Building Restorations

The ad said a "red tag special," but the 77-unit Studio City apartment hardly looked inviting. A wing of the horseshoe-shaped complex had collapsed as a result of the Northridge earthquake. The rest of the structure was crooked, leaning six inches north, and two swimming pools contained cracked stucco, tattered clothes, broken furniture and glass. But to rehab specialist Ron Bien, it looked like a bargain. Four years ago, the apartment was appraised at $5 million.

The magnificent jumble of architecture here known as the Mission Inn closed its doors in July, 1985, for a two-year, $28-million face lift that seemed at the time to be a fairly routine job. But when work crews on the renovation project placed plumb lines and levels on the 80-year-old national landmark, "They found the whole thing was sinking into the sunset," said Mission Inn historian Michael Rounds.

For nearly 60 years, the Fullerton train station has stood alongside the Santa Fe Railroad line and since 1971 has been a regular stop for Amtrak trains. In that time this product of Spanish colonial architecture has been the victim of neglect. There are cracks in the plaster, dry rot in the wood and there is ceiling and floor damage from a leaky roof. But in a redevelopment effort, the Fullerton City Council has hired a local contractor to do at least $400,000 worth of restoration work and to get the building on the National Register, which would give it a historical designation.

In most building renovations, the sight of bare concrete floors, chipped columns and exposed heating ducts means that work is far from over. But to architect Wade Killefer, it's almost time to put up the "For Rent" sign. The raw, stripped-down interiors of apartments in the Old Bank District of Los Angeles' historic core are part of the chic, urban aesthetic that has made Killefer the current king of downtown loft design.

It isn't the "Taj MaWillie" that wags say he was aiming for, but a beaming Mayor Willie Brown presided Tuesday over the reopening of a restored City Hall that reflects both his own appreciation of the finer things in life and San Francisco's belief in itself as the nation's most beautiful city. Surrounded by a bevy of dignitaries, Brown cut a blue-and-gold ribbon and ushered crowds of curious citizens into the elegant Beaux Arts building shortly after noon.

Propelled by a dream of creating a new kind of architecture based on modern aesthetics and utopian ideals, Rudolf M. Schindler in 1914 packed his bags and left Vienna. He realized his vision in Los Angeles, where 56 of his buildings erected between 1921 and 1952 are still standing.

Young adults displaced from jobs because of the Northridge earthquake will get a chance to work on local rebuilding projects while saving the city money, thanks to an emergency federal grant. The Santa Clarita City Council unanimously voted Tuesday night to hire 15 people through the California Conservation Corps to pick up debris and perform other repair work, said John Danielson, parks and recreation superintendent for the city.

The City Council this week voted unanimously to suspend demolition of former President Richard M. Nixon's first law office and the Wester Hotel for an additional six months while city staff studies the historical significance of the buildings. The decision came at the end of an hourlong closed session Monday in response to potential litigation threatened by those opposed to the demolition, said City Atty. Richard Jones.

The Wattles Mansion, the last vestige of the turn-of-the-century resort community that once dotted the Hollywood Hills, was designated a historic cultural monument by the city Wednesday. The designation helps protect the 1905 Mission Revival estate from alteration or demolition.

The Glendale Housing Authority is scheduled to vote today on whether to spend $30,000 to place support beams under the historic Goode House to protect its foundation from possible damage during a natural disaster. City officials bought the early 1890s Victorian-style home on Cedar Street in 1992 for $723,869, said Madalyn Blake, director of community development and housing. But it has since remained vacant and boarded up, pending plans to put housing for the disabled on the site.