‘Historic Treasures’ Lost. Los Angeles Wildfires Have Claimed Architectural Heritage Spanning Centuries.

Among the wreckage in the fires of Los Angeles are pieces of the city’s history, with many landmarks diminished to ash.

“We lost historic treasures,” said Crosby Doe, founder and CEO of Crosby Doe Associates, a real estate company known for representing historic and other architecturally significant properties in Southern California.

Seven major wildfires have brought destruction to the Los Angeles area in the past week, leaving more than 12,000 structures damaged or completely wrecked, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy. So far, the organization has confirmed the loss of 35 homes and other structures they’ve deemed historically significant to the Eaton and Palisades fires.

“This is a staggering set of losses to the city of Los Angeles’s architectural and cultural heritage,” said Ken Bernstein, manager of the L.A. City Planning Department’s Office of Historic Resources. “We have had disasters in the past, natural disasters and other destruction from civil unrest, but it’s hard to think of a single event that’s caused such widespread destruction.”

Heritage sites around Los Angeles have been damaged in the past, including during the 1994 Northridge earthquake and the 1992 riots following the verdict in the Rodney King case, Bernstein said. Though the historic places affected by those events were significantly damaged, they weren’t completely destroyed, and thus able to be rehabilitated.

“What has been so staggering with these fires is the finality and completeness of the destruction,” Bernstein said.

One of the most notable losses occurred at Will Rogers State Historic Park, where the Palisades fire burned down Will Rogers’s historic ranch house, as well as other buildings. Parts of Topanga State Park were also destroyed, including the historic Topanga Ranch Motel, built in 1929 by William Randolph Hearst. Across the two state parks, more than 30 structures were lost, according to California State Parks.

“California State Parks mourns the loss of these treasured natural and cultural resources, and our hearts go out to everyone impacted by the devastating fires in the Los Angeles area,” State Parks Director Armando Quintero said in a statement.

Also destroyed by the Palisades fire was the Pacific Palisades Business Block, a Spanish Colonial Revival building designed by architect Clifton Nourse that dated to 1924. It was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 2010.

The Eaton fire devastated much of Altadena, an area north of Pasadena in the San Gabriel Valley. Altadena Community Church, parts of which date to 1947 and were built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, burned down.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the loss of our church building to the Eaton fire. Many of our members have lost their homes, too,” pastor Paul Tellström wrote on the church’s website.

Altadena’s historic Scripps Hall, now part of the Pasadena Waldorf School, was also destroyed. Built in 1904 for William Armiger Scripps, the American Craftsman-style house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. The rest of the campus also burned down, according to a GoFundMe fundraiser for the school.

In Pasadena, the more than 100-year-old Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center was one of the first historic monuments lost in the wildfires. The synagogue occupied a Mission Revival-style building that the congregation bought in 1941 that was completely destroyed, though their website notes that their Torahs were salvaged.

Among the historic losses are a number of homes that span much of the 20th century, with some dating back even further.

A 1915 Spanish Colonial Revival mansion in Altadena that’s a popular filming location has been mostly destroyed, with just its facade reportedly still standing, according to Deadline.

The pink mansion has had a recurring feature in “Hacks” as the L.A. residence of Deborah Vance (played by Jean Smart). Other TV series, including “Knots Landing” and “Palm Royale,” as well as a Lilly Pulitzer for Target commercial have also been shot at the mansion.

Also in Altadena, the historic Andrew McNally House has burned down. The Queen Anne-style mansion was built in 1887 for McNally, co-founder and president of the Rand McNally publishing company. It had remained a private home, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

The Zane Grey Estate—once lauded as Altadena’s first fireproof home—was also lost, despite its cutting-edge construction made entirely of reinforced concrete. The 1907 Mediterranean Revival-style mansion, designed by Myron Hunt and Elmer Grey, was named for author Zane Grey, who bought the home in the 1920s. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

In Pacific Palisades, the Ray Kappe-designed Keeler House is now gone. The striking 1991 build was noted for its modernist design that made it appear as if it was floating over the hillside. At the time of the fire, it had been up for sale, listed with Doe, for about $8 million.

The recently sold Rowen House, designed by architect Josef Van der Kar in 1957, was also lost, Doe said. The sale closed on Dec. 30 for $7.5 million.

“This is just one more story of the tragedy—he was a great architect,” he said. “It was a magnificent house—one of the best houses that came up [for sale] on the West side last year.”

Also in the Palisades, the Robert Bridges House—a Brutalist design from the ’80s—and the Benedict and Nancy Freedman House, designed by notable modernist architect Richard Neutra in 1949, were destroyed.

When it comes to L.A.’s architectural heritage, the city’s preservationists aren’t only mourning its grand mansions.

Gregory Ain’s revolutionary Park Planned Homes in Altadena—one of the first modernist housing developments in the U.S., mostly built in the late 1940s—have been leveled by the Eaton fire, which Doe called one of the “huge losses.”

“It really was a demonstration of how we should design our communities,” he said. “He was a liberal trying to build good houses for everyday people.”

Another notable loss Doe mentioned was the Lowe House in Altadena, which was designed by architect Harwell Hamilton Harris in 1934.

“It was a small house, but it received national acclaim for its solutions,” he said. “It was always one of my favorites.”

Not all has been lost—the iconic mid-century Case Study Houses have, so far, been spared.

“The Case Study program created the template, in many ways, for post-World War II residential design, and created a model of mid-century modernism,” Bernstein said. “It had tremendous influence not only throughout Southern California but nationally and internationally, and the heart of the Case Study program was in the Palisades community.”

And despite its grounds burning in the Palisades fire, the Getty Villa, and its collection of artwork and many antiquities, remain intact.

“We’re not talking just about multimillion-dollar masterpieces [being lost],” he added. “These homes were monuments to great architecture and pointed a way to a better lifestyle for everyone who lived in them.