The Laurel House’s grounds were dedicated as a West Hollywood public park on Feb. 19, 2011. (Beverly Press/Park La Brea News file photo)

The Laurel House has been in West Hollywood’s possession for decades, but after many years of debate regarding the future of the space, the City Council has finally determined what its future will be.

Designated a local cultural resource by West Hollywood in 1994, 1343 N. Laurel Ave. will soon become an arts hub, featuring art galleries, community gathering spaces, artist studios and rehearsal spaces, as well as exterior features that could include a performance space or a sculpture garden. Additionally, the second floor will offer several artist-in-residence living quarters, and a structure called the carriage house on the same property may be used for a reading room and city archive. The recommendations were made by the Laurel House City Council subcommittee and were approved 5-0 by the council.

“[The Laurel House] is a critical tool to not only enhance the community, but then also give back in many ways that we’re seeing with some of these improvements, from looking at an artist-in-residence to further use of the space for performance or gallery spaces to bringing it up to code so it can be even better enjoyed by the community,” Councilman John Erickson said.

The city’s involvement with the house began after the owner, Elsie Weisman, donated it to the city in 1997 with the verbal agreement that the home would be preserved. Dubbed the “Tara House,” due to its resemblance to the famed home of Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone with the Wind,” Weisman grew up in the residence, which was built in 1917. In 1941, it was converted into apartment units.

After Weisman’s death, the city debated how to use the property. Ongoing discussions started in the mid-2000s among the city’s planning commission and City Council surrounded converting the house and property into a larger apartment building.

During this period, existing tenants were evicted from the building under the Ellis Act, which was passed by the California Legislature in 1985 and allows landlords to exit the rental business and evict tenants from residential buildings. The controversial decision was derided by Councilman John D’Amico. According to D’Amico, then-Councilman John Heilman tried to have the building torn down and new housing built. He also noted the hypocrisy of the city using the Ellis Act.

“The whole time the city has fought the existence of the Ellis Act and fights every developer who tries to use it and enforces every single possible version of it,” D’Amico said. “But in this case, they locked out the tenants and wouldn’t even let them get their things. It was really messy.”

The controversary surrounding the house and its use is part of the reason why D’Amico decided to run for a seat on the council, after previously being a member of the planning commission.

For many years, the house has sat empty, even as the surrounding grounds were converted into a public park roughly 10 years ago.

The artistic recommendation for the building was first brought to the council in February 2018 by the Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission, with a feasibility study ordered by the council in June 2019. In February 2021, the city engaged the Historic Resources Group to conduct the study.

Not everyone at the council meeting was in favor of the approved use for the property. During public comment, resident Manny Rodriguez said he felt the ideas for the house were counter to the current housing crisis.

“The best plan for this city-owned property still remains the original plan of 15 years ago: 42 sustainable, affordable units in the back, a restored main house for the community and the creation of parking where now there is none,” Rodriguez said. “This is not to say that subsidized living arrangements for artists is not a worthwhile idea, but maybe in a different place or a different time. 1343 Laurel is government owned property, and for 15 years it has not served the community in any beneficial way. It’s time to take this valuable piece of land seriously. So, if you believe in the housing crisis, you can’t believe in this proposal.”

D’Amico responded to Rodriguez’ comments directly, thanking him for bringing the suggestion back to the council but placing the blame for the stagnation and misuse of the Laurel House on the then-council’s actions.

“I think the city’s commitment to building the required amount of housing around town in the next 10 years will happen, but selectively choosing a site that the city purposely evicted residents from and pretending that didn’t happen … doesn’t really solve or even begin to solve the housing problem,” D’Amico said.

D’Amico also added that the current approach to the house is in better alignment with the city’s values than previous actions with the property.

“The fact that we are scaling this back, listening to our community, have studied this with a feasibility study and are trying to provide a place of relaxation and artmaking in our community is not inconsistent with our values,” he said.

West Hollywood Preservation Alliance board member Victor Omelczenko said the structure should be renamed for Weisman, and he also expressed that some of the gallery space be dedicated to local history.

“Couldn’t one of [the gallery rooms] be devoted to a history of the house or the history of the film industry or a history of our city of West Hollywood?” Omelczenko asked.

With the fate of the house finally decided as D’Amico prepares to retire from the council, he noted the full-circle nature of the council’s decision.

“I have been waiting for us to do this,” D’Amico said. “At the next meeting, I’m actually bringing forward an item to officially apologize to the people we used the Ellis Act on. I think it’s the kind of thing that is so antithetical to who we are as a city. We work so hard to keep people in their housing, and then we evicted them from perfectly good housing.”