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NuWilshire theatre facade designated as city landmark!!!
posted by
Nushboy07
on
January 21, 2008 at 7:57 am
SANTA MONICA, CA — The NuWilshire Theatre facade has now been named a Landmark! According to the Santa Monica Daily Press, the Landmarks Commission “voted unanimously on Monday (January 14, 2007) night to designate the NuWilshire Theatre at 1314 Wilshire Blvd. as a historic piece of Santa Monica’s past.”
So, this means that the exterior of the theatre will be restored, while unfortunately the interior will be whatever the owner wants to make of it. The owner, Soundview Investment Partners (some partners alright) is now unable to make whatever changes they wished to make at the exterior of the building, but only to the interior. According to the article, “…but the landmarks designation will restrict what the developer will be able to do with the facade of the theatre.”
This is a great relief to the people of Santa Monica, who have loved this theatre for a long time. In addition to that, it will be one of the last art-deco style facades in Santa Monica.
Comments (1)
I’m not really sure how to feel about all this. Yes, the facade was saved. But we lost the theater. In the final analysis, I’d have to say that the community gets screwed. Little by little, Santa Monica is becoming a place where interesting buildings are filled with boring businesses (or the buildings get knocked down so someone can build a second-rate replacement — the Boathouse anyone?). Maybe it would be better to knock it down, so we don’t have to hang out heads in shame when visitors come here and get glimpses of the cool stuff we used to have…