The Metropolitan Water District Headquarters was designed by renowned architect William Pereira in 1961 and completed in 1963.  An additional tower, “The Annex”, was completed in 1973.

A pioneer of mid-century modernism, Pereira designed a multitude of important Los Angeles buildings, including the LACMA campus, CBS Television City, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Disneyland Hotel. He also designed a 1973 addition to the Los Angeles Times headquarters.

In 1993, the Metropolitan Water District moved out of the Pereira campus and into a building next to Union Station.  The remaining campus was acquired by the Holy Hill Community Church shortly thereafter.

The campus includes a large parking structure and the main building is comprised of two administrative wings. The executive offices and Board room were located in a separate wing of the tower, but despite being physically connected, the campus was split into two parcels and later sold separately by the church.  The tower was purchased and restored by Linear City a local real estate development company with an impressive track record in adaptive re-use projects and Historical renovations.   The tower became the Elysian a mixed used development.

Palisades Capital Partners recently purchased the low-rise building from the bankrupt church owners and in June filed a notice of intent to demolish the low rise building.  Notice was unceremoniously attached to a chain-link fence outside the building.

With the community, historians and preservationists being up in arms at the proposed demolition of such a historic landmark for the City of Los Angeles, the building received a temporary reprieve from demolition when the Cultural Heritage Commission voted unanimously to consider it for landmark status.  The commission will meet again to vote on the matter on September 15.

The Cultural Heritage Commission recently led a public walk-through of the building.  While the church stripped much of the interior of the historic building the bones and structure remain.  Linear City partner Yuval Bar-Zemer, who filed the petition for landmark status for the 1963 low-rise building explained in detail how the tower he restored had been in similar condition when they purchased it and they had managed to restore it.

On September 15, the Cultural Heritage Commission will come together again, and vote on whether or not to grant landmark status to this Los Angeles gem. They’ll address a number of criteria, including the architect’s legacy, the architectural integrity of the structure, and its historical significance.

Click here to view Pereira’s prolific body of work.

Photos courtesy of the Metropolitan Water District, the Getty & The Los Angeles Public Library