Hollywood neighborhood activists are incensed over the disappearance of the stained glass windows of what had been a Gothic Revival church along Sunset Boulevard.
Local preservationists knew the 90-year-old building at Sunset and Alexandria Avenue was being converted into creative offices by a new owner, the Los Angeles Times reported. A push to enshrine the former Bethany Lutheran Church of Hollywood as a historic monument had been rejected months earlier.
But an area planning commission had insisted that the outside of the former church could not be altered unless the company requested approval from the Department of City Planning, according to The Times. Despite those restrictions, the building department granted a permit to “change all window glazing” — and many of the arched window panes soon disappeared.
A person representing the building owner declined to say whether the windows had been destroyed or merely removed, The Times reported.
The episode has galled Hollywood residents and preservationists who had treasured the church windows and expected them to be spared. The building department later moved to revoke the permit, saying it had been issued in error, but some worry it may be too late.
“What I fear is that they may have even sold or destroyed the windows so that they can’t be replaced,” Edward Hunt, an architect who follows planning issues with the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council, told The Times.
