While some news outlets are focusing on the celebrities fleeing the Los Angeles wildfires, others note that over 30 “cherished” buildings described by officials as “significant architecture” have been destroyed by the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires.
With not all the fires contained, further losses could be on their way, and those places left in ruins already are still be counted, so the final inventory of destruction could be much worse.
“Heartbreaking”
“It’s staggering and heartbreaking – I don’t know any other way to put it,” said Ken Bernstein, principal city planner at Los Angeles City Planning’s Office of Historic Resources, reported in SCMP. “This is widespread destruction of significant architecture and places that are cherished in our communities,” he went on.
The Getty Villa, a gallery built by oil tycoon J. Paul Getty in the 1970s in the style of the ancient Roman Papyri Villa and containing 44,000 priceless Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities is, so far, safe.
A very near miss for the Getty Villa and its 40,000 Greek and Roman antiquities. pic.twitter.com/DpDo7l6hBn
— Gareth Harney (@OptimoPrincipi) January 9, 2025
But other buildings, including some listed on the US National Register of Historic Places, are gone. Altadena’s Zane Grey Estate, designed in 1907 from reinforced concrete and considered the first fireproof home in the area, has been destroyed by the Eaton fire.
The Andrew McNally House, a privately-owned, nationally-registered, 1887, simplified Queen-Anne-style property on so-called Millionaire’s Row has also been wiped out. It featured a “Turkish Smoking Room” including a square cupola, quotations from the Koran and a Moorish-style roof, is now also a thing of the past.
RIP The McNally House in Altadena, CA.
— Vintage Los Angeles (@alisonmartino) January 9, 2025
Historical loss. pic.twitter.com/gJj0mw92zB
Community spirit
On the subject of film, which of course is an art form Hollywood is synonymous with, the Will Rogers Ranch within the State Historic Park of the same name, was a 31-roomed residence. Built for a 1920s film star, it had become a museum containing Western film memorabilia and art works – some of which have been saved, Fine told press, “but not much”. He described it as an “epic loss.”
Not all the lost structures were architectural gems. Some were valued for their cultural or community significance, such as the Zorthian Ranch artists’ colony, or the eccentric Bunny Museum in Altadena which has lost 46,000 items from its collection. Film buffs will mourn the High School where Brian de Palma filmed Carrie.
Personal Stories: A Legacy Lost
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) January 10, 2025
Steve Lubanski, co-owner of the #BunnyMuseum in #Altadena, is devastated after the Eaton Fire destroyed the 40-year collection. While he and his wife saved their pets, the building and artifacts were lost. The museum, open for 26 years, was known… pic.twitter.com/K1odZJp5Jq
“It is a mass erasure of heritage,” said Adrian Scott Fine, chief executive of the Los Angeles Conservancy. “We haven’t seen anything like this before.”
Fundraising efforts have already started to help rebuild some lost gems, as well as help every day residents. Actress Helen Day, an LA resident who has toured the world with Cirque du Soleil and featured in films such as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, told Travel Tomorrow, that it’s important not to forget that “It’s many ordinary people who have lost homes.” But she noted one positive: “The community coming together here to help is amazing. LA is not the centre of self-centredness people think it is.”
