The Los Angeles City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee on Tuesday sent a nomination to designate the Lytton Savings building on Sunset Boulevard as a historic cultural monument (HCM) to the full council without a recommendation. The city council is expected to consider the nomination on Dec. 7.

This vintage photo shows the building in question when Lytton Savings and Loan was still operational.
(photo by Julius Shulman, J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles)

The Lytton Savings building – which is currently a Chase Bank – stands in the shopping plaza near the intersection with Laurel Canyon and Crescent Heights Boulevards, which is where Townscape Partners plans to construct five buildings designed by Frank Gehry.

The project is called “8150 Sunset,” which is the Chase Bank’s address. The developers’ $300 million project features five structures over approximately 334,000 square feet of space. The plans include 229 residential units and demolition of the former Lytton Savings building.

The city approved the 8150 Sunset project earlier this month, while the PLUM Committee delayed consideration of the HCM nomination of the “zigzag” Lytton Savings building that stands in the way.

PLUM Committee member, Councilman Mitch Englander, 12th District, made the motion to send it to council without a recommendation because he wants to do more research after hearing the testimony.

“Quite frankly, it is very confusing,” he said. “It seems like [the HCM nomination] should come first, and it didn’t. I still have a lot of questions.”

If the building reaches historic status, it could potentially delay the 8150 Sunset project for up to 360 days to allow the city to review permits and explore alternatives to incorporate the bank into Gehry’s designs. But representatives for the developers said Gehry “thoroughly observed” the building and could not find a way to include the Lytton Savings building into his plan. Edgar Khalatian, an attorney for Townscape, said the HCM designation would only delay construction to allow time to explore the possibility of relocating the bank. He said there is no likelihood that they can preserve the bank as it is.

According to the city’s report, the Lytton Savings building was constructed in 1960. It was designed by Kurt Werner Meyer to serve as a new home office branch and executive headquarters for Lytton Savings and Loan Association. The building has operated as a bank for 56 years.

Steven Luftman and Keith Nakata, founders of the Friends of Lytton Savings group that has been trying to save the bank since May, referred to the building as a “remarkably intact jewel.”

“This is a very worthy building,” Luftman said at the hearing, explaining that Meyer considered it to be his most important development. “It shaped [Meyer’s] career.”

Nakata said the group believes it is possible to build 8150 Sunset around the Chase Bank.

After the PLUM hearing on Tuesday, Luftman said the outcome may have been the best they could have hoped for.

“If the council works as it usually does, we will get the HCM, as [Councilman David] Ryu supports it,” Luftman said via email.

Representatives for the 8150 Sunset project and opponents to the historic nomination argued that it is too late for the HCM because the city already approved Gehry’s project. But Luftman pointed out that the HCM consideration was delayed twice while 8150 Sunset made its way through the approval process.

Members of the community that are in favor of the 8150 Sunset project said its benefits – which include affordable housing and millions of dollars from the developer – outweigh the benefits of saving the bank building. Representatives for the developers also pointed to the timing of the HCM nomination. The project was first proposed in 2013, and Friends of Lytton Savings nominated the building earlier this year.

“They are simply trying to use the designation process for the purpose of thwarting the approval process and development [of 8150 Sunset],” Khalatian said. “That’s not what the ordinance is intended for. How can we let Cultural Heritage Commission be a roadblock to projects that the city council has already approved?”

Julia Duncan, planning deputy for Ryu, said the 4th District Council Office supports the designation, and explained that “preservation is not limited to integration.” Estevan Montemayor, communications director for Ryu, said the councilman is pushing for an option to relocate the bank at this point.

“We encourage the owner of the property to work with due diligence …. to possibly include the bank,” she said.

Ryu sent a letter to the PLUM Committee earlier this year as the planning staff grappled with the development proposal, the HCM nomination and appeals from neighborhood groups and the city of West Hollywood.

“I vigorously support the [HCM] designation,” Ryu wrote. “I also suggest that the committee discuss the alternatives within the EIR that factor in preservation.”

In September, the Cultural Heritage Commission found that the Lytton Savings building meets two of the criteria to earn their recommendation to be deemed an HCM. The property “reflects the broad cultural, economic or social history” as an early example of the transformative shift in post World War II design, according to their report. The building also embodies characteristics that are valuable for study of a period, style or method of construction.

Adrian Scott Fine, director of the Los Angeles Conservancy, said the group supports the HCM nomination, which he said was initiated because viable alternatives were not “adequately considered.”

“We sometimes forget the value of a historic site … where old and new can be blended,” he said.

Public comment again split sharply, as opponents of the nomination complained that the Chase Bank looks “like every other Mid Century Modern bank,” and that it is not worthy of preservation. One resident, Dominic Rodriguez, said the nomination is a “hail Mary” attempt to stop the Gehry project.

Likewise, supporters of the Lytton Savings building complained about the “Manhattanization” of Los Angeles, in which a “frenzy to demolition” is “ruining the fabric of our city.”

“Recognition of this outstanding Mid Century Modern building by master architect Kurt Meyer is of vital importance to the history of Los Angeles,” wrote Dan Silver, who lives on Santa Monica Boulevard, in a letter to the committee. “It would be tragic to unnecessarily lose this structure, which is important to the quality of urban life.”

Amy Galaudet, a representative of the Beverly Wilshire Home Owners Association said the building’s unique design has personal meaning to residents who went there as children.

“When you tear down a structure that so many hold dear, you are destroying more than a building, you are taking away a memory that cannot be replaced,” she wrote.

Leron Gubler, CEO and president of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, recommended the city weigh the benefits of 8150 Sunset over the Lytton Savings building.

“While Hollywood continues to experience a renaissance, we are so pleased to see such a high- quality project as this continue that momentum – bringing thousands of good construction jobs to our community and providing badly needed housing for those living and working in Hollywood,” he wrote in a letter to the city council. “The elevation of the design for this project will not only have a positive aesthetic impact on Hollywood, but it also means an additional investment of over $100 million above the original proposal.”

Opponents to the 8150 Sunset project promised that they will sue the developers and challenge the city’s approval.