and/or destruction and removal of coral trees (HCM #148) must be prohibited. This median and its coral trees—like the Barry Building—is a designated historic and cultural monument.  One of the earliest Historic-Cultural Monuments to be designated by the city of Los Angeles, it is a defining feature of Brentwood.  Road cuts would permanently transform this beautiful, linear historic landscape, set a precedent, and could invite further changes and cumulative impacts to this monument.

Every single letter matters! Thank you!

Deborah Bremner
The Bremner Group at Coldwell Banker
REALTOR, 00588885,
ABR, CDPE, eAgent, CSP, SFR, HRC, CRE
(O) 310-571-1364 DIRECT
(D) (310) 800-2954
http://www.thebremnergroup.com
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