Plaza Substation

Last updated
Plaza Substation
Plaza Substation, Los Angeles.jpg
USA Los Angeles Metropolitan Area location map.svg
Red pog.svg
USA California location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location10 Olvera St.,
Los Angeles, California
Coordinates 34°3′25″N118°14′13″W / 34.05694°N 118.23694°W / 34.05694; -118.23694 Coordinates: 34°3′25″N118°14′13″W / 34.05694°N 118.23694°W / 34.05694; -118.23694
Built1905
Architectural styleMission/Spanish Revival
NRHP reference No. 78000689 [1]
Added to NRHPSeptember 13, 1978

The Plaza Substation was an electrical substation that formed a part of the "Yellow Car" streetcar system operated by the Los Angeles Railway from the early 1900s until 1963. After being threatened with demolition in the 1970s, the Plaza Substation was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Contents

Construction of the substation

In May 1903, Henry Huntington, owner of the Los Angeles Railway, announced plans to build a new substation near the old plaza. The Los Angeles Times reported: "Another mammoth electricity substation is to be constructed by the Los Angeles Railway Company. Its location will be on the Plaza, and its completion will mean a long step forward toward the perfection of a system that already is surpassed by few in this country." [2] By 1905, the substation was operating, and the Times ran an article detailing the relationship between the railway's four substations and its central power station at Sixth Street and Central Avenue. The Times described the role of the Plaza Substation this way:

"From this place of manufacture, so to speak, the current is distributed to four other substations scattered over the city, known respectively as the Plaza, University, Westlake and South Park substations. In these there are no oil furnaces, boilers, or steam engines; only the electric current itself has to be dealt with, so that there is economy on the score both of plant and of labor. The central station, besides generating the electricity, also performs the work of a substation. It sends out about 40 per cent of the power used for the operation of the street cars on the Los Angeles Railway Company's system. The Plaza station, distributes the next 40 per cent used, while the three others combined account for the remaining 20 per cent." [3]

Closure of the Yellow Car system

When the Yellow Cars stopped running in 1963, the building located along the city's old Mexican marketplace, Olvera Street, was converted to other uses. However, critics of the structure argued it was out of keeping with the pre-1900 flavor of Olvera Street and sought to remove it. [4] In 1971, the Pueblo park's historian, Dr. Doyce Nunis, issued a report stating that the substation had "no identifiable historic value". Dr. Nunis wrote: "There was no identifiable distinguished architect involved (and) the design was commonplace." [5]

Hand-Carved Window Covering Plaza Substation.jpg
Hand-Carved Window Covering

Debate over preservation

After receiving the historian's report, the city's Recreation and Parks Commission (with the support of Mayor Tom Bradley) voted 4-1 to demolish the building and replace it with a Mexican market and storage facility. [5] At that point, Los Angeles Times architecture writer John Pastier published an article titled: "How Do You Make a Historical Monument? Tear Down a Historic Building?" Pastier noted that the Plaza Substation was the largest and most distinctive of the three surviving Yellow Car substations and urged the city to adapt the utilitarian structure into a tasteful tourist attraction as San Francisco had done with Ghirardelli Square and the Cannery. [6] The State Park Department's director also stepped in opposing what he called the city's plan to turn the historic park into an amusement park. [5] However, even the writers at the times were divided over preservation of the substation, as another columnist sided with the city and wrote:

"Saving the MTA Powerhouse in the Plaza is another debatable project. Is it worth a continuing place along Olvera Street because it was a substation for our early transit system? Because it survives as a sturdy example of good contractor's performance? Because it sits near so much important history? I think the substation is an excellent example of the way conserving can become a disease." [7]

A group called Californians for Preservation Action filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the building's demolition, and a state court judge issued a restraining order halting the demolition. [8] Ultimately, the Plaza Substation was saved, and funds set aside for its rehabilitation, as part of a settlement agreement reached in 1978. [4]

Historic designation

The substation is one of the two buildings in the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District that is itself separately listed in the National Register of Historic Places, having been so listed in September 1978.

See also

Related Research Articles

Angels Flight Funicular railway in Los Angeles, California, United States

Angels Flight is a landmark and historic 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge funicular railway in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles, California. It has two funicular cars, Olivet and Sinai, running in opposite directions on a shared cable, on the 298 feet (91 m) long inclined railway.

Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California

Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of Los Angeles, California. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers 5.84 sq mi (15.1 km2). A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is also part of Central Los Angeles.

Chinatown, Los Angeles Neighborhood of Los Angeles

Chinatown is a neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles, California, that became a commercial center for Chinese and other Asian businesses in Central Los Angeles in 1938. The area includes restaurants, shops, and art galleries, but also has a residential neighborhood with a low-income, aging population of about 20,000 residents.

Olvera Street Historic district in Los Angeles, United States

Olvera Street is a historic street in downtown Los Angeles, and a part of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument, the area immediately around the 19th-century Los Angeles Plaza, which has been the main square of the city since the early 1820s, when California was still part of Mexico, and was the center of community life until the town expanded in the 1870s. Many of the Plaza District's historic buildings are on Olvera Street, including its oldest one, the Avila Adobe, built in 1818; the Pelanconi House built in 1857; and the Sepulveda House built in 1887.

Avila Adobe

The Ávila Adobe, built in 1818 by Francisco Ávila, is the oldest standing residence in City of Los Angeles, California. However, the oldest building in the county is the 1795 Gage Mansion in Bell Gardens, currently considered the oldest structure in Los Angeles County. Avila Adobe is located in the paseo of historical Olvera Street, a part of Los Angeles Plaza Historic District, a California State Historic Park. The building itself is registered as California Historical Landmark #145, while the entire historic district is both listed on the National Register of Historic Places and as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.

Los Angeles Railway

The Los Angeles Railway was a system of streetcars that operated in Central Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods between 1895 and 1963. The system provided frequent local services which complemented the Pacific Electric "Red Car" system's largely commuter-based interurban routes. The company carried many more passengers than the Red Cars, which served a larger and sparser area of Los Angeles.

Pico House United States historic place

The Pico House is a historic building in Los Angeles, California, dating from its days as a small town in Southern California. Located on 430 North Main Street, it sits across the old Los Angeles Plaza from Olvera Street and El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument.

Los Angeles Street, originally known as Calle de los Negros or Alley of the Black People, is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Los Angeles, California, dating back to the origins of the city as the Pueblo de Los Ángeles.

Subway Terminal Building Building in California, United States

The historic Subway Terminal, now Metro 417, opened in 1925 at 417 South Hill Street near Pershing Square, in the core of Los Angeles as the second, main train station of the Pacific Electric Railway; it served passengers boarding trains for the west and north of Southern California through a mile-long shortcut under Bunker Hill popularly called the "Hollywood Subway," but officially known as the Belmont Tunnel. The station served alongside the Pacific Electric Building at 6th & Main, which opened in 1905 to serve lines to the south and east. The Subway Terminal was designed by Schultze and Weaver in an Italian Renaissance Revival style, and the station itself lay underground below offices of the upper floors, since repurposed into the Metro 417 luxury apartments. When the underground Red Line was built, the new Pershing Square station was cut north under Hill Street alongside the Terminal building, divided from the Subway’s east end by just a retaining wall. At its peak in the 20th century, the Subway Terminal served upwards of 20 million passengers a year.

Pacific Electric Railway Company Substation No. 8 United States historic place

Pacific Electric Railway Company Substation No. 8, also known as the Altadena Substation, is a former traction substation in Altadena, California. It operated under the Pacific Electric Railway and served as the substation for Pasadena area lines.

Hollywood Subway Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument

The Hollywood Subway, as it is most commonly known, officially the Belmont Tunnel, was a subway tunnel used by the interurban streetcars of the Pacific Electric Railway. It ran from its northwest entrance in today's Westlake district to the Subway Terminal Building, in the Historic Core, the business and commercial center of the city from around the 1910s through the 1950s. The Subway Terminal was one of the Pacific Electric Railway’s two main hubs, the other being the Pacific Electric Building at 6th and Main. Numerous lines proceeded from the San Fernando Valley, Glendale, Santa Monica and Hollywood into the tunnel in Westlake and traveled southeast under Crown and Bunker Hill towards the Subway Terminal.

Garbutt House United States historic place

Garbutt House is a 20-room mansion in the Silver Lake section of Los Angeles built from 1926 to 1928 as the residence of Frank A. Garbutt. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

Watts Station

Watts Station is a train station built in 1904 in Watts, Los Angeles, California. It was one of the first buildings in Watts, and for many years, it was a major stop for the Pacific Electric Railway's "Red Car" service between Los Angeles and Long Beach. It was the only structure that remained intact when stores along 103rd Street in Watts were burned in the 1965 Watts Riots. Remaining untouched in the middle of the stretch of street that came to be known as "Charcoal Alley", the station became a symbol of continuity, hope, and renewal for the Watts community. It has since been declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument United States historic place

El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument, also known as Los Angeles Plaza Historic District and formerly known as El Pueblo de Los Ángeles State Historic Park, is a historic district taking in the oldest section of Los Angeles, known for many years as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula. The district, centered on the old plaza, was the city's center under Spanish (1781–1821), Mexican (1821–1847), and United States rule through most of the 19th century. The 44-acre park area was designated a state historic monument in 1953 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

Ivy Substation Theatre in Culver City, California, United States

Ivy Substation is a 99-seat theatre in Culver City, California which formerly housed power equipment for the nearby electric railways and Ivy station. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.

LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes Mexican-American museum and cultural center in Los Angeles, California

LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, also called LA Plaza is a Mexican-American museum and cultural center in Los Angeles, California, USA that opened in April 2011. The museum contains interactive exhibits designed by experience design expert Tali Krakowsky such as a reconstruction of a 1920s Main Street. The museum shares the stories of the history, cultures, values, and traditions of Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and all Latinos in Los Angeles and Southern California. The museum programs include exhibitions, educational programs, and public programming.

Los Angeles Plaza

Los Angeles Plaza or Plaza de Los Ángeles is located in Los Angeles, California. It is the central point of the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District. When Governor Felipe de Neve founded the Pueblo de Los Ángeles, his first act was to locate a plaza for the geographical center from which his town should radiate. De Neve's plaza was rectangular in form—75 varas wide by 100 in length. It was located north of the church; its southerly line very nearly coincided with the northerly line of West Marchessault street. On this, the cuartel, the public granary, the government house and the capilla (chapel), fronted.

Pacific Electric Sub-Station No. 14 United States historic place

The Pacific Electric Sub-Station No. 14 is a former traction substation in Santa Ana, California. It was built by the Pacific Electric Railway to provide electricity to run the railway's streetcars in central Orange County, California. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

John Jones and Doria Deighton-Jones Los Angeles business people

John Jones (1800-1876) and Doria Deighton-Jones (1824-1908) were husband-and-wife landowners and developers in 19th- and early 20th-century Los Angeles, California. John Jones was president of the Los Angeles Common Council, the governing body of that city, in 1870–1871.

Los Angeles Pacific Railroad

The Los Angeles Pacific Railroad (1896−1911) (LAP) was an electric public transit and freight railway system in Los Angeles County, California. At its peak it had 230 miles (370 km) of track extending from Downtown Los Angeles to the Westside, Santa Monica, and the South Bay towns along Santa Monica Bay.

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. ↑ "Substation Near Plaza: Newest Enterprise Launched by Huntington; Quarter of Million Dollars Will Go Into the Building; Economy of 'Juice' Will Pay for Whole Thing in Three Years". Los Angeles Times. 1903-05-26. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com. Lock-green.svg
  3. ↑ "Workers' Page: Achievements of Brain and Brawn in Industrial Fields; Wonders of Electricity; How the Far-Distant Kern River Makes the Street-Car Wheels Go Round". Los Angeles Times. 1905-04-02. p. 73 – via Newspapers.com. Lock-green.svg
  4. 1 2 Ray Hebert (1978-07-21). "Plaza Landmark to Be Restored in Wake of Suit; Settlement of Suit Clears Way for Restoration of Old Plaza Landmark". Los Angeles Times.
  5. 1 2 3 Ray Hebert (1978-04-03). "Old Building Stands in Center of Dispute; City, State Clash Over Powerhouse in El Pueblo Park". Los Angeles Times.
  6. ↑ John Pastier (1972-01-12). "How Do You Make a Historical Monument? Tear Down a Historic Building?". Los Angeles Times.
  7. ↑ Art Seidenbaum (1978-06-23). "Standing Up for Old L.A.". Los Angeles Times.
  8. ↑ "Judge Blocks Demolition of Olvera Street Power Station". Los Angeles Times. 1978-05-23.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.