Historic Buildings

There was a time when Hollywood mainstays like Lucille Ball and Jack Benny would come to the Santora to be seen at Daniger's Tea House. More recently, people like Joseph Atilano Molina have been drawn to the 1920s-era building in downtown Santa Ana for its appeal as a haven for artists, who set up studios and galleries in the warren of lofts that filled the place. Now the Santora - a civic building block when Santa Ana was Orange County's undisputed downtown - is about to be purchased by a church.

Maybe it should come as no surprise that Beverly Hills — notorious for its outsized, sometimes gaudy homes — does not have an ordinance to protect architecturally significant structures. But that appears to be changing. Prompted by a public outcry over the expected demolition of the iconic Kronish House designed by Modernist architect Richard Neutra, the Beverly Hills City Council has ordered its planning commission to craft a preservation ordinance that would offer some protection for historically important buildings.

Attention, hedge funders, oligarchs, princes and billionaire kids who own private jets. Here's a deal only for you. The Kronish House at 9439 Sunset Blvd., Beverly Hills, is now for sale for about $14 million. In the spirit of full disclosure, the bad news first. The Modernist villa is cramped for your taste, just under 7,000 square feet. Six bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths. No room for servants. And it's old and neglected, built in 1955 for a local developer, Herbert J. Kronish. Some call it understated and classic.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House, the 1924 hilltop mansion that is one of the master's most celebrated residential designs and one of Los Angeles' most revered architectural landmarks, has sold to billionaire Ron Burkle for about $4.5 million, 70% less than its original asking price. Ennis House Foundation Chairwoman Marla Felber confirmed on Saturday the exact price: $4,458,084.58, which represents the organization's balance on a construction loan taken out to repair L.A.'s most prestigious fixer.

The first time it may have been a meteor. This time it was too much snow piled on a metal roof that took out the dinosaurs of Long Island. About half a dozen dinos, retired from the movie "Jurassic Park" and housed in a temporary building on the grounds of a museum, were crushed this week. "They've been extinct a long time ? and now this," said the astonished curator of the Vanderbilt Museum in Centerport. High winds, freezing rain, subzero temperatures and thick ice coupled with layers of packed snow have produced a phenomenon no one expected this winter: collapsing roofs around America.

The decaying former headquarters of aviation giant Howard Hughes will be turned into an office campus for creative tenants as part of a $50-million makeover of the famous operation at Playa Vista. The complex includes the enormous hangar where Hughes built his infamous Spruce Goose airplane but is now used mostly as a sound stage for movie and television production. The seven-story structure will be upgraded to contain five sound stages that could be used simultaneously, new owner Wayne Ratkovich said.

High-profile Los Angeles chef David Myers has purchased space at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street where he intends to open a new restaurant. David Myers Group paid $7.21 million for two retail condominium spaces on the ground floor of the historic Equitable building at 6253 Hollywood Blvd., real estate broker Ramsey-Shilling Commercial Real Estate Services said Wednesday. FOR THE RECORD: In an earlier version of this article, David Myers' last name was misspelled as Meyers.

After backing down from a contentious proposal to demolish the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza hotel, the owner has unveiled plans to construct a high-rise real estate development next to the Space Age landmark that would transform the tenor of Century City's streets and dramatically alter the skyline. The $1.5-billion proposal calls for two 46-story skyscrapers holding hundreds of condominiums and offices to be built behind the renowned hotel on Avenue of the Stars. Nearly half of the guest rooms would be replaced by luxury condos as part of a top-to-bottom makeover.

A lavish hilltop estate boasting 165 rooms, an ocean view and a palatial pool fit for a publishing magnate would end up her most famous work. But Hearst Castle was just one of hundreds of buildings designed by Julia Morgan, believed to be the first female architect to practice independently in the United States. And although she had a flair for opulence, Morgan dedicated much of her time to projects intended for working-class women. It was Morgan who conceived the three-story YWCA building with the red-tile roof and arched windows on Marengo Avenue in Pasadena.

For more than a decade, Los Angeles architect Dion Neutra has waged a personal battle to save his family's controversial legacy on the Gettysburg battlefield. Half a century ago, he worked alongside his world-famous father, architect Richard Neutra, on the Cyclorama Center, designed to house a massive circular painting depicting Pickett's charge. In 1999, the National Park Service announced its intention to move the painting and tear down the building -- which sits in the middle of the battle line where Union troops defended Cemetery Ridge -- to restore the landscape to its 1863 appearance.