- I'm Valéry Augustin and I'm an architect,
and today we're going to go on an architectural walking tour
of downtown Los Angeles.
[soft jazz music]
Downtown Los Angeles has given world-renowned architects
an opportunity to design buildings
that really contribute to a fabulous urban environment.
L.A. allows buildings that are inventive, creative,
and many types of things
that we wouldn't see in other places.
The mix of styles that we see in this city
is one of the most enduring examples
of what makes downtown Los Angeles a mecca for architects
around the world.
Over my shoulder you can see Los Angeles City Hall,
designed by architect, John Parkinson in 1928.
This 454 foot tall building features 28 stories.
Now, what's interesting about that
is when the building was designed the entire city government
would've only filled four floors,
but the architects were able to convince the city government
that it was cheaper and more cost-effective
to build all 28 floors then,
than to try do it later through an expansion.
In hindsight, it was a pretty smart idea
because it never gets cheaper to build.
The top of the tower
is modeled after the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus,
one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
John Parkinson liked to use a hybrid of designs
in his architecture.
The tower behind us
is something that was described as modern American,
but features styles such as Art Deco and Greek Revival.
The exterior of the building is clad in California granite
and gray terracotta tile.
The design of City Hall also features
some other notable aspects.
As an important symbolic gesture,
sand from all 58 counties of California,
and water from the 21 original Spanish missions
were used to develop the concrete in the building behind us.
Now, the design of City Hall is part of a much larger
urban gesture in downtown Los Angeles.
City Hall sits at the end of an axis
that follows from east to west along Grand Park
through the Music Center
and ends up at the Department of Water and Power Building.
Designed by William Pereira,
City Hall underwent a seismic renovation
between 1998 and 2001.
$135 million seismic renovation now makes it
the tallest base-isolated structure in the entire world,
so now City Hall can withstand earthquakes
up to 8.1 on the Richter Scale.
[soft jazz music]
Behind me you'll see the Broad Museum.
The Broad Museum was completed in 2015,
and it was designed by New York based architects,
Diller Scofidio and Renfro.
One of the concepts of this building
that the architects used when designing the space
was this idea of the vault and the veil.
The veil is the exterior that you see behind me,
made up of a series
of glass fiber reinforced concrete panels,
or better known as GFRC.
The designers tested a wide variety of panel shapes
before arriving on the diagonal pattern
that we see behind us,
and that pattern was developed after studying the best way
to control light into the gallery space,
as well as the ground floor lobby.
Now, the concept of the veil
works across the roof of the building along with the sides.
Along the roof what it does
is it controls all of the natural light,
which means that no direct light is affecting the art.
The veil also shields the vault from the street
and then also frames the ground floor lobby.
The second floor is known as the vault
in which all the art is stored.
You can see a corner of the vault peeking out above us,
just above the lobby.
One of the most exciting experiences in this building
is to take the ground floor escalator up through the vault
up to the third floor gallery space.
Now, as you go up through the vault,
you'll get glimpses of the art that is stored inside
as you go up to this beautiful sunlit gallery space
on the third floor.
One moment of the facade
is where the veil and the vault come together,
and that's the oculus that we see on the second floor
where the veil actually pierces the vault
into our second story conference room.
Now while many people might consider
The Broad an object building,
there's a public plaza on the west side of the building,
which is open for events,
and for the public to use on a regular basis.
[soft jazz music]
We're in front of the Eastern Columbia Building.
This 13-story building was completed in 1930
by architect Claud Beelman.
Now one of the most noticeable aspects of this building
is that it's built in the Art Deco style.
Now some of the specific features
that we can recognize in this building as being Art Deco
include the emphasis on verticality,
some of the sleek geometric forms
like the Chevrons and some of the Starbursts.
One of the first things you notice
is the evocative colors that were used.
The beautiful blue and aqua terracotta tiles
are one of the things that make Eastern Columbia Building
really stand out in the Broadway Theater District.
Another thing that makes it stand out is its height.
Now when this building was designed and built,
Los Angeles had a 150 foot height building limit,
but the architects were able to convince the city
that the clock tower needed to be higher
and were granted an exemption,
which now gives us the 264 feet
that the building now stands at.
The building was originally built as a department store,
the Eastern Company and the Columbia Company,
hence its name as The Eastern Columbia.
The building was converted into residential use.
One of the most notable residents being Johnny Depp
who purchased five units,
and combined them into a single luxurious penthouse.
The Eastern Columbia Building
is one of the most enduring examples
of Art Deco architecture in downtown L.A.
Art Deco emphasizes the use of manmade materials
like terracotta, steel, reinforced concrete and copper.
The structure is reinforced concrete
and the building is clad in glazed terracotta panels.
The beautiful turquoise and blue panels
are accented by gold trim,
and also includes copper spandrel areas
that have patinaed to the beautiful green
that we see behind us,
which makes it a fixture of the Broadway Theater District.
[soft jazz music]
Behind me you can see Ramón C. Cortines High School
for the Visual and Performing Arts,
or also known as Central High School Number Nine.
It was completed in 2009
by noted Austrian architects Coop Himmelb[l]au.
Now when the architects designed this building
one of their main ideas was that the building
should really represent the idea of the arts
for the city of Los Angeles,
and that is represented through a number of ways.
One of it is through the lobby space
that you see right behind me.
Designed in the Deconstructivist style,
Deconstructivist architecture
is characterized by a number of things,
one of them being angular forms
and sort of discordant shapes.
We can see that in the tapered shape of the lobby
and also the geometric shape of the fly tower.
The fly tower is used in a performing art space
to change backdrops
and to change the backgrounds of different sets.
This particular lobby leads to
a 1,000 seat performing arts theater,
a public theater open to all Angelinos.
Coop Himmelb[l]au was awarded the project
through an international competition,
which was encouraged by Eli Broad,
who felt that Los Angeles really deserved
a state-of-the-art world-class high school
for the performing arts.
Coop Himmelb[l]au is a Vienna, Austria based firm
known for a number of notable buildings
including the Musée des Confluences in France.
High School Number Nine
was their first commission in the United States.
The 230,000 square foot building cost $232 million to build,
or almost $1,000 a square foot.
One of the really great things
is that it really is a local school.
70% of the students are from the downtown school districts
with the remaining 30% coming from the surrounding areas.
Central High School Number Nine
is really just one part of an assemblage
of really amazing buildings
in and around downtown Los Angeles.
[soft jazz music]
Behind me is beautiful Union Station,
originally completed in 1939 by father-and-son architects
John and Donald Parkinson.
Now one of the interesting things about this building
is that it's a mix of styles,
a mixture of Spanish Colonial, Art Deco and Art Moderne.
It also features some important features
that really tie it to the idea of the Machine Age.
One of the interesting things about Union Station
is that it's the largest passenger train terminal
in the Western U.S.
It was built at a time when train travel
was basically becoming the most important way
to make it around the United States,
and it was designed to accommodate thousands of passengers
on a regular daily basis.
The interior is a beautiful example
of Art Deco architecture including beautiful craftsmanship,
hand-built millwork, beautiful murals,
and 286 mahogany chairs
that have been in use since World War II.
One of the most evident elements of the design
from this facade are the large two-story windows
that illuminate the passenger terminal,
which allow beautiful light in on a sunset.
Other important features that illustrate the mix of styles
that we see in this building
include some of the beautiful tile work
along with the terracotta tiles on the roof.
One of the most evident Art Deco elements
that we can see on the facade is the font over the entrance.
[soft jazz music]
Behind me you can see Our Lady of the Queen of the Angels,
or better known as La Placita.
This church was originally founded in 1781
and then rebuilt in the 1800s,
and is the oldest church in Los Angeles.
In fact, it's one of the oldest buildings in Los Angeles
and is part of this historic district around us.
That includes the Pico House, the Sepulveda House,
and the Plaza Firehouse.
The history of Los Angeles
begins with the arrival of the Spanish in the 1700s
as they built a series of missions
up and down the California Coast.
Their arrival in the L.A. Basin
started with this church behind us,
which a cornerstone was laid down
by a Franciscan monk in 1781.
La Placita has some of the hallmarks
of Mission style architecture,
including a barrel tile roof, thick masonry walls,
and a bell tower.
Even though Los Angeles has grown
to cover hundreds of square miles,
this area remains the heart of downtown Los Angeles proper.
La Placita is located steps away from modern-day City Hall.
It's also important to note that the L.A. Basin
was inhabited by the Gabrielino-Tongva people
prior to the arrival of the Spanish
who inhabited this area for over 4,000 years.
So even though La Placita represents
the start of Los Angeles as a city,
it's also part of a longer history of this area.
[soft jazz music]
Now we're across the street from the Million Dollar Theater.
The Million Dollar Theater
was designed by Albert C. Martin, Senior,
one of the most prominent architects
in Los Angeles at the time.
The Million Dollar Theater is part of a string
of beautiful theaters along Broadway,
which was originally the theater district
in downtown Los Angeles.
It was completed in 1918.
Now one of the things that's apparent about the building
is its distinct style.
It's known as a Churrigueresque style,
which is named after Spanish architect and sculptor,
José de Churriguera.
Some of the stylistic features
that make this style stand out from others
is the elaborate carvings that you'll see
at the top of the building.
The Churrigueresque style can clearly be seen
above the entrance marquee
and also at the top of the building.
The sculptor who executed this beautiful work
is Joseph Mora,
who was son of famed Spanish sculptor, Domingo Mora.
If you take a closer look at the sculptures
you'll see that it features many Southwestern elements
like bison skulls, and longhorn steer skulls,
and other allegorical features
like the comedy and tragedy mask,
a figure playing a lute, or a painter.
Now the building was designed
for Sid Grauman, theater impresario,
who went on to found Grauman Theaters.
What sets the Million Dollar Theater apart
from some of his contemporaries,
is that it was truly a movie palace.
It seated over 2,400 people at a time.
The Million Dollar Theater was also the first theater
to show Spanish language films in Los Angeles.
[soft jazz music]