The Urban Designers’ Box: Going Another Round

Asked for an architectural critique of the Orange County Central Courthouse, documents courier John Diaz gazed at the 11-story monolith of concrete, stainless steel and glass, then gave a heavy sigh.

“To be honest, it’s kind of ugly,” he said. “I’m here a lot, and it’s always looked like a block. . . . There’s no personality.”

Diaz’s sentiment echoes the distaste expressed for years by the public and many architects for the courthouse and other 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s office towers that dominate the skylines of Santa Ana and other cities across the nation.

But in recent years, some urban designers have been reexamining the so-called international style and offering a positive appraisal. Once dismissed as too bland and spare, the modernistic look now wins praise for its emphasis on function over form and its lack of superficial flourishes.

The revival began in New York and Los Angeles, where enthusiasts now offer walking tours and city officials consider bestowing landmark status to some “glass boxes.” In Orange County, cities and historical societies are also beginning to study the situation.

“I think it’s time we start looking at buildings from this period,” said preservationist Diann Marsh, author of “Santa Ana: An Illustrated History.”

“Some are nice, and others aren’t so nice,” March said. “But I do think there is historical character.”

The county has several modernistic gems, including the Community Church in Garden Grove, the Mariners Medical Arts Building in Newport Beach and the Santa Ana courthouse.

All three were designed by legendary architect Richard Nuetra, whose pioneering Southern California creations landed him on the cover of Time magazine in 1949.

The reevaluation after years of indifference comes at a critical time for some office towers, which need renovation as they approach their 40th or even 50th anniversaries. Many of them are also in struggling downtown districts that have lost tenants to outlying office parks.

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Orange County’s largest concentration of modernistic towers is along Broadway and Main Street in downtown Santa Ana. They sprang up during the postwar years and transformed the century-old business district into the county’s government, banking and legal capital.

By the 1980s, though, financial institutions were rapidly abandoning downtown for more prestigious addresses in Irvine, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

The exodus had several causes, including a corporate shift toward branch banking and away from centralized headquarters. A frenzy of bank mergers also contributed, as did the downtown area’s distance from freeways.

“This used to be where the big banks were,” said Kennan Smith, a Costa Mesa architect and teacher who studied the area with an American Institute of Architects committee. “Now, if you go down Main Street, some of the buildings are just boarded up.”

The 1980s skylines of Irvine and Costa Mesa amounted to a rebellion against boxy modernism. The new “postmodern” towers have arches, columns, curves and other distinctive architectural details.

“It’s breaking down the boxes into more interesting forms,” said Smith, owner of City Lights Design Alliance in Costa Mesa. As a prime example of postmodernism, he cited the Orange County Performing Arts Center, with its massive arched facade and jagged shape.

Still, urban planners say the modernistic buildings should not be dismissed and have enduring aesthetic and commercial value.

Architecture buffs have come to admire the buildings’ utilitarianism and creative use of glass walls, tropical landscaping and exposed crossbeams, said Peter Moruzzi, chairman of the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Modern Committee.

While not all glass towers have historic significance, Marsh mentions two that might: the courthouse, which has been the site of many high-profile trials, and the old Main Street Buffums, with its dramatic stone facade and planters.

Santa Ana is considering its architectural heritage as it crafts a revitalization plan, and officials recently sought public comment during a community meeting, said Roger Kooi, downtown development director. Planners and business leaders talked about luring trade schools and language institutes as well as jewelry and garment merchandise marts to the area.

The city is also monitoring government restructuring moves in the hope of drawing more public agencies, Kooi said. The Orange County Employee Retirement System, for example, rejected a plan to build an expensive headquarters in Irvine and might move downtown from a business park.

Many more years will probably go by, however, before the downtown skyline is truly considered historic.

Roberta Reed of the Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society said she is more likely to take visitors to the city’s ornate Victorian homes and turn-of-the-century commercial buildings than to the central courthouse and other modernistic structures.

“But at some point in the future, maybe we will look at them differently,” she said.

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A Second Look

Modernistic, clean-line, box-like buildings of the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s are drawing newinterest from architects and urban planners, who once dismissed the structures as too sparse and boring. Legendary architect Richard Neutra was a leader of the modern movement andhelped design more than a dozen structures in Orange County. Some examples:

* Orange County Central Courthouse, Civic

Center Plaza, Santa Ana

* Community Church-Tower of Hope, Crystal Cathedral complex, 12141 Lewis St., Garden Grove

* Mariners Medical Arts Building, 1901 Westcliff Drive, Newport Beach

* La Veta Medical Building, 100 W. La Veta Ave., Orange

* Buena Park Swim Stadium and Recreation Center, 7225 El Dorado Drive

* Orange Coast College speech, science,

business buildings, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa

* Alamitos Intermediate School, 12381 Dale Ave., Garden Grove

Source: “Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture” by Thomas S. Hines; Researched by SHELBY GRAD / For The Times

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Boxes Are Back

Modernistic, clean-line, box-like buildings of the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s are drawing newinterest from architects and urban planners, who once dismissed the structures as too sparse and boring. Legendary architect Richard Neutra was a leader of the modern movement and

helped design more than a dozen structures in Orange County. Some examples:

* Orange County Central Courthouse, Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana

* Community Church-Tower of Hope, Crystal Cathedral complex, 12141 Lewis St., Garden Grove

* Mariners Medical Arts Building, 1901 Westcliff Drive, Newport Beach

* La Veta Medical Building, 100 W. La Veta Ave., Orange

* Buena Park Swim Stadium and Recreation Center, 7225 El Dorado Drive

* Orange Coast College speech, science, business buildings, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa

* Alamitos Intermediate School, 12381 Dale Ave., Garden Grove

Source: “Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture” by Thomas S. Hines; Researched by SHELBY GRAD / For The Times