August 24, 2006
Hall of Justice Rehabilitation
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors recently authorized $14.6 million in interior demolition and retrofit work for the Hall of Justice Building, located at 210 W. Temple Street in downtown Los Angeles. The Beaux Arts style building was designed by the Allied Architects of L.A. in 1925.
Vacant since it was damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the facility was once the cornerstone of the county justice system, housing courts and the coroner's office, and served for a time as the county's primary jail facility. It was also featured in a number of television and movie productions, including "Dragnet" and "Get Smart," and housed such notable criminals as “Bugsy” Siegel, Robert Mitchum, Charles Manson, and Sirhan Sirhan.
Preservation of the Hall of Justice has been a concern of local advocates for several years. The Conservancy, for example, has been an active participant in discussions with the County of Los Angeles to finalize plans for the building's proposed rehabilitation. The project will result in the exterior rehabilitation and thorough cleaning of the building, as well as the restoration of the building’s grand lobby and loggia. The upper floors will be significantly transformed to convert the building to office space, including the top five floors that formerly served as the county’s main jail facility. The county will relocate a representative corridor of jail cells to the building’s basement, where it will be periodically accessible to the public.
The proposed rehabilitation will convert building for use as the new headquarters of the Sheriff’s Department and for other county offices. More than $9.6 million will go to a contract for nonstructural demolition by TEG/LVI Environmental Services, Inc., a New-York based firm with offices in Santa Fe Springs specializing in asbestos removal and lead abatement. Just under $1.4 million will go to a separate contract for design services for structural demolition and retrofitting by West Los Angeles-based Nadel Architects, Inc.
Source: LA Downtown News, 8/14/2006; and the Los Angeles Conservancy
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