The National Trust for Historic Preservation has added The Factory in West Hollywood to its 2015 list of “America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places”. This annual list spotlights important examples of the nation’s architectural, cultural and natural heritage that are at risk of destruction or irreparable damage. More than 250 sites have been on the list over its 28-year history, and in that time, only a handful of listed sites have been lost.

The building now known as The Factory is a Truscon Steel Company-designed industrial building built in 1929 to accommodate the booming success of the Mitchell Camera Corporation.

Today, The Factory is one of the last remaining industrial buildings in West Hollywood built specifically for the technical aspects of the film industry.

Following the camera company’s move to the suburbs in 1946, The Factory was converted to serve a series of new uses, including a cosmetics warehouse, a furniture showroom, a private, celebrity nightclub, an antique market and an experimental theatre.

It is most famously known as the home of Studio One, a pioneering gay disco that opened in 1974. Hosting the likes of Patti LaBelle, Joan Rivers and Liza Minnelli, Studio One and its Backlot Theatre were open seven days a week, had cutting edge sound and light systems, and a dance floor that regularly drew more than 1,000 people a night. Founded by a Beverly Hills optometrist and openly gay man, Studio One became a place for gay men to socialize and proudly and openly celebrate their identity.

Now The Factory’s legacy is threatened with demolition by a large-scale hotel project. The Robertson Lane Hotel project calls for a pedestrian “paseo” or walkway to run directly through a portion of the site on which The Factory now sits, a route that could easily be realigned to spare this landmark from the wrecking ball.

“The Factory is a trove of important and multi-layered history that simply cannot be replaced,” said National Trust for Historic Preservation president Stephanie Meeks. “The Factory has proven many times over its history that it can successfully evolve with changing times to serve a variety of uses.”

For information on the registry, visit www.PreservationNa-tion.org/places.