Office is given monument status

The L.A. City Council has approved an earlier vote by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission to extend Historic-Cultural Monument status to the Goldstein office, a space designed by Modernist architect John Lautner in a Century City high-rise.

The 850-square-foot office, on the 20th floor of the building at 10100 Santa Monica Blvd., was designed for businessman James F. Goldstein, who also lives in a Lautner-designed home. Earlier this year, Goldstein lost his lease -- and members of the John Lautner Foundation appealed to the Cultural Heritage Commission to block demolition of the office by a law firm that planned to move into the space.

Wednesday's City Council vote does not mean that the office will be preserved in its current location. According to the Lautner Foundation, the building's owner has agreed to sponsor the dismantling of the office suite and its storage until next May while the foundation seeks a new home for its content. Christopher Carr, vice president of the foundation, said the group hopes to find a home for the office in a museum, rather than in an office building where the same problem could arise with changing tenants.

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Diane Haithman