#TBT USC Physical Education Building

USC PE Building in 1939.  Photo from Los Angeles Public Library

 

The Romanesque Revival style Physical Education Building at the University of Southern California was designed by John & Donald Parkinson and completed in 1930.  The building was also recently named an LA Historic Cultural Monument (along with 12 other buildings on the USC Campus) and is USC’s oldest on campus athletic center including an indoor olympic sized pool.

KC Restoration will be starting restoration of the original steel windows (which have been suffering due to the exposure to chlorine and other pool chemicals) in the pool soon!  

 

 

The pool makes a cameo in this recent ESPN College Football commercial (at the 0:16 mark).

Bonus #TBT Los Angeles Police Academy

For some reason this one didn’t post last week, so we get 2 this week!

 

 

You might recognize our newest project from the intro to the original Charlie’s Angels tv series. We started documentation of the Los Angeles Police Academy this week in anticipation of the upcoming renovation.

#TBT Grand Central Air Terminal

Photo of a crowd gathered  as Air Marshall W.A. “Billy” Bishop speaks, 1941, from the City of Glendale

During WWII the Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale was “camouflaged” for safety.

We’ll be starting restoration of the historic steel windows in the next couple weeks.

Wilshire Boulevard Temple wins the LA Conservancy President’s Award!

The LA Conservancy just announced the Wilshire Boulevard Temple has been recognized with the President’s Award for their 2014 Preservation Awards!

We’re also gearing up to start work on Phase 2 – the restoration of the historic school on the Wilshire Boulevard campus.

And, a new book has just been released all about the history and restoration of the Temple.

 

 

#TBT Huntington Mansion

We’ve worked on several projects at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens over the years, but in 2008 we completed extensive restoration work on the original mansion (now the art gallery) including window, door and architectural woodwork restoration; decorative iron work restoration; plaster, cast stone, concrete and limestone restoration, color analysis and consulting; painting of all surfaces.

 

Window Survey

Surveyed some steel windows on a building in Glendale this morning, hopefully a new job coming soon!

#TBT: Bradbury Building

Where were you 23 years ago? We were busy restoring the Bradbury Building (which had been recently purchased by Ira Yellin), one of KC Restoration’s first projects. Its understated exterior houses one of the city’s most beautiful commercial spaces. The building is listed on the National Register, is a National Landmark, and an LA Monument.

We worked with architect Brenda Levin, and our work on the building included recreation and replacement of exterior deteriorated sandstone, fabrication of decorative metal stairway panels, recreation of custom bronze door hardware, fabrication of decorative elevator gate, restoration of glass ceiling over the atrium and complete stripping and refinishing of all woodwork including doors, windows, railings, and moldings.

All in the Details

Original casement window hardware at the original mansion at the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens