---
[ NEIGHBORHOOD ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics)
# Historic CBS Television City Wins ‘Landmark’ Status … Amid Redevelopment Rumors
July 05 2018
Written by Antonio Pacheco.
[](https://www.addtoany.com/share)
NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--The Los Angeles City Council has voted to designate the [William Pereira](https://archpaper.com/tag/william-pereira/)-designed CBS Television City complex in Los Angeles as an official city historic-cultural monument, paving the way for the complex to be preserved or adaptively reused as redevelopment talks for the 25-acre site heat up.
The International Style complex was built in 1952 and features gridded expanses of clear glass set along planar geometries. Designed by the firm [Pereira and Luckman](https://archpaper.com/tag/pereira-luckman/), the complex is among several of the office’s many threatened works, including their [LACMA building](https://archpaper.com/2016/08/new-renderings-revealed-peter-zumthors-lacma-redesign/#gallery-0-slide-0), among [many](https://archpaper.com/2017/06/new-renderings-la-times-mirror-square/#gallery-0-slide-0), [many](https://archpaper.com/2017/10/som-james-corner-pereira-metropolitan-water-district/) [others](https://archpaper.com/2016/12/onni-group-plans-los-angeles-times-complex/), and one of the few to glide toward landmark status in recent years, a surprise given the red-hot development climate in Los Angeles.
The [Los Angeles Conservancy](http://preservation.lacity.org/sites/default/files/Wilshire%20CPA%20Individual%20Resources_2.pdf#page=47) [nominated the complex](http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-cbs-television-city-historic-landmark-20180504-story.html) for landmarking earlier this year as rumors began to swirl that CBS was interested in redeveloping the complex.
Alan Hess, an architectural historian who wrote the building’s historic nomination on behalf of the Conservancy, told *The Architect’s Newspaper* that “CBS Television City is a true landmark of the electronic age, and a real testament to the design and planning vision of William Pereira and Charles Luckman,” adding, “They built it at the dawn of television, yet it is still in use today for its original purpose. That’s good design. It stands alongside \[Richard\] Neutra’s Lovell House and Skidmore Owings and Merrill’s Crown Zellerbach tower in San Francisco as one of California’s three greatest examples of International Style architecture.”
Hess added that the importance of the structure and its International Style design surpass its use as a television facility, as well, saying, “The International Style was inspired by the straightforward functionalism of factories, and CBS Television City is, in fact, a factory building, not a house or office building. CBS can be congratulated for being a good corporate citizen and supporting this designation.”
The complex came into being as a replacement facility for the [Columbia Square](https://archpaper.com/2017/05/columbia-square/#gallery-0-slide-0) broadcasting facilities located just a few miles away in [Hollywood](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjYv_72mffbAhVkhlQKHbDfBrAQFgg8MAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Farchpaper.com%2Ftag%2Fhollywood%2F&usg=AOvVaw0SgUTTpKZYngUj0r_-cCMC), CBS’s original home designed by William Lescaze in 1938. Columbia Square was restored, reused, and expanded by [Rios Clementi Hale Studios](https://archpaper.com/tag/rios-clementi-hale/) in 2017 as part of a larger project that added a high-rise tower and new office spaces to the site. The award-winning project has been heralded as a marquee approach for preservation-focused adaptive reuse.
A potential project for the Television City site has not been announced.
*(Antonio Pacheco is West Editor at [The Architect's Newspaper](https://archpaper.com/author/apacheco/) … where this piece originated.)*
*-cw*
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/107 "LA DWP | Save $4K, Green | Priority Ad")
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/98 "Donna Tryfman - HS1-1")
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/82 "LA DWP #2 (Power Savers)")
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/111 "David DeJute Campaign")
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/97 "Home - LA DWP #2 (Pay Water Bill Help)")
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/112 "Anna Reitano Vertical R. Col")
## Get The News In Your Email Inbox Mondays & Thursdays
Message
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/110 "Something You Should Know")
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/113 "Rhonda Haymon campaign")
---
## Featured CityWatch Stories
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33444-lahsa-is-gone-but-the-homeless-industrial-complex-lives-on)
### [LAHSA Is Gone, but the Homeless-Industrial-Complex Lives On](https://mail.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33444-lahsa-is-gone-but-the-homeless-industrial-complex-lives-on)
HOMELESSNESS - Los Angeles’s homelessness program is in complete disarray, undermined by systemic gridlock, structural…
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33434-karen-bass-trails-in-reelection-race-can-she-turn-it-around)
### [Karen Bass Trails in Reelection Race — Can She Turn It Around?](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33434-karen-bass-trails-in-reelection-race-can-she-turn-it-around)
WESTSIDE - As of September 27, 2026, Karen Bass is in a substantially weaker position than she was entering the June pr…
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/finance/33442-the-settlement-bill-nobody-is-managing-inside-los-angeles-countys-sheriff-litigation-tab)
### [The Settlement Bill Nobody Is Managing — Inside Los Angeles County's Sheriff Litigation Tab](https://mail.citywatchla.com/finance/33442-the-settlement-bill-nobody-is-managing-inside-los-angeles-countys-sheriff-litigation-tab)
THE NAVARRO REPORT - Last month, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a $12.5 million settlement over t…
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/voices/33461-are-small-businesses-and-workers-fighting-their-true-adversary-in-the-fast-food-battle)
### [Are Small Businesses And Workers Fighting Their True Adversary In The Fast-Food Battle?](https://mail.citywatchla.com/voices/33461-are-small-businesses-and-workers-fighting-their-true-adversary-in-the-fast-food-battle)
THE WORKPLACE - On Sept. 8, the Los Angeles City Council voted to get one step closer to expanding Fair Work Week to fa…
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33445-follow-the-money-the-underdog-vs-the-bike-path)
### [Follow the Money: The Underdog vs. the Bike Path](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33445-follow-the-money-the-underdog-vs-the-bike-path)
PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY - Years ago, I was shooting ringside as a boxing photographer when I noticed Sylvester Stallone s…
---
## [ NEIGHBORHOOD ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics)
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33434-karen-bass-trails-in-reelection-race-can-she-turn-it-around)### [Karen Bass Trails in Reelection Race — Can She Turn It Around?](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33434-karen-bass-trails-in-reelection-race-can-she-turn-it-around)
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33441-sun-valley-cannot-wait-for-the-next-storm)### [Sun Valley Cannot Wait for the Next Storm](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33441-sun-valley-cannot-wait-for-the-next-storm)
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33445-follow-the-money-the-underdog-vs-the-bike-path)### [Follow the Money: The Underdog vs. the Bike Path](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33445-follow-the-money-the-underdog-vs-the-bike-path)
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33407-all-politics-is-local-and-its-the-people-who-show-up)### [All Politics Is Local – And It’s The People Who Show Up](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33407-all-politics-is-local-and-its-the-people-who-show-up)
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33333-venice-beach-keep-the-cool-lose-the-filth-and-the-blight)### [Venice Beach: Keep the Cool, Lose the Filth and the Blight! ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33333-venice-beach-keep-the-cool-lose-the-filth-and-the-blight)