Quote:
Originally Posted by HossC
The aerial views don't really show anything, so you'll have to make do with this selection of pictures from Julius Shulman's "Job 3383: Museum of Motion Pictures and auditorium, 1962". This is the only exterior photo in the set - it looks like the Lytton Center was under the parking lot behind the bank.
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Thank you,
HossC, while you were posting this I had just come across a recent report done because of the planning to demolish and rebuild this area etc.
The report is the HISTORICAL RESOURCES ASSESSMENT REPORT AND IMPACTS ANALYSIS FOR THE PROPOSED 8150 SUNSET BOULEVARD MIXED USE PROJECT and was presented in September 2014.
So you hinted and posted the photo that shows why there are few photos of The Lytton Center for Visual Arts. It was built underground with a parking lot as the roof.
From the report:
Lytton Center of the Visual Arts, Constructed 1961-62 (Project Site)
In October 1961, an addition to the Bank was constructed to house the Lytton Center and construction was completed in 1962. The Lytton Center was designed by architect Kurt W. Meyer, interior designer Adele Faulkner, and structural engineer Johnson & Neilson, and was constructed by William Simpson Construction Company.
The Modern style Lytton Center, valued at $200,000*,
was constructed below ground level, adjoining the basement of the rear (south elevation) of the Bank, and had a parking deck on the roof. The primary entrance to the Lytton Center was located on the south elevation. The Lytton Center is located below the parking deck for twenty-eight cars and is referred to as “office below.” A car ramp with a pedestrian stair was located on the west side of the addition and there were also two secondary pedestrian stairs that lead to the rooftop parking lot located on Havenhurst Drive and the southeast corner of the rear addition.
The newly completed Lytton Center was featured in The Architectural Digest in the spring 1963 issue and the article is included in Appendix D. In 1961, the Los Angeles Times described the Lytton Center:
Scheduled for completion in September, the new addition will conform to the California modern architectural design of the main building, which features extensive use of glass, marble and native stone. Retaining the natural slope of the site, the architect has designed part of the new structure below ground level, with its rooftop to be used for additional automobile parking space. Of reinforced concrete construction, the building will be fully air conditioned.
*[Note: The book information I previously quoted valued the Center at a million dollars.]
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This report covers a lot of historical things pertaining to this particular address/site,
including all this from Part III:
III. ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING ... page 17
A. Historic Context... 17
1. Rancho La Brea and Early Settlement, 1821-1897... 17
2. Early Settlement and Growth, 1898-1913... 18
3. Interwar Residential Development, 1918–1941... 18
4. Post-World War II Transformation 1955 – Present... 20
5. The Bank Building Property Type...20
6. Savings and Loan Industry... 24
7. Integration of Art and Bank Design... 25
8. Bart Lytton (1912-1969)... 26
9. Lytton Savings Home Branch Building, Constructed 1959-1960 (Project Site)... 27
10. Lytton Center of the Visual Arts, Constructed 1961-62 (Project Site)... 32
11. Kurt Werner Meyer, Architect (1922-Present)... 35
12. Adele Faulkner-Quinn, Interior Designer (1911-2000)... 39
13. Integrated Art Components... 39
14. Dalle de Verre... 40
15. Roger Darricarrere, Artist (1912 - 1983)... 41
16. David Green, Sculptor (1908-2000)... 42
B. Previous Evaluations... 91
1. Known Historical Resources in the Project Vicinity... 91
etc.
The link is a pdf file of this 182 page report. It has a section of approximately 90 photos, drawings, newspaper clippings and architectural drawings of this area, surroundings and related subjects. It includes several of the Julius Shulman photos you've posted,
HossC, including the only one of the Center that you posted above. (I was going to tell you about it, thanks for posting it!) If anyone's interested in this subject, this document is well worth your time. I'm going to finish looking at it myself.
I don't have the capacity to do it, but the one photo in it I wish we could post is of the subject mentioned previously:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Pal
HossC, in the post of mine that you linked to in yours, I had quoted a person who was commenting about the artwork in and around the Lytton Bank, who wrote:
"In 1962, a 75 foot-long photo mural on the history of motion pictures was also installed
in the bank complex, in what was then called the Lytton Center of the Visual Arts. It would
be interesting to know if the mural is there but covered up somewhere."
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The photo is in the report and came from Architectural Digest:
Lytton Center, Lobby Featuring
Eliot Elisofot’s “History of Hollywood”
(“The Lytton Center of the Visual Arts, Hollywood, California,” Architectural Digest 20.1 (Spring 1963): 136.)
Link to the report:
http://planning.lacity.org/eir/8150Sunset/AssessmentReportandImpactsAnalysis.pdf
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