Last week, the City Council considered a motion by Councilwoman Perry to spend $11 million to purchase the historically designated Pickle Works building at 1001-1007 East 1st Street, next to the 1st Street Viaduct in conjunction with the MTA's Goldline Eastside Light Rail Extension Project. The historic building will then have the first 30' or 54' (depending on which alternative is selected) removed and replaced in order to make room for the public transit extension.From the Engineering report:
The James K. Hill & Sons Pickle Works building is located adjacent to the 1st Street Viaduct western approach. Constructed in 1898, this building was determined eligible under Criterion C as an increasingly rare example of a Victorian-era brick industrial building in the heart of Los Angeles’ former warehouse district. Located in the Flats, this building was one of the four that predated the construction of the 1st Street Viaduct, and it represents the earliest construction in the warehouse district. Significant features of the building include its setting and location, mainly the close proximity to the railyards, and the irregular plan of the building influenced by the location of the tracks. The use of brick as a construction material and the judicious use of ornamentation at the roofline, as well as at the windows, is character defining. The building also retains its original wood sash windows (Parsons-JRP, 2004).
The City would get about 89% of the money they spend (estimated at $14 million) reimbursed, so the expenditure of funds is not a huge issue. But what is concerning is what will be done with the now residential building once the widening and reconstruction are complete. Will the City sell it or hold it as a resource for the emerging residential community? Could this building have been used as a municipal building? Two more are being acquired/developed within a few miles of City Hall - why not another? And since we HAVE to by this one for the Goldline project, why not abandon one of the other two and use this one in its place? The Pickle Works building is just about 1 mile from City Hall, and the impending $18 million Boyle Heights City Hall is just about a mile down the road from the Pickle Works building. It's just a thought. But, once the building is sliced and then repaired, the use of that space should be for some public good. (Perhaps supportive public space for the Arts District?)
You can see in the Google Map image above how the Pickle Works building practically touches the 1st Street Viaduct.
3 comments:
interesting. on the Bridge Walk the other day we talked at great length about this exact building and the impact on it once the bridge is widened. the 2 pics are here and here.
In the community this building is known as the citizen's warehouse from the sign painted on the end of the building near the bridge. It contains some of the best studio lofts in the Arts District. Really big spaces with wood ceilings and floors. It would be too bad to lose these spaces. These kinds of lofts are getting rare and expensive.
Beyond its Victorian history it has more recent history as well. It was one of the first AIR buildings. Re-developed by the sculptor Jud Fine who now runs the sculpture department at USC. If you ask just about any artist over 40 in this town about it they will say they lived there at one time or another. It has been the home of many many galleries over the years and was a hot bed of the art scene when the district was young, the late 70s and early 80s.
KOR owned it until this deal and I heard Kate Bartolo, VP of development at KOR, discuss it the other night at the LARABA meeting (LARABA is the arts district's community and business organization.) Kate said the requirements were that the building be brought up to current code as part of the post demolition phase, a project that just does not 'pencil out.'
I hope the city can find some way to preserve the character and function of this structure. It represents a disappearing resource in LA, a city known world wide for the high quality of its art and artists.
To piggyback on Shannon's comment above, here, for the curious readers, are three more reference photos from that recent bridge walk: one, two, and three. It really is a great building. I do hope they end up just lopping off the south end and restoring the north half.
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