Architects Rate Their Favorite And Least Favorite LA Buildings
Union Station, 800 N. Alameda, Los Angeles
Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall has made the case for new architecture in Los Angeles, but classic Los Angeles buildings continue to inspire and define the best of Los Angeles, said architects interviewed by The Real Deal. They consistently picked buildings constructed before 1970 as the megalopolis’s best edifices.
Susan O’Connell, a managing principal of AC Martin, said buildings such as Los Angeles City Hall, constructed in 1928, were not afraid of the big statement.
“The buildings were built at a time when Los Angeles was looking forward to what it could be,” O’Connell said. “These buildings were not afraid to celebrate what a city hall was. What a post office was. My God, what a tire store was. There are certain areas of architecture that could celebrate people and community.”
O’Connell, and fellow Los Angeles architects John Lesak of Page & Turnbull and Brian Kite of SRK Architects talked to TRD about their favorite Los Angeles buildings in their own words.