Bradbury Building

The Bradbury Building, Los Angeles' oldest historical landmark structure, is undergoing a multimillion-dollar renovation and restoration. According to new owner Sydney Irmas, who purchased the 96-year-old office/retail structure from Western Management last April, the rehab project will be completed by next summer. The project architect is Brenda Levin of Levin & Associates.

A few years before he died, photographer C.C. Pierce practically gave away his life's work - a vast collection of remarkable pictures focused on 40 years of explosive growth in Los Angeles, from bucolic outpost to bustling metropolis. The Huntington Library, then a young institution with little money for acquisitions, was finally able to come throughwith a small sum for Pierce, getting an incredible bargain for an archive that is now priceless. "As each year goes by, it seems to take two or three years off my effectiveness in carrying on the business," he wrote to the Huntington in 1939 in hopes that it would buy his more than 10,000 photos.

The Bradbury Building, at 3rd Street and Broadway, has been called one of the most magnificent relics of 19th-Century commercial architecture in the world. When it was completed in 1894, for a total cost of $500,000, it contained Italian marble, Mexican floor tiles, delicate water-powered bird-cage elevators from Chicago, 288 radiators, 50 fireplaces, 215 wash basins and the largest plate-glass windows in Los Angeles.

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles; (213) 763-3466, www.nhm.org . Central Library, 630 W. 5th St., Los Angeles; (213) 228-7000, www.lapl.org/central . Bottega Louie Restaurant & Gourmet Market, 700 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles; (213) 802-1470, www.bottegalouie.com . $$ Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles; (213) 741-1151, www.lacclink.com . Staples Center, 1111 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles; (213)

Developer Ira Yellin's dream to make Broadway the focal point of downtown took another step toward reality last week with his purchase of the historic Bradbury Building, owned by the McKelvey family since 1943. The 96-year-old city landmark at 304 S. Broadway, across the street from Yellin's recently purchased Grand Central Market and the Million Dollar Building, closed escrow last Monday for slightly more than $8 million. 'Monument Forever' "We plan to keep the Bradbury a monument forever and will do major work, cleaning up the facade and the interior so it will be a polished gem when we're finished," Yellin said, estimating restoration cost at $4 million.

Architectural photographer Julius Shulman has come out of retirement and he's raring to go. "My wife said, 'What are you doing? You're 80 years old. You don't need to work,' but it didn't take much arm-twisting to get me here," he says, strolling into the historic Bradbury Building in downtown Los Angeles.

Becky Vega has come a long way. When she dropped out of Garfield High School two years ago, Vega went to work as an elevator operator, earning the minimum wage, at the historic Bradbury Building located downtown at 3rd Street and Broadway. Today, the 19-year-old is manager of a restaurant in the building and earns enough to have moved out of her parents' home and have her own apartment. Vega is typical of the staff at Bradbury's 1893 Cos., which is 100% owned by Terry McKelvey.

The Bradbury Building, a downtown Los Angeles landmark born in the Victorian era and used as part of the apocalyptic backdrop for the film "Blade Runner," has been sold to a Hong Kong investor with a taste for historic properties. The principals wouldn't discuss the sale price, but a knowledgeable source said the figure was about $6 million. The five-story brick edifice at 3rd Street and Broadway is renowned for its dramatic atrium, cage elevators and cast-iron decoration.

A few years before he died, photographer C.C. Pierce practically gave away his life's work - a vast collection of remarkable pictures focused on 40 years of explosive growth in Los Angeles, from bucolic outpost to bustling metropolis. The Huntington Library, then a young institution with little money for acquisitions, was finally able to come throughwith a small sum for Pierce, getting an incredible bargain for an archive that is now priceless. "As each year goes by, it seems to take two or three years off my effectiveness in carrying on the business," he wrote to the Huntington in 1939 in hopes that it would buy his more than 10,000 photos.

The A + D Museum, formerly housed in the landmark Bradbury Building, has moved twice in as many months. The A + D relocated to Santa Monica in November, after the historic downtown L.A. building was sold to a Hong Kong company. But a zoning issue overparking forced a second move, and the museum has reopened on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. "It's been very expensive," says Ann Videriksen, a museum spokeswoman. "But this is it."

To celebrate his 89th birthday, Ray Bradbury returned Friday to a place where his writing career was nurtured, but it should be no surprise that the science fiction master was more interested in talking about the future than the past. Bradbury belonged to the Science Fiction Society, whose members met in the 1930s at Clifton's Cafeteria on Broadway in downtown LA. But it was the Broadway of tomorrow that was on the mind of the author of "Fahrenheit 451" and "The Martian Chronicles," among many books.

1 My boyfriend Erik and I decided to take a free walking tour of downtown L.A.'s historic architecture, planned and guided by us (although the Los Angeles Conservancy offers a printable tour of the area online). The first stop: the Bradbury Building, the oldest commercial office structure downtown. More than a century old, the landmark's interior is covered with intricate French ornamental cast-iron lacework.

a National Historic Landmark in downtown L.A., distinguished by a soaring Victorian atrium with open-cage elevators, marble stairs and lacy iron railings -- has always been more than an architectural wonder. Known to film buffs as the setting for "Blade Runner" and "Wolf," it's home to law offices, real estate firms, a cutlery shop, a fast-food outlet and a cellphone vendor. But an upscale art gallery with a pristine 3,000-square-foot exhibition space?

ONE morning three months ago, Italian architect Renzo Piano met with a handful of LACMA trustees in one of the museum's conference rooms. After a few minutes of small talk, Piano motioned the group over to a large table and picked up a stack of cards about 4 inches wide and 6 inches high. He began tossing them onto the tabletop, as if he were dealing blackjack. As the cards skidded to a stop, each revealed a picture of a building, an architect or a piece of furniture from the 1950s and '60s.

The A + D Museum, formerly housed in the landmark Bradbury Building, has moved twice in as many months. The A + D relocated to Santa Monica in November, after the historic downtown L.A. building was sold to a Hong Kong company. But a zoning issue overparking forced a second move, and the museum has reopened on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. "It's been very expensive," says Ann Videriksen, a museum spokeswoman. "But this is it."

The A + D Museum, formerly housed in downtown's landmark Bradbury Building, moved to the Westside this month. When the historic building was sold to a Hong Kong company after the death of owner Ira Yellin, the A + D had to find a new space, said Ann Videriksen, a spokeswoman for the museum.

The Los Angeles Police Department's Internal Affairs Division, which handles some of the department's most politically arduous cases, will soon be doing its delicate work in one of downtown's architectural delights: the Bradbury Building. The City Council recently approved a request by the Department of General Services for a 10-year lease in the building, located at 3rd Street and Broadway.

Congratulations to Ira Yellin, Bernard Zimmerman and their compatriots for the completion of the new Museum of Architecture and Design in downtown Los Angeles ("From the Ground Up," by Hugh Hart, Jan. 28). It is appropriate on many levels for this welcome addition to be located in the 109-year old Bradbury Building. For many years the Bradbury was the home of the Southern California Chapter (later the Los Angeles Chapter) of the American Institute of Architects. The chapter's commitment to the support of historic structures and the revitalization of downtown was undermined somewhat when the office was moved west to the Pacific Design Center.

The Bradbury Building, a downtown Los Angeles landmark born in the Victorian era and used as part of the apocalyptic backdrop for the film "Blade Runner," has been sold to a Hong Kong investor with a taste for historic properties. The principals wouldn't discuss the sale price, but a knowledgeable source said the figure was about $6 million. The five-story brick edifice at 3rd Street and Broadway is renowned for its dramatic atrium, cage elevators and cast-iron decoration.

The Bradbury Building is renowned mainly for its elaborate black wrought iron and the extraordinary play of light and angles in its vast atrium. The iron latticework fills five floors within the century-old brick building, running like dense ivy along the indoor balconies, wrapping around the twin "bird cage" elevators. Sunlight filters through a pitched glass ceiling, creating an ambience that glows golden by day and darkens, by evening, into an eerie beauty.