Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (Beverly Hills Post Office)
Owner
Beverly Hills Cultural Center Foundation
Architect
Studio Pali Fekete Architects
Historic Consultant
Historic Resources Group
Structural Engineer
Structural Focus
General Contractor
MATT Construction
Restoration Contractor
Spectra Company
During the Great Depression, the City of Beverly Hills was proactive in enhancing the viability of the community. As a result, it showed its resiliency by opening two prominent civic buildings despite economic hardships of the times — one being the Beverly Hills Post Office — which remains a landmark structure in the City to this day. Built in 1933, as a part of President Roosevelt’s Work Projects Administration (WPA) program, the Italian Renaissance Revival Style building was designed by Architects Ralph C. Flewelling and Allison & Allison Architects to complement the design of the adjacent city hall.
This building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The old post office was rehabilitated and adaptively re-used to be a part of the new Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, designed by Zoltan Pali of SPF Architects. The center includes the Post Office, 500-seat Goldsmith Theater, 150-seat Lovelace Studio Theater, GRoW at the Wallace, A Space for Arts Education, a sculpture garden and promenade terrace.
Spectra Company was hired to perform historic materials restoration, completing steel window restoration, security grille and metalwork restoration.
Scope of Work
Adaptive Reuse • Decorative Metal • Materials Restoration • Metal Windows • Self-Perform
Awards
Los Angeles Conservancy 2014 • Preservation Design Award 2014 • West Side Urban Forum 2015
