Today I watched as the last piece of the Pereira & Luckman designed Robinsons Beverly came crashing down to the ground. Its been a wild ride these last four months photographing it, getting to know the job foreman at the site, working with him to recover certain artifacts and watching the slow deconstruction of what was one of the greatest buildings this city has ever known. As a preservationist I understand that sometimes these things happen but I also have been deeply moved and forever changed by the process. Four months ago when I learned of its impending demise I was tremendously saddened and I wrote the following statement. I feel the same way today as I did when I wrote it. The loss of this building is the time where we as a community will begin to turn this thing around... April 1, 2014- As I sit here this morning and ruminate over the impending destruction of such an important piece of architecture in our city, feeling the sense of helplessness that I do, knowing that there is nothing that can be done to save it, that our only option is to memorialize it and use its memory to mobilize a movement....I pray its loss will galvanize this town to new heights and levels of understanding that WE as a city, a county, a state and a worldwide community are losing a piece of history that will never again be duplicated; seen with eyes, felt with touch, and experienced with all the senses once its gone. If its loss cannot be used as a defining point in history, a pivotal moment in time where we more clearly understand that ARCHITECTURE IS ART, deserving of care and compassion and that its place in history is to learn from, draw inspiration from and appreciate its form, whose pioneers created such genius from pure imagination, then WHAT is the preservation movement for? Today we can be angry, upset and feel victimized by the razing of a historically significant structure, we can cry out in demonstration against loss and perpetrate ill will against government officials, developers, and progress OR we can seize this moment and know that from here moving forward we are not going to allow this type of destruction to occur again, not without a fight, not without the determination to educate the public about its significance in history, promoting awareness to those who do not understand these origins of our built environment and its importance to our humanity. We will no longer tolerate the razing of our cultural heritage without a vigorous campaign to save our treasured past and we will exercise the courage of our convictions to ensure the beauty, splendor, and wonder of our historic architectural legacy for the enjoyment of those who delight in its existence now and for future generations to come. Kimberly Vinokur Reiss Beverly Hills Heritage
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 07:34:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015