West Hollywood Preservation Allance Meets Tonight to Discuss Great Hall/Long Hall

Following a statement from West Hollywood City Councilman John Heilman that Plummer Park's Great Hall/Long Hall the West Hollywood Preservation Alliance (WHPA) will meet tonight to discuss their plans to protect the Works Progress Administration-era buildings.

The WHPA will meet 7:30 p.m. in Room 4 of the Community Center at Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd.

WHPA Secretary Lyndia Lowy said that the alliance had planned to meet following the city council's discussion of Great Hall/Long Hall at their April 1 meeting, but Heilman's comments "added a bit of urgency."

Earlier this month, the city council voted 4-1 in favor of a plan to recommend against Great Hall/Long Hall being recognized as historic landmarks. Councilman John D'Amico cast the dissenting vote.

The California Historical Resource Commission (HRC) meet on May 1 to consider WHPA President Jennifer Dunbar's application to have Great Hall/Long Hall added to National Register of Historic Places.

Lowy said that should the request be approved, Great Hall/Long Hall would become eligible for grants that would help restore the buildings to their former condition, when they served as home to the Audubon Center, the city's Russian reading library and many musical recitals.

The city council's plans to renovate Plummer Park call for the demolition of Great Hall/Long Hall. Those plans stalled in 2011, as community outcry reached a fever pitch and funds to pay for the ambitious project dried up.

Even should the buildings be added to the National Register of Historic Places, the city council would retain the right do demolish them citing the "overriding concern" to create open space.

Lowy told that Patch that the potential uses of Great Hall/Long Hall would be of greater use than the amount of open space the city would gain by demolishing the buildings.